Spring-Heeled Jack: the first superhero?

[kev67]

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?

[Richard]

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.

[TordelBack]

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.

[Richard]

I don't remember that in the Meg, and it's not listed on Barney. Are you sure it wasn't somewhere else?

[TordelBack]

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?

[The Mind of Wolfie Smith]

It was definitely in the Megazine. And absolutely moodily brilliant it was too.

[The Mind of Wolfie Smith]

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#

[M.I.K.]

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.