I really want to give this book a higher grade, because it is honestly one of my favorite books, and I have loved every issue of its self-published, black and white run. Like the recent first issue of Astro City, however, this one suffers from an attempt to let all the readers in on the ground floor, making it a bit overly familiar for the returning readers. Which wouldn't be a problem if Grist wasn't trying to reintroduce so many characters at once, leaving the issue mostly like a big rush through a variety of faces that I imagine will be a little dizzying for new readers as well. Here's the good news, though: The book looks even more gorgeous in color than it did in black and white, and chances are that if you give it the flip test, at least one of these many characters will grab your attention and make you want to know more. Trust me, it's worth sticking around to find out.
From the beginning, Jack Staff has been almost an anthology comic, and I'm given to understand its more similar to British comics than American in the way that it's set up. Grist pushes through a variety of sequences in each issue, a series of vignettes with different characters that sometimes connect into one larger story and sometimes serve as a number of smaller stories on their own. That approach is intensified with this first issue, as Grist explores a good percentage of the vast cast he has introduced in the first run of Jack Staff. The downside is that these stories whip by awfully fast, and by the time you've got your bearings, you're on to somebody new and a new plot.
The upside is that you get a lot of entertainment for your comic-buying buck in this book. There's plenty of action, including some terrific fight sequences between Jack Staff and a mindless monster and the robotic Tom Tom and electrical villain Shock. There's a great mystery, with the increase in rage killings that seems to have infected one of the city's heroes. And man oh man, are there neat ideas. If you've never met these characters before, I guarantee you're going to be a little spellbound at least. Jack Staff himself, mysteriously forgotten after World War II and now living as a construction worker. Becky Burdock, enterprising tabloid reporter who is also a vampire. The mysterious Q, a cross between Mulder, Scully and the investigation team of ABC's Miracles. And the whimsically-named but undeniably menacing (in this issue) Tom-Tom the Robot Man.
On first glance, Jack Staff #1 contains a variety of unconnected stories. But when you look again, you see the connections, whether it's fallout from The Shock's battle intruding on Becky Burdock's day or more tangential links like the growing worry over the rage killings that spills into the story of Inspector Maveryk, Tom-Tom, the Shock and quite possibly the opening story set in the past which seems to link to Jack Staff's mysterious disappearance.
Grist's artwork is terrific as usual, with very clever panel arrangements and great use of white space to draw attention to the artwork. His art is distinctive, stylized, a little cartoony and it looks simply gorgeous in color. I never missed it in black and white, but this is definitely a case where the book actually looks better in color than I imagined it would. Then there are little details like the lettering style, solid throughout but particularly noticeable when he pulls font tricks like introducing each major character with a logo in a borderline fourth-wall breaking but entertaining touch or when he switches over to a straight type font for Becky Burdock's reporter journal.
