Spring-Heeled Jackson

Real Name: John Jackson

Identity/Class: Human technology user

Occupation: Clerk

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Criminals of old London

Known Relatives: None.

Aliases: The Fog Leaper, the Leaping Terror

Base of Operations: London, c.1880s.

First Appearance: Hornet (D.C.Thomson, 1975); Hotspur (1977)

Powers/Abilities: Jackson's costume allows him to leap great distances, and claw-like gloves. It's also very durable, allowing him to take blows (or bites from gigantic dogs) without injury. It's also bulletproof and can turn aside knife blows.


John Jackson out of costume	Spring-Heeled Jack demonstrates some of his costume's powers.

History: John Jackson, meek clerk at Ravell Row police station would don a more effective identity for his private fight against crime in Victorian London. He became the mysterious adventurer Spring-Heeled Jack, departing the upstairs office he worked in through a hidden exit in the cupboard, so that no one ever knew he was out on patrol. His boss, Sergeant Drew, treated him as a bufoon and refused to credit the stories his constables told when they ran into "the Fog Leaper".

(Untitled, Hotspur Annual 1979.) Spring-Heeled Jack pursues a murderer who is killing card dealers acroos London.

(Untitled, Hotpsur Annual 1985.) Spring-Heeled Jack tackles two warring tongs in London's Chinatown.

Comments: While the strip was called Spring-Heeled Jackson, the character was known alternately as Spring-Heeled Jack or "the Leaper". When he appeared in Hotspur his costume had changed somewhat - I'm not sure if these were new stories, or old ones slightly redrawn. Since Hotspur had absorbed the Hornet a couple of years earlier, the former seems more likely, but by no means certain.

The original Spring-Heeled Jackson art was done by Allen Stanley Pollack; the first three pictures on this page are his work. Thanks to Mr Pollack's grand-daughter Susannah Horne for this information.

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with

Spring-Heeled Jack, the original mythic character
Spring-Heeled Jock, Jack's counterpart in Zenith
Spring-Heeled Jill, a female variant of the character

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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