You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation! (Signed First Edition)

One of the greatest comic book talents you've never heard of.... If you want to understand the essence of comic books in their purest form then pick up You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation! and learn. -- Iann Robinson

The work in You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation! (produced entirely by Hanks, at breakneck speed) might be testament to rage-filled, borderline psychosis but it's thrillingly vital and magnificently (uniquely) strange for all that.

Once you see one of Super Wizard Stardust 's grotesquely ironic punishments or blonde bombshell Fantomah 's inexplicable transformations to skull-headed jungle avenger, it 's impossible to look away. Fantagraphics and Editor Paul Karasik take a return trip inside Hanks demented psyche, collecting the entire remaining chunk of the uniquely unsettling work from this do-it-all Golden Age cartoonist of singular, warped vision.

One of the greatest comic book talents you ve never heard of.... If you want to understand the essence of comic books in their purest form then pick up You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation! and learn. --Iann Robinson

Fletcher Hanks was an early, forgotten great of comics: He drew from 1939-1941, and his work is vivid, funny and incredibly surreal... Hanks' work evokes a childlike energy that makes it seem as if he drew as much for himself as he did for the rest of the world. That creative spirit never goes out of style. --Whitney Matheson ""Pop Candy" ""

An unforgettable look back at one of Golden Age comics' greatest and most unlikely talents. --Tom Spurgeon"

Hanks' groove, taken back to back like this, is unsettling... It can be downright creepy. Generally, when you talk about a comic auteur's 'issues, ' you're talking page count, not whether he has his head screwed on straight. It's multiplied by Hanks' art style, which at first seems crude but is actually quite stylized and consistent. Many images, such as troupes of unfortunates flying in hurtling, screaming weightlessness, have the impact of nightmares... And the twisted comics universe once inhabited by Fletcher Hanks is eerie and unsettling, and fascinating in what it reveals about the man with the pen. --Burl Burlingame"

There is such a relentlessly fervid, even crazed, sheen to all [Fletcher Hanks 's] work, that you can't look away. ... Hanks seemed nearly demon-driven in these stories of constant fighting, killing, betrayal and revenge. The panels are often cramped, and the color schemes are nearly incandescent, and you're not sure whether to liken the rawness of it all elastic, rubber-boned physiognomies included to listening to a record by Fear, circa 1980, or watching a half-dressed man shouting on the corner. --Mark London Williams"

Once you see one of Super Wizard Stardust s grotesquely ironic punishments or blonde bombshell Fantomah s inexplicable transformations to skull-headed jungle avenger, it s impossible to look away. Fantagraphics and Editor Paul Karasik take a return trip inside Hanks demented psyche, collecting the entire remaining chunk of the uniquely unsettling work from this do-it-all Golden Age cartoonist of singular, warped vision."

As much as I ve been looking forward to the second collection, I honestly thought there was no way it could be as crazy, awesome, or crazy-awesome as the first one. I was wrong.--Chris Sims"