The impactful black and white Step and Screw series began with a single idea — for Hancock’s alter ego, Torpedo Boy to come up against one of Philip Guston’s ineffectual Klansmen characters. Hancock sees Guston as a ‘grandfather character’ in his artistic practice, someone he has looked up to.

“I feel like my character Torpedo Boy has gone through a similar kind of metamorphoses over time [as Guston’s Klansmen character] and it would only make sense that my avatar and Philip Guston’s [avatar], I would describe it as one of his avatars, would meet up.” (Hancock, 2020)

This initial one-time experiment developed into a compelling visual essay exploring white supremacy, expanding to include organisations such as the police and organised religion. In this body of work Hancock confronts racial injustice, drawing from his own upbringing in North Texas and the political history of racism in the American South. This personal exploration opens up a deep discussion of culture, race and power.

Step and Screw: What’s the Big Idea? (2021) is a powerful large-scale work loaded with imagery, rendered in black fur adding to its depth. This bold political commentary comes from Hancock’s experience and his wider perceptions on the way the Black community is treated in America. In this scenario, Torpedo Boy has been asked to step on a stool to change a lightbulb in the dark. When the light comes on, he will be surrounded by Klansmen in a traditional comic book cliff hanger moment, we wonder what will happen to the character next?