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Hook Jaw
"Hook Jaw" is a British comic adventure story published in the weekly anthology Action from 14 February to 12 November 1977 by IPC Magazines.
The story is centred around a great white shark with a gaff hook lodged in its lower jaw. Created by Pat Mills and Geoff Kemp, the strip largely happened from Hook Jaw's point of view, portraying the shark as a creature simply following its instincts and forever under attack from amoral humans. Mills would later describe it as an ecological story. "Hook Jaw" was heavily criticised by the British tabloid press for its level of violence.
Given a short period to create the new action-adventure comic Action in 1976, Pat Mills and Geoff Kemp quickly hit on the idea of taking popular films and television shows and adding their own twist. Their inspiration was Steven Spielberg's blockbuster Jaws; while yet to be released in the UK the film had broken box office records in America and its Christmas release was highly anticipated. The basic idea of doing a shark story was pitched by Ken Armstrong during a brainstorming session with Mills and John Wagner, as he was aware of the impact of "a shark version of Moby Dick". He wanted to emphasise that man was the aggressor in the story;
...Hook Jaw became a ferocious killer because of the brutal way a fisherman tried to capture him by shoving a gaff through his lower jaw. I always worked on the basis that man was plundering Hook Jaw's territory to grab the riches of the ocean and the shark was merely defending its territory.
— Ken Armstrong, quoted by Stephen Jewell, "The Sevenpenny Nightmare!", Judge Dredd Megazine #379 (17 January 2017)
Mills - who had similar views, later stating "I wanted nature to win!" - worked with Armstrong on the story, and along with IPC editorial director John Sanders encouraged the story to become more gory, with Armstrong recollecting this was to show the reality of shark attacks in detail. Ramon Sola, a Spaniard with a talent for drawing wildlife and described by Mills as "an artistic genius", was assigned to draw the story. He had first worked for IPC on the romance comic Valentine in 1974, and had recently moved to London from Barcelona. Several minor characters in the story were named after Action staff, including Mills, John Wagner and Ian Vosper.
"Hook Jaw" rapidly became a favourite with readers, helped by being placed in the centre colour pages for most of the issues, allowing the blood to pop. It also added to the comic's street cred by covering a violent film some of the audience were not allowed to see; Jaws had been released in the UK on 26 December 1975 to strong box office and considerable publicity due to controversially being rated A (requiring children to be accompanied by an adult).
Right from the start, Action received attention for its high level of violence, with "Hook Jaw"'s frequent dismemberments, maulings and devourings attracting its share of criticism, and after the 16 September 1976 the comic was withdrawn for drastic retooling on the orders of the IPC board. Sola was replaced as artist by Felix Carrion from the start of the second storyline in the 15 May 1976 edition. Despite - or perhaps because of - this the strip was consistently rated the most popular in Action by readers.
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Hook Jaw
"Hook Jaw" is a British comic adventure story published in the weekly anthology Action from 14 February to 12 November 1977 by IPC Magazines.
The story is centred around a great white shark with a gaff hook lodged in its lower jaw. Created by Pat Mills and Geoff Kemp, the strip largely happened from Hook Jaw's point of view, portraying the shark as a creature simply following its instincts and forever under attack from amoral humans. Mills would later describe it as an ecological story. "Hook Jaw" was heavily criticised by the British tabloid press for its level of violence.
Given a short period to create the new action-adventure comic Action in 1976, Pat Mills and Geoff Kemp quickly hit on the idea of taking popular films and television shows and adding their own twist. Their inspiration was Steven Spielberg's blockbuster Jaws; while yet to be released in the UK the film had broken box office records in America and its Christmas release was highly anticipated. The basic idea of doing a shark story was pitched by Ken Armstrong during a brainstorming session with Mills and John Wagner, as he was aware of the impact of "a shark version of Moby Dick". He wanted to emphasise that man was the aggressor in the story;
...Hook Jaw became a ferocious killer because of the brutal way a fisherman tried to capture him by shoving a gaff through his lower jaw. I always worked on the basis that man was plundering Hook Jaw's territory to grab the riches of the ocean and the shark was merely defending its territory.
— Ken Armstrong, quoted by Stephen Jewell, "The Sevenpenny Nightmare!", Judge Dredd Megazine #379 (17 January 2017)
Mills - who had similar views, later stating "I wanted nature to win!" - worked with Armstrong on the story, and along with IPC editorial director John Sanders encouraged the story to become more gory, with Armstrong recollecting this was to show the reality of shark attacks in detail. Ramon Sola, a Spaniard with a talent for drawing wildlife and described by Mills as "an artistic genius", was assigned to draw the story. He had first worked for IPC on the romance comic Valentine in 1974, and had recently moved to London from Barcelona. Several minor characters in the story were named after Action staff, including Mills, John Wagner and Ian Vosper.
"Hook Jaw" rapidly became a favourite with readers, helped by being placed in the centre colour pages for most of the issues, allowing the blood to pop. It also added to the comic's street cred by covering a violent film some of the audience were not allowed to see; Jaws had been released in the UK on 26 December 1975 to strong box office and considerable publicity due to controversially being rated A (requiring children to be accompanied by an adult).
Right from the start, Action received attention for its high level of violence, with "Hook Jaw"'s frequent dismemberments, maulings and devourings attracting its share of criticism, and after the 16 September 1976 the comic was withdrawn for drastic retooling on the orders of the IPC board. Sola was replaced as artist by Felix Carrion from the start of the second storyline in the 15 May 1976 edition. Despite - or perhaps because of - this the strip was consistently rated the most popular in Action by readers.