Review: Spring Heeled Jack digital collection

Writer: Tony Deans

Art: Martha Laverick and Seth Kumpf

Letterer: Joshua Cozine

Publisher: Alterna Comics

Released: December 23rd 2015

So this is likely to be my last review before Christmas as its Eve is upon us and I've been looking at Spring-Heeled (referred to henceforth as SHJ) from Alterna Comics. Now you're likely to of heard of the myth of Spring Heeled Jack, the demon of London at some point in your life and this is a good twist on the character.

SHJ tells the tale of a series of brutal murders in Victorian London. A baffled police force turn to Arthur Conan Doyle for answers, and when he's equally stumped he requests the assistance of his mentor Joseph Bell, to uncover the truth. 

This is a detective, horror and mystery comic packed into 95 digital pages and it's a fun read. I did a receives of the final issue a while back so if you're interest in that head to http://retrogradereview.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/review-spring-heeled-jack-4.html?m=1

Otherwise stay with us for a brief look at the collection. This is a good comic, but sometimes the script spoils itself by giving away too much of the mystery, you feel that if it held a little back, it may captivate your attention a little more. Don't misinterpret that though, there's still plenty to keep you hooked for one sitting, but you just feel a little let down that much more could have been achieved. The artwork is solid and had its own esoteric charm, with it being largely consistent through the panels. Ordinarily I'm not a fan of when artist change mid series but here it's nice to see a different take on the characters.

As you may of guessed from the synopsis this book takes historical characters and subverts them for its own purpose, to give you an interesting version of each. The interplay between this characters is good and Deans shows a good understanding of dialogue. 

So, in summary, this is a good little book that is reasonably priced and hits the right targets that make comics enjoyable. Sure he script is a little trite in places, but on the whole that isn't distracting from the books quality overall.