Character Phases
The Jack Flanders stories can be divided into distinct phases. Initially there is the Cosmic Tourist phase which makes up the first four adventures. These are principally concerned with Jack’s explorations and adventures in the Invisible Realms. In these tales he is largely on his own and survives on his wit, luck, charm and the ability to always present a moving target.
Then we move into the Jungle Jack phase, stories that are largely grounded in 'reality' but with various supernatural or other-worldly intrusions. The settings for these stories are spread out across the globe but they are all tropical - the Amazon, Rio, India, Bali, Sumatra, Belize, Costa Rica. For the majority of them Jack is still on his own; only in the last few is he joined by Mojo Sam who then becomes a permanent companion in subsequent adventures. Usually it is Mojo who calls upon Jack to join him and help with a particularly tricky problem.
There is a brief return to the Cosmic Tourist for Midnight at the Casa Luna and Return to Inverness both of which are closely related to the original story - one borrows significantly and the other is a straight sequel.
After a final adventure as Jungle Jack we move into a French theme and the Cul-de-sac Jack phase. These stories bring in two further companions – Claudine and Dominique. With the core group growing, the stories become more of an ensemble effort with Jack taking a less assertive and more bumbling role, often being the butt of jokes, especially from Dominique who frequently launches into political diatribe.
An occasional but recurring theme is that of Captain Jack. It first appears in The Incredible Adventures of Jack Flanders where he does indeed become captain of the Blue Swallow. In The Mystery of Jaguar Reef, Captain Coco frequently refers to him as Captain Jack, saying that it feels right to do so. But it’s not until we move out of the Cul-de-sac Jack phase at the end of the Travelling Jack sub-series, that we enter a new sub-series of adventures for Captain Jack - The Fantastic Voyages of Captain Jack Flanders. He, Mojo, Claudine and Dominique sail between islands in the Tropics encountering ever more mysterious and other-worldly happenings.
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