The origin of Jack Staff is it's apparently a rewrite of a Union Jack story the author wrote for and was rejected by Marvel. Their loss is our gain. As such, there are plenty of references to both American and British superheroes. Spotting the original source is fun. The art is charming and the stories are interesting. Recommended. ( )

The big thing against Jack Staff the comic when it first came out was that it wasn't Kane, which was Paul Grist's previous comic, a brilliant hard-boiled, hilarious crime saga that was one of the best comics ever, and then he stopped doing it and started this, of all things, superhero comic. It didn't take long for Jack Staff to become the new best comic ever, but it was, and it is. Everything Used To Be Black And White is a big chunky book collecting all of the black and white issues published before Jack Staff moved to Image and glorious colour.

Twenty years ago, Jack Staff was Britain's greatest hero, but then he vanished and everyone forgot about him until today, Castletown, a north of England town where bodies have been turning up drained of blood. Becky Burdock, intrepid reporter, is one the case, and she's not the only one. Jack Staff is back, turning up whenever builder John Smith happens to be around. Department Q, who investigate question mark crimes are sniffing around, and so is Sergeant States, American hero,, on a goodwill tour of Europe. He and Jack had a weird and awful experience in Castletown Caverns back during the war, and it looks like the evil they encountered all those years ago is back.

The beauty of Jack Staff is that it's not just about Jack Staff: there's a large and engagingly quirky supporting cast, many of whom are recognisable homages to characters from old British ty shows and comics. Not knowing who they are won't spoil it for you, but it will add an extra layer of enjoyment to a comic already bursting at the seams with things to enjoy. Tom-Tom the Robot Man, Helen Morgan of Q, Inspector Maveryk the old fashioned copper, and the great Becky Burdock, one of the best female characters in all of modern comics.

Then again there's Grist himself, is humour, his style, his ability to make a page sit over and play dead. Jack Staff is comics at its cleverest, its funnest and its most creative. Utterly enjoyable. ( )