Union Jack (comics)
Union Jack is the name of three fictional superheroes appearing in the Marvel Universe comic books published by Marvel Comics and Marvel UK. Created by Roy Thomas and Frank Robbins, the first Union Jack first appeared in The Invaders #7 (July 1976), a second incarnation from the same creators appeared in The Invaders #21, and a third incarnation was created by Roger Stern and John Byrne for Captain America Vol. 1 #254 (February 1981).
Following The Invaders, Union Jack has been featured as a regular character in ongoing series Knights of Pendragon, New Invaders and Invaders Now, as well two self-titled mini-series.
Publication history
1970s publications
Roy Thomas and Frank Robbins featured the original Union Jack, James Montgomery Falsworth, as a retired country squire in The Invaders #7-9 (July–October 1976); in the story flashbacks show him in action in WWI as part of Freedom's Five and battling the original Baron Blood, later revealed to be his own brother, while in the present day his brief membership of the Invaders ends when he is invalided saving his daughter, Jacqueline Falsworth, from his vampiric brother. Thomas and Robbins concluded the plot-line in The Invaders #11 (December 1976); in the story his newly empowered daughter takes his place on the team.
Union Jack
The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the national flag of the United Kingdom. The flag also has an official or semi-official status in some other Commonwealth realms; for example, it is, by law, an official flag in Canada and known there as the Royal Union Flag. Further, it is used as an official flag in some of the smaller British overseas territories. The Union Jack also appears in the canton (upper left-hand quarter) of the flags of several nations and territories that are former British possessions or dominions.
The claim that the term Union Jack properly refers only to naval usage has been disputed, following historical investigations by the Flag Institute in 2013.
The origins of the earlier flag of Great Britain date back to 1606. James VI of Scotland had inherited the English and Irish thrones in 1603 as James I, thereby uniting the crowns of England, Scotland, and Ireland in a personal union, although the three kingdoms remained separate states. On 12 April 1606, a new flag to represent this regal union between England and Scotland was specified in a royal decree, according to which the flag of England (a red cross on a white background, known as St George's Cross), and the flag of Scotland (a white saltire on a blue background, known as the Saltire or St Andrew's Cross), would be joined together, forming the flag of England and Scotland for maritime purposes. King James also began to refer to a "Kingdom of Great Britaine", although the union remained a personal one.
Union Jack (magazine)
The Union Jack was a story paper of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There were two story papers called Union Jack. The first appeared in the 1880s but was only very short-lived. The name was then used by Alfred Harmsworth in 1894 for a new halfpenny storypaper intended as a companion to the successful Halfpenny Marvel.
Harmsworth considered it his moral duty to put the Penny Dreadfuls out of business, though some considered his papers to simply be "halfpenny dreadfullers". The first issues of the Union Jack stated that it was a "Library of high class fiction". The editorial at the end of the very first issue stated "there will be nothing of the 'dreadful' type in our stories. No tales of boys rifling their employers' cash-boxes and making off to foreign lands, or other such highly immoral fiction products".
The paper claimed to be offering good value by "securing the very best authors" but only presenting their stories on cheap paper, rather than "wasting" money on colourful bindings and high-quality paper. However, the actual quality of the stories, especially in the early years, could be variable. Also many writers used pseudonyms to make it appear that more people were writing for the paper than actually were.
Union Jack (American newspaper)
The Union Jack is the only monthly newspaper featuring news from the United Kingdom, produced and published in the United States. The publication is aimed at British expatriates in the United States. It was established in 1982 and is distributed in every state.
