Comments on: Great Graphic Novels: From Hell, by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell

By: miasm

miasm — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 21:10:00 +0000

disclaimer: I belong to a secret society which commonly subverts the due process of the law for it’s own culpabily distributed ends, but dont worry I joined without the familial or educationally based, secret-society contacts which would allow me to penetrate the inner echelons of the power held by that society, so have access to only a slightly more effective, extra-judiciary force than the regularly maligned citizen.
So don’t worry, I’m not really one of the old boys, screwing you whilst you sleep, those families of corruption keep us at almost the same befuddled and belittled, arms-length-distance that you, the common, degraded citizen is kept at. I feel almost as much of the boot upon my face as you!
Anyway, the next time I’m subverting due process or habituating criminal activity I’ll be sure and opine with you, dear friend, for I am almost as worthless and downtrodden.
HAHA! Funny old world ennit!?

By: BrendanBabbage

BrendanBabbage — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 19:20:00 +0000

I’ve always preferred the lowest end of the “Royal Conspiracy” where it was the prince himself, his mind rotting from “Social Diseases” either too jaded with pay as you go …. or knowing his brain was rotting and getting ‘revenge’ on the women he’d used for fun… Doubt it’s true, but I see the young rich elite of almost any culture as “Jack the Ripper for the fun of it” burning bums, bum hunting, etc. till Daddy smacks them and says “Ok, son time to sit with me and I’ll show you how much fun it is to slash a NATION and drink it’s blood!”

Still, this work is brilliant. I bought it recently. My favorite part is Dr Gull’s meeting with the Queen.

By: puppybeard

puppybeard — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 13:21:00 +0000

I heard they have a great coupons package.

By: Jay Kinney

Jay Kinney — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 02:54:00 +0000

Why any of us does anything is probably a complex story and one that we possibly don’t understand ourselves. That said, I’d been intrigued for decades by all the conflicting representations and allegations about Masonry and decided to check it out for myself. I spent a year in dialog with members on the Internet, visited a couple of lodges in my neck of the woods and generally was positively impressed. For more info, at far greater length, see my book.

By: Halloween_Jack

Halloween_Jack — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 02:10:00 +0000

I love From Hell; I recently re-read it, and even if you don’t believe any part of the theory that Moore lays out, it’s still tremendously engrossing and basically indicts not just Dr. Gull (who is portrayed, at different times, as an engaging polymath, out-of-control monster, and, ultimately, a victim) but also Victorian society, which was willing to set a monster like Gull on its perceived enemies, terrorizing all of London in the process, then callously cast him aside once he’d served his purpose, all to avoid a bit of scandal that barely ranks in today’s celebrity-gossip-driven world. Plus, there’s a great epilogue in which Moore lays out the history of the various Ripper conspiracy theories (at least up to the time of publication; new ones continue to emerge, including one done by best-selling author Patricia Cornwall), and concludes that ultimately they serve to obscure rather than reveal the true identity of the killer.

By: Mudshark Bytes

Mudshark Bytes — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 23:08:00 +0000

Nard & Pat forced him to.

By: oldtaku

oldtaku — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 21:40:00 +0000

This is definitely on the must read list. The art is even scratchier than Campbell’s normal work (yes, even compared to Bacchus, I think), but it fits the tale perfectly. As Jay said, don’t let the movie prejudice you – it’s not at all representative other than the very broad plot strokes.

And at this point any Jack the Ripper theory is as good as any other (It seems like 1% of the population of London at that time have been proven to be Jack the Ripper), so it’s unlikely to bother or seem unlikely to anyone who’s not a Mason or a fervid Ripper theorist.

By: MarkV

MarkV — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 21:35:00 +0000

Why did you join the Masons?

By: Ashen Victor

Ashen Victor — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 20:37:00 +0000

From Hell is one of the few literary works that I can re-read every year and delight in it´s own complexity, ambient and feel.
I never truly understood why Deep was chosen to play the main role in the movie “adaptation” (aside from magnet name reasons), also happy ending (happy endings are overrated).

By: kiptw

kiptw — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 18:29:00 +0000

One of Alan Moore’s strengths as a writer is in making anything believable while you’re reading it. He’s used more than one discredited scientific hypothesis (such as the one about planaria worms ‘learning’ acquired knowledge of other worms they were fed) to make gripping stories (in the just-mentioned case, his turnaround of Swamp Thing). He just sucks you into his world.