The original, black-and-white volume of Jack Staff ran 12 issues across 2000-2003. Then he took the concept to Image, or they approached him about publishing it, and boom! New #1 and away we go.
Grist started with a story about Jack's last adventure before his 20-year absence, which also served to hint at something larger, a war between two forces, "Red" and "Green". We don't know what's at stake, or what either side represents, besides themselves. I'm not sure we ever see someone specifically allied with the Red. Maybe the shadow that helps out Becky Burdock, Vampire Reporter.
That thread never really gets anywhere within this volume, though we might have seen parts of it in Weird World of Jack Staff. What it does accomplish is to alter the view of Helen Morgan. In the first volume, Helen seems like the all-knowing puppet master. Jerking around and manipulating people with a mysterious smile on her face. She keeps her cards close to the vest, even with the people she ostensibly works with.
What this volume reveals is that Helen herself is a puppet on the strings of the same Ragman-looking being that was using Jack before he retired. That it swept her up in a moment of desperation and now she can't get free, not until she accomplishes something very difficult.
In that sense, not unlike the Eternal Champion who appears midway through the series. A warrior condemned to fight on behalf of "the Cosmic" until it deems that he's done enough to redeem himself. Allowing the jailer to have total control on when the sentence is up works as poorly for the jailed as you'd expect.
Between those two, Jack's WW2 antagonist Kaptain Krieg, and with all the forces circling Becky, a real theme seems to be people at the mercy of greater forces. Becky's the only one who might, again, based on Weird World of Jack Staff, have managed to slip the noose, but it seemed so easy how she rejected what seemed to be fate that it's hard to believe she did more than get a reprieve. Krieg's attempt to take control of his existence succeeds in killing him, but not the thing using him. Helen and the Champion seemingly can't die, or don't stay dead if they do, so even that exit's denied them.
Makes the book kind of depressing when I think of it that way.
Grist's figurework is much the same as it was in the first volume, and you can see elements of his design sense in the page layouts some times, but he shifts his approach a bit to account for being in color. Less emphasizing negative space, more taking advantage of the color work to create theme or mood. Elliot (and later Erik Larsen a few times) use vivid swirls for the scenes with the Druid or when the Eternal Champion falls through space. Or Helen Morgan's dreams, shaded in green.
The second volume ran for 20 issues over about 6 years, going through long stretches of absence. A year between #13 and #14 (though there were a couple of oversized Specials in the gap), 8 months between #19 and #20.
5 comments:
The eternal warrior is a version of Adam Eterno.
The grand cosmic conflict was quite an interesting idea, so it's a shame that it was never resolved, like many other things in the series. I know Grist is working on new stories for his police drama Kane, but I'd love to see a return to Jack Staff at some point.
I was thinking of the Eternal Warrior from the '90s Valiant Comics line, but he might be a takeoff of that guy. Either way, looking at the images, I see what you mean.
I would have loved to see some sort of conclusion to the cosmic conflict. I know in Weird World of Jack Staff, Becky rejects the sword and the Mask of Fate she's supposedly meant to wear, but I kind of doubted someone can just throw off their role like that.
You mentioned last year Grist had showed some Jack Staff pages online, possibly for an anthology. Can't imagine that would be the place to wrap things up, but never can tell.
I thought about looking into his Burglar Bill series, after they posted some snippets in the back of some of these Jack Staff comics, but it looks like he never finished that, either.
There was Mud Man too, which only lasted a handful of issues.
Oh yeah, I remember the Savage Critics reviewing an issue of that at some point. I wonder if it's that these things don't sell, or if Grist just gets bored easily and moves on to the next thing.
I suspect a bit of both.
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