Written by: David Hitchcock
Art by: David Hitchcock
Publisher: Titan Comics
Springheeled Jack is a neat little Victorian, steampunk tale that has a lot going for it. It’s almost absurdly complex but a lot of what it does have going on is precisely why it works as well as it does. Springheeled Jack is a graphic novel for pretty much anyone who considers themselves a horror fan, a sci-fi fan, or even just a Victorian fan as creator David Hitchcock has crafted a great story out of all of these elements.
These familiar with legends may recognize Springheeled Jack as the name of a devilish creature that was popular in Victorian folklore. Perhaps the most well known story is how a town was greeted with hooved footprints in the fresh snow that showed some sort of creature had gone up to doors, leaped over gates, and even walked on the roofs of people’s houses. This creature of legend serves as the launching point Springheeled Jack’s plot and the story really takes off from there. Jack Rackham, our hero and main character, is a man who’s obsessed with finding Springheeled Jack after the monster took the love of his life right in front of his eyes. Rackham now spends his days finding leads on the creature in the desperate hope that his love may still be alive. It’s a simple enough plot but Hitchcock embellishes it into a much more complex tale.
While Springheeled Jack could’ve survived as just a creature story, I’m absolutely in love with the way Hitchcock combined a ton of theories and myths of legend with literary tropes. This isn’t merely a Victorian scary story. It’s a scary story with a heavy dose of revenge and ideas that seem to be Lovecraftian in nature which is by no means a bad thing. As Rackham begins to learn that his love’s disappearance might not be as simple as a monster abducting her, we as readers get sent on a roller coaster ride that only seems to end on the final page. It’s a somewhat weird pacing choice, as the first quarter of the novel is fairly slow and nails the Victorian aspects. However, once the ride starts it’s hard to put it down because a page can legitimately change the entire direction of the novel.
Springheeled Jack is getting a lot of hype as being a great Victorian horror novel but I think that it belongs much more to Lovecraft. The second half of it reveals some rather shocking details concerning the creature and its origin. The reveal won’t be spoiled here but it certainly makes the story much more dynamic and interesting. David Hitchcock also makes use of some great literary characters and features by including Dr. Henry Jekyll as one of Rackham’s best friends. It’s these things that really make Springheeled Jack out to be a labor of love.
Hitcock’s art is glorious and a perfect fit for the story. The entire book is done with pencils, only using shading for color. With the entire novel done in black and white, it helps give the already dark story some more despair and it feels right at home among the steampunk elements. My only complaint with the visuals is that some of the cursive text (namely at the beginning) is rather hard to read. Personally speaking (and I know I’m not alone) I find that cursive text as a whole is hard to read in comics regardless of the overall art style so I wish that it had been done in perhaps a more stylized print instead. Other than that, the visuals are great and I especially love how the various dark tendrils that spread across panels and pages are drawn.
Springheeled Jack is a comic that a lot of people are going to enjoy. It expertly combines genres and techniques to create a super dynamic story. The pacing may turn off some people, as it isn’t a straightforward horror story and takes quite awhile to get going. However, if you don’t mind getting bogged down in details, the facts will line up in a way that we only get from the best mystery novels.
