Jack Staff! Britain's Greatest Hero, for a certain definition of "hero." Jack always seems to be where someone needs him to be, if not always where someone (including himself) wants him to be. He doesn't often win, but he always tries, even if it costs him. That's a hero, I suppose.
The original Jack Staff adventures, done in black and white, which seems to suit Grist. He really uses the negative space, outlining the setting or the shape of a character or object by the solid shadows around it. The scene with Jack and the Spider in the thief's lair being a prime example as Jack spends pages in what looks like a void, with only narrow traces of light in a web pattern as a guide. Very dramatic, very atmospheric.
I've remarked at different times in the past that it may be Jack's name as the title, but it isn't always his book. I would have sworn Grist said something to that effect in the foreword of the collected edition, but no. Maybe it was at the start of the second volume. Either way, Grist spends as much time on other characters as he does on John Smith, builder, aka Jack Staff. Becky Burdock, Girl Reporter, then later Beck Burdock, Vampire Reporter in particular, as Grist seems to be steadily building her up for something that sort of paid off in Weird World of Jack Staff.
I'm not actually a huge fan of Becky. When she's not bugging Jack Staff to save her, she's yelling at him for getting her mixed up in something, when it was usually her investigative reporter snooping that got her involved in everything to begin with. When he's not around, she yells at him for not showing up to save her. Like he's got no life beyond bailing her out.
There's also Q, the group that investigates weird crimes, of which there are plenty in Castletown. Helen Morgan seems to be the focus, the one who always knows more of what's going on than everyone else, the one content to play mind games (literally) to get the results she deems necessary.
Beyond them, Grist introduces a father-son vampire-hunting team, a dimwitted cop named "Maveryck", an "escapologist" from the Victorian Era, and The Druid, who keeps trying to communicate with us about matters of dire import. Grist takes advantage of the medium as a way to avoid giving up too much information, which was a nifty touch.
It's also kind of the nature of the game with this book. He drops a lot of hints about Jack. He was definitely around in World War II. He claims he saw the escapologist, Charlie Raven, perform live. He has energy powers he only rarely uses, though the particulars of "why", like most things related to him, are left unknown. It's all a big mystery, and only a few are ever answered.
2 comments:
I can't remember if Grist ever explains it in print, but the odd format of Jack Staff -- with other characters getting as much page time as Jack, complete with their own logos -- is intended to mimic the sort of anthology comics that are (or at least were) more common here in the UK than in the US.
That sounds familiar, but I don't remember if it was in an intro, or a letter's column. We might have discussed it some time in the past, too.
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