London Falling Explained

London Falling is a strip published in June-July 2006 in the British comics magazine 2000 AD, created by writer Simon Spurrier and artist Lee Garbett. It explores bogeymen from English folklore and mythology wreaking havoc in a modern-day setting.

The title is a play on The Clash's 1979 album London Calling.

Characters

The characters all draw heavily on mythology, especially the folklore from north west Europe. They include:

• Jack Capelthwaite is a family man just getting on with his life but his old life is going to catch up with him as Capelthwaite is a shapeshifting monster, a bogeyman.
• Black Shuck is the leader of the gang and his name comes from the East Anglian version of the black dog
• Hedley Kow, a form of Elf or Hobgoblin http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/efft/efft48.htm, shown in the story as a shapeshifting monster
• Jenny Greenteeth
• Peter Struwwel, a character from a 19th-century German children's picture book authored by Heinrich Hoffman
• The Tailor, a bogeyman from The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb from the same book
• Tommy Rawhead is an Irish hobgoblin with a taste for children
• Black Annis
• Cailleach Bheur
• Dando the Huntsman, a Cornish priest connected with ideas of the Wild Hunt https://web.archive.org/web/20020316120054/http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/folklore/dando.html
• Bucco-Boo, a kind of Bogeyman (presumably the name coming via bugaboo)
• Mujina is a Japanese bogeyman, that can take on the form seen in the series, a faceless ghost
• Horndon Worm was a dragon from East Horndon who was killed by James Tyrrell (who also appears in the series) using mirror polished armour https://web.archive.org/web/20060902100012/http://www.foolishpeople.com/foolishpeople/2005/11/british_dragon_.html

Appearances

Each episode of London Falling is given an individual title:

• Part 1: City Folk (in 2000AD #1491)
• Part 2: Loredogs (in 2000AD #1492)
• Part 3: Let Me Take You By The Hand (in 2000AD #1493)
• Part 4: That Go Bump (in 2000AD #1494)
• Part 5: Smoke and Mirrors (in 2000AD #1495)

See also

• English folklore

External links

• 2000 AD profile
• Discussion on the mythology in the series