Jack Bannister

Jack Bannister was an 1880s London-based lowlife.

Biography
In 1883, while digging a tunnel under Oxford Street in an effort to rob the Capital and Counties Bank, Bannister and Jenkins stumbled upon an Iytean starship which had been buried there for thousands of years. As they explored it in the hope of finding some valuables they could bring back to the surface and fence, Jenkins accidentally opened a stasis pod, and the symbiont creature within tried to possess him. (GAME: ) It was unable to fully control him, but the spasmic flailing caused by their warring wills caused Bannister to believe Jenkins was having a seizure and to take him to a reputed physician, Doctor Henry Jellicoe, who was known for treating nervous conditions and for often treating poor patients for free. As the Doctor examined him, the Iytean left Jenkins's body and jumped into Jellicoe's instead. (GAME: )

By 1885, Bannister, now 34 years old, (GAME: ) had established a lucrative business with Jenkins, smuggling alien artefact out of the starship in small quantities and then selling them to various collectors of the occult in the guise of being exotic artefacts exported from distant lands. Among the buyers were Colonel Malcolm Fraser and Sir Reginald Carruthers. (GAME: ) The Colonel, who believed the artefacts to be Atlantean in origin, discovered how to activate one of the energy weapons he had purchased, and began to fantasise about using its awesome might to take over the world, but he was loathe to begin when Bannister might still have a stock of weapons of his own with which to oppose him. (GAME: ) Thus, he frantically tried to get in touch with Bannister. This proved difficult because Sir Reginald, who had introduced them, became estranged from the Colonel after his house was robbed in an effort to steal some of the artefacts he had bought from Banniser, for which Sir Reginald blamed the Colonel. (GAME: )

Also seeking Bannister and Jenkins was the real culprit, "Ned Hines", actually the alias adopted by the Iytean after it had partially taken over Henry Jellicoe's body. Hines wished to extract the location of the buried starship to recover more of the chemicals he needed to further his plans of world domination. Hines ended up murdering Sir Reginald in a blind rage after the gentleman proved unable to locate Bannister. (GAME: ) By this point, the Time Lord Rollo and his companions were investigating the whole affair, having been sent by the Celestial Intervention Agency to investigate the alien interference in Victorian London for fear that it would cause a departure from established history. (GAME: )

When Bannister and Jenkins finally returned to the Colonel's house, their meeting was overheard, either by the time-travellers themselves or by the Colonel's granddaughter Julia Fraser, who was sympathetic to the interlopers. Bannister and Jenkins had come simply to offer up a few more trinkets, but the unimpressed Colonel instead made a very generous bid for their entire stock of alien artefacts. The crooks asked for time to consider and left, leaving a fake address. (GAME:, ) They returned the following night, only to find the house awake with commotion as they had been attacked by Ned Hines, who was trying to get Bannister and Jenkins's location from the Colonel. They fled, but were spotted by the time-travellers, (GAME: who managed to followed them to their hideout on the docks by the time-travellers. From there, either through reconnaissance or directly interrogating the crooks, the time-travellers learned the location of the Iytean starship. (GAME: )

Subsequently, one possible path forward for the time-travellers was to use Hines's maniacal desire to find Bannister and Jenkins as bait to lure him into a trap, possibly with the help of the crooks themselves. (GAME: ) Either way, the time-travellers eventually destroyed or removed the starship, cutting off Bannister and Jenkins's source of income for the sake of humanity's survival and the preservation of established history. (GAME: )

Personality
Though outwardly smooth and charming, Bannister had little in the way of "real loyalty and honesty" in him, save for some affection for his partner-in-crime Bert Jenkins. He was a genuinely cunning schemer, but had a still-higher opinion of his own intelligence. (GAME: )

Physical appearance
Banniser was of average size and build, with light hair and a short, curly beard. He typically wore a bowler hat, a short jacket, a striped vest, a high-collared shirt, and white or buff trousers. (GAME: )

Behind the scenes
Jack Bannister has the dubious honour of being the only major character in The Iytean Menace who is never clearly illustrated; he is only seen as a darkened silhouette in the first illustration of the Introduction Story alongside Jenkins as they unearth the Iytean starship.