Jack Hart (ahem) had a complicated history and a strange path to becoming a hero. To begin with he was half human and half alien Contraxian. As a young man, he was accidentally doused with his father's invention "Zero Fluid" which left him in a constant state of destructive decay. Half of his body was darkened as his life slipped away. He also had to periodically release the destructive energy in blasts that he could barely control. He developed a suit, one looking inexplicably like the Jack of Hearts' playing card, to keep his energy and destruction in check. And it is that costume that interested me and drew me in long before I knew any of the character's history.
In fairly rapid succession, in the Summer of 1977, I started seeing Jack of Hearts on covers battling a couple of heavy hitters in Marvel's pantheon. Jack was a bit of a hot head and tended to stumble into misunderstandings and confrontations with heroes. This ultimately lead to an apprenticeship of sorts with Iron Man. But it was the costume on those covers that made me wonder who this guy was. His elaborate fighting togs were easily recognizable and cool.
Once in, I was fascinated that Marvel elevated a newcomer to the elite status of being able to go toe-to-toe with the Hulk. Jack was not a lightweight as he set out to avenge his father's death with classic superhero motivations. His appearance in Iron Man is what actually got me following that book during the wonderful Midas arc of that era.
The character was created by Bill Mantlo and Keith Giffen for a tale in the Deadly Hands of Kung Fu issue #22. I never saw the black and white magazine for many years but it also included an appearance of another costume favorite, the White Tiger.
Later in the Bronze Age, Jack made guest appearances in Marvel Two-In-One and Marvel Team Up. Bill Mantlo tried to find a spot for Jack of Hearts whenever possible. I always wondered how difficult it was for an artist to follow those intricate patterns on Jack's costume. Nevertheless, Jack continued to demonstrate his power and strength against the elite class.
Eventually Jack of Hearts became enough of an attraction to get his own limited series. He went from a guest star in a black and white magazine to a four-issue run in a matter of a few years (with Mantlo shepherding him along the way).
In fact, Jack of Hearts got me started collecting one of my Bronze Age favorite titles. ROM Spaceknight #12 featured Jack predominantly on the cover in another face-off. I read that issue and was hooked, causing me to quickly collect back issues and the ongoing ROM series.
Toward the end of my 1990's collecting cycle, I was glad to see the Jack of Hearts continuing to grace the cosmic covers. Again he would mistakenly battle the likes of Silver Surfer and Quasar. A side note to anybody who has missed it - Quasar was a good series despite lackluster and inconsistent art.
So what do you think about Jack of Hearts? And particularly his costume? Was it too garish for your tastes, or did it draw you into stories you may not have otherwise sampled? Share your thoughts on BitBA today! Cheers!
14 comments:
I really liked Jack of Hearts too Marti, and his costume was part of that.
He connected my earlier and later bronze reading - first, through the Iron Man issue with the Growing Man (about #109 or thereabouts) which I read as a young child and second, though MTU #134 which I picked up as a young teen because I recognised the character on the cover from the Iron Man issue.
Artists have commented since how time-consuming it was to draw his costume. Is his relative obscurity a case of 'This costume made artists say no...?'
Or to put it another way, have we ever seen Jack Hart and Ben Grimm in the same room at the same time? If so the artist was probably really grumpy.
Exactly, Bill.
That's why I was never fond of him. Too busy, I've drawn a lot of Marvel characters but Jack is one I would not consider.
And are the blue areas chainmail? Sometimes it looks like it sometimes it doesn't.
In that last photo though it does look like they have pared down the detail (the artist grumble may have worked).
I meant Colin.
Interesting topic. I think the first book I ever read with Jack of Hearts in it was a solo story in Marvel Premier #44. And I bought that book because I thought Jack looked really cool on the cover. BTW I bought the previous issue (Marvel Premiere #43) because I thought Paladin looked cool.
I always enjoyed it when Jack would show up in a book like Iron Man, Hulk or Marvel Team-Up. He not only looked awesome, but his powers were awesome as well.
However I would always think that if I was a comic book artist I would want to kill any writer who made me draw Jack of Heart's. The details on that costume were insane, and it must have taken all day to draw like one panel. LOL
Unfortunately Jack met the fate of many cool Bronze Age characters under the pen of comic's Grim Reaper, Brian Michael Bendis. Whose mission in life seems to be to systematically erase the history of the Bronze Age of Marvel Comics (and all of our fond childhood memories) one character at time.
But don't get me started on that whole can of worms.
Personally it was an EYESORE costume for me. Too much like the latter Jericho in Perez's NTT, whose outfit and character I also couldn't stand.
Just too 'dandy' of a design and color scheme to frankly be taken seriously. I did like newer Bronze costumes like Paladin and older, more sleeker outfits (the likes of DD, Spidey, the FF, Black Panther and Yellowjacket). To me, less is better.
Just too busy and outlandish for my tastes, or to merit any long term interest, almost as bad as some of DD's old Silver Age Rogues Gallery.
I've remarked in the past how much I always liked Jack of Hearts. Although I thought the half-alien bit of his origin wasn't really necessary and, yes, in retrospect he did spend an awful lot of time fighting other heroes. He was still very cool, though, 'cause like Greg Brady, "he fit the suit."
Yes, the costume raised a lot of eyebrows. In fact, that last image featured here appeared, I think, in response to those eyebrows and was billed as the official version of the suit going forward and so could be used as a reference for the artists. But this is just a great case of "go big or go home." It makes Hawkeye's purple outfit look conservative. Folks talk a lot about women characters dressed impractically, but Jack's right's there with them. Fighting crime looking like David Bowie in that Tristan Tzara costume he wore on Saturday Night Live.
Less is more? No, with Jack more is more!
Love this look at Jack, it really makes my day.
Many thanks!
Loved the Jack of Hearts costume. Strangely, I never gravitated towards the actual character (never bought the mini-series, for example). But in the late 70s it seemed like he was all over the place, particularly appearing in all my brother's Iron Man comics, in the Hulk, even being one of the "Defenders for a day" in that fun storyline.
Actually, it wasn't the costume I loved so much as that weird split-face. And the fact he always had energy sparkling around his wrists. I seem to recall trying to recreate that effect in many a crayon drawing.
More delightful profiles like this, please! (and thank you).
-david p.
"Fighting crime looking like David Bowie in that Tristan Tzara costume he wore on Saturday Night Live."
We have today's winner!
I also really enjoyed Jack Of Hearts, the character, but was disappointed by the mini-series. Glad to see you focusing on Bill Mantlo's creation the week before his birthday.
Jack and Ben Grimm definitely spent time on panel together - he guest starred at least once in Marvel Two-In-One #48, and i'm pretty sure he showed up about a year before that.
Yes, you are right -3- I missed the Ben panel and cover reference posted by Marti when I made that comment.
I think I first saw Jack of Hearts in that MTU issue and thought he was kinda cool. Like you, I ended up being disappointed by his mini-series. Apparently a lot of artists hated Jack because the costume was such a pain to draw.
I didn't mind Jack in the later Avengers comics, though I thought his "feud" with Ant Man was overdone.
I'd only heard of JoH and never read a story with him as I was reading few comics at this time. But thanks for the education! Keep 'em coming! Like to learn about what I missed in the Bronze Age.
Thanks for all of the discussion gents. I wasn’t sure if JofH would generate any interest.
I always liked the character and I know my interest started with youthful collecting enthusiasm. Colin that story you mention with the Growing Man, YJ, Jack of Hearts and Iron Man was one of my favorites as a youth. Great one issue story.
Looking back at it all - am I the only one that is a bit amazed that they put Jack at such a high power class - to battle the Thing, Hulk, Iron Man, Silver Surfer, etc? And he was actually able to take them down!
I think Jack was a decent new addition from the Bronze Age but he just never took off like they actually wanted him to. It was obvious Marvel was pushing him; he appeared a lot in a short period of time. Or perhaps he was just Mantlo’s pet project. If Bill Mantlo had written Jack’s book as well as Micronauts or ROM, Jack may have been a big hit.
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