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From Hell (From Hell #1-11)

by Alan Moore, Eddie Campbell (illustrator), Pete Mullins (illustrator)

4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 · rating details · 15,410 ratings · 642 reviews

"I shall tell you where we are. We're in the most extreme and utter region of the human mind. A dim, subconscious underworld. A radiant abyss where men meet themselves. Hell, Netley. We're in Hell." Having proved himself peerless in the arena of reinterpreting superheroes, Alan Moore turned his ever-incisive eye to the squalid, enigmatic world of Jack the Ripper and the Wh...more "I shall tell you where we are. We're in the most extreme and utter region of the human mind. A dim, subconscious underworld. A radiant abyss where men meet themselves. Hell, Netley. We're in Hell." Having proved himself peerless in the arena of reinterpreting superheroes, Alan Moore turned his ever-incisive eye to the squalid, enigmatic world of Jack the Ripper and the Whitechapel murders of 1888. Weighing in at 576 pages, From Hell is certainly the most epic of Moore's works and remarkably and is possibly his finest effort yet in a career punctuated by such glorious highlights as Watchmen and V for Vendetta . Going beyond the myriad existing theories, which range from the sublime to the ridiculous, Moore presents an ingenious take on the slaughter. His Ripper's brutal activities are the epicentre of a conspiracy involving the very heart of the British Establishment, including the Freemasons and The Royal Family. A popular claim, which is transformed through Moore's exquisite and thoroughly gripping vision, of the Ripper crimes being the womb from which the 20th century, so enmeshed in the celebrity culture of violence, received its shocking, visceral birth. Bolstered by meticulous research that encompasses a wide spectrum of Ripper studies and myths and coupled with his ability to evoke sympathies in such monstrous characters, Moore has created perhaps the finest examination of the Ripper legacy, observing far beyond society's obsessive need to expose Evil's visage. Ultimately, as Moore observes, Jack's identity and his actions are inconsequential to the manner in which society embraced the Fear: "It's about us. It's about our minds and how they dance. Jack mirrors our hysterias. Faceless, he is the receptacle for each new social panic." Eddie Campbell's stunning black and white artwork, replete with a scratchy, dirty sheen, is perfectly matched to the often-unshakeable intensity of Moore's writing. Between them, each murder is rendered in horrifying detail, providing the book's most unnerving scenes, made more so in uncomfortable, yet lyrical moments as when the villain embraces an eviscerated corpse, craving understanding; pleading that they "are wed in legend, inextricable within eternity". Though technically a comic, the term hardly begins to describe From Hell's inimitable grandeur and finesse, as it takes the medium to fresh heights of ingenuity and craftsmanship. Moore and Campbell's autopsy on the emaciated corpse of the Ripper myth has divulged a deeply disturbing yet undeniably captivating masterpiece. --Danny Graydon(less)

Paperback, A knockabout gosh book, 576 pages

Published 2007 by Knockabout Comics (first published 1996)

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May 17, 2008 Hannah Messler rated it 4 of 5 stars

Uh-oh, I think I like comic books now . . .

20 likes · like · see review

Jan 29, 2008 Belarius rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Die-Hard Alan Moore Fans

Shelves: fiction-finished, graphic-novels, reviewed

From Hell is a brick of a book by legendary author Alan Moore. It presents one theory (since discredited) about the Jack The Ripper killings, and in so doing presents us with the story from every conceivable angle. The result is an exhaustive (albeit fictional) account of a sweeping slice of Victorian landscape.

From Hell is dense, multi-layered, and overflowing with an obsessive connect-the-dots tone that fancifully associates the events to everything from Aleister Crowley's childhood to Hitler'...more From Hell is a brick of a book by legendary author Alan Moore. It presents one theory (since discredited) about the Jack The Ripper killings, and in so doing presents us with the story from every conceivable angle. The result is an exhaustive (albeit fictional) account of a sweeping slice of Victorian landscape.

From Hell is dense, multi-layered, and overflowing with an obsessive connect-the-dots tone that fancifully associates the events to everything from Aleister Crowley's childhood to Hitler's conception. The murders are, of course, the central events of the book, and are depicted as an elaborate Masonic ritual by the killer (with pages and pages of Masonic theory to boot), but devotes considerable time to even the minor characters, a sort of pantheistic character study of an entire society.

There is little doubt that From Hell is a "great work" from a strictly literary perspective. Its devilish intricacy and boldly experimental approach make it a pioneering achievement. At the same time, it is not an enjoyable read. Setting aside for a moment its most uncomfortable moments (most notably a gruesomely detailed depiction of every step involved in the Ripper's most famous killing), large patches of the text are dull and technical. Other tangents, presumably included for "completeness," seem superfluous and distract from the central focus of the story.

Making matters worse is the artwork of Eddie Campbell, which can kindly be called "pen-and-ink impressionism" and less kindly be called "chickenscratch." Apart from robbing much of the story of the shading a black-and-white style needs to really breath, it also often makes it extremely difficult to recognize characters. Readers must depend on gross physical characteristics (weight, facial hair, outfit) to keep track of which character is which in many cases.

Ironically, the best part of the book is an appendix comic-essay called "The Dance of the Gull Catchers," which explores the difficulty of studying the history of the killings. Moore and Campbell also provide an exhaustive overview of which parts of the story are fictionalized and which have some basis in reality, an exceptionally rare move in historical graphic fiction.

On the back cover, Moore states, "For my part I am concerned with cutting into and examining the still-warm corpse of history itself." This, we can all agree, he has done. The sad truth, however, is that this examination, while epic and masterful, still isn't especially rewarding to watch.(less)

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Sep 07, 2007 Richard rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: strong stomaches, open minds

Dense and rewarding graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated in pen and ink by Eddie Campbell. The actual plot is gripping - especially from the middle to the end - but the story is also used as a jumping off point to discuss architecture, the nature of time, class, Masonry, and the transition from the Victorian to the modern era.

There's an interconnectedness to time in From Hell that I thought was really interesting, which takes full advantage of the graphic novel format. Conversati...more

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Apr 27, 2008 Conor rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Jack the Ripper mythos is, as Moore tells one in the appendix, so convoluted with theories as to be almost nonsense. From Hell is not an attempt to tell it like it was, but rather a piece of fiction in which Moore uses the murders as a way of channeling something much closer to Crime and Punishment: the psychology of a mass murderer. But, where as Dostoevsky's hero takes theory and alone makes it into murder, Moore's Dr.Gull is encouraged every step along the way. Instead of finding emptines...more

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Feb 25, 2011 Bradley Timm rated it 5 of 5 stars

I find this book to be criminally overlooked; whether its relevance to the god awful adaptation by the Hughes Bros. has anything to do with it or not.

Here is what I consider to be Alan Moore's personal best work. When I finished "From Hell" I had a profound, inescapable feeling that I just learned something very important about mankind and human nature on such a level that it was difficult to quantify. The work is at once clinical, unsympathetic and uncomfortable, yet these reactions are so int...more

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Apr 28, 2008 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels-comics, true-crime, great-illustrations, mysteries

Around junior high I became fairly obsessed with the Jack the Ripper case, and read a number of the attempts over the years to solve the case. I never read anything all that persuasive that seemed to tie all the little ends together quite as well as From Hell, which of course has the added advantage of artistic license and can invent conversations and whole scenes. However, Alan Moore's exhaustive and witty annotations are not to be skipped -- he lays out in minute detail the source material for...more

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Mark Here's my Ripper trivia, Jessica. The last time we went to London, we took our then 12-year-old grandson and I bought tickets ahead of time over the W...more
Apr 28, 2008 01:38pm

D.M. I think you make some good points, Jessica. Chief among those is that this is a work of FICTION! Far too many people (including Mr. Rumbelow) disliked...more
Aug 03, 2009 11:58am

Arthur Moore's pacing, restraint and revelation, and sense of structure are superb in 'From Hell.' The various conspiracies, cameos, and metaphysics are blen...more
updated Dec 14, 2009 05:43pm

Apr 22, 2008 Jason Pettus rated it 5 of 5 stars

(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...more

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Mar 11, 2008 Schuyler rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Forget Watchmen of The Dark Knight Returns. Those two titles are often suggested as an entry-point to comics as literature. The problem is that both works are incredibly metatextual, self-referential, and post-modern takes on the superhero mythos. To truly appreciate either work, the reader must be familiar with the tropes and history of the superhero genre.

This book is a much better introduction to comics as literature for a newcomer to the medium. Moore's writing is intricately layered, matche...more

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Jan 28, 2009 Kathryn rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels

I was surprised that I didn't like it. Alan Moore, Victorian London, Jack the Ripper ... still, with all that, I had a hard time getting into it. I didn't like the art or even the lettering. Surprising how great a difference that made. Tiny panels, cramped print, murky and smeary black and white art: it just felt like a monotonous palette, at once over-detailed and sloppy. I could see using a limited palette, perhaps with accents of red, but the art itself or the reproduction needed to be crispe...more

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Jan 24, 2008 Sean Seger rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels-and-comic-books

Do not base your idea on the 2001 movie based on this work. That movie is a travesty when compared to its source material. This is Alan Moore's masterpiece. The story is sprawling and detailed, though never losing sight of its focus on Jack the Ripper. Eddie Campbell's black and white artwork really enhance the story. The dark images really add texture to the story. And, above all it, actually makes a compelling argument for what is, in reality, a goofy theory on who Jack the Ripper is.

That said...more

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Oct 20, 2012 Paul rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: graphic-novels, reviewed, on-order

It's been a few years since I last read this so the memory might be a little vague.

From what I do remember (or think I remember), this was one of the best Re-Jack stories and investigation ever done. Moore went above and beyond in his research and speculations.

Add the mystical element, and I for one am not that great of believer in mysticism, but in this case, Moore makes it seem completely credible.

Some have critisized Cambell's artwork as being "bad". However, I would venture to say that his...more

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May 11, 2007 Matt rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone looking for a darker Dickens story

This book is sprawling. The size of a phone book, it follows one theory of the Jack the Ripper murders while simultaneously building the world of Victorian London around it with meticulous detail.

Moore's writing is characteristically dense, wrapping multiple character arcs and Very Big Ideas About Reality around one of the world's most famous murder mysteries. He gives voice to many sides of class, gender, and insanity in this book while gripping his reader tightly and not letting go even in his...more

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Apr 06, 2007 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: avoided-but-eventually-enjoyed, graphic-novels, changed-the-way-i-read

I avoided this for years because a)it is so freakin' expensive, and b)I was initial turned off by Eddie Campbells's art. When I finally broke down and bought it, however, I was stunned. I'm a huge comic fan and have read dozens of graphic novels, but this changed my ideas of what it is possible to do with the medium. Campbells dark, sketchy art perfectly complements Moor's intricate, gothic tale as he blends insane levels of detailed research (see the expansive appendix), historical conjecture,...more

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Mar 02, 2009 Shivesh rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I remember reading this Victorian gothic horror back in early 2005, during a rather dark period of uncertainty, creeping malaise and vicious self-doubt; needless to say, it was a perfect book for the moment. Now that I'm revisiting my Alan Moore collection along with countless thousands of fellow comics freaks, this volume deserves a flip-through and no small amount of nostalgia (n.b. the Watchmen movie comes out this week, March 6th). The title is taken from the famous "From Hell" letter in 188...more I remember reading this Victorian gothic horror back in early 2005, during a rather dark period of uncertainty, creeping malaise and vicious self-doubt; needless to say, it was a perfect book for the moment. Now that I'm revisiting my Alan Moore collection along with countless thousands of fellow comics freaks, this volume deserves a flip-through and no small amount of nostalgia (n.b. the Watchmen movie comes out this week, March 6th). The title is taken from the famous "From Hell" letter in 1888 by Jack the Ripper to Inspector Lusk, probably the only real missive from the actual murderer. Read the letter on Wikipedia - it is a chilling piece of work.

Moore takes us on a macabre tour of Victorian London through the eyes of its seedier inhabitants. He also works in his traditional eclectic references to sundry topics; in this case the mysteries of the occult at the turn of that century, societal attitudes in England, and even post-impressionist reimaginings of the prostitute's role in society. Interestingly enough, Moore wrote that, "the Ripper murders — happening when they did and where they did — were almost like an apocalyptic summary of ... that entire Victorian age. Also, they prefigure a lot of the horrors of the 20th century." He views and reviews the Ripper killings as a function of the society that he lived in, imagined as if the Devil himself entered the world to bring his horrors to humanity. It is simply beyond our understanding.

However, there is a very real human source of the killings, which is better to read about yourself than have spoiled in this review. Moore's take on the real Ripper is quite interesting, and it brings together his various imaginings about the occult and Victorian high society. Yes, hookers are involved.

The art is stark, violent, and in black and white. There is no color to this world but it is atmospheric nonetheless. The panels are narrow, confining and claustrophobic, much like the alleyways of London in which Jack killed his whores. It is a dark world filled with dread and shadows, illuminated only by gaslight. Moore inhabits it thoroughly and brings us in for the ride.

'From Hell' is a long read, so settle in and don't quit - the payoff is definitely worth it!(less)

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Apr 27, 2013 David Leslie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm going to keep this short & sweet,1st off,if you've seen the 'Hughes brothers adaptation of this book featuring Johnny Depp then wipe that from your memory as the book is far superior & very diffrent.Obviously since this book gos deep into the Jack the Ripper killings & its subsequent police investigation it gos without saying that if you don't like dark content or police procedurals then this wont be for you but for everybody else this is in my oppinion the greatest & most am...more

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Mar 14, 2013 Bellish rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Bellish by: DD

Shelves: graphic-novels, cities

I can see how this might garner higher ratings by people more into the themes, and if I had read it as a teenager I probably would have loved all the Freemason-related conspiracy theories. Overall it is an enjoyable (well, insofar as the subject matter allows) read but I think the billing inside the cover of "the most significant graphic novel ever written" is overegging it somewhat.

My main problem, shared by other readers, is with the artwork. In theory it is great and creates an appropriate at...more

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Mar 11, 2013 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If a photographer takes a picture of something beautiful – a waterfall, the moon, a mountainside, their picture is beautiful at least because it contains beauty. If a writer writes a story about a transcendent feeling, a love, or series of compelling events, their story can be beautiful. We naturally want to look at beautiful things, hear beautiful stories and music, and see beautiful pictures. And beautiful things as subject matter make it possible to make beautiful works of art. They make beau...more If a photographer takes a picture of something beautiful – a waterfall, the moon, a mountainside, their picture is beautiful at least because it contains beauty. If a writer writes a story about a transcendent feeling, a love, or series of compelling events, their story can be beautiful. We naturally want to look at beautiful things, hear beautiful stories and music, and see beautiful pictures. And beautiful things as subject matter make it possible to make beautiful works of art. They make beautiful works likely, even probable.

One of the roles that art can play is expanding the sensibilities of the reader/observer, making the world better by capturing feelings and expanding on them, sharing epiphanies and moments of transcendence. This is one of the roles of art – others being to reflect the worldview and sensibilities of the artist, showcase the artist’s technical aptitude at their craft, or merely to persuade/sell. But I think the highest role of art is in expanding and mind and sensibilities and worldview of the reader. I read fiction so that I may lead a richer and deeper life.

Why, then, does art concern the ugly, nasty side of life? Man’s hatreds and violence and inhumanity? Why has Alan Moore written From Hell – a heavily researched and fact-based yet fictionalized and stylized account of the Jack the Ripper Murders in late Victorian England? Most fiction and movies and music which is preoccupied with violence and man’s ugly side is merely the half-articulate whines of morally-devoid “artists” who 1) see an ugly, violent world around them, and then 2) want to expel their negative feelings of it through catharsis, in some artistic medium. This is some of the lowest and most selfish forms of motivation for art. It may at one time ugliness in art had a social purpose to expose the evils of a society, but more often it is the artist regurgitating the ugly world around them. See much of popular music and movies for as many examples you can stomach. Just as the other aptitudes exist in humans, empathy is an aptitude, and many technically skilled artists can be moral imbeciles. An artist who focuses on man’s ugliness, and reflects and intensifies this ugliness, is just this type of moral imbecile because they care not what sentiments are engendered in their audience.

In distinction to the run-of-the-mill, base, brainless and soulless shock genre, Moore is expanding and reflecting on our fascination with the dark side of life. The facts of the Jack the Ripper murders exist in space-time in late autumn East End London of 1888. These facts cannot chance. Since then, a mountain of speculation had churned this measly pile of facts into a cottage industry, into a genre, and finally into the zeitgeist. Moore’s retelling of the facts, mixed with his amazing thoughts and feelings about art, violence, history, mankind’s motives, symbolism, and related fields makes this a gigantic achievement.

I have postponed reading From Hell for almost twenty years, having bought a bit of it in regular issues, leafed through it, and decided to let it wait. I guess now was the time. Murder is horrible and repugnant, and depictions of murder are likely to be horrible and repugnant, just as depictions of nature and life are likely to be sublime and fulfilling. However, in his characters of East End regulars and police, Moore has made a compelling and engrossing reflection and meditation on the murkiness of human nature and motivation. Throughout, Moore tells us that perhaps no one is the innocent protagonist we can root for, as everyone is compromised and prey to human vices and desires. Of course, this is saddening, but it is sobering.(less)

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Nov 30, 2012 Kasey Jane rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, comics

This is Moore's classic and exhaustively-researched (at least for comics) tome on Jack the Ripper.

First off, I think the art is great. I read a complaint referring to it as "chicken scratch" and bemoaning the lack of any grayscale shading. I actually think that Campbell's art is perfectly paired with the subject matter. This is a depiction of part of London's history, so it makes sense that the art would resemble pen-and-ink newspaper drawings. While the grayscale cell shading is immensely popul...more

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Sep 14, 2012 Andrea rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Verità e menzogna

È una grafic novel ambiziosa e merita una rilettura. C'è dietro un lungo lavoro di documentazione che ha permesso un'accurata ricostruzione dei "fatti" e delle ambientazioni.

Delle qualità dell'opera hanno parlato in molti, per cui mi concentro sulle riserve.

1) I disegni. Sono sicuramente meno oscuri dei disegni di V per vendetta, tuttavia restano oscuri. In moltissime vignette non si distinguono i volti, se c'è una cosa che odio è il tratto vago e sciatto, che non ti permette di

...more

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Apr 01, 2012 Dan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

one of my friends described this as "the most un-comic-book comic book ever." that's about right. it's written for people interested in masonic conspiracies and panoramic portraits of 19th century england. it's not necessarily written for people who love murder mysteries or cops-and-robbers stuff.

it's also a pretty dense read. it takes a bit of time to sort out the various characters and their agendas. the artwork, while atmospheric, minimal and interesting, is an occasional obstacle when it com...more

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Mar 17, 2012 Rhys Thomas rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Alan Moore’s massive tome about the Ripper killings of 1888 postulates that the Whitechapel murderer was Sir William Withey Gull, Physician-in-Ordinary to Queen Victoria. Folded into this vast narrative are royal conspiracies, Masonic ritual, psychic episodes, and a detective trying to knit the threads together. It conjures the world of Victorian London as a dark and dirty place full of vivid characters trying to survive terrible conditions.

I loved the way the story is told. It moves so fast an...more

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Aug 14, 2011 Mel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 20th-century-fiction, graphic-novel

So I decided that because of my new job I should really re-read From Hell. I have to say I'm very glad I did. It was so much better now I knew where everything was, not just within Whitechapel but also all the other parts of London as well. I actually looked through the maps on my phone while they were driving through London in chapter 4 to see where the streets where that they were taking and think about what they looked like now and the associations I had with them. It was interesting to read...more

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Apr 16, 2011 Matt rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-mystery, epic, fiction, five-stars, graphic-novel, history, philosophy, political

I don't really know how to review this book, but I feel I need to. First off, it's the first thing I've read since Salem's Lot at age 13 that gave me nightmares. They weren't specifically related to Jack the Ripper, but I can't honestly say the mindset I was in afterward didn't put me in a nightmare-mood.

The truth about this book is that the Ripper murders are almost tangential to the point of the work itself. The story, which is largely fictional though based on fact, is about the cover-up con...more I don't really know how to review this book, but I feel I need to. First off, it's the first thing I've read since Salem's Lot at age 13 that gave me nightmares. They weren't specifically related to Jack the Ripper, but I can't honestly say the mindset I was in afterward didn't put me in a nightmare-mood.

The truth about this book is that the Ripper murders are almost tangential to the point of the work itself. The story, which is largely fictional though based on fact, is about the cover-up conspiracy to keep the true reason behind the Ripper murders from becoming public. It's not that it's true that matters, it's that it's possible. I realized, towards the end, that all of this probably didn't but easily COULD have happened, and that there were likely similar atrocities in our collective history that have not been as well-publicized as Jack the Ripper's reign of terror that were more effectively covered up.

The point isn't that conspiracy theories are TRUE, it's just that they are POSSIBLE, and are therefore probably inevitable. Do I fall for Freemason conspiracies? Eh, not so much. Alan Moore himself says that while it's possible to believe in individual conspiracies, it's really just a comfort blanket protecting us from the much more terrifying truth: that no one is in charge, that all is chaos.

And the fact that these structures, these authorities are so patently corruptible, so prone to delusion, so HUMAN, is something we rarely think of. They are not mechanical, and they do not have things "in control," either benevolently or nefariously, and that in itself is the most terrifying part of reality, that things may be run by people like us.

As far as the quality of the writing and art, it's impeccable. All black-and-white, all extremely stark and realistic, this does not present a single character as a flawless comic-book superhero, but rather, presents everyone as flawed or even normal, and thus presents the grittiness of late 19th Century London in an extremely realistic fashion. This deserves all the acclaim it gets. Get over your dislike or hesitance towards graphic novels (or, if you must, comic books) and read this.(less)

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Dec 21, 2010 Ganglion Bard-barbarian rated it 4 of 5 stars

I know a lot of geeky male comic book weirdos who like this one because it incorporates elements of wacky conspiracy theory, right-wing anti-masonism, New Age pseudo-spirituality, and so forth.

In truth it is a revolutionary feminist take on the Jack the Ripper tale, detourning the Ripper conspiracy theories to turn the narrative focus towards the misery of London's female working-class. Rather than a monolithic, conspiratorial evil, the Freemasons are portrayed as slightly archaic and plagued wi...more

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Aug 25, 2010 Kris rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own-it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 23, 2009 Damian rated it 5 of 5 stars

I am no Comics aficionado or anything, but I do like me a good graphic novel from time to time, and have read a number or Alan Moore's other works, like V for Vendetta and Watchmen. From Hell has to rank, though, as his best work.

As much psychological study as social critique, From Hell recounts the story of Jack the Ripper, as he trolls the dark streets of London's Whitechapel district murdering -- and utterly eviscerating -- 5 prostitutes over three months. The Ripper murders were never solved...more I am no Comics aficionado or anything, but I do like me a good graphic novel from time to time, and have read a number or Alan Moore's other works, like V for Vendetta and Watchmen. From Hell has to rank, though, as his best work.

As much psychological study as social critique, From Hell recounts the story of Jack the Ripper, as he trolls the dark streets of London's Whitechapel district murdering -- and utterly eviscerating -- 5 prostitutes over three months. The Ripper murders were never solved, and a quick check on wikipedia will show that history's conspiracy theorists have put forth hundreds of theories for who Jack the Ripper was and why he did what he did. Moore presents one of the more extravagant but compelling theories, involving Royal scandal and meddling Freemasons.

The narrative is completely different from the ridiculous movie adaptation of 2001. While the movie presents the story as a classic whodunit murder mystery, the graphic novel starts, quite straightforwardly with the murderer himself (spoiler! it's a he!) and works through his mental deterioration, his doing of the deeds and the resulting media frenzy which in some sense lasts to this day. Crucially, the public reaction and the cover-up that follow plays as large a part in the story as the killings themselves.

Someone casually flipping through the book in a Barnes and Noble might be turned off by the stark black-and-white scrawling of Eddie Campbell's art. I would just encourage the reader to run with it, because in the end, Campbell's Whitechapel becomes as chilling a character as Jack himself, and he supports Moore's surreal descents into madness with appropriately hallucenagenic imagery.

Much has been made of the fact that the story of Jack the Ripper says as much about the serial killer himself as it does about Victorian England, and indeed Moore's narrative seems to distribute quite broadly the responsibility for the killing -- and the inability or unwillingness to solve the case. The blame reaches even to our own century. We are the inheritors, Moore tells us, of Jack's legacy.

It has been a long time since I read something that I felt legitimately haunted by once I put it down. If you can handle some amount of true gruesomeness, From Hell is a thrilling, thought-provoking and very disturbing read. It's also a comics master at his best and least compromising.(less)

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May 22, 2009 Aaron rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'm very aware of the implications of criticizing the canon. Bazillions of you have already come through and gushed all over this dark, difficult graphic novel and through the weight of reputation alone, I feel like I should give it at least six or seven stars. I am reminded of a (now ex) girlfriend who told me Aguirre, Wrath of God was "boring" (which it is, but it's still great), or the dude who thought Gremlins was "stupid" (which it is, but it's still great). I guess I found From Hell hard t...more I'm very aware of the implications of criticizing the canon. Bazillions of you have already come through and gushed all over this dark, difficult graphic novel and through the weight of reputation alone, I feel like I should give it at least six or seven stars. I am reminded of a (now ex) girlfriend who told me Aguirre, Wrath of God was "boring" (which it is, but it's still great), or the dude who thought Gremlins was "stupid" (which it is, but it's still great). I guess I found From Hell hard to look at, more than anything else. I understand that the best way to convey darkness in a black and white graphic novel is with huge black splotches, I understand that the rain and gloom of Victorian London lends itself to a certain amount of foggy, rainslashed obscurity. But the book gave me a headache.

It's well written but also pedantic, slow moving and, at every pass, hard to read without wanting aspirin or wanting a drink.

There were passages of focused intent - I remember most specifically the carraige tour of London and the accompanying discussion of the significance of monument and the ahistorical campaign to subjugate the maternal in art and architecture, but there was nothing about its presentation that particularly favored the graphic novel format and I found myself returning to the text over the panel so heavily that it might've been simpler and happier to have encountered that portion in a book.

Great historical subject matter, good writing, long digressions, bad headaches.

The most sincere non-endorsement I can give would go something like this:

This is the book that made me realize I might need glasses, because it made me squint all of the time.

It would also fall into the category of "reputable works that I've completed mostly out of a self-denying desire to be disciplined and not from any sense of enjoyment."

Of the three iconic graphic novels I've read in a continuing experiment to subjectively rescue myself from an adolescent overdevotion to hero comics, this one was by far the worst.(less)

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Mar 01, 2012 Esme rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: true-crime

From Hell ist eine Graphic Novel, die in ein finsteres Kapitel Londoner Geschichte führt, Whitechapel anno 1888. Alan Moore und Eddie Campbell folgen der sehr reißerischen und umstrittenen Theorie von Stephen Knight über die Identität und Motivation von Jack the Ripper. Ein uneheliches Königskind und eine royale und freimaurerische Verschwörung.

Die Zeichnungen von Eddie Campbell sind schwarz/weiß und darum wirken sie sehr stark, auch durch die grobe, raue Schraffur. Eine Ausnahme ist in Kapitel...more From Hell ist eine Graphic Novel, die in ein finsteres Kapitel Londoner Geschichte führt, Whitechapel anno 1888. Alan Moore und Eddie Campbell folgen der sehr reißerischen und umstrittenen Theorie von Stephen Knight über die Identität und Motivation von Jack the Ripper. Ein uneheliches Königskind und eine royale und freimaurerische Verschwörung.

Die Zeichnungen von Eddie Campbell sind schwarz/weiß und darum wirken sie sehr stark, auch durch die grobe, raue Schraffur. Eine Ausnahme ist in Kapitel 5, die weichgezeichneten Bilder des Mörders und die düsteren, harten über Polly Nicholls stellen sehr gut den Kontrast ihrer beider Leben dar. In den Straßenszenen und kleinen Details wird das viktorianische London und das alltägliche Leben sichtbar. Auch die Mimik und Gestik der Menschen ist manchmal ausdrucksstark; Annie Chapman in Kapitel 7, Seite 5, 3. Panel. Beim 10. Kapitel, die Ermordung Mary Kellys, wären mir weniger Details recht gewesen. Ansonsten ist es oftmals schwierig zu erkennen, wer gerade dargestellt wird, das wird dann meistens erst durch die Interaktion oder Dialoge klarer, weil nur Gull und Abberline wirklich markant aussehen. Auf einigen Bildern ist überhaupt nicht zu erkennen, was sie zeigen sollen. Leider ist Eddie Campbells Stil nicht ganz nach meinem Geschmack.

Das Buch besteht aus einem Pro- und einem Epilog sowie 14 Kapiteln. Am Ende gibt es noch einen Anhang in Textform auf 56 dreispaltigen Seiten, der auch wirklich wichtig ist, weil der Inhalt und die Bedeutung der Zeichnungen sich nicht immer aus sich selbst heraus erschließen. Die umgekehrte Geistererscheinung im 7. Kapitel auf Seite 24 ist eine listige Idee und sorgt dafür, dann doch eher zweimal hinzuschauen. Einige der surrealistischen Einsprengsel schießen dann wieder übers Ziel hinaus und wirken befremdlich.

In diesem Anhang entsteht auch der Eindruck, als hätte hier nur Alan Moore das Sagen gehabt. Über die Darstellung von Queen Victoria gab es wohl Unstimmigkeiten und da wäre es interessant, Eddie Campbells Sicht zu erfahren. Der Sinn von Kapitel 4 und die Verbindungen zu Hawkwood, die immer wieder auftauchen, ist mir entgangen und durch die Fülle an Informationen in den Anmerkungen zu diesem Teil fühlt man sich erschlagen. Hilfreich wäre eine Chronologie der bewiesenen Fakten, ein Dramatis personæ und ein übersichtliches Quellenverzeichnis. Die Quellen sind im Fließtext des Anhangs und neben The Final Solution von Knight werden auch noch weitere Bücher zitiert, die aber einen anderen Täter enthüllen. Warum sich Moore gerade für diese Theorie entschied, verschweigt er.

Die Geschichte ist spannend, unheimlich und der Plot logisch. Es funktioniert also. Nur handelt es sich nicht um Fiktion, sondern um reale Ereignisse, Menschen, die gelebt und gelitten haben. Diese Suche nach der Identität von Jack the Ripper hat einen eigenen Begriff: Ripperologie. Und genau dieser wird der Anhang II mit dem Titel Tanz der Möwenjäger, wieder eine Bildergeschichte, etwas ironisch gewidmet. Und es hat schon eine gewisse Ironie, dass imo gerade dies der beste und stärkste Teil des ganzen Buches ist. Deshalb hinterläßt dieses Buch einen sehr zwiespältigen Eindruck. Die Form ist ungewöhnlich und bietet damit ein etwas anderes Leseerlebnis. Die beiden Autoren haben umfangreiche Recherchen angestellt und wenn man sich ein bißchen für dieses Thema interessiert, ist es nicht allzu vermessen zu behaupten, dass man From Hell durchaus lesen kann, um die wesentlichen Fakten über die Ripper-Morde zu erfahren.(less)

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Feb 06, 2012 Colin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Alan Moore fans, Ripperites, people with strong stomachs.

Shelves: five-star

Alan Moore is one of our best living authors, and he just so happens to write comic books. This alone is enough to keep his work out of the hands of your average literature snob (or perhaps your average person, period), which is a truly regrettable state of affairs. Comics they may be, but the formalist craft and richly detailed layers of Moore's best work frequently rivals that of even the best 'serious' authors, and Moore is at the top of his already lofty game in From Hell.

Taking its name fro...more Alan Moore is one of our best living authors, and he just so happens to write comic books. This alone is enough to keep his work out of the hands of your average literature snob (or perhaps your average person, period), which is a truly regrettable state of affairs. Comics they may be, but the formalist craft and richly detailed layers of Moore's best work frequently rivals that of even the best 'serious' authors, and Moore is at the top of his already lofty game in From Hell.

Taking its name from the infamous 'from hell' letter thought to have originated from the Ripper's own hand, From Hell fictionalizes the Jack the Ripper murder spree in a unique way: rather than taking on the worn 'whodunit' genre, Moore lets his readers know almost right from the get-go who The Ripper is. Moore isn't interested in murder mystery here--he's interested in motive. Drawing from the speculations and vast wealth of knowledge provided by generations of Ripperites, Moore builds his story around a disfavored theory about the Ripper murders that positions the royal physician Sir William Gull as the killer, who is commanded by the Crown to do away with a band of pesky prostitutes who plan to blackmail their 'betters.' Gull, who Moore portrays as misogynistic, intensely spiritual, and formidably intelligent, takes on his dark task joyfully, assigning to his actions layers of meaning cloaked in his personal theories about the 'war' that exists between men and women, and who views the task set upon his shoulders as being a chance to prove his worth to the divine, which he views through a Masonic lens.

One would think that Moore's decision to hinge his story on a dismissed theory (one based upon a knotty conspiracy theory, to boot) would weaken the overall effect, but Moore's (and the artist Eddie Campbell's) attention to detail is simply *magnificent,* as the lengthy appendix to the story makes even more apparent. The level of research that Moore conducted while writing From Hell borders literally on madness; even the most seemingly far-fetched details all, as Moore reveals, have their origins in kernels of truth, and the seemingly effortless ways in which Moore draws together the disparate plot threads and maneuvers his characters (nearly all of whom are based upon people that existed at the time, some of them famous) without ever breaking drastically from history is quite inspiring.

Moore though, not content with just telling a good period yarn, finds ingenious ways to work events both from long before the Ripper murders and long after into the tale, turning the murders themselves into an apocalyptic event, long expected and forever remembered. While some of his meanderings require aid from the appendix to fully grasp, others are as clear as day, and with them (and with the help of some proto-quantum theory a minor character writes about), Moore weaves increasingly sinister patterns as Gull's bloody work proceeds. By the time the book draws to a close, Gull has been presented as something as a midwife for the violence of the 20th century, the blood of his victims transmuted into birthing blood.

For all my praise of the book, I feel that I've got to warn some readers about its content: one would obviously expect a book about the Ripper murders to be a bloody mess, but there are scenes throughout that may go above and beyond one's natural expectations. I expect that most people who have nursed even a casual interest in the mystery of Jack the Ripper will have seen the photographs of Marie Kelly's mutilated corpse on her bed, which maintain a powerful ability to shock, even in this age, so desensitized to violence. Moore and Campbell elect to show every stage of her mutilation at the Ripper's hands in detail, over quite a lengthy span of pages. Campbell is a powerful enough artist (even when working within a limited palette and range, as he does here), that the sequence is hard for some readers to stomach. (A fact which I have verified by asking various friends to 'read' it.) From Hell is, on the whole, a very graphic work (both sexually and violently), but this particular sequence takes the cake, and may be too much for certain readers to bear.

In sum, From Hell is a masterpiece of the graphic novel medium, and highly recommended--with reservations.(less)

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Apr 23, 2011 Sam Tones rated it 5 of 5 stars

Moore and Campbell's work should not be summed up in a single word, but if pushed, I would choose dense. Physically dense, pictorally dense, and densely packed with historical material and flights of fantasy. The book is slow-burning and prone to digression, but in Chapter Four of From Hell, it becomes clear that one is reading a work of outstanding literary merit. The physical reality of London landmarks becomes interwoven with a harrowing - and completely fabricated - tale of an eternal war be...more Moore and Campbell's work should not be summed up in a single word, but if pushed, I would choose dense. Physically dense, pictorally dense, and densely packed with historical material and flights of fantasy. The book is slow-burning and prone to digression, but in Chapter Four of From Hell, it becomes clear that one is reading a work of outstanding literary merit. The physical reality of London landmarks becomes interwoven with a harrowing - and completely fabricated - tale of an eternal war between masculine/feminine psyches, and manifests itself in acts of gross violence. To this we must now add Sir William Gull's own actions: the state-sanctioned murder of several "enemies of the crown", which became known as the murders of Jack the Ripper.

By drawing this tenuous connection (based almost solely on the now-unfavourable work of Stephen Knight's The Final Solution) between Saucy Jackie and the Queen's physician, Moore offers us a far wider view of Victorian society than these murders would, in and of themselves, normally suggest. The corruption of the police force, the complicity of the crown, the nature of celebrity and one man's ascent towards perfect clarity (and subsequent descent into madness) are just some of the subjects that the book deals with marvelously.

The massive variance in timescale is handled deftly. Whereas Chapter 2 covers several decades of a man's life, Chapter 8 only depicts several minutes. One minute the reader is hurtling through time and space, the next they are forced to witness Gull's surgical disembowelment and disfigurement of his final victim. Alan Moore's love for the 9 panel grid has never been so beautifully realised as it was in the hands of Eddie Campbell. It has been suggested that the scratchy - almost crude - style renders the frames difficult to read, but this is a work which benefits from careful examination of the frames, unlike most comics where the solid blocks of colour allow individual frames to be scanned in a few seconds.

The writer's commentary, which appears at the end of the complete edition, is invaluable, tracing the links between fact and fiction which are instrumental in the crafting of the story. Ultimately, it is a story about history, which is always and necessarily comprised of some blend of actuality and myth. Gull's account of the history of violence surrounding the churches of London reminds us that our own London is built on the corpses of the Ripper's victims, and many more besides. In a truly eery case of reality imitating fiction, a skyscraper (One Mitre Square) is now proposed for construction on the site of Catherine Eddowes murder.(less)

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About Alan Moore

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Alan Moore is an English writer most famous for his influential work in comics, including the acclaimed graphic novels Watchmen, V for Vendetta and From Hell. He has also written a novel, Voice of the Fire, and performs "workings" (one-off performance art/spoken word pieces)...more

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Quotes from From Hell

“I shall tell you where we are. We're in the most extreme and utter region of the human mind. A dim, subconscious underworld. A radiant abyss where men meet themselves. Hell, Netley. We're in Hell.” — 10 people liked it

“The one place Gods inarguably exist is in our minds where they are real beyond refute, in all their grandeur and monstrosity.” — 4 people liked it

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