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How Jack the Ripper Became A Cartoon Villain
Jack the Ripper is probably the most infamous serial killer in history. He is often portrayed as a criminal mastermind and a skilled surgeon, evading the authorities with preternatural ability. The reality is less sensational, so how did we end up with a cartoon villain? A culture obsessed with celebrity and violence laid the groundwork.
Who Would Win in a Fight?
Celebrity Deathmatch was a popular MTV stop-motion claymation series that pitted famous people against each other in bloody grudge matches. Who-would-in-a-fight scenarios litter the internet and publishing. There’s a 23-book series on Amazon titled “Who Would Win?” that speculates about the outcomes of wild animals fighting to the death. A podcast with the same name “debates battles between fictional characters from the worlds of comic books, sci-fi and fantasy.” Even the popular entertainment website Screen Rant publishes a “Would Would Win in a Fight” series.
There are innumerable user-generated YouTube videos, Reddit threads, social media posts and blog posts making impassioned…