Back in Victorian England there were these sensationalist comic stories usually in the form of horror, murder mysteries, adventure and so forth called 'penny dreadfuls'. They actually cost one penny (which of course was worth more then). They would evolve into dime novels and pulp fiction and full on comics and all the like. This particular cover struck me as...hmm..maybe the oldest inspiration for Batman? At least visually. Spring Heeled Jack himself was a folkloric figure/urban legend/some say real person. They described him as kind of diabolical looking and able to make great leaps and bounds, shoot fire etc. He was known to jump out randomly and attack people and just be an all around shit-disturber. Some claimed to have been him but later on upon further evidence this seemed not to be the case. It is said he was never really caught, but then again if he was just made up how do you catch a mere phantom of the mind?
