Spacing With Hank(s)

A few weeks ago we finally took a first look at the Golden Age God Of ODD - Fletcher Hanks - and his best known creation, Stardust, the Super Wizard.

Not only was Stardust not his only character, it wasn't even his only character in that comic book. Stardust premiered in Fantastic Comics #1, and so did this guy -

Space Smith sported a byline from Hank Christy, but Hank Christy was Fletcher Hanks. And, as you can see, it was just as gloriously strange as Stardust. Check out Space and Dianna's first adventure for a taste...

The Wolvertonesque creature creations suit the book quite well, don't you think? There are few artists whom i envision meshing well with Basil Wolverton, but Hanks is one of them. (Stylistically, that is. On a personal level, Hanks wouldn't likely mix well with anybody)

I need to get back to working on that painting i've got in progress, so we'll talk more about Fletcher later. For now, enjoy the next three episodes of Space Smith -

Run Away! Still a working tactic.

page art by Fletcher Hanks for Fantastic Comics #s 1-4 (1939, 1940)

Impossible Times

My plan was to spend today painting. I've been working the setups for a new piece for a few days. As some know, i tend to paint from photographs. However, since i tend to paint things that don't (or can't) exist, the photos get a bit trickier. But only a bit. I just have to use imaginary cameras to take pics of non-existent worlds. Not too tricky - the sort of thing i used to do when my business card read "Existential Cinematography"

But, damn. I forget that i'm operating on only 8GB of RAM currently. The render i left going last night is still only 1/3 completed - so painting from that photo is going to be a bit Impossible today. Damn, once again.

Oddly enough, i've been talking about a Master Of The Impossible with the Mindbender from Mars in the past couple days. He seems like a good topic for today, eh? (And, heck - it might even prove to be useful reference for the ol' MM.)

Dr. Synthe first appeared in the second issue (#3) of Stars And Stripes Comics in 1941.

Yesterday was only a single page post, and i seem to have lost the day prior. So let's go big today and run the complete Dr. Synthe, all 32 pages of the adventures of the Miracle Man From Mo from Harry Francis Campbell and Henry Weston Taylor -

At that point, Centaur Comics folded up and Stars And Stripes Comics ceased to publish.
That was a situation too impossible for even Dr. Synthe to continue on.

page art by Henry Weston Taylor from Stars And Stripes Comics #s 3-6 (1941)