[gerv1]

Hello All,

First-time poster here.
           Not very knowledgeable re: Golden Age, but interested.

I'd like to figure out which "Space Smith" in Fantastic Comics https://comicbookplus.com/?cid=1395

                                 -are truely Hanks.
The Space Smith stories in Fantastic 1-6 are he,
but the one in Fantastic #7 can't possibly be.
'tho the 'Stardust' in that issue sure is Hanks.

In Fantastic #8, he's doing S.Smith again. (-thanks?)

Anyone know of a list or blog post that clarifies?


(I'd like to make a S.Smith compilation to post here a la "Stardust'&'Fantomah' already up
- eventually! idk how to exactly, yet.)


http://www.comics.org/penciller/name/fletcher%20hanks/sort/chrono/
doesn't question the ids. ['tho I'm grateful for the list.]


I'll Thank You for any replies.

-I'm oddly fascinated by this dreadful man & artist (largely thanks to Mr. Karasik)


[sorry if I should've posted links to relevant pages, idk how yet]

[gerv1]

CORRECTION: http://www.comics.org/penciller/name/fletcher%20hanks/sort/chrono/
does not claim it is Hanks in #7, 
It is #9,#11 & above I wondered about.


(embarrassing error in my very 1st post! -great.)

[josemas]

The Space Smith stories in issues #9 and 11 do not look like Hanks to me.  Neither does the Stardust story in #9 (although the Stardust story in #11 is assuredly by Hanks).

My two cents

Joe

[gerv1]

I think you are right Joe,

it looks like Hanks' last S.Smith was in Fantastic #8.
-the first substitute artist was #7 & he seems to be trying to be as odd/bad as Fletcher Hanks, but fails 

I wish more of the Smiths were paper rather than Fiche 

As his own 'Stardust' continues to #16, I wonder if they were all done at once. He doesn't appear to 'improve'. Further study warranted...


I find the very-early comics like  'Fantastic' interesting, It seems most of the creators are testing things out & there are no 'rules' to be broken.
     'Professor Fiend' is also quite demented. 


Thanks 4 your reply!

A.

[josemas]

As his own 'Stardust' continues to #16, I wonder if they were all done at once. He doesn't appear to 'improve'. Further study warranted...

IIRC, Hanks was not a real young guy when he did his comic book work and what we are seeing there in these stories may well be his mature style after he "improved".

Best

Joe

[gerv1]

Yes, he does appear to arrive with a style of his own. His son thought he'd done murals for private homes, and I think there is speculation he was involved in WPA murals.
Previous experience with projecting/tracing may explain the differently-sized repetition of images in his comic-work.

Perhaps there are unknown Hanks in the background of faded family photos. ("What's that funny picture on the wall behind Grandma?" -"I remember that! -it was painted over a few years later...")


Such a memorable artist - so nearly forgotton!

-I wonder what he'd have thought of the Stardust action figure...

[Pulpshmoo]

Space Smith isn't the work of Fletcher Hanks--I mean, the artist who put his stanp on stories in a distinctive style. The first 8 have some of his characteristics, but even here the other artists predominate. He may have done the preliminary sketches for the first 8, but final penciling and inking are clearly by others.

[marionette]

Space Smith turns up in one of the Fantagraphics collections of Fletcher Hanks. There are stories from Fantastic #1 - 6 & 8. Seeing them in context with Hanks' other work they fit very much within his style. He even reuses motifs from Fantomah and Stardust.

[narfstar]

The pencil/inker relationship often makes art id difficult. You also read where someone got their start as a background inker only then moved up to doing more, or someone just did faces, etc. Smith may simply have had a different inker.