The Whitechapel killings aren’t even considered. As he writes in a second (graphic) appendix, sort of a meta-narrative about JtR history and research and the birth process of this book, Moore was in 1988 “thinking seriously about writing something lengthy on a murder. There is also something tantalizing about the time period (late nineteenth century) and the intersections of historical figures, of which Moore takes full advantage – those opportunities are clearly part of what’s drawn him to this subject matter. As Moore lays out here, there have been umpteen theories and suspects offered, but few solid conclusions and now too much time has passed, and we’ll never know who really dunit. Jack the Ripper is an interesting case, because it’s very well-known (even if you know as little as I did, you’ve certainly heard of it), but not well-understood. I had to use more light than I usually do to read. On the other hand, with nearly 600 pages, this large-format, hardback work is indeed a phonebook, and I confess I had a few physical difficulties with it: not only size and weight, but somewhat hard-to-read printing (both the tiny-print appendix and the hand-lettered graphic novel) on glossy pages that threw some glare. I strongly recommend the master edition for this reason. At least, I would have missed many of the subtler references. I’m not at all sure that a reader more knowledgeable of these events would be a better reader of this work I had plenty to help me along with the included appendix, although I think I would often have been lost without it. I entered this reading not knowing much about Jack the Ripper – I knew he was a historical serial killer in London who targeted poor sex workers, did terrible things to them, and was never caught I think I would have figured his victims at five.

The novel itself is a fictionalized version of the Jack the Ripper murders, their investigation, and the conclusion(s) drawn and not drawn in 1888 and the years that follow. (The only comparison, obviously, is the Maus books.) I marvel at what feels to me like rather a new form. The meticulous and thoroughly-explained research was its own gripping story, and Moore’s voice in that appendix is frequently hilarious – when’s the last time I laughed out loud at an appendix?! – self-deprecating, clever, and smart. The master edition I invested in was totally worth it for the 40-page appendix (in tiny type) explicating every smallest point of the novel itself, and detailing all the research involved, where fact meets fiction, and Moore’s reasoning behind the conclusions he’s drawn. It’s a graphic novel, it’s historical fiction, and yes, it’s horror, but none of these terms suffice. From this list of horror novels (linked from Shelf Awareness, and thank you for that), I found From Hell, which has been a wild ride.

From hell graphic novel