Dave Baker and Malachi Ward tackle an Obscure Golden Age Icon
A-typical or vanilla superheroes aren’t something that occupy my usual coverage in the comic book medium. There’s enough of that in the world, and not to put to fine a point on it, if you haven’t got a new take on what makes a caped crusader, then what business do you have releasing a superhero comic book in the first place? Aging cynicism aside, I do enjoy an innovative deconstructivist view of the superhero trope – as few and far between as they might be. Leading to today’s article.
Oni Press have announced the first issue of Dave Baker and Malachi Ward’s CITIZEN: STARDUST #1 (of 12). An comic book series which is promising to be intense and enthralling from the first issue. This prestige maxi-series comes from Eisner Award nominee Dave Baker (Mary Tyler MooreHawk, Halloween Boy), artist Malachi Ward (Black Hammer: The End, Prophet) and colour art by multiple Eisner Award winner Dave Stewart (Hellboy).
CITIZEN: STARDUST reimagines Golden Age cartoonist Fletcher Hanks’ once-forgotten, psycho-surrealist superhero – STARDUST THE SUPER WIZARD – as the fading pop culture mainstay of an alternate America, where the aging actor behind the character’s rise to superstardom is about to discover the terrifying secrets behind his cinematic alter ego.
As Baker goes on to explain:
“The probability of Stardust: The Super-Wizard becoming one of the most bizarre and unique comics to be published in 2027 seems extraordinarily high, to me,” said writer Dave Baker. “Malachi Ward and I are bringing a new perspective to the superhero world informed by psychogeography, cult sacrifices, and technology beyond human comprehension. If that doesn’t make you want to read it? Just know that there’s a cat of nine tails made of human skulls.”
Ward echoes this sentiment. Going further to explain the thoughtfulness of his colleague’s writing:
“Dave’s take on Stardust, and on the work of Fletcher Hanks as a whole, is such a compelling meditation on the savagery of American pop culture and the often tragic consequences of trying to make something great,” said artist Malachi Ward. “The task of bringing all of that grotesque action and sprawling imagination to the comic page is the most ambitious joy of my career so far. You are not going to believe what these pages hold.”
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It’s no surprise that Oni Press have chosen to present this tale in a maxi-series format. Because one thing is for certain, Baker and Ward have a lot of ground to cover. Let’s dive into the story itself.
In 1947, no Hollywood star shined more brightly than Barclay Flagg – the rugged and cocksure leading man better known to an adoring public as STARDUST, post-war America’s first and most bankable on-screen superhero. Across dozens of films, serials, and radio shows, he entertained millions in STARDUST’s hyper-violent, cinematic spectacles – until an attempted assassination by a crazed fan ended his once-luminous career with a bullet. Twisted by pain, excess, and unfailing ego in the decades since, Flagg’s decaying, Los Angeles mansion – and the fallen star within it – have become rotting effigies of their former selves – until a fortuitous and well-timed invitation arrives unexpectedly on the doorstep.
Flagg has been invited to join The Institute – an experimental arts retreat dedicated to advancing innovation through radical creativity. It’s here that Barclay Flagg can finally craft the long-gestating STARDUST masterpiece he’s always dreamt of making. He can restore his reputation. He can rekindle his celebrity. He can finally save the day.
With a near-unlimited budget and an obsessive crew of fellow Institute creators dedicated to bringing his vision to life, Flagg is about to discover that some dreams are too good to be true – and that the two-dimensional comic book hero inside him could never, ever be truly locked away.
President & Publisher of Oni Press, Hunter Gorinson has reinforced just how behind this series they really are:
“Lighting a new path out of the long shadow first cast by deconstructions like MIRACLEMAN, PLANETARY, and BLACK HAMMER, Dave and Malachi are cutting deep to probe the liminal edges of America’s obsession with superheroes, celebrity, self-destruction, and, of course, power,” said Oni Press President & Publisher Hunter Gorinson. “This is an exciting, disturbing, and fascinating series primed for anyone who has followed the arc of comics storytelling over the past half-century, and Fletcher Hanks’ signature creation – the beautifully bizarre STARDUST THE SUPER-WIZARD – is the perfect vehicle for this nightmarish descent into the superhero substrata. CITIZEN: STARDUST is comics of the highest order.”
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The History behind the Forgotten Icon
Originally created by writer/artist Fletcher Hanks in the pages of Fox Comics’ FANTASTIC COMICS #1 in 1939, the original STARDUST THE SUPER-WIZARD was one of a handful of colourfully disturbing Hanks creations typified by their seemingly unintentional collision of sadistic violence and maniacally amplified characterization that, when combined, gave the impression of a four-color champion who was more surrealist icon than traditional superhero.
Appearing in less than 20 stories across Hanks’ brief, two-year sojourn as a cartoonist, STARDUST was largely forgotten – along with rest of his creator’s work – until he was rediscovered by editor Paul Karasik, who gathered the first substantial appreciation of Hanks’ work in 2007’s Eisner Award-winning collection I SHALL DESTROY ALL THE CIVILIZED PLANETS.
Little is known of what became of Hanks following his departure from the comics industry in 1941; after decades of presumed substance abuse, he was discovered dead on a New York City park bench in 1976. Despite their one-time exile in obscurity, STARDUST and his fellow Hanks creations endure as transgressive comic book icons, all cut from the same impossibly singular mould.
CITIZEN: STARDUST #1 (of 12) will arrive in comic shops everywhere in April 2027, only from Oni Press.
