A review by jeffhall
Jack the Ripper: A Journal of the Whitechapel Murders 1888-1889 by Rick Geary

4.0

The history of Jack the Ripper has long tentacles that reach throughout English-language culture, and Rick Geary's "just the facts" approach works very well in graphic novel format, as it allows him to capture something of the character of daily life in Whitechapel at the time these events occurred. Geary's retelling includes no new information regarding these well-known crimes, but his boldly distinct visual style perfectly captures the world of poverty and neglect that allowed these events to happen in the first place. He doesn't shy away from depicting the constricted roles allowed to women in Victorian England, and how those constraints drove so many into alcoholism and prostitution, making them ready targets for any number of criminal assailants.