You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation!, subtitled More Comics of Fletcher Hanks, is the follow-up to the surprise smash-hit volume I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets! and concludes the publishing of the complete comics work of Golden Age visionary Fletcher Hanks. Edited and with an introduction by Hanks maven Paul Karasik, this volume is nearly twice as big as the last one! This book is scheduled to be in stock and ready to ship any day now and in stores approximately 4 weeks later (subject to change).

On our product detail page we've got a free 13-page PDF preview with 2 complete stories starring Fantomah and Space Smith! Photo and video previews are still in the works -- watch this space. We've also adapted the striking cover image (designed by Jacob Covey) into a series of desktop wallpapers -- put a little Fantomah on your screen! Download the size matching your monitor resolution at the links below:

800 x 600 | 1024 x 768 | 1152 x 864 | 1280 x 960 | 1280 x 800 | 1280 x 720 | iPhone

UPDATE! We've decided that (while supplies last) everyone who orders this book from us will get a FREE copy of our exclusive Color Me or Die!! Fletcher Hanks coloring book minicomic (with cover by Charles Burns), pictured below with the dashing Mr. Karasik!

A double batch of Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: Bdzoom reports that l'Association des Critiques et journalistes de Bande Dessinée (ACBD) has placed Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw on their summer reading shortlist (there's Tardi on there too)

• Review: "Nell Brinkley was an icon for several generations of women... The art [in The Brinkley Girls] has been beautifully restored, a task that must have been pure torture given the density of Brinkley's drawings and that sophisticated color work. My hat's off to whoever did that fabulous job." - Allan Holtz, Stripper's Guide

• Review: "At one point in her comic-style memoir [You'll Never Know Book 1: A Good and Decent Man], Carol [Tyler] talks to us directly and says, 'The war was never really buried under tons of mental concrete. Rather, it was an active shaper of life, affecting moods and outcomes ... more than anyone ever knew.' Indeed. This is an important and deeply spiritual contribution to American culture." - David Crumm, Read the Spirit

• Review: "[You'll Never Know Book 1: A Good and Decent Man] is not your blood and guts portrayal of a ruthless soldier but rather an investigation into the emotional costs that war has on the combatant and the family that they sire, presenting a familiar story of the 'greatest generation' in an unfamiliar way." - Quentin Williams, two.one.five Magazine

• Review: "...Supermen! [is] a beautifully designed volume of early American comics... The edition is both aesthetically pleasing and sturdy, featuring clarified reprinting of the colour strips, covers, and scattered elements of advertisements and back matter." - Michael Leader, Den of Geek

• Review: "[West Coast Blues] is everything you would expect from a suspense thriller... Visually the comic book is also great. It's everything you would expect from Tardi... I don't believe that anybody else than him would have been able to visually translate Manchette's novel so well. It's like they worked together and that the comic book is the original material. Bottom line, this is another great comic book by Tardi. If you have never read anything by him you should. Luckily for North American readers, Fantagraphics announced that they that they were going to translate Tardi's work starting this fall." - Patrick Bérubé, Comic Book Bin

• Review: "You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation!... gathers all the remaining material that the alcoholic, abusive [Fletcher] Hanks did during his brief tenure as a comic book creator in the late 1930s and early 40s... [T]here’s still plenty of weird and wonderful tales to delight and disturb... [and] there are panels here that are rather stunning in their ability to create tension and drama... The work remains strange, powerful, funny, terrifying and yes, at times beautiful..." - Chris Mautner, Robot 6 (be sure to read the comments for an important clarification from editor Paul Karasik)

• Review: "Fans of Norwegian cult comics star Jason are in for something of a treat with Low Moon... what we have here are five stories, each of which would’ve previously warranted a collection in its own right, delivered together in one delicious hamper of Jason goodness... There’s never been a better time, then, to jump aboard the Jason train... This is as essential as comics gets." - Bookmunch

• Review: "It’s hard to think of a modern cartoonist with a more recognizable drawing style than Norway’s Jason... But Jason’s storytelling is just as distinctive as his drawing style... [and] the artist’s narrative approach has grown more adventurous over the years. Jason’s latest collection, Low Moon, is evidence of this trend... The reader, meanwhile, just lapses into a giddy comics coma." - Casey Jarman, Willamette Week

• Preview: Previews posts 7 pages from Low Moon. Have we mentioned it's in stores today?

• Preview: Action Yes throws a big spotlight on Abstract Comics with "A Quick Introduction to Abstract Comics" by Tim Gaze; several excerpts from the anthology, including part of editor Andrei Molotiu's introduction; and new comics (one, two) from Molotiu; not only that, the same issue includes new visual poetry from our very own Nico Vassilakis

• Interview: Brian Heater of The Daily Cross Hatch concludes his 2-part chat with "the visionary" Jason. Sample quote: "I worked in a furniture factory for nine months... I really hated it. So I went to art school instead. Turned out to be not that much of a difference, of course."

• Interview: The hosts of The Comix Claptrap podcast "talk comics shop and try to get LA gossip from talented cartoonist, John Pham, of Sublife, Kramers Ergot 7 and Mome fame"

• Plug: At The Geek Curmudgeon Rick Klaw says "I've been eagerly awaiting" the new Fletcher Hanks collection You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation!; previously, of Prince Valiant Vol. 1: 1937-1938 he simply says "WOW!"

• Plug: In addition to the previously linked online excerpt, New York Magazine also drops Tales Designed to Thrizzle Vol. 1 by Michael Kupperman into the "Lowbrow/Brilliant" quadrant of their "Approval Matrix" in the print edition

• Plug: "Low Moon: It’s the latest from Jason. Or, in other words, it’s one of this week’s absolute must-reads." - J. Caleb Mozzocco, Newsarama

• Plug: "Pick of the week: Low Moon... [B]y this point Jason has proven himself to be one of the stellar talents in Fantagraphics' roster (which is really saying something, by the way) and this collection of short stories... should likely only cement that reputation as the artist plays with such traditional genres as the Western, film noir, and alien abductions. All offered with the usual dollops of sardonic humor and heartfelt sympathy." - Chris Mautner, Robot 6

• Plug: "Jason is sly and brilliant. [Low Moon] is highly recommended." - Corey Blake

• Plug: "Low Moon: New Jason, from Fantagraphics. All I need to know... This guy's a treasure." - Jog - The Blog

• Plug: John Jakala of Sporadic Sequential takes us to task for the smaller trim size of Luba vs. Palomar, but concedes "the smaller size is actually easier to handle when reading. OK, you win this round, Fantagraphics"

• Events: Publishers Weekly reports on the panels at the 2009 MoCCA Festival, including the Humbug panel with Al Jaffee & Arnold Roth and Paul Karasik's Fletcher Hanks presentation

• Speaking of whom: Paul Karasik posts an all-too-rare blog entry, this time on the sequential storytelling of Renaissance master Giotto

• Things to see: Richard Sala unearths an alternate, unused cover for Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires

• Things to see: A new batch of sketchbookery from Anders Nilsen

YouTube user furryisthenewedgy has posted video of Paul Karasik questioning Al Jaffee and Arnold Roth at the "Ah, Humbug!" panel at the 2009 MoCCA festival. Paul says, "The sound is not very good, so in case you can't hear it, when I ask Al Jaffee the 'Stupid Question': "Are you Al Jaffee?", his 'Snappy Answer' is, 'No...I'm Paul Karasik!' Biggest laugh all night. The guy is 88." 

Part 1:

Part 2:

Pummelin' Paul Karasik provides details of the Fletcher Hanks-travaganza planned for this coming weekend's MoCCA Festival in NYC:

"The Fletcher Hanks Experience" will debut at MoCCA Comics festival on Saturday, June 6 at 5:00.

"The Fletcher Hanks Experience" is a safari over the craggy landscape of the psyche of Fletcher Hanks. Combining archival audio of Hanks' son with comic book panels, Paul Karasik takes the audience into the mind of the man whom R. Crumb called, "A Twisted dude".

PLUS: "You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation!" the 2nd of volume of collected Hanks tales will also debut at MoCCA!

PLUS PLUS PLUS: Each Hanks book purchased at MoCCA comes with a complimentary coloring book, "Color Me or DIE!" with a cover drawn by Charles Burns!!!

Paul Karasik will be signing books on Saturday, June 6 from 2-3 and Sunday, June 7 from 12-1

(For more Fantagraphics signing times and activities, click here.)

NOT TO MENTION: Paul appeared on the mighty WFMU this morning on Benjamen Walker's show, "Theory of Everything." We weren't able to alert you in time but fortunately you can stream or download the interview right now from WFMU's online archive!

Start yer plannin'! These are all subject to last-minute change; we'll try to give advance notice of any changes if we can. We'll have more MoCCA-related announcements in the coming days so stay tuned.

FANTAGRAPHICS MoCCA SIGNINGS

SATURDAY SIGNINGS

11:00 am - Noon • Paul Hornschemeier, Dash Shaw & Derek Van Gieson (Mome - just added!) (Unfortunately Nate Neal, previously scheduled for this time, won't be able to make it to the Fest.)

Noon - 2:00 pm • Jason & Michael Kupperman

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm • Paul Karasik & Bob Fingerman

3:00 pm - 4:00 pm • Lilli Carré, Miss Lasko-Gross & Ted Stearn

4:00 - 5:00 pm • Arnold Roth & Al Jaffee

5:00 pm - 6:00 pm • John Kerschbaum & Dash Shaw

SATURDAY PANELS

3:00 pm - 3:50 pm
 • AH, HUMBUG! Arnold Roth and Al Jaffee in conversation

4:00 pm - 4:50 pm
 • Scandinavian Comics 101, With Steffen P. Maarup, Thomas Thorhauge and Ib Kjeldsmark (From Wonderland with Love)

5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
 • Paul Karasik on the Twisted Genius of Fletcher Hanks

SUNDAY SIGNINGS

11 am - Noon • Steffen P. Maarup, Christoffer Zieler, Ib Kjeldsmark, Allan Haverholm, Thomas Thorhauge, Simon Bukhave and Søren Mosdal (From Wonderland with Love)

Noon - 1:00 pm • Paul Karasik, Sara Edward-Corbett (Mome) & Ted Stearn

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm • Dame Darcy & Dash Shaw

2:00 pm - 4:00 pm • Jason & Michael Kupperman

4:00 pm - 5:00 pm • Bob Fingerman, Paul Hornschemeier & Miss Lasko-Gross

SUNDAY PANELS

11 am - 11:50 am
 • Kent Worcester and Tom Kaczynski in conversation

Noon - 1:00 pm
 • The Astonishing SVA Roundtable with Dash Shaw

3:45 pm - 4:45 pm
 • Gary Panter and Frank Santoro in conversation

WHAT:

2009 MoCCA FESTIVAL

The 8th annual art festival celebrating comics and cartoon art.

WHEN:

Saturday, June 6th and Sunday, JUNE 7th

11:00am - 6:00pm each day

WHERE:

The 69th Regiment Armory

68 Lexington Avenue at Lexington Avenue at 25th Street

New York City
By subway: 6 Train to 28th Street Station

Paul Karasik poses with his two "sons," the Fletcher Hanks collections I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets! and what looks like an unbound proof of the forthcoming You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation! (debuting at MoCCA 2009). Proud papa.

Following the stunning success of the Eisner Award winning I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets, a second volume collecting the stories of Fletcher Hanks, "You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation!", will debut at MoCCA in June.

Volume II contains more than TWICE as many Fletcher Hanks stories than Volume I as well as an introduction written by Paul Karasik and illustrated with drawings never before published by the elusive Super Wizard of the Inkwell, Fletcher Hanks.

Together the two volumes will comprise The Complete Fletcher Hanks, the artist who created 51 tales in a hailstorm of creative fury during the first three years of the comic book industry and then...mysteriously disappeared.

It now seems that he left behind another mystery, as well.

In compiling the book, editor Karasik noticed a few peculiarities. Hanks wrote and drew a story featuring a Jungle Magician named Tabu in Jungle Comics #2 (Jan. 1940). In this story Tabu speaks an odd Jungle patois in a single panel (otherwise he chats and thinks in, of course, perfect English), "ALLA KA TABU NEE PAPH EN YAL!".

Six months later in Jungle Comcs # 6 (June 1940), an evil character named The Demon speaks to the rainforest denizens in much the same kind of lingo when he says, "ALI KAH BABLOO NE PAPH EN YAH!" (see below)

Two very similar word balloons, six months apart. Is there a hidden meaning?

Calling all linguists and code-crackers! Any thoughts or suggestions, please contact Pau Karasik via his website:

www.fletcherhanks.com

• Review: The Chicago Tribune on Monologues for Calculating the Density of Black Holes by Anders Nilsen: "The loneliness comes off the page in waves, trailed by dark humor... Nilsen's work may have a minimalist look, but he's exploring the biggest issues around. And you can't stop turning the pages."

• Review: Brix Picks' Book of the Week is The Chuckling Whatsit by Richard Sala, which they say "is one of those books that I revisit regularly because it's just so fun to read."

• Review: Bookopolis gives Unlovable Vol. 1 by Esther Pearl Watson 4.5 stars: "This book is so much fun - it kept me laughing for hours. Not only is the dialogue hilarious but the drawings themselves are really hysterical."

• Review: The Walrus, running down all of this year's Doug Wright Awards nominees, looks at Hall of Best Knowledge by Ray Fenwick: "...Fenwick’s skill with design renders the handwritten words adaptable and full of stubborn character, turning them into a cocky little world of their own."

• List: Cartoon Flophouse names "My Holy Trinity of Humor Comics," including E.C. Segar's Popeye ("brilliant... I love the rhythms of Segar's strips, the repetition from strip to strip, and the way Popeye evolved into a lead character") and Basil Wolverton's Powerhouse Pepper ("in his 'Powerhouse Pepper' strips, Wolverton demonstrated some of the best character designs in comics. And the whole rhyme-scheme dialogue is insane. There's a really good Fantagraphics book that collects all the Powerhouse strips" -- and it's half off, we might add)

• List: The Examiner's "essential comic book geek's guide to women and dating and sharing the love" shares the following advice: "If you've got a girlfriend or potential love interest, show her why comics are wonderful. Show her... Ghost World by Daniel Clowes, Black Hole by Charles Burns..."

• Preview: Dave's Comics looks at the recent flurry of Paul Hornschemeier material

• Preview: Holy Heroes on our solicitation for The Wolverton Bible: "Now this is exciting... as someone who's a fan of the weird, the religious, and the weird religious, [this book] is more than welcome news."

• Reportage: Paul Karasik goes to Italy, hangs out with Paul Auster, writes a hilarious blog post about it

• Things to see: I think this might be an outtake (in rough form) from Steven Weissman's "Blue Jay"

I had a great time at San Diego Comic Con 2008!  I've been going for about 6 years in a row and each new year it swells and festers, expands and quivers like a giant quivering zit.  I love it!  Here are some photos...

I really like this photo of Jim Woodring.  Raconteur of Blue Collar Surrealism and Cartoon Mysticism, Jim Woodring is a hero of mine, and has been since I was twelve!  He is a constant source of sage wisdom, a profitable dawning of understanding and articulating human as well as immortal folly; Jim's work continues to alter my experience.

This is the last book I would've imagined finding at Comic-Con.  I highly recommend you find a copy of Kenneth Patchen's The Walking-Away World and Jim's introduction nails it. 

(L to R:  Dan Nadel, Paul Karasik & Jordan Crane)

Like his work, Paul is replete with useful information... it's the kind of information that escapes most folks... and if you don't know what I'm talking about you need to track down a copy of Bad News #2.  I like this photo because it looks like he's giving a lesson.

(L to R:  Jordan Crane, Paul Karasik, Dan Nadel & Jim Woodring)

Isn't this great!?  Maybe it's just me, but I love how impassioned Dan looks, how considerate Paul looks, how mischievous Jordan looks and then there's Jim to the far right, hard at work drawing another PERFECT Frank head.

More to come...

Each year the Dedica Festival in northern Italy celebrates a single writer. Last year they invited Nadine Gordimer and this year they will raise a glass or two of Chianti to Paul Auster. The graphic novel version of Auster's "City of Glass" has sold out of three separate editions in Italy so the organizers of the event have also invited Paul Karasik to Dedica at the end of March. For the first time Karasik's original panel-by-panel breakdowns of City of Glass will be exhibited and a limited edition of facsimile copies will be sold. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear Auster and Karasik discuss the process of the creation of the graphic novel.