From Hell

This is an ingenious hatching of a theory of the Whitechapel Murders case, one that flies in the face of all that's good and civilized in Victorian Britain and the British Empire at its peak, despite all those well-known wens, warts, and suppurating lesions. And perhaps the greatest graphic novel yet produced, despite the oftentimes nearly illegible lettering in what I must assume is a reduced page size from the normal magazine- or comic-page sizing of around 8.5” x 11” or so. (You may need strong reading glasses to make out some of the text.) Alan Moore is an indefatigable researcher and brilliant storyteller. Eddie Campbell's spidery, scratchy drawings suit the murky mood of the story. (And even so, when called upon to render historic London architecture, Campbell’s panels burst into glorious, meticulous copperplate-etching-type, scaled architecture-textbook detail and quality.) This book gripped me from front to back. The conspiracy Moore conjures, supported by 42 pages of dense notes and an additional graphic appendix, unfolds splendidly. It includes, of course, the London neighborhoods, and volumes (or is it simple myriad panels) on 19th century social mores, to include, yes, all those whores and other species of “loose women” and, to our eyes today, reprehensible men, but also – for those who are unprepared, but this is no spoiler, because the Ripper stories have been in circulation for sometimes more than a century – royalty, to include Victoria, Druidism and the Old Gods, Freemasonry and its secrets and rituals, icons of 19th century art, architecture, and literature, details of contemporary police and Scotland Yard procedure, and, believe me, very much more, crammed into its 572 pages. And on my next visit to London I'm going to bring with me chapter 4, as my guide to the buildings of Nicholas Hawksmoor. For an architecture buff, as I am, who has stomped around London peering into old churches and ancient structures, as I have, chapter 4, and its beautiful renderings of some of London’s greatest churches, was a particular unexpected, delightful serendipity. I would urge every reader to narrate chapter 14 aloud, in the most refined English accent they are capable of producing. I found it to be a chilling reading experience. And parents, if the title fails to warn you sufficiently, do examine the contents closely before leaving this one out for the kiddies on a rainy Saturday. The copy I read had no "for mature readers only" markings. From Hell is most assuredly for mature readers only and deserves, at the very least, an “NC-17” rating. This is simply a terrific read and one that, I see from other reviews, will require from many a measure of patience. Moore unfolds his tale at what some will find a too-leisurely pace. Other readers have greater toleration for both glacial pace and a carefully studied narrative ambiguity. For those of us who wallow in detail, texture, and explanatory endnotes, as well as a horror stories that, in the end, are truly disturbing, this should be just the ticket.

In the late 1880s in Victorian London, a series of murders shocked Great Britain. Prostitutes from London's White Chapel district were turning up murdered - not only murdered, but viciously mutilated, carved up and left for display in the streets. The police were left with many clues but no idea as to who was responsible. The public, encouraged by daily newspapers and tabloids, went into a frenzy of fear, speculation and rumor-mongering, culminating when the killer sent a piece of a victim's liver to the police. After that, hundreds of fake letters, many written in red or blood, claiming to be from Jack the Ripper, streamed in to the London Police departments. Alan Moore, writer of such comics as V For Vendetta, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and the recently filmed Watchmen, wrote the novel From Hell, which was originally serialized as a comic book in 13 issues. (From Hell was also made into a movie in 2001 with Johnny Depp and Heather Graham, but like many other movies made from comics, should be avoided until after you've read the comic.) The comic begins many years after the murders, as the main investigator and a "psychic" look back on their lives and their roles in the events. If there was to be one main character, it would be Dr. Gull, physician to the Queen of England, and it turns out, an expert in human anatomy, surgery and deception. The story is highly sexual, with many highly suggestive scenes of sexual encounters between prostitutes, princes, married couples and the victims themselves. Each of the victims is introduced, and with the length of the novel approaching 600 hundred pages, much time is given to their stories, their work and their murders. One of the advantages of the graphic novel over a traditional book is the visual advantage that the comics give the reader. One scene in particular, of a murdered prostitute laying in the street, is shown over nine panels. The murder takes place in the first; by the third, strangers pass her by on the street; by the 8th and 9th panels, the police have discovered her body and a small crowd gathers to watch. While there is no sympathy extended to the serial killer himself, perhaps one of the most moving sequences in the book is when the killer, now captured and locked away in an insane asylum, moments before his death, sees his life flash literally before his eyes. It is even more convincing when you can see his life, his memories and his consciousness leaving his body, only to drift to the darkness and cold of his death. The style of artist Eddic Campbell is at first very minimalist, as it looks as if he scratched his quill pen to some stiff parchment. His drawings are moody and dark, his line work at times thick and solid, sometimes like scribbles. London itself sits back upon dark skies and the air of criminality, and the 1880s are depicted vividly with horse-drawn carriages, impressive architecture and the formal fashions of the day. From Hell is a fascinating story, a masterful graphic novel, which should be read by teens in high school or with their parent's approval.

Like the Ripper strips away at is victims, Moore stuffs this bird exponentially giving a gluttonous serving of the arguably first modern day serial killer. Moore is the standard of the brilliant and astute student, well rounded in his efforts. He will bring his angle and create a sturdy foundation and a hell of a dwelling for fiction, where is served, the richest food for thought. It’s all there laid out, the process and reasoning in the end of the book just as entertaining as the story itself. Moore, like any great author doesn’t just provide a narrative, he hones in on the time and setting and the spirit of the times and its people. The well stratified view of who walks the streets in 19th century England and how they are fleshed out. No matter the strata, he displays the culture of a people, somehow whether in a classroom or a carriage riding around in the streets, literature, mathematics, philosophy, even quantum physics will prevail in a panal of comic book action. The black and white art is classic and undeniable as moody set pieces range throughout. Adding to the dodgy underbelly. Surprisingly, how the gore not only came through, neutral also, manifested itself and claimed the rest of the senses and creating the shadow world of what lies just beneath. Moore’s work will be reread, because there will be so much Ed missed and overlooked, at least by me. There is a richness that calls out for a brilliant leftover feast.

As a product this is a great compilation for a really great graphic novel. Not only do you get the complete novel, but also a few cool epilogues from Alan Moore (complete with their own comics style) and annotations at the very end commenting on the real life sources and personalities involved in the story (Though, admittedly, the point of view that From Hell takes on the killings has was debunked even by the time the novel was first published. It just so happens to be much more fun than any other theory!). As for the substance, I'm no literature critic so I won't got into a deep analysis of the story's merits, but suffice it to say this one covers all my favorite genres and themes in fiction. History, conspiracy, horror, the supernatural... the nagging sense that the world is truly not as it seems on the surface. I won't give spoilers, but there may be some instances of symbolism taken to the point of absurdity, but in some cases they aren't a big deal and in others they are actually paid off in a very cool way. I found a lot of similarities with my favorite horror movie The Shining - another tale about murderous sanity (ir is it clarity?) that transcends space and time. Fittingly, some passages from this book are like top notch cinema, elevated by the very basic, often ugly art (I use ugly as a compliment here) and the thoughtful presentation of that art from panel to panel. You never feel like you're rushing from one image to the next; they all seem to flow naturally and give you the time to really get immersed in the world the book presents. The book looks like it was etched out of Victorian smog and soot; characters' features blur and smudge... it all feeds the atmosphere and theme. Just top notch presentation. A must own for any (adult!) fan of horror fiction.

I recently went on a walking tour in White Chapel in the East End. It has changed from the time of Jack the Ripper in 1888. The guide believes that the version written by Stephen Knight, Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution was the actual true story. I have yet to read The Final Solution, but read this graphic novel and watched the movie starring Johnny Depp and Heather Graham. Some illustrations are very graphic, and certain scenes were hard to follow, until I realized that there was an appendix that explained certain sections. I have become a Mini-Ripperologist, having watched numerous documentaries and collected many books on Jack the Ripper. I have, yet to decide what to conclude, as I am still early in this hobby of reading various books. I found the graphic novel to be very entertaining and shocking. It was more graphic (violence and sexual nature) when compared to the movie. It's worth an evening read, though, and I highly recommend it.

Let's get one thing straight right from the start. This isn't really a story about Jack the Ripper. This is a story about one of the many conspiracy theories regarding the Ripper's true identity that, while it makes for entertaining fiction, bears little resemblance to reality. That doesn't mean this is a bad book; it just means that it needs to stand on its merits as a work of fiction since there's little pressure from reality to constrain its storytelling. As a work of fiction, From Hell wanders erratically between the near-genius and the nonsensical. It approaches genius when it brings life not only to Jack the Ripper himself, but also to his victims, the police investigating his crimes, and (as makes sense within the conspiracy theory being retold) his co-conspirators. It approaches the nonsensical when it meanders into lengthy ramblings about Freemason symbolism in London landmarks. Moore's purpose is clear: he wants to construct a view of history that combines the conspiratorial with the occult. Fair enough, but when a book requires a nearly fifty page appendix to explain its own symbolism, the story itself better delivery such emotional potency to justify the lack of explanation within the narrative itself. Unfortunately, perhaps this book's greatest failure is that it doesn't have that emotional potency. The fictionalized history is intriguing, the characters are interesting, the setting seems believable, and yet the reader can't help but feel (despite the occasional graphic depictions of violence) that this is a sterilized story of Jack the Ripper. The reason the Ripper has maintained his fame through the decades has more to do with his existence in the public mind as more of a phantom than a man than it does with the violence of his murders themselves. The explanation posited in this book reduces that phantom to a cog in the machinery of power. That view might be in concert with Moore's own political views, but for my money, Jack the Ripper is far scarier as an agent of pure chaos than as one of overreaching political order. But the story doesn't even focus on the crimes themselves in nearly as much detail as the conspiracy to cover them up. That makes for an entertaining bit of drama, but also distracts from what seems to me to be the real heart of the story. In terms of quality, Moore's writing is, as usual, top notch. Campbell's art, rendered in black and white, has a "sketchy" quality that adds a lot to the atmosphere of the story, though the "unfinished" quality of both the art and the lettering occasionally strain the eyes. At the end of the day, I'd heartily recommend this story to those who've been captured by the mystique of Jack the Ripper and want to explore one of the more outlandish theories regarding his identity. I would also recommend it for people who enjoy historical fiction or stories of political intrigue. I would not, however, recommend it for someone expecting a horror graphic novel about a serious of brutal murders.

This is so good I couldn't believe it the first time I read it. It's not just the best graphic novel as everybody agrees but it might be my favorite recent work of fiction, period. It's been said that the Russian director Tarkovsky was the only filmmaker who ever really managed to use film's full potential as a distinct medium, separate from novels or music. Watch T's film Stalker and you'll see. The same for From Hell, the only comic/graphic novel ever really to exploit the medium's possibilities to do things impossible in print or on screen. Forget Frank Miller's batman or Art Spiegelman's Maus, which are really "translations" of novelistic and film techniques (think film noir antiheroes for Miller or Orwell's Animal Farm for Maus). Even Moore's own Watchmen is essentially a brilliant but conventional satire of Cold War mentalities and obsessions with superheroes and sci/fi (think Doctor Strangelove meets The Earth Stood Still). From Hell is something else: the late twentieth-century visual world's distinctive version of a great nineteenth-century slice-of-life novel like Dickens or Tolstoy. And of course that's the subject of From Hell: the late nineteenth-century birth of the modern world of lurid visual spectacles with no single truth behind them, only vast murder amusement parks built by a vicious cycle of mass cultural obsessions and marketing. In the process From Hell evokes Victorian London as a whole with unforgettable, visceral force. It doesn't describe, it shows; you smell dirt, sweat, blood, hypocrisy, desperation, sex--I have no idea how they did it. Neither does anyone, apparently, because there's nothing else like it.

Spectacular. Haven’t read many comics or graphic novels, but I was blown away by this. I’d recommend googling some of the characters’ names when you first hear about them in the story — helps to orient you as you read. Also, heads up, this is a very graphic work in terms of sex and violence. Not something you’d want a kid of almost any age to flip through casually and it’s not a book you’d want to read on the subway with people looking over your shoulder. Still one of my favorite books ever. Incredibly thought provoking and compelling and riveting to read.