Da Dum, Da – No, That’s Too Easy … Hook Jaw #1

Okay, a comic book about sharks. “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” Let’s get the Jaws references out of our system now. “Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies.” Whew … I feel better now. Alright, one more, “That’s some bad hat Harry!”

Ever since Jaws came out in 1975 popular culture has had a fascination with the fear instilled by sharks. A threatening malevolence as eating machines and the alpha predator of the sea. So, it is no surprise that we are seeing a few comics this year featuring sharks. If anything, it is a surprise we haven’t seen shark comics more often. Image’s Grizzly Shark, Heavy Metal’s The Atoll (which has left Heavy Metal before the first issue was printed and was re-solicited from Vault Comics) and now Hook Jaw #1 from Titan Comics.

Hook Jaw opens up on a dark and stormy sea, a lone person clinging to a piece of shipwreck while bobbing up and down in the swell. “FLESH” it says. Presumably this is the nearby shark talking. After the inevitable cloud of blood dispersing in the water the scene changes to show the ocean one month later. We find Maggie, an American PHD candidate in a small boat attempting to get close enough to a electronically tagged shark to download the scientific information held within the tag. We meet the Professor and the rest of the international crew on the research boat and as we are exposed to their various quirky personalities things get crazy from there. Pirates, US Navy, more sharks, you get the picture.

The art is well enough rendered, the colours do the job and the lettering conveys the appropriate emotions but like quite a few independent books everything is just a tad unrefined and stylized. The comic also features some text pieces explaining the history of Hook Jaw and how this is actually a revamp of the Hook Jaw character from a weekly UK comic that came out in the 1970’s called Action. There is even a nice little Great White 101 featurette with some useful facts about the big bad boy of the Shark world.

Great first issue and I am going to try and hunt down the physical copies of this AND a few of the 1970’s Action issues.

Issue: Hook Jaw #1 | Publisher: Titan Comics
Writer: Si Spurrier | Artists: Conor Boyle & Giulia Brusco
Price: $3.99

About Author

Martin Boruta

Martin Boruta has been reading comic books and graphic novels for 50+ years (he reads books without pictures too, just sayin’). A lifelong fan of Captain Canuck, Martin is the curator of The Unofficial Yet Definitive Captain Canuck Comicography website. Since 2016, Martin has been reviewing comic books and highlighting great new Kickstarter projects at First Comics News. Martin’s writting has also been featured in Sequential Magazine. For over two-hundred episodes, Martin enjoyed teaming up with his pals and sharing hosting duties on The Hey Kids Comics Radio Show broadcast on Trent Radio 92.7 CFFF FM in lovely Peterborough, ON Canada, and still available at The Hey Kids Comics Radio Show website. Martin is a founding member of the Canadian Comic Book Alliance. In his various adventures, Martin has demonstrated an innate ability to spell “Erik Larsen” incorrectly.

Martin’s “day job” is owner of Shaw Computer Systems Inc., an Information Technology consultancy firm in Peterborough, ON, specializing in Managed Services for small to mid-sized businesses since 1980.

In the past, Martin served in the Canadian Armed Forces Reserve as a member of the Cadet Instructors List (Cadre), reaching the Queen’s Commissioned rank of Captain, was awarded a Baronship of Sealand, and was ordained as a Reverend in the Universal Life Church while watching an episode of Monster Garage.

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