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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
Overall I loved this story. The historical links were the real hook for me. I was constantly taking notes and looking stuff up on wikipedia which was fun. Loved all the conspiracy stuff. The art was bleak and rough. Sometimes to a fault. I oftentimes couldn't tell which character was speaking till their name was said. It was also super heavy so the only comfortable way to read it was at a table. But a solid graphic novel through and through. A masterwork.
“…the idea of a solution, any solution, is inane. Murder isn’t like books…It holds meaning, and shape, but no solution. Quantum uncertainty, unable to determine both a particle’s location and its nature, necessitates that we map every possible state of the particle: its super-position. Jack’s not Gull, or Druitt. Jack is a super-position…Our detective fictions tell us otherwise: everything’s just meat and cold ballistics. Provide a murderer, a motive, and a means, you’ve solved the case. Using this method, the solution to the Second World War is as follows: Hitler. The German economy. Tanks. Thus, for convenience, we reduce the complex events. The greater part of any murder is the field of theory, fascination, and hysteria that it engenders. A black diaspora. Our tireless, sinister enthusiasm. Five murdered paupers, one anonymous assailant. This reality is dwarfed by the vast theme-park we’ve built around it. Truth is, this has never been about the murders, nor the killer, nor his victims. It’s about us. About our minds and how they dance.”
Did not enjoy. Could not finish. Did not like the artwork which made it difficult to distinguish different characters and really disliked the font used.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A breathtaking, epic work of horror. Alan Moore (with artist Eddie Campbell) weaves a tapestry of fact, rumor, and metaphysical philosophy in "From Hell", a graphic novel about the Jack the Ripper murders. Moore uses a very unlikely Ripper theory (that Queen Victoria's personal physician, William Gull, was the Ripper and was working on orders to kill a group of sex workers who happened to be aware of a very embarrassing secret about the Royal family) as the basis for a story that as much about the chaotic nature of human evil and the fluidity of time as it is about the Ripper murders.
"From Hell" will stay with you long after you read the final chapter, and will likely haunt your dreams.
"From Hell" will stay with you long after you read the final chapter, and will likely haunt your dreams.
The renowned graphic novelization of the royal/masonic theory (now discredited) explaining the Whitechapel murders. I wanted to be able to rank this higher than I did. I understand that the work's ambition, topic, scope, and historicity all mark it as a game changer for the genre of graphic novels. Nevertheless, it was a deeply unpleasant reading experience, and I'm not just saying this because of the tough subject matter. Instead, I find the work to be deeply flawed: the effort to show off the historical research results in long wandering sections of only half-relevant exposition; the desire to make some sort of larger point about the Ripper crimes as emblematic of the nature of evil results in an incoherent historical bricolage; and the explanation of masonic history and ritual is so overdone as to make me want to scream at the book "William Gull, just STFU!"
And then there's the limitations of Eddie Campbell's art work. I assume the decision for black & white pen drawings was intended as an atmospheric gesture. Alas, the actual effect of this was a surfeit of cramped, hard-to-make-out text in speech bubbles, almost impossible-to-distinguish-from-each-other characters, and impeccably-researched-yet-somehow-unrecognizable settings. Finally, the depiction of the Ripper's mutilations read more as exploitative torture porn than as any sort of commentary on/subversion of society's fetishization of violence against women.
And then there's the limitations of Eddie Campbell's art work. I assume the decision for black & white pen drawings was intended as an atmospheric gesture. Alas, the actual effect of this was a surfeit of cramped, hard-to-make-out text in speech bubbles, almost impossible-to-distinguish-from-each-other characters, and impeccably-researched-yet-somehow-unrecognizable settings. Finally, the depiction of the Ripper's mutilations read more as exploitative torture porn than as any sort of commentary on/subversion of society's fetishization of violence against women.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder
Intensa novela gráfica sobre "Jack el destripador", una obra obligatoria para todos los riperólogos (de inglés «riper», destripador) por su excelente y extraordinario trabajo de documentación, haciéndose patente en pequeños detalles de la historia y sobretodo en el extenso apéndice final, en el que se cuenta viñeta por viñeta de donde se ha tomado cada referencias, a modo de bibliografía.
El arte tiene una fuerza y una expresividad acorde con la historia, sirviendo como soporte en algunas escenas para colgar la atmósfera sórdida de los barrios bajos de Londres, y en otras con un fin más artístico permitiendo que la imagen describa lo que de otra manera con palabras no sería capaz.
Si tienes oportunidad de disfrutarla, no lo dudes.
El arte tiene una fuerza y una expresividad acorde con la historia, sirviendo como soporte en algunas escenas para colgar la atmósfera sórdida de los barrios bajos de Londres, y en otras con un fin más artístico permitiendo que la imagen describa lo que de otra manera con palabras no sería capaz.
Si tienes oportunidad de disfrutarla, no lo dudes.