| Jack Flash | |
|---|---|
| Adventurestory character(s) fromThe Beano | |
 | |
| Publication information | |
| Stars in |
|
| Author(s) | Uncredited |
| Illustrator(s) |
|
| First appearance | Issue 355 (19 February 1949) |
| Last appearance | Issue 3093 (27 October 2001) |
| Current status | Discontinued |
| Character timeline | Issues 355 – 388, 410 – 429, 453 – 484, 701 – 719, 740 – 749, 789 – 801, 824 – 835, 3093 |
| Also appeared in | |
| Beano works |
|
| DC Thomson works |
|
| Main Character | |
| Powers | Flight |
| Family |
|
| [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] | |
Jack Flash is a Britishadventure story character published in the Britishcomic magazineThe Beano, first appearing in issue 355 with artwork byDudley Watkins. He featured for almost a decade in five serials (told in eightarcs), following his time as a foreigner toEarth and living in aCornish village.
Noticing the popularity of American comics in the United Kingdom,The Beano staff had an idea to create asuperhero for the magazine in the style of an American superhero.[10] Paper rationing continuing fromthe Blitz is believed to have prevented an ambitious approach to the plans, but a concept design used artwork ofCaptain Marvel to represent a "Jack Flash" character flying amongst rockets/missiles.[11]
Jack Flash is the son of a scientist from the planetMercury, who sneaks away from his family and leaves in his father's rocket. The rocket lands on Earth in Colbay, Cornwall, and Flash uses his power of flight to help and bond with the villagers, usually catching petty criminals and rescuing people from danger.
Flash is fair-haired and wears redlong johns and a blackleotard with a lightning bolt on the chest. His family can also fly due to tiny wings growing out of theirankles.[12] The characterisation shares similarities with theRoman god Mercury, who could fly using hiswinged sandals.
Until November 1975,The Beano featured adventuretext comics in their issues. An uncredited scriptwriter atDC Thomson would write each saga and an assigned artist designed artwork for a scene to fit each of the issue's eleven paragraphs.[13] Jack Flash had six sagas featured in the magazine for nine years between issue 355 and 835, with artwork byDudley D. Watkins, Fred Sturrock,Paddy Brennan and Andy Hutton, respectively. Despite his "superhero" conventions, Jack Flash's stories had notable "fish out of water" plots, where fighting criminals was occasional within astory arc about him being a helpful boy who happened to have powers.
Flash's first story,Jack Flash the Flying Boy, followed Flash's adventures after he arrived in Colbay. Watkins, who also designed many funnies and adventure stories forThe Beano,[14][15][16] drew the story panels for eleven issues until Sturrock replaced him in issue 367.[17] Sturrock continued illustrating for saga number two the following year, which spanned 20 issues between May and October.[18][19] Due to family illness, Flash is put in charge of a couple's four children as they leave to care for a relative. Brennan and Hutton both illustrated for the fourth and seventh sagas, respectively, in a series now namedJack Flash.[20] From issue 701 to 719, Brennan drew artwork for a story about Flash crash-landing his space ship in "Darkest" Africa, becomingmarooned with schoolchildren he travelled with.[21][22] The seventh (final) saga was a two-month long story about Flash helping a circus look for its escaped lion.[23][24]
The rest of Flash's stories featured him as joint-lead with others. The third saga (illustrated by Brennan),Jack Flash and the Terrible Twins (1951),[25][26] introduces Flash's family to the series as Flash reunites with his parents and his younger twin siblings: Jane and Jet, the "terrible twins" that cause mischief and chaos that Flash chases after them to fix. Flash also featured in 1956's 10-issued adventure storyThe Happy-Go-Luckies (also illustrated by Brennan),[27][28] helping the Luckie family move fromKent to Africa.[27]
Jack Flash officially leftThe Beano in 1958, last appearing in issue 835, but made appearances in otherBeano media. In the magazine itself, he has not returned since the 1950s, but appeared in a background cameo withBig Eggo andJonah in a special comic strip titledLord Snooty's Day Out in issue 3093, revealing formerly popular characters known by previous generations of readers now live in the Beanoretirement home.[29] He has featured inThe Beano Annual in both new stories or cameoing in artwork: 1953's edition was another story about his twin siblings causing mischief,[6] his solo features in 1951's,[30] 1952's,[5] 1954's,[4] 1958's,[3] and 1960's,[2] a Dudley D Watkins-drawn issue reprint inThe Beano Book 1959,[7] and he appeared on the front cover of 1953's,[6] the back cover for the 2000's,[31] and inside 2019's edition with 254 other characters fromThe Beano's history.[32]
For spin-offBeano magazines, Flash had his own strip inBeano Summer Special 2003,[33] and appeared in issue 1 ofBeanoMAX.[34] Adventure strips initially out ofBeanocanon for over twenty years meant Flash's stories were reworked asfunnies, withBeanoMAX's portrayal making Flash comedic and having crossovers with comic strip charactersBilly Whizz andCalamity James.[34]
The character was not just confined to the pages ofThe Beano. Sandy Calder designed stories for Flash inNutty in 1980 and 1981,[12][35] and an issue of Flash andBilly the Cat were reprinted to representThe Beano in theClassics from the Comics "Superhero Special" issue in 2010, celebrating superhero characters created by DC Thomson.[36]
Audience reception at the time is unavailable to the public, but Jack Flash became one of the longest-running characters inThe Beano's adventure story genre, along withJimmy Watson (eight sagas) andGeneral Jumbo (eight sagas).
A female version of Jack Flash, named Jackie Flash, appeared from issue 347 to 380 in theDC Thomson comicMandy in 1973.[12][37] She could fly, could communicate throughtelepathy, and createforce fields.[38]
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