London Falling
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London Falling is a strip in 2000 AD, created by comic book writer Simon Spurrier and Lee Garbett the artist. It is based on bogeymen from English folklore and mythology wreaking havoc in a modern day setting.
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[edit] Plot
London, 2006. Jack Capelthwaite seems to be an ordinary man with a boring office job and married with a wife and two kids. It appears that he is no different from any of the other hundreds of city-dwellers. But Jack is a very, very different man with a terrifying secret past. And with the release of his friend, and leader, Shuck, Jack and his friends secret past is quickly re-emerging...
In the final part the Horndon Worm is released but Jack is revealed to be the bogeyman and so he turns into the Horndon Worm and makes it scared of itself, making it hide away again. And suddenly when everything seems fine and dandy Shuck rises, attacking Jack. He explains that the reason that he isn't dead is because Jack didn't believe in the eyes, he only hoped they'd work. He then argues with Jack whether the people believe in their monsters. Jack however thinks that them being afraid is different, but Shuck tells him he's wrong and heads to Jack's house to kill his children, believing that they believe in monsters. Jack races home and finds Tommy Rawhead dead, who in Part 3 warned him to watch his kids close. Jack opens his bedroom door to find Shuck dead because his son killed him with Monster Zap seen in Part 1 as a joke to get the kids to sleep when they're afraid of the monsters under the bed. But his son believed in the power of Monster Zap just like Shuck said was needed. Belief.
[edit] Characters
The characters all draw heavily on mythology, especially the folklore from north west Europe. They include:
- Jack Capelthwaite is a family man just getting on with his life but his old life is going to catch up with him as Capelthwaite is a Westmorland version of the black dog [1]
- Black Shuck is the leader of the gang and his name comes from the East Anglian version of the black dog
- Hedley Kow, a form of Elf or Hobgoblin [2], shown in the story as a shapeshifting monster
- Jenny Greenteeth
- Peter Struwwel, a character from a 19th Century German children's picture book authored by Heinrich Hoffman
- The Tailor, a bogeyman from The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb from the same book
- Tommy Rawhead is an Irish hobgoblin with a taste for children
- Black Annis
- Cailleach Bheur
- Dando the Huntsman, a Cornish priest connected with ideas of the Wild Hunt [3]
- Bucco-Boo, a kind of Bogeyman (presumably the name coming via bugaboo)
- Mujina is a form of tanuki, a Japanese bogeyman, that can take on the form seen in the series, a faceless ghost
- Horndon Worm was a dragon from East Horndon who was killed by James Tyrrell (who also appears in the series) using mirror polished armour [4] [5]
[edit] Appearances
Each episode of London Falling is given an individual title:
- Part 1: City Folk (in 2000AD #1491)
- Part 2: Loredogs (in 2000AD #1492)
- Part 3: Let Me Take You By The Hand (in 2000AD #1493)
- Part 4: That Go Bump (in 2000AD #1494)
- Part 5: Smoke and Mirrors (in 2000AD #1495)
[edit] See also
[edit] Trivia
- The title London Falling is a play on The Clash's classic, 1979 album London Calling.
- The published panels, as they appeared in 2000 AD. are darker than the original art. This can be seen in the illustration given here which, when compared with the original, shows the published image had a blue/grey tint which has added a slight murkiness to the image, in particular it has made Jenny Greenteeth less green.
