From Hell [Review]

Monday, June 23rd, 2008 @ 12:09 am | Books, Reviews

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From Hell - New Cover Edition
by Alan Moore, Eddie Campbell

I’m a HUGE fan of Alan Moore’s.

Kyle is not. For some reason, if he’s reading this, I imagine Kyle’s thinking “Alan Moore? What a hack.”

But for me, I think Moore is consistently the best writer around. I’m sure many people agree, and for me the reason behind this comes from my belief that no one like him can so seamlessly change characters and genres, yet still create a compelling story around them. When he wants to be funny he is, even when it’s a 50’s style (Tom Strong) golden age way. When he wants to be serious he is. He can even do high quality porn! (Lost Girls)

At the same time, I can see why other people might not like him. I was reading through Marvelman, which I don’t even think can be purchased in stores due to 20 years of legal issues, and it shows typical Alan Moore issues.

In a lot of ways, it’s great, and typical of Alan Moore, the starting points of his works tend to be absolutely amazing. And then as you read more and more, it gets a little…off? Moore is so amazing in terms of the detail of his worlds and his characters, there’s definitely a different feel for each of his works, and I don’t really feel this is true of other writers, even good ones. So while he starts well, at some point, it gets a little too dense. A little too detailed. A bit too high-end, and it can distract from the main plot.

Even though I was a Comparative Literature major (don’t ask), I really just like to read stories. Do whatever you want in terms of depth, and “literature”, but make it a good story. If not, I don’t really care. This is probably why I hate poetry- there is rarely any story.

So with Moore, I know he is doing the equivalent of high end “literature”. But sometimes he gets a little too crazy, and it distracts from the story, which to me makes things unreadable.

And if that makes me stupid, I can accept that. In Marvelman (I was reading the original issues in digital scanned form), it begins to become like that, and I even read a letter in the original issue that pointed out this problem.

In Watchmen, this issue is throughout the book, and for me I ended up having to ignore it, because as impressive as it is from a literary and depth standpoint, it makes it hard for me to focus on the story.

But let’s talk about From Hell, Moore’s graphic novel about the Jack the Ripper murders in the late 19th century, which suggests a possible suspect and back story behind the entire events.

It’s boring literature.

You can tell there’s a cool story underneath, but on the outside there’s just too many parts where it’s not coherent. But you’re sure that it’s super well thought out, super detailed and researched, and also high in fiber.

I liked parts of it, while losing the grasp in the story in many others.

Eddie Campbell, however, is another example of the great line of artists Moore has worked with. When I read Marvel or DC comics, I think to myself, jeez, there aren’t truly that many good artists out there, and yet everything that Moore works on, his artist is fantastic, whether that be Marvelman, Promethea, Swamp Thing, Top Ten, Tom Strong, etc.

From Hell is in black and white, but the imagery is amazing. It’s more in an abstract sense, but the images truly recreate a feeling, a sense of life and lifestyle from the 19th century. Characters and scenes are amazingly detailed, yet up close, they really aren’t.

Jim Lee may be amazing and detail and super fine drawing, but Campbell’s work feel just as detailed yet show no similarities with Lee’s work.

Anyway, my final verdict on From Hell is that if you like Alan Moore, even when he does get a bit excessive, you will love From Hell. Otherwise I’d avoid it because there’s too much of abstract sense to his work to really focus on the story, even though it really is well written, well researched, and extremely interesting at points.

Tags: alan moore, comics, eddie campbell, lost girls, marvelman, promethea, swamp thing, top ten