The Weird World of Jack Staff 1-5
Reviewed by Martin Skidmore 16-Nov-10
It’s hard to see anyone not enjoying this. Jack Staff is a great British superhero, and the stories revolve around him and a number of other unusual characters around him.
I should declare some bias up front: creator Paul Grist drew a couple of comics for me 20 years ago, and I’ve always liked his work enormously. He’s a really nice guy too.
Nonetheless, it’s hard to see anyone not enjoying this. Jack Staff is a great British superhero, and the stories revolve around him and a number of other unusual characters around him – a Victorian escapologist, a journalist who is also a vampire and several more. Paul tells the stories in an unusual way, flipping between strands and characters every few pages, as if these comics were collections of very short stories, except they do weave together in unpredictable ways. It leaves the reader with more work to do, especially given that some of these strands take place three weeks back or in the 19th Century, but it gives an unusual crackling energy to the narrative. I’m unclear as to the nature of the big threat or how it might be resolved, and I’ll certainly buy the comics to find out.
The characters are strong too – I was thinking at first that they might be too archetypal, especially given that some strongly resemble great old British characters such as the Steel Claw, but actually even in just these five issues there are plenty of surprises and extra aspects to each character, and I ended up with the impression that there were at least half a dozen who could sustain their own series, so I didn’t mind some being familiar.
But the biggest pleasure may be in the art. Letters column writers compare it to Jaime Hernandez, Mike Allred, Michael Mignola and Darwyn Cooke, which will give you an accurate enough image. His drawing style is relatively simple in appearance, but very bold and beautifully constructed, and his page layouts and panel compositions are outstanding. He even uses the page structure of the comic cleverly, giving us a letter column and then a couple more pages, or continuing onto the back cover. He also has the best sound effects I’ve seen in years, sometimes stunningly integrated into the art.
This is funny, imaginative, at times exciting and visually hugely striking. An excellent comic all round.
Tags: British Comics, Image, Paul Grist
I like Jack Staff in theory, but am always in practice a bit put off by the “spot the funny old character under a new name” thing he does.
I didn’t get the impression that it mattered whether you spotted them or not, that they stood up perfectly well on their own. I imagine I missed some references, but I didn’t feel as if I was missing out.
I love this series, having picked it up once it moved to Image, and then buying the B&W TPB. Yes, a lot of the characters are based in principle on others, especially from British comics, but then Grist gives them his own little twist (a Grist-twist) to make them his own. I’m also pleased that the issues are being produced a bit more frequently now, rather than practically being annuals, almost making Bryan Hitch seem fast by comparison.