Neuropean's Full Review: Alan Moore et al - From Hell: Being a Melodrama in...
Alan Moore is without any doubt one of the most fascinating authors of these last years. His writing always lies on such a solid background of research and reference that most of his work gets better on second read. The fact that he communicates his art through a graphic novel's approach makes him even more complete many of the best "text-only" writers. After the great achievements of "Watchmen" and "V for Vendetta", both among the best graphic novels ever printed, Moore delivers another work of genius, though this time it is based on an existing story. Even then, among all that was said, written, acted, slashed or sold in the name of Jack the Ripper, this is probably the best thing that happened out of the sad events which took place in London at the end f the 19th Century. Moore takes everything that was written about these events and translates the most reliable information into a story which might be the best interpretation of Jack the Ripper's murders. Moreover, even if Jack the Ripper was a legend and those Whitechapel murders never had happened, this book would still be an excellent piece of art and literature.
Those who appreciated the colourful Watchmen must expect to see the other side of the spectrum with Eddie Campbell's dark approach, which renders with great precision the surroundings of the events. Campbell's drawing provides an excellent black-and-white dark atmosphere to the foggy London of the Victorian ages and leaves the reader alone in the cold and damp corners of dodgy porches and backyards where the low-life of whitechapel fed the paranoid appetite of a man who needed victims for his "higher" purposes.
In this book, the murderer is miles away from the basic serial killer and even as a serial killer, he's of the most elegant and pompous kind. Hitchcock would have loved this approach, with twists of sarcasm that keep the reader's mind well anchored to the facts: a murderer, even with a divine plot and machiavellic schemes is still a murderer and a human with all his weaknesses.
Moore's narrative style is still very present here and some readers might recognise a resemblance with the panel layout used in "Watchmen": on a single 9-panel page, two parallel stories can be told by setting them in alternative panels, or the last panel of a page is referenced in the first panel of the following page. Also some panels are presented as teasers and explained much later, like inverted flashbacks. Another parallel, although quite weak, could be the time distortion events that happen in the main character's visions and the tachyonic distortions experienced by Dr. Manhattan in Watchmen.
From Hell is the story of a quite "classical" set of murders which became a legend, but Moore goes a bit further and sets the legend among other myths and legends. He added a fascinating historical and architectural layer to a story that everyone knows. Some of the victorian language is reproduced faithfully and might pose a challenge to some, but at the end of the book, the whole story is reviewed, chapter per chapter with explanations and references which make a second read even more interesting. This is a great investment, like all other Alan Moore's productions, and as many of his other works, is probably best suited for an adult preferring complex stories to shallow plots. Another masterpiece from Moore. Let's hope the screen adaptation (woth Johnny Depp) will not disappoint the expectations.
Subscribe to More Reviews on Alan Moore et al - From Hell: Being a Melodrama in Sixteen Parts Get the RSS Feed: - Add to My Yahoo!: - Add to Google Homepage:
Subscribe to Neuropean's Reviews: Get the RSS Feed: - Add to My Yahoo!: - Add to Google Homepage:
Muze: Copyright 1995 - 2008 Muze Inc. For personal non-commercial use only. All rights reserved.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2008 Shopping.com, Inc.