Origin and Character Development

9-Jack-9, an assassin known across the galaxy, is the astral projection of a dapper British man using the identity of Sir John Sheers. He can be hired by writing "J9AC9K" in any computer file.

Sheers is a friend of Zot's uncle Max, and plays fiddle in his Thursday night quintet. Max considers him to be a “fairly nice fellow…all things considered.” It is unclear if Max met the real Sheers first, and then continued to be friends with him after he died and Jack took over his identity, or if he has only ever known him as Jack.

He wasn’t born as Sheers. At some point after Sheers died, Jack took over his identity through plastic surgery and altering computer records. His true name and face are unknown. Max says Jack was first spotted 50 years ago. It is unclear if he was Sheers that whole time.

Max seems to think that Jack did not build the technology that he uses to project his electronic form out into the world.

Jack's human body as Sheers is eventually killed but his electronic self lives on.

Creation

9-Jack-9 was created by Scott McCloud for the first color volume of Zot!, in issue 2.

Major Story Arcs

The Sirius IV Conspiracy

Zot's mom and dad block a plan by The King of Sirius IV to start a war with Earth. In retaliation, the King hires 9-Jack-9 to kill them both. He does. Their son, Zot, doesn't know what happened, only that they disappeared. This event indirectly leads to him becoming a hero. The King also uses Jack to kill at least 4 more people.

Before her death, Zot's mom teaches Zot a nursery rhyme about him: Nine, Jack, nine,/Rope made of twine,/Circled his old mother's head./Tie, rope, tie/Nine feet up high/Hung her until she['s dead.]. It is unknown how his mother knew Jack was after her, or if her death took place in this manner.

Years later, there is a conspiracy to once again try to start a war with Earth. The members are General Schrapp, Grand Inquisitor Luther Von Clokmann, palace advisor Weevis Swimbler, and bureaucrat Sam Twik.

Their goal is to use the Golden Key and the Doorway at the Edge of the Universe, which are important sacred objects to the people of Sirius. There is a prophecy that someone will use the Key to open the Doorway and then return with a Great Mission for the people of Sirius. The members of the conspiracy intend to use the Key to open the Doorway and then proclaim that the Great Mission is a Holy War on Earth, something they think will unify the populace, which they see as dumb and easy to fool. Once the populace is on this track, they will be easier to manipulate.

However, a teen from Earth, Vic Taylor, steals the Key as a prank and soon learns about their plans. He brings the Key to Earth and plans to ask Zot for help.

Dekko, a cyborg, wants the Key as well. He believes that if he opens the Doorway, it will end humanity and leave only machines like him. He hires 9-Jack-9 to tail Zot and see if he can intercept the Key. Jack surreptitiously follows Zot and Vic into a virtual reality game, where Jack can exist as a pure electronic signal. He almost gets the Key but then the game is shut off.

Dekko then intervenes directly and briefly gets the Key, but Vic gets it back.

The conspiracy decides that the King is in their way and hire Jack to kill him. He does so, after Weevis tricks the King into a booth where Jack is waiting.

They next ask him to kill the Queen as well, and he agrees. They set it up the same way, but this time Zot breaks in and saves her. Jack then almost kills Zot, but Jenny comes in as well and short-circuits him with a bowl of water.

Later, 9-Jack-9 helps the conspirators invade the Sacred Cathedral on the island of Shotaro, where Zot and his friends are hiding out. There are no electronics allowed on the island, so they think they are safe from Jack. However, they eventually bring their robot companion, Peabody, to the island. Jack possesses Peabody and shoots Vic, then the rest of Von Clokmann's troops follow and capture the heroes.

Jenny's brother Butch and the Devoes counter-attack and defeat Von Clokmann. Jack thinks it's hilarious that they turned all the soldiers into monkeys and tells Von Clokmann that he doesn't work with losers. He tells Zot that he'll kill him one day, and leaves.

Heroes and Villains

In his human form as Sir John Sheers, he is seen a couple times playing in a quintet at Max's house. The first time, the quintet includes Ernie Cortez, the creator of Zybox.

Later, Sheers plays with the quintet during Zot’s birthday party. He is still there when Dekko arrives and threatens everyone. He simply stands around and watches.

In this way, he comes into contact with two of Zot’s other villains.

Later, Jack is hired to kill Susan Gallo, the daughter of the President of Antares 3, who he had killed earlier. She has been hidden on Jenny’s Earth to protect her against Jack. However, he manages to transfer himself to that Earth.

He looks through the world, in cities and rural areas, traveling through the wires. He appears briefly in Jenny’s microwave as she is cooking. She alerts Butch and they turn off the power to the house. Zot arrives from his world. She warns him about Jack and he brings her back to his Earth, where they learn about Jack’s plan to kill Susan. Zot goes to get her and bring her back under his protection. The military staged a coup and she’s a symbol of freedom for the planet.

They plan to send her to Antares but Jack enters their portal machine and grabs her. He holds her hostage on Antares in front of the rebels who are fighting the military dictatorship. Jack reads a statement from the military and prepares to kill Susan but Zot manages to bank a shot that destroys the electronics that he is using to contain his signal.

Zot flies off with Susan but Jack sends his signal to a jet and follows. However they manage to evade him.

The next day they go as a group to a safe house where they can escape Jack. However, Jack finds some underground wires and uses them to kill Susan.

Jack taunts Zot. Zot nears his breaking point; he can’t stand death. He goes to Max to find out how to beat Jack.

The military hires Jack to kill Zot. This is part of Zot’s plan; this way he knows where Jack will be. He finally runs into Jack and uses special goggles to pick up on his radiation signal. He follows it to its source: the Old House, home of Sir John Sheers.

Max has known he has using the identity of Sheers for years, but knew he was too dangerous to confront. He couldn’t do it himself, only Zot could, and Zot needed to be in the right mindset. Now that he was so fraught by the death of Susan, he could confront Jack.

Zot flies to Jack’s home and breaks in. Jack has an electrified robot tentacle trap ready for him. His human body sits there as his hologram taunts the hero about how he killed his parents. Zot manages to throw the tentacles on Sheers so he has to turn them off.

Jack’s hologram form starts blasting at Zot as Zot flies around the room. Zot insists he doesn’t kill and will find another way to stop him, but the hologram blasts Sheers’ own body. As Sheers stumbles away from his chair, he finally collapses right onto the “off” button on the machine that makes his electronic signal. Sheers dies and the hologram disappears.

However, Jack’s spirit continues to live in other electronic devices. He visits the lead general on Antares, who has now been captured, via his TV set, admitting that he doesn’t have a lot of friends. He can still control machines and enjoy art. He says there is a “little girl in Paris” that can take care of herself. Her identity, and whether she knew him as Sheers or Jack, is unknown.

Jack and a small insect-sized piece of Zybox soon visit Dekko in the asylum where he is kept for safety. They have formed an alliance of technology-based villains who are all interested in the soul or art. Jack alters Dekko’s records so he will be released. After Zybox leaves, Jack warns Dekko that Zybox is dangerous.

Max agrees to take Dekko on at his house during a New Year’s party. Jack shows up as well, and simply acts as a guest. He offers to take out the Devoes that are there but Max says no. When Peabody, who is holding a cream pie, accidentally throws it, it goes through Jack’s face and hits Zot instead. (This happened because of a long-running contest in the letters pages, where readers could vote for which character they’d most like to see get hit with a pie in the face. Jack won and Zot got second place.) He seems to leave after that and does not interfere when The Blotch and Bellows try to rob the party.

Alternate Versions

Within the world of "Dimension 10 1/2," the stick-figure alternate universe created by Matt Feazell and running in the back of the black-and-white issues of Zot!, Jack attacks Zot and Jenny from a TV and computer. They try to defeat him with water but it doesn’t work. Then Antisocialman yoinks his tie and scares him away with a 220-volt converter, so he hides in a Three Stooges VHS tape, where he is contained.

Antisocialman gets Jack to join a number of other villains in attacking a party at Max’s house. He is defeated by Cynicalman, who throws a bunch of socks at him, which stick to him via static cling.

Max goes to a high school reunion. Jack also shows up. In this reality, they were friends in high school, and were both seen as nerds. Jack’s last name in Dimension 10 ½ is Dziewiec. Jack now harasses the other people at the reunion that used to pick on them. Then they find his old yearbook entry and make fun of him for being in the AV club, school play, chess club, and school band. Max gets Jack to stop annoying everyone by bringing in his parents, who smother him with criticism and “tips” on living his life better. Jack leaves.

Jack later goes to a movie about Zot and sits with Zybox, happy that they got good seats.

Powers and Abilities

9-Jack-9's standard form is that of a hologram. He can travel through electronic signals and devices and control them. He can also project his image in realspace.

He can make part or all of his body tangible or intangible. He originally had a human body and projected his electronic self via machines. When his body was killed, his electronic spirit lived on.

He can kill by choking or electric shocks.