Rating: 
Summary: Perfect in every way possible
Review: What can i say about this graphic novel? Even though i have not many experience with Moore, after reading only Watchmen, i decided to buy all his next works. and From Hell was my next.He recreates Victorian era in all its perfection, to every inch of detail, everything researched. In the end, it's a reconstituiton of 1888's London, from the West End to Whitechapel, where great part of the action takes place. After all, this is a book on Jack the Ripper, and Moore's theory is just brilliant. Taken from Knight's novel, The Final Solution, Moore creates the tale around William Gull, Her Majesty's doctor, and how he had to avoid the scandal of a royal baby. The story is long, thankfully, and involves so many historical figgures such as Oscar Wilde, the Elephant Man and even a young Aleister Crowley. There is also the Masons, conspiracies, detective work, and a plausible explanation to why the Ripper was never caught. The art, in black and white, is superb, grim and gritty. The way the killing are done is excellent, though i don't find it that scaring. Finally, after the main story, there is an appendix about every chapter, explaining each page. Perfect for anyone researching abouth the Ripper murders. All in All, an interesting reading.
Rating:
Summary: Jack the Ripper: Serial killer, Serailized Thriller
Review: From Hell is not a book just anyone can pick up and get into. There i've said it. Not that it is an overly cerebral story, however it is such an oppresively dark comic that it really isn't just about Jack the Ripper, but it's also about the dark side of Britain as a whole (of course a dark side of over a hundred years ago, but...). The true meat of FROM HELL has very little to do with the murders...other than chapter ten, of course...By that I mean the act of the murders. The murders are, of course, at the center of the comic; however the comic seems to be telling the story of how an overly uncaring, and oft-times hellish, society seemed to simply LET the killer go.
If you've seen the movie, and expect to read the story of Inspector Abberline and Marie Kelley as they discover their romance for each other as they are led into the seedy and darkly crafted(heh... inside joke, Mason's and buildings play a role in this too...it's a pun...never mind...) society of 1880's england by Abberline's psychic visions... then be careful pickling this book up. That's a different FROM HELL.The book is the most starkly and frightening depiction of reality filtered through a researched fiction that I can think of.
And if you have a problem with Eddie Campbell's uniquely simplistic dark and sparse artwork, than you have to open your eyes. Look at how the art relates to the depiction of the times as a whole, Victoria's London wasn't exactly the gloriously beautiful empire that history books would have you believe, now was it?
Last note, after reading the book through once, go back, and read it while reading the appendices together. Still a highly entertaining read.
Fun and disturbingly and brutally upfront.(in an educational way. Hey, I convinced my !2th grade lit. teacher to let me use it for a book report AFTER she flipped through it. Read it you'll see why that's an accomplishment.)
Rating:
Summary: It's fiction!
Review: If you bother to read the extensive material contained at the end of this fine compilation, you will notice that Moore states many time that he doesn't really believe the Gull theory. He chose to go with it because it makes for a really good story, and let me tell you, this is a good one. Critisizing the story because it's an unlikely scenario given the facts is like slamming Superman because it's unlikely men can fly. It's fiction, so relax already. Aside from Watchmen, this is my favorite Alan Moore story. Once again, Moore does groundbreaking work which transcends the medium of comics and creates a story that's good in any form. With a mammoth cast and cameos by everyone from the Queen of England to the Elephant Man, the twists and turns can become a bit confusing, but that just makes it ripe for multiple readings. Eddie Cambells artwork adds a dark sooty element that is so necessary for the story that it's almost impossible to imagine anyone else doing the art at this point. It's easy to give Moore all the credit, but the incredible art, recreation of White-Chapel, and attention to detail sets the tone perfectly and makes this more than a novel and into an actual work of art. Campbell deserves much of this credit. My only problem with Campbells work is that it's often very difficult to tell one character from another. It's only a minor detail, but for those who don't normally read comics, it may be a bit more of a problem. For those of you who've seen the movie, whether you liked it or not, do yourself a favor and try the book. Many of you that would have no problems with seeing the vastly inferior movie might find it awkward to read the comic, but if you can get over that, you'll be able to enjoy one of the best works of fiction in the past decade or so. This is really great stuff. I'd put it up against any modern novel of any modern author.
Rating: 
Summary: It's simply nowhere near the truth....
Review: Unfortunately, Moore did a great damage to the Ripper case, becasue he chose to write about the less convincent theory of them all (but one with the greatest appeal..), that of the Royal COnspiracy, laucnhed in 1976 by writer Stephen Knight, in his book JACK THE RIPPER: THE FINAL SOLUTION. FOr a glimpse of the truth, read Philip Sugden's THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF JACK THE RIPPER.
Rating: 
Summary: Dark Stuff from England's Mad Genius of Comics
Review: Alan Moore's From Hell is one of the most complex, dark and disturbing stories put into graphic format. This is a highly speculative and at times fanciful tale based on London's famous "Jack the Ripper" murders of the 1880's. Moore uses an admittedly far-fetched conspiracy theory as the base for this graphic novel which traces involvement in the killings to the English throne itself. The premise is that the killer is the Queen's own physician, Sir William Gull, presented as a kind of mad prophet.
This is not a "whodunit," but is more of a dark meditation on modern times in which the Ripper metaphorically gives birth to the bloody twentieth century. While I strongly disagree with Moore's politics/world-view, his complex fables are intelligently exececuted and thought-provoking. Eddie Campbell's gritty black and white illustrations set the tone. There is much (at times gratuitous)graphicly illustrated sex (of every perverted variety) and violence and this book is not for the faint of heart.
Rating:
Summary: The Works
Review: Moore's admiration of Michael Moorcock is evident, but unlike so many of Moorcock's imitators, Moore builds on the master's techniques, makes them his own, takes over London and makes THAT his own. Echoes of Gloriana and Jerry Cornelius amplify rather than diminish his themes. Still the most talented original in graphic fiction, Moore proves again that he stands head and shoulders above the rest. The miserable movie version of this is a sentimentalized, Hollywood echo of Moore's complex genius. If you enjoyed the movie, then you will find the substance in this edition! Moore is a true original.
Rating:
Summary: Darkness Incarnate
Review: It is one thing to get into the mind of a serial killer -- read Jim Thompson's THE KILLER INSIDE ME for a great novelistic treatment. What Moore and Campbell did was altogether different: They went into Victorian London, identified Jack the Ripper as a prominent British surgeon, and then made it all make sense from the darkest of all possible perspectives: namely, the killer's. Most impressive of all was Dr William Withey Gull's carriage ride through London with his coachman Netley carefully explaining the high points of London from an esoteric mystical perspective involving Masonic and Egyptian mythology, the forbidding churches of Nicolas Hawksmoor, Boadicea's rebellion against the Romans, Bedlam, to name just a few. "Lunatics are soldiers of the Moon," says Gull, "alongside poets, artists, sorcerers, all warring on the stars, which are but distant suns." It almost makes the horror to come understandable, from a strange point of view. I suddenly thought back to Conrad's Marlowe in the opening scenes of HEART OF DARKNESS, gazing into the darkness from his ship in the Thames, uttering, "And this too has been one of the dark places of the earth." Moore touches on many of the currents and major figures of the 19th century, and then does us all the kindness of providing excellent detailed notes to lead us to his sources. I can see myself in the months to come looking for biographies of Hawksmoor, William Blake, the Elephant Man, and others. I am relatively new to the graphic novels of today, having been brought up on a diet of Carl Barks' Uncle Scrooge and anything by R. Crumb. My appetite has been whetted by FROM HELL; and I look forward to hearing more from Moore and seeing more of Edwards' drawing.
Rating:
Summary: London calling
Review: Sometimes when reading comix you are aware of the media you are reading in a way that you aren't when reading novels. But here Alan Moore's writing can carry you beyond that, out of words-and-pictures and into the stimulated world of your own imagination - and, very much, his. (In a way that, for me, his Swamp Thing comix, for example, cannot.) This is Jack the Ripper still maintaining his grip on imaginations. Moore's research into the case means that his naming of the culprit is believable (as any) and his research into and knowledge of London adds a dark and magical structure that connects the 20th century and the 19th, the everyday and the underlay. At first I wondered if Eddie Campbell's scratchy drawings could carry the book through, but there's something urgent about them which ultimately works. Between them they've concocted a truly dark London story. Forget Hollywood fogs and think "terror and magnificence" (to quote architect Hawksmoor from the book) in story, street, populace - and even church design. Add ley lines of connections, and, of course, murder from which you want to turn your face - but can't.
Rating:
Summary: Serious History in a Comic Book
Review: If like me you still think of comic books as forty pages of pulp stapled together within a slick cover, and maybe ads for Charles Atlas's bodybuilding system scattered through them, you are not even close. _From Hell_ weighs in with almost six hundred pages, a hefty paperback drawn by Eddie Campbell with meticulous detail and dollops of Victorian "gloomth." There is no color. The drawings are scratchy, not sketchy, pen and ink visions of a sooty, nightmare London, relieved from time to time by gray watercolor washes. Campbell knows, better than some film directors, that a good vantage and seeing characters acting, rather than hearing characters talking, are what move the story along and provide the allure of full illustration. I don't really know how much of the credit for such "direction" ought to go to Alan Moore, who is the writer of _From Hell_. Moore has done an astonishing job of research. _From Hell_ is, strictly speaking, fiction, but one of its lessons is that there is a blurred line between fiction and history. He writes, "Five murdered paupers and one anonymous assailant. This reality is dwarfed by the vast theme-park we have 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." Moore's "solving" of the crime is no solution at all. Of course, for the purpose of the story, there is an identified murderer, a minor historical figure who actually existed. Moore admits, though, that as clever as his story is made to fit together, it is only a story, and we are no closer to truth than Scotland Yard was originally. This doesn't detract from the solidity and factuality on which _From Hell_ is based. Moore's appendices are full of glorious detail on Freemasonry, architecture, prostitution, police procedures, and of course, the murders themselves. He has great fun bringing on cameos by Queen Victoria, John Merrick (The Elephant Man), Aleister Crowley, Frank Miles, Oscar Wilde, and more; this is the perfect medium to depict such visits. He is careful to show just where judicious speculation and fancy and fact are separated in these pages. Indeed, he has done so much research it has baffled him; about a minor fact, he writes, "I know it's in one of the books that currently surround me in teetering mounds, but its precise whereabouts remain elusive. Either take my word for it or come round to do my housework for me." _From Hell_ is less about the crime's solution than it is about how we make history and what we make of historians. It has plenty of melodrama, and gore, but it also has social commentary, giving strong condemnation of how the titled Londoners shared the streets with the destitute, and how women were maltreated at the time (not just by a particular murderer). In one chapter, the morning rituals of Sir William Withey Gull, physician to the royal family, are contrasted side-by-side to those of Annie Chapman, the second of the Ripper's victims. The misogyny is most strongly illustrated by a page of various men gleefully forging threatening letters supposedly from the Ripper. There is drama here, and serious inquiry, as well as an intellectual treat of history served up in an utterly novel way.
Rating:
Summary: Best recounting of the Jack the Ripper saga I've read...
Review: From Hell is a graphic retelling of the Jack the Ripper saga, casting Dr. William Gull as the famed killer. The story features a dizzying cast of characters -- many of them well-known artists, authors and members of the royal family -- and a complex conspiracy that includes illegitimate royal children, the Freemasons and a bizarre desire on the Ripper's part to usher in the twentieth century. The convuluted story, combined with the sometimes confusing artwork, makes events difficult to follow at times; I highly recommend reading the appendices as you go along to help make sense of it all. But the story is ultimately compelling and a good overview of the saga of the most famous serial murders in history.
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