Jack Black (Viz)

Jack Black is a character appearing in the adult Viz comic. The cartoons in which he appears are currently drawn by Simon Ecob.

Jack is effectively a young amateur detective who along with his dog Silver seems to spend an eternal school holiday staying with his Aunt Meg in an ever changing idyllic middle England location. The time period ranges from anywhere between the early 1930s/40s to the present day.

Both the drawn style of the strip as well as the character are a parody of the Boys' Own style character who is wholesome but ultimately fascistic in beliefs and actions. There is more than a hint of Enid Blyton in the Jack Black character and the strip parodies the alleged middle class snobbery and 'outraged' and sometimes hypocritical content of right wing British media such as the Daily Mail and Express. However, the strip also has occasional parodies of Asterix and The Adventures of Tintin in both name ('Jack Blacksterix' and 'Jacjac and his Dog Silvery'), plot, and drawing style. A recent Viz edition featured a Jack Black story in a manga style, where Silver was renamed 'Silvachu' (a parody of the Pokémon character Pikachu) and the action was moved to Tokyo. This may have been a play on words inspired by John Osborne's "Look back in anger", as the headline upon the front cover read "Look! Black in Manga!".

A typical strip begins with Jack visiting Aunt Meg in a new location and assisting her with her latest business or project, usually involving...
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