From Hell
Encyclopedia
From Hell is a comic book
series by writer Alan Moore
and artist Eddie Campbell
, originally published from 1991 to 1996, speculating upon the identity and motives of Jack the Ripper
. The title is taken from the first words of the "From Hell" letter
, which some authorities believe was an authentic message sent from the killer in 1888. The collected edition is 572 pages long. The 2000 and later editions are the most common prints. The comic was adapted into a film of the same title
, released in 2001.
, an anthology
comic book published by Steve Bissette's
Spiderbaby Grafix. Taboo only lasted a handful of issues, and Moore and Campbell took the series first to Tundra Publishing, then to Kitchen Sink Press
. The series was published in ten volumes between 1991 and 1996, and an appendix, From Hell: The Dance of the Gull-catchers, was published in 1998. The entire series was collected in a trade paperback
and published by Eddie Campbell Comics in 1999; trade paperback and hardcover versions are now published by Top Shelf Productions
in the USA and Knockabout Comics
in the UK.
From Hell takes as its premise Stephen Knight's theory that the Jack the Ripper murders were part of a conspiracy to conceal the birth of an illegitimate royal
baby fathered by Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence
, slightly modified: the involvement of Walter Sickert
is reduced, and Knight's allegation that the child's mother was a Catholic has been dropped. Knight's theories have been described as "a good fictional read" whose "conclusions have been disproved numerous times". In an appendix added to the collected From Hell, Moore writes that he did not accept Knight's theory at face value (and he echoed the then-growing consensus that such claims were likely hoaxes), but considered it an interesting starting point for his own fictional examination of the Ripper murders, their era and impact. However, in the serialised publication of Dance of the Gull-Catchers Moore included an "author's statement" which consisted of a blown-up panel from the prologue, depicting the psychic Robert James Lees
confessing that although his visions were fraudulent, they were accurate: "I made it all up, and it all came true anyway. That's the funny part."
Moore and Campbell conducted significant research to ensure plausibility and verisimilitude
. The collected From Hell features over forty pages of page-by-page notes and references, indicating which scenes are based wholly on Moore's own imagination and which are based upon specific named sources. Moore's opinions on the reliability of those references are also listed, which often disagree quite dramatically with experts on the Ripper case and history . The annotations are followed by an epilogue in comics format, The Dance of the Gull-Catchers, in which Moore and Campbell expand on the various theories of the Ripper crimes and the likelihood—or rather, the near-impossibility—of the true identity of the culprit ever being identified.
, (a.k.a. Prince Eddy) marries and fathers a child with Annie Crook, a Catholic
shop girl in London's East End. Prince Eddy had visited the area under an assumed name and Annie is unaware of her husband's royal position. Queen Victoria
becomes aware of the marriage and has Albert separated forcibly from his wife, whom she then places in an asylum
. Victoria then instructs her royal physician
Sir William Gull to impair Annie's sanity, which he does by damaging or impairing her thyroid gland. The prince's daughter is taken to Annie Crook's parents by the painter Walter Sickert
, a friend of Eddy's who had accompanied him on his trips to the East End. Crook's father believes the child to be his through an incestuous relationship with his daughter.
The potentially scandalous matter is resolved, until a group of prostitutes — Annie's friends — who are aware of the illegitimate child and its royal connections, attempt to blackmail
William Sickert, Prince Eddy's friend, in order to pay off a gang of thugs who are threatening them. After Queen Victoria learns of the blackmail attempt, Gull is once again enlisted, this time to silence the group of women who are threatening the crown. The police are complicit in the crimes — they are granted prior knowledge of Gull's intentions, and are adjured not to interfere until the plot is completed.
Gull, a high-ranking Freemason, begins a campaign of violence against the five women, brutally murdering them with the aid of a barely literate carriage driver John Netley
. While he justifies the brutal murders by claiming they are a Masonic warning to an apparent Illuminati
threat to the throne, the killings are actually part of an elaborate mystical ritual to ensure male societal dominance over women (see "Interpretations" below). As the killings progress, Gull becomes more and more psychologically unhinged, culminating in a full psychic vision of the future during his murder of Mary Kelley.
The story also serves as an in-depth character study of Gull; exploring his personal philosophy and motivation, and making sense of his dual role as royal assassin and serial killer
. Though rooted in factual biographical details of Gull's life, Moore admitted taking substantial fictional license: for example, the real-life Gull suffered a stroke
; Moore fictionalizes this event as a theophany
, with Gull seeing "Jahbulon
", a mystical Freemasonic figure, fundamentally altering Gull's world view
and indirectly leading to the murders.
Gull takes John Netley, his coachman, sole confidant, and reluctant aide, on a tour of London
landmarks (including Cleopatra's Needle
and Nicholas Hawksmoor
's churches), expounding about their hidden mystical significance, which is lost to the modern world. Later, Gull forces the semi-literate Netley to write the infamous "From Hell" letter which lends the work its title. Gull has a number of transcendent
, mystical experiences in the course of the murders, culminating with a vivid vision of what London will be like a century after the last murder. It is implied that, through his grisly activities, male dominance over femininity is assured, and the twentieth century is thus given its dominant form, though Gull finds it disgusting nevertheless.
Inspector Frederick Abberline
investigates the Ripper crimes, without success until a fraudulent psychic, Robert James Lees
, acting on a personal grudge against Gull, identifies him as the murderer. Gull confesses, and Lees and Abberline, shocked, report the matter to superiors within the Police force, who work to cover up the discovery. They inform both Abberline and Lees that Gull was operating alone, and gripped by insanity. Abberline later discovers through chance Gull's actual intentions to cover up the matter of the royal 'bastard' fathered by the Duke of Clarence, and resigns from the Metropolitan Police
, protesting the official coverup of the murders.
Gull is tried by a secret Freemasonic council, which determines he is insane; Gull, for his own part, refuses to submit to the council, informing them that no man amongst them may be counted as his peer, and may not therefore judge the 'mighty work' he has wrought. A phony funeral is staged, and Gull is imprisoned under a pseudonym 'Thomas Mason'. Years later, and moments before his death, Gull has an extended mystical experience, where his spirit travels through time
, observing the crimes of the London Monster
, instigating or inspiring a number of other killers (Peter Sutcliffe
, Ian Brady), causing Netley's death, as well as serving as the inspiration for both Robert Louis Stevenson
's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and William Blake
's painting "The Ghost of a Flea
". The last experience his spirit undergoes before it 'becomes God' is a view of Mary Kelly
- the one intended victim who escaped - who is apparently able to see his spirit and abjures him to begone "back to Hell."
' novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
, in that it explores the notion that to solve a crime holistically
, one would need to solve the entire society in which it occurred. Moore's take on the Jack the Ripper
murders is not a "whodunit
": he spells out his (fictional) culprit and the ostensible reasons for his actions very early on. But as Gull remarks, "Averting Royal embarrassment is but the fraction of my work that's visible above the waterline." The murders are an occult
ritual
, a complex sacrifice
using Victorian
London
itself as an altar. The symbolism of London's landmarks is explored in the fourth chapter, in which Gull explains his motives to his uncomprehending coachman, and employs psychogeography
to tie together these landmarks with the city's history.
Gull is depicted as a misogynist who opposes women's suffrage
, along with other progressive movements of his time. Women had power over men once, Gull believes, and the irrational, Dionysian
unconscious mind once dominated the rational, Apollo
nian conscious mind. Moore cites writers such as Marilyn French and Robert Graves
, who argue (as the fictional Gull does) that women held both political and religious power prior to the rise of patriarchal religions such as Christianity
. Gull is reason's lunatic: he believes he is carrying out an act of magic to enforce the rational, masculine hegemony.
From Hell also explores Moore's ideas on the nature of time. Early on, Gull's friend James Hinton
discusses his son Howard
's theory of the "fourth dimension", which proposes that time is a spatial dimension. All time co-exists, and it is only the limits of our perception that make it appear to progress. Sequences of related events can be seen as shapes in the fourth dimension: history can "be said to have an architecture", as Gull puts it. Gull's experiences seem to confirm this: he has visions of the twentieth century during the murders, and as he is dying he experiences, and appears to influence, past and future events. Moore had earlier explored similar ideas in Watchmen
, where Dr. Manhattan perceives past, present and future simultaneously, and describes himself as "a puppet who can see the strings".
Perhaps the most elaborate theme in From Hell stems from Moore's statement that "the Ripper murders — happening when they did and where they did — were almost like an apocalyptic summary of... that entire Victorian age. Also, they prefigure a lot of the horrors of the 20th century." In Moore's reading of the works of contemporary artists including Zola
and the post-impressionist
painters, the prostitute had become an icon of the working lives of the impoverished and disenfranchised. He notes that the 1880s saw the Mahdi
uprisings, the first time the Western world had to face militant Islamic fundamentalism; physicists were beginning to make discoveries that would pave the way to the atomic bomb; and the growth of both Zionism
and anti-Semitism
. The period of the killings coincides with the conception of Adolf Hitler
and the final scene alludes to the outbreak of the Second World War. After the final murder, during which Gull has an extended vision of 1990s England, Gull says, "It is beginning, Netley. Only just beginning. For better or worse, the twentieth century. I have delivered it."
Much of the metaphysical
speculation in From Hell can be attributed to Moore's embrace of gnosticism
, which takes a more central role in his other work, most notably his comic series Promethea
.
On a more prosaic level, Moore indicts the inequalities of Victorian society, contrasting Gull and the wealthy circles he moves in with the hand-to-mouth existence of the women he targets; the moral disgust shown at the peccadilloes of the poor with the depths to which the rich are prepared to sink in order to protect the image of propriety; the imaginary anti-Semitic
conspiracy theories which divert the police's investigations with the real conspiracy that controls them. During one murder, scenes from the killing are interspersed with scenes from a nearby meeting of a socialist
club, addressed by William Morris
, where a portrait of Karl Marx
comes to dominate the scene. In his appendix, Moore sardonically expresses regret that England never had a bloody revolution
as France did.
Just about every notable figure of the period is connected with the events in some way, from "Elephant Man" Joseph Merrick
to Oscar Wilde
, from the Native American
writer Black Elk
to William Morris
, the artist Walter Sickert
to Aleister Crowley
, who makes a brief appearance as a young boy in short trousers, sucking on a candy cane, and lecturing the police about magic.
According to his notes in his appendix, Moore was somewhat inconsistent with how "historically accurate" the events within the graphic novels are. On one hand, he revealed that he had actually written an entire scene where Abberline gets into an argument with Buffalo Bill
and Annie Oakley
; he rewrote it after research revealed that Buffalo Bill had left England by the time of the murders. On the other hand, again according to his own notes, he had William Morris
appear in London on the night of one of the murders, although historical records show he was out of town that night. Morris, however, does not interact with any of the characters, but is simply seen reading his poem "Love Is Enough", while Gull murders Elizabeth Stride in the alley below.
In The Dance of the Gull Catchers Moore reports that he had been drawn into and even obsessed with the particulars of the Ripper crimes. The Ripperologists—or "Gull Catchers" as he refers to them—are depicted as slightly unhinged men running about with large butterfly nets, chasing details and connections, however tenuous. Initially, Moore observes them from a distance, but eventually—while researching and writing From Hell—he joins them. Moore compares the multitude of increasingly outlandish Ripper theories to a Koch snowflake
, where a finite, fixed location, event and era (London, in late 1888) can have an infinite
number of nooks and crannies.
Fan Award for "Favorite Limited Series" for 1997, and the collected edition won their Award for Favorite Reprint Graphic Album in 2000.
It also won the "Prix de la critique
" at the Angoulême International Comics Festival
(France
) in 2001.
From Hell has won several Eisner Awards, including "Best Serialized Story" (1993), "Best Writer" (1995, 1996, 1997), and "Best Graphic Album -- Reprint" (2000).
into a 2001 film
starring Johnny Depp
, Heather Graham and Ian Holm
. The film received mixed reviews from critics, holding a rating of 57% on review aggregator
website Rotten Tomatoes
.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series by writer Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
and artist Eddie Campbell
Eddie Campbell
Eddie Campbell is a Scottish comics artist and cartoonist who now lives in Australia. Probably best known as the illustrator and publisher of From Hell , Campbell is also the creator of the semi-autobiographical Alec stories collected in Alec: The Years Have Pants, and Bacchus , a wry adventure...
, originally published from 1991 to 1996, speculating upon the identity and motives of Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper
"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
. The title is taken from the first words of the "From Hell" letter
From Hell letter
The "From Hell" letter is a letter posted in 1888 by a person who claimed to be the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper....
, which some authorities believe was an authentic message sent from the killer in 1888. The collected edition is 572 pages long. The 2000 and later editions are the most common prints. The comic was adapted into a film of the same title
From Hell (film)
From Hell is a 2001 American crime drama horror mystery film directed by the Hughes brothers. It is an adaptation of the comic book series of the same name by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell about the Jack the Ripper murders.-Plot:...
, released in 2001.
About the book
From Hell was originally published in serial form in TabooTaboo (comic)
Taboo was a comics anthology edited by Steve Bissette that was designed to feature edgier and more adult comics than could be published through mainstream publishers. The series began as a horror anthology, but soon branched out into other genres as well...
, an anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
comic book published by Steve Bissette's
Stephen R. Bissette
Stephen R. Bissette is an American comics artist, editor, and publisher with a focus on the horror genre. He is best known for working with writer Alan Moore and inker John Totleben on the DC comic Swamp Thing in the 1980s....
Spiderbaby Grafix. Taboo only lasted a handful of issues, and Moore and Campbell took the series first to Tundra Publishing, then to Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen owned and operated Kitchen Sink Press until 1999. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in...
. The series was published in ten volumes between 1991 and 1996, and an appendix, From Hell: The Dance of the Gull-catchers, was published in 1998. The entire series was collected in a trade paperback
Trade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
and published by Eddie Campbell Comics in 1999; trade paperback and hardcover versions are now published by Top Shelf Productions
Top Shelf Productions
Top Shelf Productions is an American publishing company founded in 1997, owned and operated by Chris Staros and Brett Warnock and a small staff. The company is based in Marietta, Georgia, Portland, Oregon, and New York City, New York....
in the USA and Knockabout Comics
Knockabout Comics
Knockabout Comics is a UK publisher and distributor of underground and alternative comic books.-History:It was formed by Tony Bennett and Carol Bennett in the 1980s to distribute Gilbert Shelton's Freak Brothers titles as well as British work from creators such as Hunt Emerson and Bryan...
in the UK.
From Hell takes as its premise Stephen Knight's theory that the Jack the Ripper murders were part of a conspiracy to conceal the birth of an illegitimate royal
British monarchy
The monarchy of the United Kingdom is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories. The present monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has reigned since 6 February 1952. She and her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial and representational duties...
baby fathered by Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence
Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence
Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale was a member of the British Royal Family. He was the eldest son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales and Alexandra, Princess of Wales , and the grandson of the reigning monarch, Queen Victoria...
, slightly modified: the involvement of Walter Sickert
Walter Sickert
Walter Richard Sickert , born in Munich, Germany, was a painter who was a member of the Camden Town Group in London. He was an important influence on distinctively British styles of avant-garde art in the 20th century....
is reduced, and Knight's allegation that the child's mother was a Catholic has been dropped. Knight's theories have been described as "a good fictional read" whose "conclusions have been disproved numerous times". In an appendix added to the collected From Hell, Moore writes that he did not accept Knight's theory at face value (and he echoed the then-growing consensus that such claims were likely hoaxes), but considered it an interesting starting point for his own fictional examination of the Ripper murders, their era and impact. However, in the serialised publication of Dance of the Gull-Catchers Moore included an "author's statement" which consisted of a blown-up panel from the prologue, depicting the psychic Robert James Lees
Robert James Lees
Robert James Lees was a British spiritualist, medium, preacher, writer and healer of the late Victorian era and early twentieth century known today for claims that he knew the identity of Jack the Ripper, responsible for the Whitechapel murders of 1888.-Early life:The son of William Lingham Lees...
confessing that although his visions were fraudulent, they were accurate: "I made it all up, and it all came true anyway. That's the funny part."
Moore and Campbell conducted significant research to ensure plausibility and verisimilitude
Verisimilitude
Verisimilitude is the quality of realism in something .-Competing ideas:The problem of verisimilitude is the problem of articulating what it takes for one false theory to be closer to the truth than another false theory...
. The collected From Hell features over forty pages of page-by-page notes and references, indicating which scenes are based wholly on Moore's own imagination and which are based upon specific named sources. Moore's opinions on the reliability of those references are also listed, which often disagree quite dramatically with experts on the Ripper case and history . The annotations are followed by an epilogue in comics format, The Dance of the Gull-Catchers, in which Moore and Campbell expand on the various theories of the Ripper crimes and the likelihood—or rather, the near-impossibility—of the true identity of the culprit ever being identified.
Plot overview
Prince Albert Victor, Duke of ClarencePrince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence
Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale was a member of the British Royal Family. He was the eldest son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales and Alexandra, Princess of Wales , and the grandson of the reigning monarch, Queen Victoria...
, (a.k.a. Prince Eddy) marries and fathers a child with Annie Crook, a Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
shop girl in London's East End. Prince Eddy had visited the area under an assumed name and Annie is unaware of her husband's royal position. Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
becomes aware of the marriage and has Albert separated forcibly from his wife, whom she then places in an asylum
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
. Victoria then instructs her royal physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
Sir William Gull to impair Annie's sanity, which he does by damaging or impairing her thyroid gland. The prince's daughter is taken to Annie Crook's parents by the painter Walter Sickert
Walter Sickert
Walter Richard Sickert , born in Munich, Germany, was a painter who was a member of the Camden Town Group in London. He was an important influence on distinctively British styles of avant-garde art in the 20th century....
, a friend of Eddy's who had accompanied him on his trips to the East End. Crook's father believes the child to be his through an incestuous relationship with his daughter.
The potentially scandalous matter is resolved, until a group of prostitutes — Annie's friends — who are aware of the illegitimate child and its royal connections, attempt to blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
William Sickert, Prince Eddy's friend, in order to pay off a gang of thugs who are threatening them. After Queen Victoria learns of the blackmail attempt, Gull is once again enlisted, this time to silence the group of women who are threatening the crown. The police are complicit in the crimes — they are granted prior knowledge of Gull's intentions, and are adjured not to interfere until the plot is completed.
Gull, a high-ranking Freemason, begins a campaign of violence against the five women, brutally murdering them with the aid of a barely literate carriage driver John Netley
John Netley
John Charles Netley was a cab driver who is notable because of claims that he was involved in the 'Whitechapel Murders' committed by Jack the Ripper.-Biography:...
. While he justifies the brutal murders by claiming they are a Masonic warning to an apparent Illuminati
Illuminati
The Illuminati is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically the name refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on May 1, 1776...
threat to the throne, the killings are actually part of an elaborate mystical ritual to ensure male societal dominance over women (see "Interpretations" below). As the killings progress, Gull becomes more and more psychologically unhinged, culminating in a full psychic vision of the future during his murder of Mary Kelley.
The story also serves as an in-depth character study of Gull; exploring his personal philosophy and motivation, and making sense of his dual role as royal assassin and serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
. Though rooted in factual biographical details of Gull's life, Moore admitted taking substantial fictional license: for example, the real-life Gull suffered a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
; Moore fictionalizes this event as a theophany
Theophany
Theophany, from the Ancient Greek , meaning "appearance of God"), refers to the appearance of a deity to a human or other being, or to a divine disclosure....
, with Gull seeing "Jahbulon
Jahbulon
Jahbulon is a word which was used historically in some rituals of Royal Arch Masonry. According to Francis X. King, it is also used in Ordo Templi Orientis rituals.There has been much debate over the origin and meaning of this word...
", a mystical Freemasonic figure, fundamentally altering Gull's world view
World view
A comprehensive world view is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the entirety of the individual or society's knowledge and point-of-view, including natural philosophy; fundamental, existential, and normative postulates; or themes, values, emotions, and...
and indirectly leading to the murders.
Gull takes John Netley, his coachman, sole confidant, and reluctant aide, on a tour of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
landmarks (including Cleopatra's Needle
Cleopatra's Needle
Cleopatra's Needle is the popular name for each of three Ancient Egyptian obelisks re-erected in London, Paris, and New York City during the nineteenth century. The London and New York ones are a pair, while the Paris one comes from a different original site where its twin remains...
and Nicholas Hawksmoor
Nicholas Hawksmoor
Nicholas Hawksmoor was a British architect born in Nottinghamshire, probably in East Drayton.-Life:Hawksmoor was born in Nottinghamshire in 1661, into a yeoman farming family, almost certainly in East Drayton, Nottinghamshire. On his death he was to leave property at nearby Ragnall, Dunham and a...
's churches), expounding about their hidden mystical significance, which is lost to the modern world. Later, Gull forces the semi-literate Netley to write the infamous "From Hell" letter which lends the work its title. Gull has a number of transcendent
Transcendence (philosophy)
In philosophy, the adjective transcendental and the noun transcendence convey the basic ground concept from the word's literal meaning , of climbing or going beyond, albeit with varying connotations in its different historical and cultural stages...
, mystical experiences in the course of the murders, culminating with a vivid vision of what London will be like a century after the last murder. It is implied that, through his grisly activities, male dominance over femininity is assured, and the twentieth century is thus given its dominant form, though Gull finds it disgusting nevertheless.
Inspector Frederick Abberline
Frederick Abberline
Frederick George Abberline was a Chief Inspector for the London Metropolitan Police and was a prominent police figure in the investigation into the Jack the Ripper murders of 1888.-Early life:...
investigates the Ripper crimes, without success until a fraudulent psychic, Robert James Lees
Robert James Lees
Robert James Lees was a British spiritualist, medium, preacher, writer and healer of the late Victorian era and early twentieth century known today for claims that he knew the identity of Jack the Ripper, responsible for the Whitechapel murders of 1888.-Early life:The son of William Lingham Lees...
, acting on a personal grudge against Gull, identifies him as the murderer. Gull confesses, and Lees and Abberline, shocked, report the matter to superiors within the Police force, who work to cover up the discovery. They inform both Abberline and Lees that Gull was operating alone, and gripped by insanity. Abberline later discovers through chance Gull's actual intentions to cover up the matter of the royal 'bastard' fathered by the Duke of Clarence, and resigns from the Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan police
Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
, protesting the official coverup of the murders.
Gull is tried by a secret Freemasonic council, which determines he is insane; Gull, for his own part, refuses to submit to the council, informing them that no man amongst them may be counted as his peer, and may not therefore judge the 'mighty work' he has wrought. A phony funeral is staged, and Gull is imprisoned under a pseudonym 'Thomas Mason'. Years later, and moments before his death, Gull has an extended mystical experience, where his spirit travels through time
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
, observing the crimes of the London Monster
London Monster
The London Monster was the name given to an alleged attacker of women in London between 1788 and 1790.First reports of the Monster appeared in 1788. According to the victims , a large man had followed them, shouted obscenities and stabbed them in the buttocks. Some reports claimed an attacker had...
, instigating or inspiring a number of other killers (Peter Sutcliffe
Peter Sutcliffe
Peter William Sutcliffe is a British serial killer who was dubbed "The Yorkshire Ripper". In 1981 Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering 13 women and attacking seven others. He is currently serving 20 sentences of life imprisonment in Broadmoor Hospital...
, Ian Brady), causing Netley's death, as well as serving as the inspiration for both Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
's painting "The Ghost of a Flea
The Ghost of a Flea
The Ghost of a Flea is a minature tempera mixture with gold painting on mahogany type tropical hardwood panel by the English poet, painter and printmaker William Blake, held in the Tate Gallery, London...
". The last experience his spirit undergoes before it 'becomes God' is a view of Mary Kelly
Mary Jane Kelly
Mary Jane Kelly , also known as "Marie Jeanette" Kelly, "Fair Emma", "Ginger" and "Black Mary", is widely believed to be the fifth and final victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper, who killed and mutilated prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London from late August to...
- the one intended victim who escaped - who is apparently able to see his spirit and abjures him to begone "back to Hell."
Interpretations and themes
From Hell was partly inspired by the title of Douglas AdamsDouglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
' novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency is a humorous fantasy detective novel by Douglas Adams, first published in 1987. It is described by "the author" on its cover as a "thumping good detective-ghost-horror-who dunnit-time travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic".The book was followed by a sequel,...
, in that it explores the notion that to solve a crime holistically
Holism
Holism is the idea that all the properties of a given system cannot be determined or explained by its component parts alone...
, one would need to solve the entire society in which it occurred. Moore's take on the Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper
"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
murders is not a "whodunit
Whodunit
A whodunit or whodunnit is a complex, plot-driven variety of the detective story in which the puzzle is the main feature of interest. The reader or viewer is provided with clues from which the identity of the perpetrator of the crime may be deduced before the solution is revealed in the final...
": he spells out his (fictional) culprit and the ostensible reasons for his actions very early on. But as Gull remarks, "Averting Royal embarrassment is but the fraction of my work that's visible above the waterline." The murders are an occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
ritual
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
, a complex sacrifice
Sacrifice
Sacrifice is the offering of food, objects or the lives of animals or people to God or the gods as an act of propitiation or worship.While sacrifice often implies ritual killing, the term offering can be used for bloodless sacrifices of cereal food or artifacts...
using Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
itself as an altar. The symbolism of London's landmarks is explored in the fourth chapter, in which Gull explains his motives to his uncomprehending coachman, and employs psychogeography
Psychogeography
Psychogeography was defined in 1955 by Guy Debord as "the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals." Another definition is "a whole toy box full of playful, inventive strategies for...
to tie together these landmarks with the city's history.
Gull is depicted as a misogynist who opposes women's suffrage
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
, along with other progressive movements of his time. Women had power over men once, Gull believes, and the irrational, Dionysian
Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
unconscious mind once dominated the rational, Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
nian conscious mind. Moore cites writers such as Marilyn French and Robert Graves
Robert Graves
Robert von Ranke Graves 24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985 was an English poet, translator and novelist. During his long life he produced more than 140 works...
, who argue (as the fictional Gull does) that women held both political and religious power prior to the rise of patriarchal religions such as Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. Gull is reason's lunatic: he believes he is carrying out an act of magic to enforce the rational, masculine hegemony.
From Hell also explores Moore's ideas on the nature of time. Early on, Gull's friend James Hinton
James Hinton (surgeon)
James Hinton was an English surgeon and author. He is the father of mathematician Charles Howard Hinton.-Life:...
discusses his son Howard
Charles Howard Hinton
Charles Howard Hinton was a British mathematician and writer of science fiction works titled Scientific Romances. He was interested in higher dimensions, particularly the fourth dimension, and is known for coining the word tesseract and for his work on methods of visualising the geometry of...
's theory of the "fourth dimension", which proposes that time is a spatial dimension. All time co-exists, and it is only the limits of our perception that make it appear to progress. Sequences of related events can be seen as shapes in the fourth dimension: history can "be said to have an architecture", as Gull puts it. Gull's experiences seem to confirm this: he has visions of the twentieth century during the murders, and as he is dying he experiences, and appears to influence, past and future events. Moore had earlier explored similar ideas in Watchmen
Watchmen
Watchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series created by writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colourist John Higgins. The series was published by DC Comics during 1986 and 1987, and has been subsequently reprinted in collected form...
, where Dr. Manhattan perceives past, present and future simultaneously, and describes himself as "a puppet who can see the strings".
Perhaps the most elaborate theme in From Hell stems from Moore's statement that "the Ripper murders — happening when they did and where they did — were almost like an apocalyptic summary of... that entire Victorian age. Also, they prefigure a lot of the horrors of the 20th century." In Moore's reading of the works of contemporary artists including Zola
Émile Zola
Émile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...
and the post-impressionist
Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in 1910 to describe the development of French art since Manet. Fry used the term when he organized the 1910 exhibition Manet and Post-Impressionism...
painters, the prostitute had become an icon of the working lives of the impoverished and disenfranchised. He notes that the 1880s saw the Mahdi
Mahdi
In Islamic eschatology, the Mahdi is the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will stay on Earth for seven, nine or nineteen years- before the Day of Judgment and, alongside Jesus, will rid the world of wrongdoing, injustice and tyranny.In Shia Islam, the belief in the Mahdi is a "central religious...
uprisings, the first time the Western world had to face militant Islamic fundamentalism; physicists were beginning to make discoveries that would pave the way to the atomic bomb; and the growth of both Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
and anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
. The period of the killings coincides with the conception of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and the final scene alludes to the outbreak of the Second World War. After the final murder, during which Gull has an extended vision of 1990s England, Gull says, "It is beginning, Netley. Only just beginning. For better or worse, the twentieth century. I have delivered it."
Much of the metaphysical
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
speculation in From Hell can be attributed to Moore's embrace of gnosticism
Gnosticism
Gnosticism is a scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices common to early Christianity, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, Zoroastrianism , and Neoplatonism.A common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis...
, which takes a more central role in his other work, most notably his comic series Promethea
Promethea
Promethea is a comic book series created by Alan Moore, J. H. Williams III and Mick Gray, published by America's Best Comics/WildStorm....
.
On a more prosaic level, Moore indicts the inequalities of Victorian society, contrasting Gull and the wealthy circles he moves in with the hand-to-mouth existence of the women he targets; the moral disgust shown at the peccadilloes of the poor with the depths to which the rich are prepared to sink in order to protect the image of propriety; the imaginary anti-Semitic
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
conspiracy theories which divert the police's investigations with the real conspiracy that controls them. During one murder, scenes from the killing are interspersed with scenes from a nearby meeting of a socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
club, addressed by William Morris
William Morris
William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
, where a portrait of Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
comes to dominate the scene. In his appendix, Moore sardonically expresses regret that England never had a bloody revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
as France did.
Just about every notable figure of the period is connected with the events in some way, from "Elephant Man" Joseph Merrick
Joseph Merrick
Joseph Carey Merrick , sometimes incorrectly referred to as John Merrick, was an English man with severe deformities who was exhibited as a human curiosity named the Elephant Man. He became well known in London society after he went to live at the London Hospital...
to Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
, from the Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
writer Black Elk
Black Elk
Heȟáka Sápa was a famous Wičháša Wakȟáŋ of the Oglala Lakota . He was Heyoka and a second cousin of Crazy Horse.-Life:...
to William Morris
William Morris
William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
, the artist Walter Sickert
Walter Sickert
Walter Richard Sickert , born in Munich, Germany, was a painter who was a member of the Camden Town Group in London. He was an important influence on distinctively British styles of avant-garde art in the 20th century....
to Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...
, who makes a brief appearance as a young boy in short trousers, sucking on a candy cane, and lecturing the police about magic.
According to his notes in his appendix, Moore was somewhat inconsistent with how "historically accurate" the events within the graphic novels are. On one hand, he revealed that he had actually written an entire scene where Abberline gets into an argument with Buffalo Bill
Buffalo Bill
William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody was a United States soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory , in LeClaire but lived several years in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory. Buffalo Bill received the Medal of Honor in 1872 for service to the US...
and Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley , born Phoebe Ann Mosey, was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Oakley's amazing talent and timely rise to fame led to a starring role in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, which propelled her to become the first American female superstar.Oakley's most famous trick is perhaps...
; he rewrote it after research revealed that Buffalo Bill had left England by the time of the murders. On the other hand, again according to his own notes, he had William Morris
William Morris
William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
appear in London on the night of one of the murders, although historical records show he was out of town that night. Morris, however, does not interact with any of the characters, but is simply seen reading his poem "Love Is Enough", while Gull murders Elizabeth Stride in the alley below.
In The Dance of the Gull Catchers Moore reports that he had been drawn into and even obsessed with the particulars of the Ripper crimes. The Ripperologists—or "Gull Catchers" as he refers to them—are depicted as slightly unhinged men running about with large butterfly nets, chasing details and connections, however tenuous. Initially, Moore observes them from a distance, but eventually—while researching and writing From Hell—he joins them. Moore compares the multitude of increasingly outlandish Ripper theories to a Koch snowflake
Koch snowflake
The Koch snowflake is a mathematical curve and one of the earliest fractal curves to have been described...
, where a finite, fixed location, event and era (London, in late 1888) can have an infinite
Infinity
Infinity is a concept in many fields, most predominantly mathematics and physics, that refers to a quantity without bound or end. People have developed various ideas throughout history about the nature of infinity...
number of nooks and crannies.
Awards
The comic series was a top vote getter for the Comics Buyer's GuideComics Buyer's Guide
Comics Buyer's Guide , established in 1971, is the longest-running English-language periodical reporting on the American comic book industry...
Fan Award for "Favorite Limited Series" for 1997, and the collected edition won their Award for Favorite Reprint Graphic Album in 2000.
It also won the "Prix de la critique
Prix de la critique
The Prix de la critique is a prize awarded by the Association des Critiques et des journalistes de Bande Dessinée to the best comic album released for a year in France. Previously, from 1984 to 2003, it was called Prix Bloody Mary and awarded at the Angoulême International Comics Festival...
" at the Angoulême International Comics Festival
Angoulême International Comics Festival
The Angoulême International Comics Festival is the largest comics festival in Europe. It has occurred every year since 1974 in Angoulême, France, in the month of January.The four-day festival is notable for awarding several prestigious prizes in cartooning...
(France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) in 2001.
From Hell has won several Eisner Awards, including "Best Serialized Story" (1993), "Best Writer" (1995, 1996, 1997), and "Best Graphic Album -- Reprint" (2000).
Film adaptation
From Hell was adapted by the Hughes brothersHughes Brothers
Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes , known together professionally as the Hughes brothers, are American film directors, producers and screenwriters...
into a 2001 film
From Hell (film)
From Hell is a 2001 American crime drama horror mystery film directed by the Hughes brothers. It is an adaptation of the comic book series of the same name by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell about the Jack the Ripper murders.-Plot:...
starring Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
, Heather Graham and Ian Holm
Ian Holm
Sir Ian Holm, CBE is an English actor known for his stage work and for many film roles. He received the 1967 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for his performance as Lenny in The Homecoming and the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in the title role of King Lear...
. The film received mixed reviews from critics, holding a rating of 57% on review aggregator
Review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services . This system stores the reviews and then uses them for purposes such as: creating a website for users to view the reviews, selling information to third parties about consumer tendencies and creating databases for...
website Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.
External links
- Alan Moore interview at Guardian UnlimitedGuardian Unlimitedguardian.co.uk, formerly known as Guardian Unlimited, is a British website owned by the Guardian Media Group. Georgina Henry is the editor...
- Alan Moore interview at Comic Book ResourcesComic Book ResourcesComic Book Resources, also known as CBR is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book-related news and discussion.-History:Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1996 as a development of the Kingdom Come Message Board, a message forum that Weiland had created to discuss DC...