Obra maestra total. Lectura indispensable para cualquier amante del cómic, el fenómeno del Destripador y de la historia; puesto que estamos ante una nueva forma de escribir historia.

De increíble y asombroso, calificaría el paseo del Dr. Gull y Netley por Londres previo a los asesinatos de Whitechapel; sólo por eso ya vale la pena leer esta descomunal obra. ( )

A ferocious pastiche of Stephen Knight's seminal conspiracy theory of Jack the Ripper with Ackroyd's Hawksmoor and Sinclair's Lud Heat seasoned with Moore's love of the arcane and the referential and Eddie Campbell's absorbing concern for detail. The result is a noir master class in psychogeography and history from below. The extensive appendices further enhance what was already a remarkable series of comic strips. Given Moore's avowed aim of demonstrating that the murders were the outcome of a collective unconsciousness, I would like to have seen even more of the Ripper mythology woven into this fascinating fabric. ( )

To appreciate the need to tell yet another Jack the Ripper story, it may be best to flip to the back of From Hell and read Alan Moore's second appendix first. In it, he details an interesting history of how the legends of Jack the Ripper and the "true tales" have evolved since the murders were committed. He aptly describes it at one point as a "game of Bohemian Whispers" which gives him several advantages in the telling of his story. First, he can't be blamed if he gets facts wrong, secondly, his version is not necessarily any more right or wrong than anyone else's if one takes this position - something bolstered very much by the first appendix where Moore lays out that which is drawn from fact, that which was made up for narrative sake and that which was drawn from historical context.

That being said, this is an incredibly compelling version of events. In an environment where the police procedural has more than embedded itself into the pop-culture cannon, there is one truth to getting away with murder - prostitutes are disposable. And this is what makes Jack the Ripper such a compelling tale; Mary Kelly has managed to spawn her own set of legends in addition to being the alleged fifth victim. Each of the other victims is named and remembered. While many killers have garnered similar attention, finding victims that have achieved this type of canonization is a rare thing - finding this amongst the poor and supposedly disposable in our society is a rarity.

So when Moore finds a fantastic tale of Freemason conspiracy, a royal love affair and four women who chose to bribe the wrong man for ten pounds leading directly to the creation of Jack the Ripper, it suddenly makes sense. Even the fourth dimension bends a bit for our killer, bleeding through from the future to show that his actions will become part of the London psyche. Before one thinks that Moore is trying to present all of this as fact, there are good portions of the story devoted to those that were taken in by the hysteria of the day. Panels of random strangers writing letters to newspapers posing as Jack the Ripper are shown, police are shown dismissing key pieces of evidence, different investigators are brought in for political reasons - it's all there to demonstrate the basic human need to muck up an already limited ability to discover evidence after the fact. (For those that must really know blow-by-blow, the first appendix details where each story element, character and even some bits of dialogue were either found or when they were invented for each page.)

Cambell's drawings deserve a lot of credit. The black and white varies in style throughout - from a scratched-ink-style to a softened-smudged style that resembles charcoal drawings. For even the most gruesome scenes, one is thankful to only have the black and white drawing - color would simply have been too much for the violence his drawing clearly conveys. ( )

This was, for me, one of these books where I was incredibly struck by the art and care with which it was done - and yet wasn't able to derive much basic enjoyment from the read. (It reminds me a bit of Foucault's Pendulum, by Umberto Eco, in that way).

From Hell essentially reviews five murders of prostitutes in 1888 attributed to the unidentified "Jack the Ripper" and locates them against a backdrop of two types of power - the first, is the visible, royal power: the Crown has authorized certain of the murders to cover up the indiscretions of one of the princes. The primary actor, the "Ripper" himself, is only too glad to carry out the Crown's wishes, because, as a member of the Freemasons at one of their highest levels, he sees this also as an opportunity to create or to access a certain paranormal power available only to the Masons by means of ritual sacrifice. The book is obsessively documented in an appendix - no surprise, given it's an Alan Moore creation - for those who are curious to explore either of the theories at greater length.

Many parts of the book are spent as the Ripper (Dr. William Gull) describes the structure of London and the placement of certain artifacts and buildings on occult lines, which the Masons know about and are keep to capitalize on. I may be something of a dilettante, but these were the parts of the book I had to struggle a bit to get through - I am unfamiliar with London's geography, and while I find the theory of these placements and power lines interesting, it was hard for me to be captivated by the minutia of them.

For all this, I was intrigued by Moore's theory, and particularly by his elaborations on what the record can tell us. Most of the characters are a bit lacking in depth - each of them stands for a single idea, in many cases, but they are still compelling as figures in the greater history. I'd recommend it as worth a read, but again, more as a thought-provoker than an entertainment.

Campbell's drawings fit the book astonishingly well. The entire work is done in black and white, not a spot of color to be found, and Campbell seems averse to coloring in dark spaces or using traditional shading - many of the dark lines and shading are done in gridding or hatchmarks, a curiously technical, engineer-like overlay that seems fitting for this moment in history. The art adapts to its subjects - members of the upper class are drawn with even faces, clean lines, fine inkwork; the lower classes are roughly drawn, features askew, lines unmatched and unkempt. I think the artwork here is brilliant.

The plot is well-paced and has a clear storyarch: things are brought to a believable, if not always satisfying end. I'd be curious to hear what students of history think about it, in addition to the fiction-focused (like myself) and fans of the graphic. ( )

Bad ( )

The title is borrowed from one of the contemporary letters to the press claiming to be from Jack the Ripper. Moore notes that only one of hundreds of authors could be identified (and made accountable), and seems to think all are likely bogus excepting perhaps the one from which he borrowed the title.

This edition compiles all installments along with 2 appendices: uncertain whether or not the appendices are typical of other editions, but they are as intriguing as any of the 16 serialised installments: Appendix 1 provides source notes and commentary on the story / illustration as envisioned by Moore & Campbell; Appendix 2 is an annotated bibliography, in serial art format.

From Hell's themes are compelling in their own right (Whitechapel murders symbolically ushering in the 20th century; Royal scandal and Victorian class politics; Masonic conspiracy; British mythology including London's sacred architecture; an unflinching look at urban poverty), and are interwoven in such a way to build up a multilayered story.

The art is deliberately and effectively raw, using the technical shortcomings of some images to advantage.

Not as provocative or ultimately as satisfying an accomplishment as V for Vendetta, but well worth reading. I'm now curious to see the film, which up to now impressed me as a silly slasher film. ( )

Yet another take on Jack the Ripper.*

My initial thought on this work is 'why has this work been so lavishly praised?'.

I'm not spoiling anything by revealing that Moore pins the murders on Sir William Gull, the Queen's physician. This is a why done it, rather who done it. (Most of Moore's plot is taken from Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution by Stephen Knight**). In Moore's interpretation of Knight's version of events Gull goes mad when he suffers a stroke and starts to see visions. Unfortunately for everyone neither the Queen or his Masonic brothers release this before they entrust to him the job of covering up the Prince of Wales illegitimate child (pre-stroke he has already dealt with the mother by operating on her and leaving her with diminished mental capabilities) from four women who, in order to raise protection money, attempt blackmail. Gull's madness ensures that the task, rather than being quietly hushed up, results in bloody carnage whereupon he sacrifices the women to his own mystical plan. It is this plan that allows Moore to go on another one of his trips into esoteric magical theories - this time involving the masons, the mystical importance of parts of London, and so on. Moore also links the Ripper spiritually with a number of other killers to come - Peter Sutcliff (the Yorkshire Ripper), Ian Brady, and even Adolf Hitler.

In parallel to the Gull thread we see the victims and the abject poverty they lived in - turning to prostitution for a few pennies to earn enough for a bed. We also follow Inspector Frederick Aberline as he attempts to solve the crimes, latterly with the help of the psychic Robert Lees, while Masons higher up in the force arrange a cover-up. To give it more cultural depth Moore has cameos galore from celebrities of the era - for example, Oscar Wilde, William Morris, Joseph Merrick ("The Elephant Man"), a young Aleister Crowley - most of them don't add much other than a little (lurid) colour.

There are good things here - the depiction of everyday life, the inescapable poverty, the sordid nature of the victims existence. The problem is that Moore doesn't actually do anything new with the subject matter and what he does do has been done better elsewhere. The Knight book was used as the basis for the film Murder By Decree, within Sherlock Holmes solves the murders but finds the establishment closing rank - the use of Holmes highlighting more effectively than Moore the protected nature of the British elite. Most of the mystical ramblings about London are drawn from Iain Sinclair, who draws them more effectively and powerfully; the magical aspects of Hawksmoor were told in Peter Ackroyd's excellent novel. Once you remove everything that Moore has borrowed from superior sources all you are left with is an empty baggy monster of a book.

I was pleasantly surprised by Campbell's art, I remember when he first started out and his work would best be described as an acquired taste. He still appears to have some technical shortcomings but the rough scratchy illustrating style adopted here is entirely appropriate.

Disappointing - the epitome of the emperor's new clothes.

* is there really anything left to say on this subject? Really? Really?

** Moore acknowledges his sources and discusses them and his reasoning in over 40 pages of notes on the text. ( )

Why did I read a dark, fearful, complex graphic novel about Jack the Ripper?
It was written by Alan Moore. I think he is the best writer of graphic novels. Moore is intelligent, experimental, critical; he wrote: V for Vendetta, Watchman, The Lost Girls, Promethea, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and many others. He has ideas about superheroes, magic, mysticism, consciousness, violence, sex, history...the fourth dimension. I feel smarter when I am reading Moore; he opens up possibilities.
It took me several months to get through From Hell. I started reading it in November and finished it last night. The subject, the violent murder of 5 women in London in 1888, and the incredible detail of Moore's writing...sometimes...my reading experience was too intense and I had to set the book aside for a week or two. To make things more real, this week is the start of the trial in Vancouver for serial killer Robert Pickton (accused of killing 26 sex-trade workers). The media sphere is saturated with information about Pickton and the women he murdered and the way he murdered them.

"Murder, other than in the most strict forensic sense, is never soluble. That dark human clot can never melt into a lucid, clear suspension." (appendix II-page 22)
"The greater part of any murder is the field of theory, fascination and hysteria that it engenders. A black diaspora, our tireless, sinister enthusiasm." (appendix II-page 22) ( )

From Hell is an encyclopedic odyssey worthy of Pynchon, Sterne or Rabelais.

To quote the author, "I wasn't so interested in 'Whodunnit?' as I was interested in 'What happened?'"... Although he goes great lengths to fool you, make no mistake, From Hell is about the killer, except here, the killer is not just a reflection of the time he existed in , but of the soul of mankind. it's past, present [relative to him[], and it's future and that reflection is meant to undermine our cultural assumptions that we are more logical, evolved, moral, etc. than we ever were in the past, and also to show us what we'd rather ignore and forget thinking that these things alone will make the past go away completely. ( )

From Hell is an intricately researched and and well written graphic novel, working the historical events surrounding the Jack the Ripper mythos into a supernatural epic.

I found this book satisfying, both as a fan of crime writing and of graphic novels, and was impressed by the lengths gone to by the writer and the illustrator to create a convincing and accurate picture of London-of-the-time. History, cartography and crime geeks alike will appreciate the comprehensive and surprisingly readable endnotes that accompany the novel. ( )

Brutal, both in art and the wielding of ideas. The etched pen art scratches characters across the Whitechapel horror as Moore imagines a madman's stake at immortality in a somewhat encyclopedic Victorian narrative.

I loved the art, but I found it too verbose in many sections, particularly Gull's detailed monologues on architectural symbolism. It was overwhelming and a little dull, honestly. I was disappointed. I love Alan Moore and Jack the Ripper is an incredibly fascinating topic; I really wanted to love this book. ( )

Not sure how to describe this. An version of the Jack the Riper case, with a bit of mysticism thrown in. That doesn't, however, do the narrative justice whioch is just staggering in its detail. Atmospheric, compelling, thrilling and scary. Unbelievably good. The murder is known from the beginning with a large amount of royal and masonic conspiracy thrown in. The chapeter driving around london streets linking them to the architect Hawksmoor blew me away. ( )

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

So in what I think is a first since opening CCLaP last year, I got a chance recently to not only read a book for the first time but also watch a movie based on it for the first time in the same week; in this case, it was the "Jack The Ripper" conspiracy tale From Hell, with the original 1999 graphic novel by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell and the subsequent 2001 movie version by Allen and Albert Hughes, known professionally as The Hughes Brothers. I thought it'd be fun, then, to take a cue off the Onion AV Club's "Book Versus Film" essay series, and write one review encompassing them both; I'm not expecting this to happen very often in my life, though, so don't hold your breath waiting for this to become a regular series.

And indeed, the only reason I took on the original graphic novel in the first place is because I'm a big fan of Moore's, with this for example being the fifth full-length project of his I've now read (after Watchmen, Miracleman, V For Vendetta, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen); and the reason I'm such a big fan of Moore's is because he is one of the most complex writers in the history of the comics format, penning project after project that not only have the gravitas of a traditional text-based novel but that perfectly exploit why they could only be published as comic books anyway. And in fact From Hell is yet another good example of what I'm talking about; set right before the turn of the 20th century, in the waning years of the Victorian Era, it relies as much on the pacing of the graphic boxes on each page as it does on the plot itself, with Moore deliberately breaking the story at certain points precisely because of knowing that it's where that page will end in the finished book.

Taking place in a grimy, crime-filled East End London, like I said this is Moore's take on the infamous Jack The Ripper legend, the notorious serial killer from the late 1800s who was famously never caught nor even identified; and this being Moore, of course, his take on the whole affair is a complicated and fantastical one, a grand conspiracy involving the royal family, an illegitimate child, the Freemasons, a respected surgeon who doubles as a violent psychopath, brain strokes misinterpreted as religious visions, Medieval Christian churches whose architects snuck pagan references into the plans...oh, and a little time travel to boot, just in case Moore hasn't screwed with your head enough at this point. In fact, the more you read the massive From Hell (which, be warned, is almost 600 pages long), the more you realize that the Ripper story isn't really the main reason Moore even wrote this in the first place; this is more of a dark love letter to the city of London itself, one of the bastions of Western civilization and a place so steeped in history according to Moore that you can almost taste it while there. Like many of his other projects, Moore's main theme here in From Hell is actually the complex and hidden patterns that are layered one by one by society onto history, of how these overlapping patterns both work in tandem and against each other, and how in a place like London it results in a 3,000-year-old matrix of power and magic, full of "hot spots" around the city where literally dozens of important events have all transpired over the centuries.

Ah, but then this delicate web is handed over to The Hughes Brothers (Menace II Society), and things start falling apart alarmingly fast; there's a reason, after all, that this was the movie to make Moore famously declare that he will never again in his life sell the film rights to any of his future projects. Although to be completely fair, the problem is not really with The Hughes Brothers per se (although as directors of the project, they are the ones ultimately accountable for the finished film); no, the real mess starts right off the bat with the muddled, messy script by Terry Hayes and Rafael Yglesias, who surprisingly enough have a number of solid movies in their pasts (including Death and the Maiden, Payback, and Mad Max: Road Warrior), so you would think would know better. For example, the character Johnny Depp plays in the movie version is in actuality an amalgam of three different characters from the original book -- a policeman, a psychic, and a crazed opium addict -- not to mention that in the book, these three characters are supposed to not like each other, with personalities that naturally clash against the other two. Then add the fact that in the book, the psychic is actually fake, and admits so right on page 2 of the manuscript; in the movie, however, Depp's psychic visions are supposed to be real, brought on by the massive amounts of opium he is constantly smoking in seedy Chinatown dens, yet with all of this being suspiciously tolerated by his bosses at Scotland Yard.

It essentially turns the film version of From Hell into a schizophrenic disaster, a movie that can't decide if it's a fact-based police procedural, a horror movie with supernatural elements, or the Hollywood version of a historical thriller (i.e. the Victorian prostitutes are way too hot to be actual Victorian prostitutes). Say what you will about Alan Moore's writing style (which I admit can get awfully overblown at points, especially when he was younger), but at least he is a master at putting together a sharply focused yet wildly digressive story, and smart enough to understand how two such seemingly competitive elements can actually complement each other when done in the right way. It's a lesson that completely eluded the group of people responsible for the movie version; and that's why the book version of From Hell is ultimately so brilliant, and why the film version is ultimately so terrible.

Out of 10:
Book: 9.0
Movie: 4.5 ( )

A superb graphic novel of the Jack the Ripper story, but also a rather sooty view of Victorian society. Nothing I say here would be any different than what has already been said. Something I could add would be that this is perhaps the most thorough and engaging graphic novel out there. Subject matter would have to have your interest though. ( )

My feelings about this book are kind of like my feelings about "V For Vendetta," only stronger. Oh, Alan Moore, why do you put me in this untenable position? You see, I think the movie is in many ways much better than the book. Blasphemy, I know. However, the story, that the Jack the Ripper killings were mandated by the British throne and carried out by the royal physician (this is revealed in something like the first 20 pages, so it's not much of a spoiler), and connected to said-physicians wacky Masonic beliefs, is really interesting. The characters, especially those of the ill-fated women, are fleshed out nicely (every time one was getting set up to die, I wanted to reach into the book and yell 'no! Go back home!') and the case for this particular explanation is made with enough evidence to not seem like a totally crackpot theory.

The primary problems I have with the books are the art and the masonry. First, the art. The black and white pen and ink style drawings make it really hard to tell who's speaking at any given time, except in the case is really recognizable characters. Very frustrating. Second, the masonic stuff. I'm pretty tolerant of wacky conspiracy stuff (that's what I studied in college, in fact, and I'm rather fond of Moore's Promethea series) but come on! Stop with the insane masonic rambling! Sheesh. It just got really over-the-top at times, as far as I was concerned.

In the end, I actually thought the movie did a better job of just telling the story without getting carried away. That said, this is an okay read, though far from Moore's best work. I didn't regret reading it but I was glad that I hadn't bought it, basically. ( )

An intelligent and gripping graphic novel - (but skip the terrible film adaptation!)

not quite my bag, but absolutly astonishing in it's scope and the amount of almost fanatical detail and research poured into every last panel. i'd highly recomend it for anyone who is into true crime stuff, which i have a hard time with. it's a very disturbing book, gruesome in many places. but facenating. don't forget to read all the footnotes! they help! ( )

Moore's masterpiece.As much about the social history of 1880s London and Britaina as about Jack the Ripper. Brilliantly drawn by Eddie Campbell who superbly evokes the squalor and beauty of Victorian London. Moore;s notes at the end of the book are almost as intriguing. Be warned the authors pull no punches in the events depicted in the book. I'm luck enough to own the limited signed hardcover edition of this book and we'll never be parted! ( )

Moore and Campbell have delved deeply into the story of Jack the Ripper, to present a version of what might have happened, based on what they knew and discovered in the research.

While odd looking to start with, the artwork seems to fit the squalor of the times once you start reading, and the density of the work is pretty impressive.

http://graphicsf.blogspot.com/2007/02... ( )

This book left me speechless - what a magnificent epic! ( )

This was a graphic novel recommended to me by a fellow LibraryThing'er, and I must confess that I enjoyed it. To me, it seems that every Ripper theory I read about has sufficient (although not always explicit) evidence that that particular theory is correct. Although once one has seen Walter Sickert's paintings in person, it is difficult to suspect anyone else.

I did enjoy this graphic novel, but it was what it's name implies: graphic. I know that the scenes involving the murders were well-done, and accurate--all that blood would have to have been there. But some of the sex scenes I found to be unnecessary. It's just as easy to imply that kind of thing as it is to show it. But other than that, it was a good read, and gave me yet another plausible theory as to WhoDunIt.

Discovered that Moore also wrote V FOR VENDETTA, which is also a graphic novel. You learn something new every day. That's going on my list of "need to buy"'s as well. ( )

http://www.deathcookie.com/node/386 ( )

After neglecting it for nearly a month, I finally finished Alan Moore's epic tale of the Ripper murders, From Hell. The dialogue and plotting are joys in and of themselves, and the ink is of course brilliant. (Eddie Campbell deserves his share of the glory.) I find Moore's entire appendix, elegant and well researched, adds a great deal to the story's believability. My favourite bits dealt with Gull's time sensitivity/visions of the 20th century and the idea that he isn't quite the madman he appears at first glance. The book would seem to have been of tremendous creative inspiration to Lawrence Miles, whose Faction Paradox series deals heavily with ritualism and blood rites, has made use of Freemasonry in its mythology, and intertwines each with time travel. Other, less obvious ideas found throughout Miles' first FP novel This Town Will Never Let Us Go may owe similar debts, especially when one considers its emphasis on architecture, geometry, and ideas of city as complex organism.

http://infinityparadox.blogspot.com ( )

This one took a while to grow on me. It's an ugly book -- the art seems crude and nasty... at first. But it matches some of the really ugly people and their doings. It's a lot more extensive than you can even imagine. There's appendices, for god's sake, which attribute as many facts as possible... even going so far to say, "Right. This bit in panel four? It's a hallucination so we made that up." The end bit's almost as engrossing as the actual story told. ( )