Dakota McFadzean

In Steve Bissette’s Survey of the Drawn Story, we are required to do two essays during the semester. My first one was about Frank King’s Gasoline Alley. I haven’t written any real essays since my undergrad, so it was great to stretch those muscles again.

Of course, because this is the Center for Cartoon Studies, there’s usually the option of doing any assignment as a comic. And so for my second essay I did a mini comic about Fletcher Hanks. The upside of this is that I had a lot of fun trying to imitate Hanks.

The downside is that I spent so much time drawing and coloring the comic, that the content of the essay isn’t exactly hard-hitting, revolutionary stuff. Oh well! There’s not much I can say about Hanks that Paul Karasik hasn’t already said better. I strongly recommend picking up the two volumes edited by Karasik. They contain all known work by Hanks, but it’s worth it just to read Karasik’s comic about his research in Volume I.

Though it’s best to read Hanks’ work in small doses. It has strange effects on the brain.