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Rackham's Razor

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Rackham's Razor

Rackham’s Razor: A Black Sails Story,  is a prequel graphic novel written by Toby Schmitz and illustrated by Matthew Southworth. It is written as a prequel to Black Sails, detailing the story of how Jack Rackham and Anne Bonny met.

Schmitz, who portrays Jack Rackham on the show, wrote a fifteen page sequence detailing the story of how how the two characters met and pitched it to the showrunners, who then suggested he turn it into a graphic novel.

Synopsis[]

The story opens in London in 1705, in a tavern on the bank of the Thames. Inside, two Royal Navy officers are speaking. Mr. Neville is talking to Jack Rackham about the latter’s various postings and demotions as a result of his actions. Rackham’s most recent ship was the same as Neville’s, but after making a fool of the meanest officer aboard, Mr. Coker, Rackham was transferred to Her Majesty’s Ship the Carcass, a ship tasked with ferrying Redcoats bound for the Bahamas. Jack asks the owner of the tavern for another round of drinks, and the owner orders a young girl to fetch the drinks for the customers, threatening her with physical violence. Neville asks Rackham if he thinks he can get away with his unique sideburns, and Rackham glibly replies he hopes his new captain will find them jaunty. Neville warns him that his new captain whips men to death for blasphemy. The girl, Anne, then brings the men their drinks, and Rackham tips her. 

Mr. Coker, the aforementioned officer that Jack had antagonized in his time aboard the ship, arrives. He calls Jack a coward, telling him that he needs to address him as “sir” and salute his superiors. With Coker is an officer of the British Army. Coker orders Jack to pull his sword out of his scabbard, and when he refuses, Coker takes it and calls it the blade of a coward who has never killed. Coker proceeds to snap the blade over his knee, and draws his own sword and taunts Jack by sticking the point in front of his face. 

In the back room, the owner of the tavern, James Bonny, tells Anne she has no right to the coin she was tipped by Jack. Anne tells him her name and tells him to stop calling her “girl.” James responds hitting Anne, saying she was supposed to be his wife but all she does is skulk in the shadows. 

Meanwhile, in the main room, Rackham asks Coker if he wants to win back his losses. Coker accuses Rackham of being a cheat, which Rackham denies. Coker and Pursy sit down with Rackham and Neville, and Pursy introduces himself and is far more friendly than his colleague. Coker demands that they use his cards, to prevent Jack from cheating. They begin playing the game “Find the Jack” which Jack finds amusing. Jack tries to engage Pursy in conversation, asking him what the news in town is, jokingly asking who they’re at war with. Coker orders Jack to be quiet, which Jack retorts that it is a boring game if they can’t cheat. Coker says that one can discern a cheat because no one is truly good at dice. Jack counters that there are many things someone can shave that aren’t dice. Pursy then tells an unsavory story about a prostitute that he knew that could spit dice from several “places” that could land on numbers on request, the veracity of which Coker doubts before Pursy and Neville fold. Coker then asks Jack what he has and Jack folds. 

Jack leaves under the pretense of urinating into the river, but in truth inspects his cards. He has two Jack of Hearts, revealing that he is in fact cheating. While out there, Anne tells him that Pursy is only drinking water. 

When Jack returns, he poses a question to the table. He says they all know Queen Anne’s government has more spies than taxes. He says it is likely that said spy could be found at the docks to meet a returning naval ship. Said spy could usually be found hanging around the brighter officers in alehouses. Coker tells him to shut up and even Neville tells Jack to move the game along. Jack then says it is a mystery how spies get away with looking like spies, and asks if they are so great in number they have stopped trying to be clandestine. Jack then notices that Pursy’s cup is empty and tries to poor him another drink but Coker slaps the cup out of his hands. Jack continues to speak, saying that when a spy spends more time abroad, throwing out the example of Amsterdam, under the employ of the British government, does there come a day when he  when there is no possibility that he is even slightly aligned with the British Empire. Pursy then departs with a curt “good evening.” Jack then folds, allowing Coker to win the game. 

That night, James beats Anne, and when she says that the coin she was tipped was hers, James declares that everything in the tavern is his, including her. Jack then comes up behind James and cuts his throat with a razor. Jack then goes upstairs to Coker’s room while he is asleep for an unknown purpose. He and Anne then leave the tavern, and Jack advises Anne to go to Christ’s Hospital and claim that she has had visions. After laying low for a week, she should he’d to a tavern that offers work in exchange for room and board. He recommends the Golden Fleece in Bristol, and tells her to ask for Mignon, the Creole. He then gives her some money for her journeys. 

She then asks where he is going, and he tells her he sails on the Carcass in the morning for trouble in the Bahamas. However, he doesn’t plan on staying on the Carcass. He says that there is a particular pirate in that area, and while he may be a savage, even savages need partners. Jack says he would bring her along but she would need to be invisible. As he says this, she shows her skill at staying hidden. 

Anne then asks why he didn’t play the card and if he killed Coker. Jack explains that most decisions in life can be whittled down to two options, the thing most likely to be done and the other. It is then revealed that Jack planted his bloody razor in Coker’s hand, as well as the jack that Jack didn’t play pinned to the wall by his broken sword. Coker is arrested that morning for the murder of James Bonny. Jack then takes a hat from a sleeping vagrant and gives it to Anne. They then walk along the docks, and Jack asks Anne if she has ever tried pineapple, and tells her it is going to change her life. 

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