I learnt something today off YouTube. There was a character called Spring-Heeled Jack from a Victorian penny-dreadful, who had about a fifty year run. I have wondered before whether penny-dreadfuls were more like comics than books. However, would he really be the first? What about all those ancient Greek gods and demi-gods? I mean, Thor already has a comic strip written about him. But supposing you were to stick to regularly published printed characters, who would be the first?
I think Jack was a rather than a hero. But the answer to who was first will almost certainly be somewhere on the Rusty Staples blog.
He's had versions appear in at least 3 2000AD strips too (Zenith Phase III, London Falling and Absalom), as well as David Hitchcock's excellent eponymous comic reprinted in the Meg.
I don't remember that in the Meg, and it's not listed on Barney. Are you sure it wasn't somewhere else?
Quote from: Richard on 13 November, 2020, 11:50:09 PM
I don't remember that in the Meg, and it's not listed on Barney. Are you sure it wasn't somewhere else?
Entirely possible!
EDIT: Just checked, it's there alright, 6 pages in Meg 245. I did think there was more than a few pages, though, remember enjoying it - I may be confusing it with a collection?
It was definitely in the Megazine. And absolutely moodily brilliant it was too.
Meanwhile, Tom Sparke's entirely different and wholly fun take on the matter is currently kickstarting its second issue:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/springheeledjack/a-sting-in-the-tail-spring-heeled-jack-issue-2?ref=project_build#
One of the Penny Dreadful versions was a Count of Monte Cristo type with a secret lair, a variety of gadgets, (funded using what remained of his vast fortune), batwings, a tendency to lurk in shadows and fog, and an overwhelming desire to right wrongs and defend the innocent. He also liked carving the letter "S" into people/things a couple of decades before Zorro demonstrated a similar habit. His secret identity was Bertram Wraydon.