In Which Stardust Gets a...Girlfriend?

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

Oh, you lucky people. I got myself a disc of scans of some golden age comics, and they're public domain(please note, mods). Including this one. This is from FANTASTIC COMICS #12, from 1940, and of course this is Fletcher Hanks' STARDUST. And this time around, he actually manages to be more disturbing than ever.



Is it just me that thinks these look more like pigeons?



Yes it's Cardboard Girl, whose power is not moving one bit.

"She'll make fantastic bait!" says Stardust.

There's a lot more in this comic, including some strips even more bizarre than Stardust.(and almost all of them have shirtless heroes) Want more?

Comments

[freezer818.insanejournal.com]

HOLY CRAP is Stardust coming across creepy (as opposed to his usual Dick Tracy On Lithium sociopathy).

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

I know, I can practically see her thinking, "B-b-be nice to the huge giant who turns people into worms..." That second panel close-up of them? He grew, just to scare her.

Also, Hanks is making up words. "Spacial"? But I'll leave it to your filthy minds to come up with a use for the word...

[besamim.insanejournal.com]

The "tubular spacial" is illegal in Kentucky, Alabama and Texas to this day. Vice-squad raids, prompted by spiteful neighbours' phone calls, are not unheard of. And then there's Rev. Fred Phelps's Godhatesspacialists.com.

[kamino_neko.insanejournal.com]

Venus? Worm?

OMG, KAOS IS MR MIND!

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

Say. When did Mr. Mind first appear?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Mind_and_the_Monster_Society_of_Evil

Answer: 1943

Well-spotted! Actually, as this is PD they COULD make it that way.

[vignettelante.insanejournal.com]

He has a needle that detects crime.

What the--what? What is it measuring!? Or is Stardust actually a D&D paladin?

Also, "If I can dominate those vultures up there, I'll be able to conquer the Earth!" Who could possibly read or write that sentence without thinking "Couldn't he just cut out the middlebird?"

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

Practice makes perfect. Many times I have sat feeding pigeons, thinking this is perfect practice for that job at the IMF someday.

[besamim.insanejournal.com]

Notice that this time, Hanks gives a reason why Stardust doesn't stop the carnage before it happens: even with his super-speed the villain and his hypnotized vultures have the jump on him. As opposed to the story I posted recently (and others like it) where Stardust discovers a bad guy's plot well before it's ready to launch, then sits on his ass and waits until thousands are dead.

The "potential love interest" angle is interesting, as is Stardust showing gentle kindness to someone for once (even if he first balks because he has "duties to attend to"). Related to this is a story in which he enlists a group of youths to be his "sixth column" against a villain. At the end of the story he thanks the boys and says "I'm proud of you." It's the closest to human he ever gets.

Now consider that by this time several other superhero comics were giving their protagonists romantic partners and/or kid sidekicks. Did the editor of Fantastic Comics instruct Hanks to follow this trend and make Stardust more sympathetic and relatable? Or did Hanks himself (who had abandoned his family ten years back, after years of drunken abuse) come to realize (if only temporarily) that the human condition isn't all dark and ugly? We'll never know.

We thought that by making your world more violent, we would make it more "realistic," more "adult." God help us if that's what it means. Maybe, for once, we could try to be kind.
   --Grant Morrison, Animal Man #26 (1990)

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

>>Or did Hanks himself (who had abandoned his family ten years back, after years of drunken abuse) come to realize (if only temporarily) that the human condition isn't all dark and ugly? We'll never know.

I was thinking when I read it, given that Hanks' son referred to him as a ladies' man, this seems like the kind of thing someone might draw after falling for someone. At the end, for the time, it's a little weird that he basically says, "So, my place, baby?" That's really the tone of it. And takes her, basically, to live with him. Yes, she has her own castle. Still.

Notice that she's also implacably pushing for his attention. It does appear Hanks might have, at least for a time, fallen in luvvv. It's almost cute, this one.

But those are pigeons.

[psychop_rex.insanejournal.com]

Living in the country as I do, I see vultures on a fairly regular basis, and these 'vulture-birds' are really not all THAT far off. Vultures are black or brown instead of grey, and they have slightly ganglier legs, and obviously those gigantic feet are ridiculous, but they look more like vultures than pigeons to me. Also, remember, they're from an alien planet.

[fungo_squiggly.insanejournal.com]

Actually, reading this story left me thinking that perhaps we've been a little unfair to old Stardust.

In the story where we supposed he let thousands die, we don't see Stardust racing towards Earth: we just see him saying "A wholesale murder plot! And they're working fast!" and then arriving too late to save everyone.

Considering that the murderers were already on Earth at the time of their plot, and Stardust was extremely far away on his private star, it could be that he left as soon as he realized what was happening and simply couldn't get there fast enough.

Perhaps his constant frustration over being perpetually out of reach and therefore too late to prevent disasters has driven him to the edge of madness, causing him to overcompensate with the sadistic manner that he avenges those massacres.

On the other hand, you'd think he'd just build a faster way to get to Earth, or move closer, or something. So he's still a massive tool.

[perletwo.insanejournal.com]

It kinda looks like "When Blowup Dolls Mate." Coming soon to a FOX affiliate near you!

[jeyl.insanejournal.com]

Every time look at him, I hear Joel from MST3K saying "I'm huuge!".

[dustbunny105.insanejournal.com]

"I'm terribly upset and scared!"

Uh... huh. Well, she certainly looks it.

[besamim.insanejournal.com]

Facial expressions were not Hanks's forte, to say the least. They scarcely changed from panel to panel. Perhaps, like his frequent use of silhouette, that was a time-saving measure; he handled all the writing, pencilling, inking and lettering himself and, according to Will Eisner (one of several editors he submitted to), always got his work in on time. Or maybe he just didn't care.

[bluejaybird.insanejournal.com]

Now THAT is a neck, Mr Superwizard.
Also, those eyebrows look pretty damn plucked to me.

[halloweenjack.insanejournal.com]

I love how he's resting his enormous head on her shoulder while he's saying, "But I have duties to attend to!" Oh, I just bet you do, big boy. *cue bow-chicka-bow-bow guitar*

[fungo_squiggly.insanejournal.com]

Also, it doesn't help that so many of Hanks's villains are drawn with what looks like a permanent pout.

[psychop_rex.insanejournal.com]

Damn skippy they are - if you look at De Structo from the previous Stardust post, and compare his face with that of Kaos here, they're practically identical. Structo has a slightly fuller lower lip, but that's about it.

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

Is it wrong to say I rather like the colouring here? It's so candy-coated it's almost irresistible.

[darklorelei.insanejournal.com]

I actually much prefer this to the dodge-tool abuse currently running rampant.

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

Okay, the dodge tool is one I've not used yet because I have no idea what it does. Please explain.

[toasty_fresh.insanejournal.com]

You use it to add shine, mostly. Or overuse it, as some colorists tend to do . . .

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

Hmmm. I'll try it.

There's a lot I still don't know. Mostly I've used it in place of a production department to keep doing what I already did analog, but cheaper.

[sandoz_iscariot.insanejournal.com]

Does anyone have scans of the Mike Allred Stardust story? I'm curious, especially since the homeless girl apparently appears there.

[psychop_rex.insanejournal.com]

I'm also curious about that - it'd be interesting to see how an artist who can, y'know, DRAW properly would handle the character.

[(Anonymous)]

It's a decently drawn story. As for the plot, well, Allard seemed to have missed the fact that Stardust was a sadistic psychopath and depicted him as a sort of generic Superman-eque character.

Strannik01 @ LJ

[psychop_rex.insanejournal.com]

It's often difficult to pick up the pace when you're writing a character whose creator was, eh, decidedly eccentric. Wonder Woman had the same problem after Marston died.

[mrmojorisin1135.insanejournal.com]

Yes, more please

You got it!

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

And that's still not all!
http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/647740.html

[ashtoreth.insanejournal.com]

I can't rid myself of Alan Moore's notion of Stardust as space Frankenstein monster. But the girl is a plant! I can tell!!!

[psychop_rex.insanejournal.com]

This may be soon, but - does it seem to anyone else that Stardust's new girlfriend looks disturbingly like Michael Jackson?
Also, I love Stardust's ever-so-subtle seduction technique. "Would you like to come to my private star for awhile? It's very restful there." "Oh, Stardust, I'd be crazy about it!" Well, at least it works. That neck must emit powerful pheromones.

[(Anonymous)]

Wow! So much interesting and wise-cracking analysis here!

This story appears in my book, "You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation!", the second collection of Hanks' wok that, when combined with the first Eisner Award-winning volume, "I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets!", comprises the Complete (God help us!) Fletcher Hanks!

This story is from late in his run of Stardust stories when the format for all the tales in these Fox comics had become tightly structured. Gone are the playful layouts that characterize earlier stories. Yet Hanks work shines through with brilliant coloring (as mentioned above) and his usual bizarre plotting.

BTW: If you order the book through Fantagraphics or come to one of my East Coast book signings this summer, you can score a free Hanks coloring book with a cool cover of Fantomah by Charles "Black Hole" Burns!

-Paul Karasik

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

Awesome to see you here, Mr. Karasik. And my copy's already on order.

The story at the end of the first book, incidentally, was really nice.