Deckard's Recommendation Of The Week

Go on, try something different...

From Hell

Genre Graphic Novel - Horror Writer Alan Moore Artist Eddie Campbell Publisher Knockabout Comics Published UK 2000

From the most ground-breaking comicbook writer of our generation, Alan Moore, with artist and Bacchus creator Eddie Campbell, comes one of the darkest and deeply disturbing pieces of work ever to be written in the field. Renowned for reinventing the superhero concept (Watchmen), Moore blends history and horror in a graphic novel, recounting the Jack the Ripper killings of 1888.

Saying anything about the plot would be a crime, as this is an involving tale, which I would not want to spoil. Delving into a conspiracy involving the Royal Family, Scotland Yard and the Freemasons, Moore examines the victims' and perpetrators' lives in great detail, harshly depicting the murders and their cover-up in what is not just a masterpiece of suspense, but a portrayal and indictment of the era's inequities and injustices. Mysticism ties the book's events to the dawn of the next millennium and in one of the most unsettling scenes, hints that we aren't as far removed from Jack the Ripper's milieu as we like to think. The film, with Johnny Depp, although strong in visual style, is a much diluted adaptation which only touches on certain elements, merging characters and condensing important scenes.

The meticulous research - 42 detailed pages of annotation are gathered at the end - is apparent in the telling of the story and helps Moore evoke Victorian London convincingly. Characterization and storytelling skills are his strongest point, making the experience a harrowing one. The novel's impact would be unimaginable without Campbell's atmospheric black-and-white drawings, perfectly suited to depict the horrific portrayal of squalor and brutality, an artistic style apparent in Beardsley and Art Nouveau. The blotchy images, created with deep black ink, perfectly depict the grime of chimney soot and the splattering of blood.

Considered by the mainstream as "Humour", this says a lot about the way comics and graphic novels are still viewed by the uninitiated. Indeed, there is humour here, but of the darkest and blackest kind, as the reader is escorted on a fearful journey to the depths of the human psyche.

This is more than a story about a serial killer, for, in Moore's perspective, Jack the Ripper was no serial killer. He was an agent of Queen Victoria, cleaning up a mess that would potentially damage the Royal Family and society at large. Outlining an intense panorama of what it was like to live in London in the 1880’s, we are shown reasons why The Ripper was never apprehended, detailing his vision of the period as a forecast of the 20th Century.

It is a carefully constructed tale, in which the victims are not commodities, but living breathing human beings. Towards its conclusion, even the murderer has become a pathetic figure, his own death as pointless as that of his victims. From Hell is no cartoon, but an exceptional example of graphic literature. Once you start reading, you won't be able to put it down.

A true classic of its medium, both painstakingly researched and shocking. If you think comics are for children and skateborders, think again!


Buy From Hell at Amazon.co.uk

Read The Wolf's review of From Hell - the film

Read more of Deckard's Recommendations

More iofilm features