Monday, July 22, 2013
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
A SELECTION OF RAYS AND WEAPONS FROM THE COMICS OF FLETCHER HANKS
1) HIGHLY ACCELERATED LIGHT WAVES -- chosen method for interplanetary travel by the Super Wizard Stardust
2) ANTI-GRAVITY RAY - self explanatory
3) ATOM SMASHER WITH LONG-RANGE AUTOMATED FINDER -- scary sounding weapon that doesn't work because Stardust unleashes his ---
4) BOOMERANG RAY -- capable or reverse the direction of any other ray
5) MAGNETIC RAY -- can attract people as well as metals
6) SUSPENDING RAY -- prevents anything caught by magnetic rays from falling to the ground once magnetic ray is turned off
6) SECRET RAY -- possibly has multiple functions, but Stardust uses it to materialize the skeletons of criminals' victims (scary)
7) JU-JU DRUM -- drum with hypnotic powers used by Org to control giant, flesh-eating spiders
8) SUPER SUPERIORITY BEAM -- used by Fantomah, Mystery Woman of the Jungle, to defeat Org
9) SUPER INTERPLANETARY TELEVISION SET -- used by Stardust when spying on criminal activity anywhere in the universe -- comes equipped with a Thought Recorder
10) PANORAMIC CONCENTRATION UNIT -- somehow different the Super Interplanetary Television set (see #9 above)
11) FUSING RAYS -- turns airplanes into blobs of steel
12) CONCENTRATED THOUGHT WAVES -- allow Fantomah, Mystery Woman of the Jungle, to fly (similar to Highly Accelerated Light Waves, see # 1 above.)
13) SIMPLIFIED TELEVISION UNIT -- a handheld version of the Super Interplanetary Television Set (See # 9 above)
14) POWERFUL RAY -- undefined weapon; very powerful
15) DISINTEGRATING RAY -- self-explanatory
16) ANTI-SOLAR RAY -- capable of stopping the earth's rotation, thus destroying gravity
17) HYDRAULIC BALANCE RAY -- used to keep water on the planet after Anti-Solar ray is deployed ( see # 16 above)
18) ATTRACTOR BEAMS -- used by Stardust to retrieve humans floating away from earth after deployment of anti-solar ray (see # 16 above)
19) THE CONCENTRATOR -- allows Stardust to combine many men into one man
2) ANTI-GRAVITY RAY - self explanatory
3) ATOM SMASHER WITH LONG-RANGE AUTOMATED FINDER -- scary sounding weapon that doesn't work because Stardust unleashes his ---
4) BOOMERANG RAY -- capable or reverse the direction of any other ray
 |
| Stardust's sense of justice has a Dantesque quality |
5) MAGNETIC RAY -- can attract people as well as metals
6) SUSPENDING RAY -- prevents anything caught by magnetic rays from falling to the ground once magnetic ray is turned off
6) SECRET RAY -- possibly has multiple functions, but Stardust uses it to materialize the skeletons of criminals' victims (scary)
7) JU-JU DRUM -- drum with hypnotic powers used by Org to control giant, flesh-eating spiders
8) SUPER SUPERIORITY BEAM -- used by Fantomah, Mystery Woman of the Jungle, to defeat Org
 |
| When Fantomah gets angry she gets ugly |
9) SUPER INTERPLANETARY TELEVISION SET -- used by Stardust when spying on criminal activity anywhere in the universe -- comes equipped with a Thought Recorder
10) PANORAMIC CONCENTRATION UNIT -- somehow different the Super Interplanetary Television set (see #9 above)
11) FUSING RAYS -- turns airplanes into blobs of steel
12) CONCENTRATED THOUGHT WAVES -- allow Fantomah, Mystery Woman of the Jungle, to fly (similar to Highly Accelerated Light Waves, see # 1 above.)
13) SIMPLIFIED TELEVISION UNIT -- a handheld version of the Super Interplanetary Television Set (See # 9 above)
14) POWERFUL RAY -- undefined weapon; very powerful
15) DISINTEGRATING RAY -- self-explanatory
16) ANTI-SOLAR RAY -- capable of stopping the earth's rotation, thus destroying gravity
 |
| Anti-solar ray in action |
17) HYDRAULIC BALANCE RAY -- used to keep water on the planet after Anti-Solar ray is deployed ( see # 16 above)
18) ATTRACTOR BEAMS -- used by Stardust to retrieve humans floating away from earth after deployment of anti-solar ray (see # 16 above)
19) THE CONCENTRATOR -- allows Stardust to combine many men into one man
All images and rays are from the comics of Fletcher Hanks, published in the late 1930's and early 1940's, anthologized in I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets, edited by Paul Karasik. (Fantographics Books, 2007. You can read my review of I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets here)
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