Union Jack The Ripper: Blood Hunt #1 - Marvel Comics

UNION JACK THE RIPPER: BLOOD HUNT No. 1, July 2024

Undeniably living up to its pre-publication promise of Union Jack painting the United Kingdom red, courtesy of poor English teacher Edward Hardcastle quite literally having his throat torn out by a hungry vampire, Cavan Scott’s thirty-page long trip to Manchester, England, also clearly deserves its “Parental Advisory! Not For Kids!” cover warning on account of its expletive-laden dialogue as well. Sure, most of the actual swear words are scribbled out by the letterer. But even that step doesn’t completely stop the odd coarsely-chosen cuss word from appearing in some of Police Constable Mara Syal’s speech balloons.

In addition, the sheer gratuitous violence on show within this comic greatly outweighs any offense a reader might take from the cast’s verbal improprieties. The gory demise of the aforementioned “Shakespeare nut” is just the tip of the iceberg as far as penciller Kevin Walker’s panels are concerned, especially once Joey Chapman’s alter-ego makes a well-timed appearance and simply coats anyone around him with human gore and mutilated body parts. Indeed, the sheer number of heads which are subsequently lopped off or blown to pieces is probably only matched by the number of bullets the titular character sprays at his blood-drinking enemies.

Astoundingly however, despite this charnel house-like chaos, the Bristol-born author impressively still manages to imbue both the dislikeable Knight of Pendragon and his unlikely entourage with some intriguing character development – most notably one of Greater Manchester Police’s few surviving officers. Furthermore, the sheer presence of presumably orphaned infant Judy (complete with cuddly doll Britannia), appears to repeatedly succeed in adding an extra air of tension to the publication’s already tense proceedings whenever the child is given the spotlight; “I’ll check. You wait here. No running off now.”

Easily this book’s biggest draw though has to be the energetic artwork by its British illustrator. Walker’s incredible eye for dynamic action is easily epitomised by the man’s layouts depicting Union Jack going toe-to-toe with a coven of vampires during an all or nothing rescue mission. Armed with a submachine gun and a double-handed sword, the anti-hero comes across as a homicidal killing machine, who completely loses any sense of humanity due to his battle lust – even when facing certain death having been dreadfully wounded by one his foes.

Writer: Cavan Scott, Penciler: Kev Walker, and Inkers: Craig Yeung & Belardino Brabo