Jack Is Back Hunting Bloodsuckers In ‘Union Jack The Ripper: Blood Hunt’
by Tony Thornley
You would think that a hero wearing a country’s flag as a uniform would be a patriotic symbol, like Captain America. But Marvel’s Union Jack has often been at odds with the supernatural, not the usual threats to king and country, and his return in the upcoming Blood Hunt event finds him back to hunting the undead.
Coming from Cavan Scott and Kev Walker, Joey Chapman returns to fight vampires in Union Jack The Ripper: Blood Hunt. (We see what you did there Marvel.) The three issue limited series will see Joey don his red and blue uniform, pick up a broadsword, some grenades, and murder the hell out of a brood of vampires. This mission to protect England will find him up against a mysterious villain known as the Hunger.
“It’s going to be more brutal than anything we’ve seen from Union Jack as his methods shift to match the ferocity of an empowered enemy,” Scott shared. “Working with Kev Walker on this book is a dream, as we both embrace our love of horror in every panel. But it’s not going to just be a gorefest for all involved. The miniseries will be asking some big, heartfelt questions appropriate for a character who wears his country’s flag on his chest. What does that mean when everything you believe in is turned on its head, when everything you’ve always taken for granted shifts beneath your feet?”
“There’s a couple of firsts here for me,” Walker added. “I haven’t done anything this dark, either emotionally or figuratively, before. Most of the horror I’ve done before has come with large doses of humor in the mix. Any humor here is definitely black.”
“It’s also the first time I’ve actually had the chance to draw something set in my part of the world,” he said. “Since I live in the North of England (the opposite side of the Pennines, but near enough), it actually feels more personal. This story is also pretty blunt and brutal, like something I might have drawn at the beginning of my career in comics, so it’ll be interesting to see if I’ve mellowed over the last 35 years.”
This is an unexpected choice for the second tie-in Marvel’s announced, but it sounds like a lot of fun. Union Jack is a pretty great character that Marvel uses in very small doses, so we’ll see how it goes here.
Check out the first issue’s cover by Ryan Brown above and watch for more news about Blood Hunt all week!
