Just been sipping some tea from a pot, eating a jam scone and reading "You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation" the second volume of the collected comics of Fletcher Hanks. What a top time! I fucking love comics (and tea).
The Hanks book is brill. Perfect accompaniment to a nice drop of Assam, and a fitting follow-up to yesterday's recommendation: Prison Pit. Hanks produced some crazy strips of course, and they are beautifully reproduced here, but the book is also worth buying for a nice intro from Paul Karasik which contains some very early Hanks art and a brief history of his life and death. A brutal alcoholic who kicked his four-year-old down the stairs before deserting his family completely, Hanks packed in comics in the early 40s, disappearing from the public eye and dying in 1976 as a drunk down-and-out on a park bench.
So, a thoroughly disagreeable chap who wasted his life and talent. Not quite the fairy-tale it could be, but he did leave a legacy of some very strange and angry comics AND it should be noted not only did he draw them, he wrote, lettered and coloured them too. Top stuff.
On to other matters: Dave F has fixed a date for the next Nerd Quiz - Sunday December 6th from 6.45pm at The Greenman & French Horn pub, St Martins Lane, London's magical West End. I'll big it up again nearer the time, but just thought I'd mention it nice and early now.
That is all.
