"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title. Maps, characters, and settings are all as accurate as possible, and while the reader might not ultimately agree with Moore and Campbell's thesis, From Hell is still a great work of literature. Looking more deeply than most, the author finds in the "great work" of the Ripper a ritual magic working intended to give birth to the 20th century in all its horrid glory. His characterization is just as vibrant as Campbell's even the minor characters feel fully real. Moore, having decided that the evidence best fits the theory of a Masonic conspiracy to cover up a scandal involving Victoria's grandson, goes to work telling the story with relish from the point of view of the victims, the chief inspector, and the killer-the Queen's physician. Eddie Campbell's scratchy ink drawings evoke a dark and dirty Victorian London and help to humanize characters that have been caricatured into obscurity for decades. The web of facts, opinion, hearsay, and imaginative invention draws the reader in from the first page. Alan Moore did a couple of Ph.D.'s worth of research into the Whitechapel murders for this copiously annotated collection of the independently published series. The promise shown in earlier works emerges as a mature commitment to a set of literary standards, clearly demarking a distinction he now makes between the private person and the writer. The mad, shaggy genius of the comics world dips deeply into the well of history and pulls up a cup filled with blood in From Hell. 'The Beast That Shouted Love At The Heart Of The World' is a watershed collection of Ellison short stories.
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