Stardust the Super Wizard is a fictional superhero from the Golden Age of Comics who originally appeared in American comic books published by Fox Feature Syndicate. The character was created by writer-artist Fletcher Hanks, and made his first appearance in Fantastic Comics #1 (December 1939).
Publication history Golden Age stories Stardust the Super Wizard was featured in 16 issues of Fantastic Comics (December 1939–March 1941) and Big 3 #2 (January 1941). All features, with exceptions of Fantastic Comics #6 and #9, were both written and illustrated by Fletcher Hanks.
According to Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes, Stardust's foes include "ordinary criminals, the Brain-Men of Mars, the Super Fiend, Skullface Kurd, and Yew Bee and his Fifth Column".
Reprints and collections Stardust stories were reprinted in: Raw #5 (March 1983) Crack #2 (April 1984) Men of Mystery Comics (2001, 2005, 2007, 2015) Golden Age Greats Spotlight, vol. 3 (May 2008) Stardust the Super Wizard comics/RPG (September 2016)
Gwandanaland Comics issued the complete collection of Stardust stories from the Golden Age of Comics in Gwandanaland Comics #9: Stardust the Super Wizard (September 2016).
The complete works of Fletcher Hanks have been collected in the Fantagraphics Books: I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets! (2007) You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation! (2009) Turn Loose Our Death Rays and Kill Them All! (2016) The last volume is a combination of the first two with additional material. The complete collection catalogs all 15 of Fletcher Hanks' classic Stardust stories. In 2008, editor Paul Karasik received an Eisner Award for "Best Archival Collection/Project: Comic Books" for his work on I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets! In 2009, Fantagraphics started to include a Fletcher Hanks mini-comic coloring book titled Color Me or Die!, featuring a cover by Charles Burns, to people who ordered volumes of The Complete Fletcher Hanks.
Index Date Publication Publisher 1939.12 Fantastic Comics #1 Fox Feature Syndicate 1940.01 Fantastic Comics #2 Fox Feature Syndicate 1940.02 Fantastic Comics #3 Fox Feature Syndicate 1940.03 Fantastic Comics #4 Fox Feature Syndicate 1940.04 Fantastic Comics #5 Fox Feature Syndicate 1940.05 Fantastic Comics #6 Fox Feature Syndicate 1940.06 Fantastic Comics #7 Fox Feature Syndicate 1940.07 Fantastic Comics #8 Fox Feature Syndicate 1940.08 Fantastic Comics #9 Fox Feature Syndicate 1940.09 Fantastic Comics #10 Fox Feature Syndicate 1940.10 Fantastic Comics #11 Fox Feature Syndicate 1940.11 Fantastic Comics #12 Fox Feature Syndicate 1940.12 Fantastic Comics #13 Fox Feature Syndicate 1941 Big 3 #2 Fox Feature Syndicate 1941.01 Fantastic Comics #14 Fox Feature Syndicate 1941.02 Fantastic Comics #15 Fox Feature Syndicate 1941.03 Fantastic Comics #16 Fox Feature Syndicate 1983.03 Raw #5 Raw Books & Graphics 1984.04 Crack #2 Stödföreningen ETC 2001 Men of Mystery Comics #34 AC Comics 2005 Men of Mystery Comics #55 AC Comics 2007 Men of Mystery: Golden Age Grand Slam #1 AC Comics 2007.06 The Complete Works of Fletcher Hanks, Vol. 1: I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets! Fantagraphics Books 2008.05 Golden Age Greats Spotlight, Vol. #3 - Fox Features: The First Heroic Wave AC Comics 2009 Color Me Or Die! Fantagraphics Books 2009.09 The Complete Works of Fletcher Hanks, Vol. 2: You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation! Fantagraphics Books 2015 Men of Mystery Comics #98 AC Comics 2016.09 Gwandanaland Comics #9: Stardust the Super Wizard CreateSpace 2016.09 Stardust the Super Wizard NUELOW Games 2016.12 Turn Loose Our Death Rays And Kill Them All!: The Complete Works of Fletcher Hanks Fantagraphics Books
Fictional character biography Stardust, whose vast knowledge of interplanetary science has made him the most remarkable man that ever lived, devotes his abilities to crime-busting. In later episodes, he changes his focus to racket-busting. In his Golden Age adventures, Stardust patrolled the entire occupied Solar System. The stories, however, focused primarily on his dealings with the planet Earth. Nothing is known of Stardust's past.
Stardust stories followed a tried-and-true formula. The Super Wizard would use his omniscient powers to eavesdrop on criminals plotting a crime. The main villain would describe his grandiose plan (e.g. to commit genocide, lay waste to a city, destroy democracy, etc.). Stardust would pontificate on how evil the villain's plans were but did nothing to prevent them. The villain would then put his plan into action, and many people were either killed or forced to flee. When Stardust arrived on the scene, he would verbally berate the villains and then set into motion a series of increasingly bizarre and violent acts of revenge against the evildoers, often turning their own schemes against them. When the dust cleared, the citizenry would often bemoan the fact that they were unable to thank their hero who had already flown back to his secret headquarters in the stars. Comic Book Resources
Further adventures Stardust the Super Wizard is in the public domain, and has appeared in stories published by various creators over the decades, including those who have rendered individual interpretations of the original character, which in some cases provide backstories, explain in plot holes in the original stories, or otherwise develop the character.
Publishers of tabletop role-playing games have created campaigns featuring Stardust the Super Wizard, allowing players to interact, collaborate, and write their own stories.
List of unofficial Stardust the Super Wizard stories Date Publication/outlet Story title Summary Publisher 2002.11 Five Earths Project "The Paragons: Deus Ex Astra" Doc Quantum(w), C Syphrett(w), Libby Lawrence(w), Bradley Cobb(w). “The Paragons: Deus Ex Astra”. Earth 4 (March 2002), The Five Earths Project. Stardust the Super Wizard returned to Earth after the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths to help usher in a new heroic age in a story written by Doc Quantum, C Syphrett, Libby Lawrence, and Bradley Cobb. Five Earths Project 2006.10 Faster Than the World "Fiction Universe Presents Stardust the Super Wizard" Kory Schaubhut (w, a). " Stardust the Super Wizard". Faster Than the World (October 2006), Faster Than the World. Stardust the Super Wizard fought assorted Halloween monsters and saves the girl (but forgets the guy) in a one-page webcomic by Kory Schaubhut. Faster Than the World 2006.11 FemForce #137 "Starcrossed" Chris Irving (w), Kurt Ruskin (a), Mark Heike (a), and Jeff Austin (a). "Starcrossed". FemForce #137 (November 2006), AC Comics. Femforce member Stardust (no relation) met Stardust the Super Wizard in a story by Chris Irving. AC Comics 2007.06 ThatsMySkull.blogspot.com "Jonah Hex the SUPER WIZARD!" Sleestak (a). “Jonah Hex the SUPER WIZARD!”. Lady, That's My Skull (June 2007), Lady, That’s My Skull. Jonah Hex stepped into the role of Stardust the Super Wizard in a parody by Sleestak. Lady, That's My Skull 2007.08 FemForce #140 "Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself" Chris Irving (w), Larry Guidry (a), Guillermo Sanna (a), Jeff Austin (a), Rob Landsley (a). "Stardust the Super Wizard". FemForce #140 (August 2007), AC Comics. Femforce battled the supreme villainy of the twisted demi-god Stardust the Super Wizard in a story by Chris Irving. AC Comics 2008.02 Fantastic Comics #24 "Stardust the Super Wizard" Joe Keatinge (w), Mike Allred (a). "Stardust the Super Wizard". Fantastic Comics #24 (February 2008), Image Comics. Stardust the Super Wizard returned to Earth to team up with a number of Golden Age superheroes and save humanity from itself in a new story written by Joe Keatinge and illustrated by Mike Allred as part of Image Comics' Next Issue Project. The story was narrated by the adult version of the nameless girl Stardust saved in Fantastic Comics #12 (November 1940). Image Comics 2008.02 Duck Web Comics "Stardust the Super Wizard" Jason Derr (w), Simon S. Andrews (a). “Stardust the Super Wizard”. The Duck Web Comics (February 2008), Dreamland Pictures. Stardust the Super Wizard, now in retirement, longed for the good old days when people needed heroes in the webcomic written by Jason Derr and illustrated by Simon S. Andrews. Dreamland Pictures 2008.03 Fletcher Hank Redux Fletcher Hanks Redux, ed. Jeremy W. "Sweetwater" Mullins and Christopher Berinato, (Savannah, GA: Sequential Laboratory, 2008). Multiple stories In 2008, students of Savannah College of Art and Design launched an online anthology that paid tribute to the works of Stardust's creator. The collection featured original stories by Jason Axtell,Jason Axtell (w,a). "Stardust the Super Wizard vs the Great Galactic Octopus ", Axtell Illustration (2008), Axtell Illustration . Stanton Broadway,Stanton Broadway (w,a). "Stardust", Stanton Broadway Illustration (2008), Stanton Broadway. Anna Ferrara,Anna Ferrara (w,a). "Fantomah’s Blind Date", concetta20.deviantart (2008), Concetta20. and Andrew Greenstone.Andrew Greenstone (w,a). "Stardust Destroys the Earth", stardust-super-wizard.tumblr (2017), Andrew Greenstone Comics and Illustration. The collection was edited by Jeremy W. "Sweetwater" Mullins and Christopher Berinato. The website is no longer active. Stardust the Super Wizard vs the Great Galactic Octopus, by Jason Axtell, featured a makeup-wearing Stardust the Super Wizard battling the Great Galactic Octopus and the Fantastic Club of Corruption in a story. The nameless girl from Fantastic Comics #12 (November 1940) played a supporting role. In Fantomah's Blind Date by Anna Ferrara, Stardust the Super Wizard played the supportive friend to Fantomah in a romcom short story.