What is it, in summary?: "All those sinners who've grown rich from a thousand little thefts, who stand tall on a thousand broken backs… If they are to be the heroes of their own sordid little stories, let us forever be their villains."
The city of Gallery! A tiny city-state in Europe that stands at the vanguard of the dawning twentieth century. Its science, diversity, and wealth eclipse all others… but it's also held in the clutches of a corrupt elite, enriching themselves at the expense of the common folk. But what of this masked man who's been terrorizing the rich and powerful? Dressed as a grinning devil, capable of great feats of acrobatics, able to make lamps or pistols explode with a snap of his fingers, he effortlessly steals evidence of their crimes and leaks it to the press, bringing ruin to the powerful and justice to their victims.
To bring down this villain known only as 'Lavender Jack,' the mayor of Gallery calls in the worlds greatest detective, Theresa Ferrier. Though past her prime, Madame Ferrier is still a mind to be reckoned with. With Chief Inspector Honoria Crabb at her side, there's little doubt that she'll be able to track down Lavender Jack. But will he be able to elude her long enough to achieve his aims, whatever they may be? And when they come face to face, will she chose the law, or justice?
Lavender Jack is an adventure story drawing on both superhero stylings and older heroes, villains, detectives, and phantom thieves: Zorro, Tarzan, Fantomas, the Count of Monte Cristo, Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot. (The premise, in fact, has been described as 'What if Bertie Wooster were a bi Black man — and also Batman?')
What do you love about it?: It's an excellent story, first and foremost. Dan Schkade is a master of the art of crafting comics — the pacing is brisk and engaging, the story is layered and nuanced without ever getting too bogged down in itself, the characters are all likable (or hateable — or both!), and it comes to a satisfying conclusion for each season. The art, too, is amazing — Schkade cut his teeth working on an homage to Will Eisner, and he evidently learned a lot from it. (The colorist, Jenn Manley Lee, also deserves a lot of credit, with her beautiful pallet for the series drawing a lot on turn-of-the-century art.)
The representation is almost effortless. Schkade mentioned he designed several characters to be the sort of people he wouldn't be able to draw working for anyone else, and so we get people like Teresa Ferrier: tall, butch, bald, Black, muscular, quite elderly, not at all pretty, and deeply in love with her wife. Of the main characters, more are female than male, more are of color than White, all of them are at least implicitly (and usually explicitly) queer in some way. There's gay, lesbian, bi, trans, and ace representation throughout the story.
But basically, it's a story that sucked me in from page one, and didn't let go of me until I was finished. I love the characters, I love the world, I love the mysteries the characters try to solve, I love the ups and downs of the story, and while it came to a satisfying conclusion, I can't help but want more of everything.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I'd definitely lean towards the shipping for this one, either the canonical relationship between Teresa Ferrier and her wife Marguerite, or the implied possible post-canon attraction between Ducky and Crabb.
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: The first 'season,' which covers the first 48 comics, would be enough to get a good understanding of Teresa and Marguerite, and their relationship. Anything shippy between Ducky and Crabb would probably require reading through to the end, since a lot of their closeness pops up closer to the finale. However, there is a recap chapter right before season three that summarizes the entire story to date — not quite as good as reading through the whole thing, but it should be enough to get by with.
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Some noteworthy violence, some with lasting consequences, such as scarring or hearing loss, as well as death. One of the villains engages in what are essentially terrorist attacks, destroying buildings and killing the people within. The setting is largely free of trans- or homophobia, as well as racism or sexism, but the queer characters do take their share of the damage when violence breaks out, and one queer love interest is killed off in the backstory to motivate a protagonist. Another character is suffering from a brain tumor that puts her in a dementia-like state. Mental illness of various forms does come up, and is sometimes preyed upon by the villains.
Lavender Jack
Media: Webcomic
Approx length: 124 chapters
Where to find it: The complete story is available on Webtoon.
What is it, in summary?:
"All those sinners who've grown rich from a thousand little thefts, who stand tall on a thousand broken backs… If they are to be the heroes of their own sordid little stories, let us forever be their villains."
The city of Gallery! A tiny city-state in Europe that stands at the vanguard of the dawning twentieth century. Its science, diversity, and wealth eclipse all others… but it's also held in the clutches of a corrupt elite, enriching themselves at the expense of the common folk. But what of this masked man who's been terrorizing the rich and powerful? Dressed as a grinning devil, capable of great feats of acrobatics, able to make lamps or pistols explode with a snap of his fingers, he effortlessly steals evidence of their crimes and leaks it to the press, bringing ruin to the powerful and justice to their victims.
To bring down this villain known only as 'Lavender Jack,' the mayor of Gallery calls in the worlds greatest detective, Theresa Ferrier. Though past her prime, Madame Ferrier is still a mind to be reckoned with. With Chief Inspector Honoria Crabb at her side, there's little doubt that she'll be able to track down Lavender Jack. But will he be able to elude her long enough to achieve his aims, whatever they may be? And when they come face to face, will she chose the law, or justice?
Lavender Jack is an adventure story drawing on both superhero stylings and older heroes, villains, detectives, and phantom thieves: Zorro, Tarzan, Fantomas, the Count of Monte Cristo, Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot. (The premise, in fact, has been described as 'What if Bertie Wooster were a bi Black man — and also Batman?')
What do you love about it?: It's an excellent story, first and foremost. Dan Schkade is a master of the art of crafting comics — the pacing is brisk and engaging, the story is layered and nuanced without ever getting too bogged down in itself, the characters are all likable (or hateable — or both!), and it comes to a satisfying conclusion for each season. The art, too, is amazing — Schkade cut his teeth working on an homage to Will Eisner, and he evidently learned a lot from it. (The colorist, Jenn Manley Lee, also deserves a lot of credit, with her beautiful pallet for the series drawing a lot on turn-of-the-century art.)
The representation is almost effortless. Schkade mentioned he designed several characters to be the sort of people he wouldn't be able to draw working for anyone else, and so we get people like Teresa Ferrier: tall, butch, bald, Black, muscular, quite elderly, not at all pretty, and deeply in love with her wife. Of the main characters, more are female than male, more are of color than White, all of them are at least implicitly (and usually explicitly) queer in some way. There's gay, lesbian, bi, trans, and ace representation throughout the story.
But basically, it's a story that sucked me in from page one, and didn't let go of me until I was finished. I love the characters, I love the world, I love the mysteries the characters try to solve, I love the ups and downs of the story, and while it came to a satisfying conclusion, I can't help but want more of everything.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I'd definitely lean towards the shipping for this one, either the canonical relationship between Teresa Ferrier and her wife Marguerite, or the implied possible post-canon attraction between Ducky and Crabb.
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: The first 'season,' which covers the first 48 comics, would be enough to get a good understanding of Teresa and Marguerite, and their relationship. Anything shippy between Ducky and Crabb would probably require reading through to the end, since a lot of their closeness pops up closer to the finale. However, there is a recap chapter right before season three that summarizes the entire story to date — not quite as good as reading through the whole thing, but it should be enough to get by with.
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Some noteworthy violence, some with lasting consequences, such as scarring or hearing loss, as well as death. One of the villains engages in what are essentially terrorist attacks, destroying buildings and killing the people within. The setting is largely free of trans- or homophobia, as well as racism or sexism, but the queer characters do take their share of the damage when violence breaks out, and one queer love interest is killed off in the backstory to motivate a protagonist. Another character is suffering from a brain tumor that puts her in a dementia-like state. Mental illness of various forms does come up, and is sometimes preyed upon by the villains.