From Hell, A Graphic Novel

[Mike Covell]

A book that is both enormous and impressive!
From Hell was written by Alan Moore with principle illustrations from Eddie Cambell, although Pete Mullins also worked on the illustrations.

The book starts off on a beach in Bournemouth in Sept 1923 and shows Abberline and infamous psychic Lee's discussing the murders, we are then thrust back in time to relive the horrific events themselves.
The storyline is based upon the Royal/Masonic conspiracy and includes all the major players, Gull, Netley, Sickert et al.

What impressed me was the ability to illustrate just how horrific it could have been, there is definatly plenty of gore.
I was shocked by the many scenes of a sexual nature, and some of the language used, but all in all I really enjoyed it.

The story is seperated into a prologue, 14 chapters, an epilogue, maps and 2 appendix.
It is the appendix that is worthy of note in this book as it features refernces and sources for each of the books chapters, the second appendix looks at the aftermath of the murders and their effect on social history.

Initially published in 1999 by Eddie Cambell Comics it is currently available through Knockabout books at www.knockabout.com for around £24.99.

It's price may put off some purchsers but it is well worth it, and makes the film based on the book look rather lame!

Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0861661419/ref=s9_asin_image_1_sims_c4?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=1541CVVV58N8SFQXYJCQ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=139045791&pf_rd_i=468294

Play.Com

http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/1336443/From-Hell/Product.html?cm_mmc=Google-_-Books-_-Sci-_-From%2BHell&source=5004&engine=adwords!10250&keyword=%28from+hell+book%29&match_type=

Ebay UK

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ALAN-MOORE-FROM-HELL_W0QQitemZ300203487156QQihZ020QQcategoryZ3954QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Rescuedog]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for that information. This book is currently available from The Book Depository with free worldwide delivery for £16.10. (Hope I'm not putting people off my own book with that information...lol)

It's at http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/WEBS...?id=0861661419

Regards

Brian

[Mike Covell]

Thanks Brian,

It is good that it is free delivery, the thing is huge, at least an inch thick!!

[Rescuedog]

Thanks Brian,

It is good that it is free delivery, the thing is huge, at least an inch thick!!

Ah, then it's only half as thick as Bill Perring's book. I'm reading it just now, about two-thirds through it, and it's superb!

Brian

[BillyE]

I am a huge fan of Alan Moore's book. I've read that thing so much I've had to tape the entire cover to keep it from falling off. I think it is as much a piece of literature as anything Charles Dickens ever put to paper. I highly recomend this book to anyone interested in the case, as long as the reader is of the understanding even the author believes Gull to be innocent, and the entire story is a work of complete fiction, with as much fact as the story will allow.

[Mike Covell]

It is a good read, i have read it twice since Monday and love it, the contrast between the dark (Leading upto the murders) and the light (just after) is pretty awsome.
The story just flows along at a nice pace and the illustrations are spot on, if slightly disturbing!

[Ruby]

I can recommend buying it, it is an awesome book!

[GRISTLE]

My wife got if for me for Christmas this past year - enjoyed it thoroughly. I was also a bit put off at first by the sexual nature of some of the scenes, but looking back they tied in to the development of the story ... nothing gratuitous.

[Khanada]

My S.O. is deeply into comic books & graphic novels. Before I met him, frankly, I pretty much thought of crap like Archie and Richie Rich when I thought of comics, or I thought of superhero comics. Basically, my position then was that I outgrew the SuperFriends a long, long time ago, and I would not have been caught dead in a comic shop.

Of course, he was determined to change that categorical dismission of mine. He decided he was basically going to find a comic book that blew my stereotypes out of the water, and proved that these can be great books just like ones that aren't 50%+ illustration.

The first blow to the wall was Garth Ennis' & Steve Dillon's Preacher. Not for the squeamish or the fundy. Luckily I'm neither (okay, I'm occasionally squeamish). I opened the book with great disdain, pretty much 'I hope you know I'm humoring you'. So, y'know, a while later when I still had my nose firmly stuck in the book, and was going 'shut up, I'm reading'... (The appearance of The Prophet Bill Hicks definitely didn't hurt.)

The second, and final, blow was the phone book-sized collected edition of From Hell, well prior to the movie. Once I got done snorting and rolling my eyes over the Knight-based plot, it was straight into 'shut up, I'm reading' territory. I loved it. And basically, it's fully one-half of the reason I don't make fun of comic book fans anymore, and I am now sighted once each week in the local comic shop.

[Mike Covell]

I have completed it twice an a week and love it, ok the theory has been rubbished but the artwork and storyline are great.

I just cannot belive how big the volumne is!!

[drstrange169]

I bought it as and when it came out, way back in the early 1990's.
Waiting for each issue, which was sometimes months late, like being in Victorian times waiting for the next installment of a Dickens story.

Thanks for you time.

[CraigInTwinCities]

Alan Moore's graphic novel, From Hell, is an impressive work that re-energized my interest in the Ripper case about eight years ago; I bought it in collected form and paid $35 USD back then. Very very thin paper, and had problems keeping the book bound securely, lost pages....

I'm not big on the Royal Conspiracy theory it presents, a lot of Moore's work is bound up in Stephen Knight crud, but at the end Moore's real reaction comes to the surface... that the theories don't matter, the "whodunnit" solution doesn't matter, because there's a bit of timelessness to it, that the mystery reveals more about the people obsessing over it than it does about the truth of the matter, that Jack becomes more a symbol than a person, no matter who he was.

While I don't buy much of the theory presented, it was a RIPPING good yarn, pun obviously intended.

FROM HELL got me back into studying the case more closely in the last few years. I absolutely HATE the movie made from it, and understand that Alan Moore has no love for it, either. To say that film is based on Moore's graphic novel... is like saying THE SIMPSONS MOVIE is based on the book of Esther from the Bible.

[Mike Covell]

BBC News Interview with Alan Moore,

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7307303.stm

[denn034]

Unimpressed

I read a library copy and wasn't impressed to say the least. The sex scene between the Gulls especially churned my stomach that one's for sure. More importantly, making the 70 year old dribbler that was Gull a Ripper makes no sense at all.

[Mike Covell]

Was that the scene were he was in the bath tub and she pulled his