From Hell Companion

From Hell #Companion

by Alan Moore, Eddie Campbell

Co-Published by Top Shelf and Knockabout.
FROM HELL occupies a monumental place in the history of the graphic novel: a Victorian masterpiece of murder and madness which has won numerous awards, spawned a major Hollywood film, and remained a favorite of readers around the world for over two decades.
Now, Top Shelf Productions and Knockabout Comics present THE FROM HELL COMPANION, an astonishing selection of Alan Moore's original scripts and sketches for the landmark graphic novel, with copious annotations, commentary, and illustrations by Eddie Campbell. Here for the first time are a set of pages, including some of Moore's greatest writing, which have never been seen by anyone except his collaborator. Joining them are Campbell's first-hand accounts of the project's decade-long development, complete with photos, anecdotes, disagreements, and wry confessions. Arranged in narrative order, these perspectives form a fascinating mosaic, an opportunity to read FROM HELL with fresh eyes, and a tour inside the minds of two giants of their field. -- A 288-page (with 32 full-color page insert) softcover, 7.5" x 10.5"

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, History, Reference, Horror, True Crime

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2013

About the author

Alan Moore is an English writer most famous for his influential work in comics, including the acclaimed graphic novels Watchmen, V for Vendetta and From Hell. He has also written a novel, Voice of the Fire, and performs "workings" (one-off performance art/spoken word pieces) with The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels, some of which have been released on CD.

As a comics writer, Moore is notable for being one of the first writers to apply literary and formalist sensibilities to the mainstream of the medium. As well as including challenging subject matter and adult themes, he brings a wide range of influences to his work, from the literary–authors such as William S. Burroughs, Thomas Pynchon, Robert Anton Wilson and Iain Sinclair; New Wave science fiction writers such as Michael Moorcock; horror writers such as Clive Barker; to the cinematic–filmmakers such as Nicolas Roeg. Influences within comics include Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Kirby and Bryan Talbot.

Reviews

[Alejandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

One heck of a guide!!!


FROM HELL TO YOUR DOOR

From Hell, easily one of the graphic novels more dense ever written by the grand master Alan Moore, definitely was needed a companion like this one to be able to get many of the secrets that the author put there, maybe in plain sight, but hardly so easily to grasp.

This is indeed the essential guide to fully understand all the hidden messages and intentions of the brilliant writer Alan Moore in From Hell.

If you read carefully, you will get many thing on your own, trust me I did, but the graphic novel is one of the most thick works made by Moore, for not saying ever made by any comic book writer in this kind of publishing format. (Obviously thinking of it as a sole story, and not a saga with several volumes)

Therefore, having this companion doesn't hurt, and it will help you a lot to fully absorb all the greatness of this work.

While you could say that the very premise of From Hell is quite simple to describe, Alan Moore in reality did A LOT more from it, since he did a through research of the history of London, not only about main events or personalities, but even the very architecture of the city is an integral part of the development of the story.

A curious fact is that, Neil Gaiman, famous writer on his own and a good friend of Moore (in fact, Alan helped him to start his writing career) served Moore as "errand boy", going and coming from the public library, carrying all the books that Alan Moore needed to sustain his impresive work in From Hell.

So, it's quite logical that it's highly recommended by any reader interested in From Hell or that already read it, to complement the experience with this very companion book.

[Chris Browning · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a script book it’s fine, and testament to the fact that Alan Moore is a great prose writer but possibly better suited to small bursts of writing rather than huge epics where it gets a little exhausting. But really this is Eddie Campbell’s book. I have conflicted and conflicting views about Alan Moore these days, but truly believe that From Hell is his masterpiece (equal with DR and Quinch), but the reason why it’s so great is clearly a lot to do with the fact that Campbell is a full on collaborator and not simply drawing his ideas. The moments this book crackles with the most energy are entirely those were Campbell details what Moore asked of him and then explains why he didn’t in fact do that. Essentially it’s a way for Campbell to detail his thoughts about comic and art theory, about composition, about structure and rhythm and more. And that’s some of the most fascinating stuff I’ve read in years. He’s thoughtful and engaging and constantly trying to make you as a reader *think* about how you look at comics and images. It’s a masterpiece of comic theory

[Berna Labourdette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Difícil decir algo interesante sobre esta obra maestra, que se ve ahora complementada por los apuntes, los guiones de Moore y las fotografías de lugares que adjunta Campbell en este Companion, además de entregar un sinfín de anécdotas sobre el trabajo realizado en esta serie, que permiten profundizar aún más en el gigantesco trabajo que hicieron ambos. Tiene también mucha información sobre decisiones que se tomaron para la película, que se comenzó a producir cuando la serie estaba por reunirse en un tomo recopilatorio. 

[Mark Schlatter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm going to get to the actual review, but indulge me for a bit first.

A decade or two ago, I'm in Lansing, Michigan, visiting my wife's family. With some free time, I go to the Michigan State University Library Special Collection, which has one of the largest collections of comic books in the U.S. The first day, I'm basically trying to find post-Mad Kurtzman work. So, while others in the reading room are wearing white gloves and perusing prints of flowers, I'm reading John Cleese fumetti.

The second day, Randall Scott --- the man in charge of the comics collection --- mentions their collection of files related to Eclipse Comics. Eclipse was a small but influential publisher in the eighties and one of the first publishers besides Marvel and DC to publish "middleground" (that is, not underground) comics successfully. In particular, Eclipse published Scott McCloud's Zot!: The Complete Black-and-White Collection: 1987-1991 (his major work before Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art) and Larry Marder's Tales of the Beanworld.

They also published Alan Moore's Miracleman.

Miracleman (or as it was known in the U.K., Marvelman --- and that's a tale I won't get into) is Moore's best known early superhero work and probably one of the factors that led to his Swamp Thing run on DC. While the early issues were published by 2000 AD in the U.K. and then reprinted by Eclipse, in the mid eighties Moore finished the work for Eclipse. It's an alternatively dystopian and utopian take on the Captain Marvel/Shazam character and how a superbeing might restructure society.

Near the end of the run in issue 15, Moore and artist John Totleben spend an issue on a fight scene that totals London, as Miracleman fights his nemesis. This is not a good ol' Thing versus Hulk battle, with property damage that disappears. It is an apocalypse. It is, in many ways, Moore's version of a superhero holocaust, and it incorporates horror elements into a slugfest.

So, one of my all time memorable moments with comic books is sitting in the MSU Special Collections room reading a xerox of the Alan Moore script for Miracleman #15. If you don't know comic book scripts, think of movie scripts, except that you have panel-by-panel descriptions instead of shot-by-shot. And Moore's scripts are intensely (some would say excessively) detailed. I love behind-the-scenes stuff, so the chance to see the design behind the script was fantastic.

All right, move forward a decade. Both volumes of the Moore and O'Neill work The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen have been published in a slipcase edition with full scripts included. In addition, Jess Nevins's annotations to the series (Heroes And Monsters and Blazing World) have appeared in book form. Therefore, I'm reading the original work, the scripts, and the annotations together. Heaven.

If you have gotten this far, you know (1) I like reading Alan Moore scripts and (2) I have had good occasion to do so. So (finally!), what do I think about the From Hell Companion?

First off, note that the book contains many excerpts of Moore's scripts to From Hell, but it's not the whole package. Eddie Campbell acts here first as an editor (selecting important pages) and then as a commentator. The general format is that you see Eddie's remarks on the page in question (sometimes addressing the artwork, sometimes discussing other issues) and then you see the script. You usually see a reduced copy of the finished page, but I would recommend going to the graphic novel to catch all the details.

The result is quite different from reading a Moore script straight, and --- I believe --- much more readable. Now, part of this is because Campbell is an excellent raconteur. The same humorous tone he brings to his non-fiction and semi-autobiographical comics is evident here.

But the bigger point (and the main reason why I love the book) is that you see quite clearly the interplay between the writer and artist. Moore writes the scripts, but Campbell has the last ink stroke. Moore's exposition has far too much detail, and Campbell's art whittles it all down to the essentials. A great example is the contrast between Moore's cinematic thinking and Campbell's scene setting. In the script, Moore is constantly "moving the camera" so we see a scene from many different perspectives. Campbell, on the other hand, often uses a single perspective. It's an artistic decision that highlights the relationship between the characters and makes the movement in the comic more striking.

There's a bit more than scripts and commentary here. Moore and Campbell sold the movie rights before the serial was finished, so we get glimpses of the synopsis Moore writes for the movie folk and see the changes when the chapters were actually written. We get discussion of censorship and comics publishing and some nice visual interludes with photographs of London architecture that get translated into black and white art.

Note that Moore doesn't contribute anything new to this --- most of the Moore material is either the scripts or quotes from interviews. However, the Campbell material more than makes up for any lack. If you're a fan of the original work or someone interested in comics collaboration, this is a must read.

[Cami L. González · Rating 4 out of 5]

De este libro hablaré menos, pues lo leí, como su nombre lo dice, como el companion de From Hell. Fui leyéndolo a medida que avanzaba con los capítulos, como una forma de ir complementando lo que leía. Además, me ayudó para ir llenando espacios de cosas que no me quedaron tan claras en la novela gráfica.

Este libro fue un compendio de los guiones que escribió Moore para Eddie Campbell con las explicaciones de este último de cualquier dato curioso o útil. Aprendimos más del proceso detrás de la novela, las elecciones con respecto al diseño o la historia.

En mi opinión apoyó bastante a la novela, sobre todo por el peso histórico que tuvo y toda la documentación. De verdad quedé sorprendida tanto con el detalle de Moore a la hora de describir hasta la más mínima viñeta, como por la capacidad de Eddie de entender lo que quería decir o tener que adaptarse a algo más manejable. Asimismo, el trabajo bibliográfico detrás me pareció asombroso, todo el esfuerzo dedicado para que fuera casi no-ficción, lo encuentro espectacular.

No creo que sea necesario para entender From Hell, pero sí que es útil para tener una experiencia más completa no solo de la historia, sino que del detrás de la historia y del trabajo necesario para construirla.

[John Pistelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book—consisting largely of excerpts from Alan Moore's famously dense scripts with Campbell's comments on how he translated them into the finished pages, along with Moore's own hand-drawn layouts and plentiful photo reference—should be read by all students of comics form.

Ironically, Moore is known for leaving a trail of broken friendships in the wake of his famous collaborations, usually because he and his collaborators couldn't agree on the ethics of the business side; but it is with the assured Campbell, still his friend, that he seems to have had the most substantial aesthetic dispute, of which this book is the subtle record.

Campbell aptly quotes a 1994 review of the ill-fated volume one of From Hell: The Compleat Scripts—itself one occasion for Moore's severed friendship with Stephen R. Bissette—to capture the rare merit of Moore's script-writing:

The sensibility that animates this book, this series of instructions, is an incessant and irrepressible evocation of the full range of human faculties. There's an inextinguishable headlong precision, an unapologetic pan-sensual pungency utilized to establish mood, action, and motivation.

And the well-read Campbell has a sharp eye for the all-caps panel descriptions' beautifully gratuitous literary virtues, which seem to be the basis for his selected excerpts:

THE RECTOR, IN DANGER OF BECOMING AN ERECTOR, CROSSES HIS OWN LEGS CONCEALINGLY AND SHIFTS A LITTLE AGAINST THE HARDNESS OF HIS CHAIR. SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE ROOM, A CLOCK TICKS AS DUST MOTES TUMBLE IN THE SUNBEAMS. THE LACE OF MRS. GULL'S UNDERSKIRT RUSTLES INAUDIBLY AGAINST THE CHEAP SILK OF HER STOCKINGS. THE RECTOR SWEATS.

ALTHOUGH MOSTLY GULL'S COMPOSURE IS AS PERFECT AS COLD MARBLE, FULL OF SILENT DIGNITY AND POWER AND PRESENCE, SOMETIMES IN HIS EYES WE SHOULD CATCH JUST A GLIMPSE OF SOMETHING MAD AND ALIEN AND EVIL, LIKE THE GLIMPSES YOU CAN SOMETIMES CATCH WITHIN THE EYES OF THOSE CARRION BIRDS THAT GULL IS NAMED FOR. IT IS A MIND THAT CAN CONSIDER CENTURIES OF WAR AND SLAUGHTER WITH THE FULL KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR IMPLICATIONS, YET REMAIN AMUSED.

BENEATH THEIR FLAKING SKIN OF PASTRY THE KIDNEYS STEAM LURIDLY.

I SEE THE PANEL AS HAVING AN ALMOST CLASSICAL COMPOSITION: LIKE SHOTS OF DIANA AND HER NYMPHS BATHING BESIDE A POOL, BUT GRIMLY TRANSPOSED TO A SQUALID NINETEENTH CENTURY URBAN SETTING SO THAT THE THE GODDESS AND HER NYMPHS BECOME AGEING VAGRANT PROSTITUTES, AND THEIR POOL A WATER TROUGH. BEHIND THEM, BLIGHTED TERRACES REPLACE THE SYLVAN GLADES.

GULL JUST STANDS THERE IMPASSIVELY AND WATCHES HIM GO, COLOSSAL SLEEPING KINGS AND JACKAL-HEADED DEITIES KEEPING THEIR ETERNAL SILENT VIGIL ALL ABOUT HIM. HALF-HOUR OLD ECHOES STILL WHISPER AND CLATTER FAINTLY. A ZOMBIE SIBILANCE IN THE FAR CORNERS OF THE ROOM. MAYBE GULL EATS A GRAPE.

Et cetera. Yet Campbell's self-described "classical sense of form," according to which "the parameters are laid out at the onset" and "new material must not be introduced at the denouement," constantly conflicts with Moore's literary and cinematic romantic maximalism, from the opening anecdote where Campbell refused to draw an alligator wading through the Victorian gutter to his final insistence on not presenting William Gull's dying visions in a more psychedelic style than he'd theretofore used. Campbell quotes Bernard Krigstein on the possibility that Will Eisner's virtuosic storytelling with its "excessive fragmentation," as well as a prevailing bias toward the cinematic, sent comics form down the wrong path. He makes slighting remarks about Moore's insistence on "moving a hypothetical camera" around the inner space of the panels, and elaborates,

One of my guiding principles in making comics…was to eliminate unnecessary cutting and replace it with an observation of body language. In order to record subtle interactions between two bodies, they both need to be seen in each and all of the pictures.

Campbell prefers stable, human-scale viewpoints without dramatic cuts that allow the gradual revelation of gesture and character. He also adumbrates Moore's postmodern view of his own work's historical premise with "a drawing style that could embrace ambiguity and hypothesis while still presenting a literal narrative happening in front of us." This is why a set of scripts that initially read as if they were written for Dave Gibbons produced a finished graphic novel that feels so much more intimate and alive, even when it's storming the heavens, than Moore's prior and most of his subsequent work. That it doesn't quite convey the occult sublime Moore was obviously intending in some sequences might as legitimately be read as an ethical and political choice as a "merely" aesthetic one.

[Todd Glaeser · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know how the current theory/ common wisdom is that we only use 10% of our brain? It seems we've only ever read about 10% of what Alan Moore has ever written.

This book is a perfect reason why someone, somewhere, needs to do what Eddie Campbell gives us a taste of here and that's start publishing the COMPLETE ALAN MOORE SCRIPTS. To Quote from E.C.'s introduction,

"These scripts are rich with incident and information that didn't always, or couldn't find its way onto the printed page... Some very fine writing is buried in these scripts, and nobody has ever read
it except me." (pg 12)

Details like the color and rational for the color of clothing, (in a work that he knew would be done in B&W) the psychological underpinning for buildings in the background, amazingly details which is up to the artist to portray in a way he finds possible. (E.C. addresses this in his text, what he kept and what he couldn't)

Frustratingly this is only a taste of what it could have been. As E.C. describes, "I have selected what I find to be the most memorable pages, ninety out of a possible five hundred and one..." (pg 12)

If this isn't enough for you you can try to hunt down a copy of "From Hell: The Compleat Scripts" [9781880325070] but they're rare and only include the scripts for the first three chapters.

[MJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A handy(but not necessary) companion to the graphic novel. Helpful and enjoyable - wished it covered every single panel.

[Variaciones Enrojo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reseña de Maese ABL en su blog:
http://llauna.blogspot.com.es/2013/06...


"COMPANION FROM HELL" es un libro que contiene material de Alan Moore y Eddie Campbell, aunque está conducido por el segundo. En él, se incluye una buena parte de los guiones remitidos por Moore para la obra "From Hell" acompañados de la página terminada para comparar; también se han escogido los momentos más importantes a juicio del dibujante, se comentan aspectos básicos de la realización gráfica a lo largo de todos los años que se extendió e incluso curiosidades al respecto. En todo momento cada capítulo se completa con extractos de entrevistas y citas interesantes sobre el tema. En definitiva, si los acontecimientos sobre Jack el Destripador contados de la forma que hicieron ellos ya supuso una forma de abordar la narración novedosa, este trabajo vuelve a poner la guinda al pastel.

Precisamente, ya en los Apéndices de la obra decía Moore: "Baste decir que cualquier apéndice adecuado que listara las referencias de Eddie del mismo modo que yo estoy listando las mías sería el doble de largo que la presente monstruosidad." Y por otra parte, Campbell describe el presente trabajo de la siguiente forma: "Companion no habla sólo de la historia de ficción, sino también de lo que rodeó su planificación y su publicación."

Destacamos que este manual que se ha conformado requiere una lectura o relectura reciente de From Hell, pues su estructura se vertebra prácticamente en el orden de los acontecimientos descritos en ella; en ese caso, es un gozo conocer tantos detalles de trabajo, o en cuanto a lo que acontecía mientras en las vidas de ambos (haciendo una página de From Hell, Moore decide hacerse mago), e incluso los altibajos en las relaciones que conllevaba la realización de la obra.


(Reseña completa en http://llauna.blogspot.com.es/2013/06... )

[Marsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Este libro complementario de la novela gráfica From Hell no me ha acabado de gustar mucho. Leerse algunos de los guiones con los cuales el dibujante Eddie Campbell realizaba sus viñetas no me ha parecido ni muy interesante ni imprescindible para seguir más y mejor From Hell.

Quería disfrutar a todos los niveles esta obra magna y me forcé a leerme el Companion. No lo disfruté mucho pero a pesar de todo no me arrepiento de ello.
Reconozco que tampoco hubiera pasado nada si no lo hubiera hecho...

Sí que es verdad que da alguna información que adicional a la novela gráfica que viene bien, pero no compensa el tiempo y esfuerzo que me ha representado leerlo. Interrumpe mucho la lectura del cómic si lo lees sincronizadamente. Y si optas por leerlo posteriormente y de golpe creo que entonces ya no le sacaràs casi nada de partido.

Así pues, un volumen prescindible. Pero si eres muy autoexigente y disciplinado puede darte un plus de información a la novela gráfica del From Hell que puede estar bien. Difícil elección, lo sé.

[Alex Sarll]

Script, sketches, hindsight, relevant memories, and the ongoing odd couple sitcom that most ongoing comics collaborations seem to end up as. If you've not read the Ripper epic at least once then this would be tricky to follow (it skips scenes where there's nothing much to add), but the original is one of the biggest achievements in comics so that's no real hardship. Seriously, I love Watchmen, but why it still gets talked about as Moore's big work...

[Dony Grayman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anexo a From Hell en edición española. Colección Trazado.

[Dominick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eddie Campbell's account of the making of From Hell is interesting but nevertheless somewhat disappointing. The lion's share of the book consists of selected script pages, accompanied by reduced images of the corresponding pages in the graphic novel. Campbell generally provides a brief introduction for each selected page. Interesting as it is to read Moore's script pages (especially some of the detailed descriptions, or embedded comments, that could never possibly be realized in the book itself), I would have preferred a shift in focus--more From Campbell on why he did or didn't follow Moore's guidelines, less of just the script pages. Campbell often diverged from what Moore stipulates in the script pages, but he comments on what he changed and why infrequently. His commentary on his artistic process would have provided more insight, I think, than just the raft of script pages do. Nevertheless, this is a valuable companion piece to From Hell.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eddie Campbell delivers an excellent background on how From Hell moved from Alan Moore's imagination to the final masterpiece they delivered to the world, and the reader really gets a detailed view on the inner-workings of what happens between the script and the page. I wouldn't recommend this only to fans of From Hell, but rather to anybody who wants an idea about the process and hard work it takes to create a graphic novel. It's harder than it looks! All of that said, I do think that while I enjoyed taking this journey with Campbell, I don't think I'll be going back to it again and again or anything next time I read the actual story this supplements. This was kind of like a nice special feature, but not one that delivered any real groundbreaking or earth shattering additions to the story itself.

[Jeff Waltersdorf · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always been fascinated by the process of making a comic book. This pulls back the curtains on the production of Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's telling of the Jack the Ripper murders.

Campbell presents large chunks of Moore's scripts and notes, while providing his own context and how he approached the layout and design. Moore's scripts are packed with stage direction and emotion, too much detail to be directly translated to the images, giving me more of an appreciation for the images that Campbell produces.

I would read a chapter in the graphic novel, and follow it up with a read of the appendix for Moore's footnotes of the chapter, and then the Companion for pieces of Moore's script and Campbell's approach to it. It slowed me down, but helped me understand more of the intended subtext.

[Matthew Gurteen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-read for anyone who is a fan of Moore and Campbell's original series. This companion contained many details about the creation and production of From Hell. Unfortunately, most of the book is composed of the original scripts, which, although very interesting, don't often offer anything new that is not in the original graphic novel. Many other reviewers have also noted this fact. Still, I would have liked to hear more from Campbell himself in an original work rather than what was essentially a reproduction of the script with commentary. Nevertheless, I still really enjoyed it, almost as much as I enjoyed From Hell. I have given this companion four stars rather than five because I cannot see myself re-reading it in the same way I will with From Hell.

[Sakura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two aspects:

The first: the discussion of the creative process behind the From Hell artwork makes the book worth reading on that point alone.

The second aspect: the scripts, ie the greater part of the book, is a hard slog to get through.
You absolutely need this extra information to get the most out of the graphic novel because you won’t believe how much detail you miss and how much you need the additional context.
However, it’s a horrible read. The reproduced all capitals text is hard on the eyes and the parts that don’t need this further explanation quickly become tedious.

[G. Salter · Rating 5 out of 5]

interesting behind-the-scenes look at a groundbreaking work

It doesn’t give Alan Moore’s full script (because some of it’s lost, and the full script would run to 500 pages), but it’s a great selection of material that shows how the page transitioned from script to comic.
Also some great “making of” notes by Eddie Campbell on the surprising routes that the research and publishing process took.

[Mayu Vargas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Llevo semanas leyendo este libro y con lo mucho que me gustó "From hell" pensé que también me gustaría, se basa en entrevistas tanto de Moore y Campbell, anécdotas y datos de cómo se fue creando éste libro ( una especie de "MetaMaus" de Spiegelman), pero aún teniendo estas entrevistas y datos curiosos, se me hizo eterno, o no era el momento de leerlo o es más bien fome. 🤔

[Tankboy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent companion, but while it’s interesting to see Moore’s dense scripting style, to me the biggest revelation is just how incredibly talented Campbell is, turning those word tornados into something both visually compelling and easily understandable.

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doesn't add as much to the comic as Moore's annotations, but it's still a very interesting look at the creative process.

[Justin K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed it

If you liked From Hell, then delving into the creative process theat brought it to us is a worthy read.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the creative process of From Hell. Definitely worth the read if you liked the graphic novel.

[Warreni · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an odd book. It's mostly Eddie Campbell's recollections about working on From Hell intermingled with excerpts from Alan Moore's original scripts. Moore himself periodically appears in the manuscript in the form of snippets from interviews, biographical sketches, and other sources, but he contributed no new information to this volume.

It is interesting to read this and From Hell side-by-side, and frankly, unless you consider yourself something of an expert on the latter work, it's really the only way to read this volume, due to Campbell's tendency to skip large sections of From Hell in this work. Indeed, I found myself having to stop at certain points in this book and turn back to the original graphic novel so that I didn't suddenly find myself in a section discussing material I had not yet reread. Campbell does throw in the occasional reference to the Hughes brothers 1994 film, and I think this book would have been a little more interesting if he had dwelt upon this subject a bit more; one does get the distinct impression that, despite his direct involvement in that project, he wasn't too pleased with the finished product.

This is one of those books that tends to generate its own existential crisis, especially when one begins reading the detailed commentary on the story of From Hell that appears in the collected editions as Appendix I. If you're intrigued by how an artist translates a script to an illustration, the history of comics in the '80s and '90s, and drawing techniques and literary theory as they relate to comics, this is the book for you. If you're a casual fan of Moore's seminal work on Jack the Ripper, it probably isn't.

[Ruz El · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

I love books, I love movies. I typically have zero interest in reading scripts so it was with a bit of apprehension that I approached this one since it's largely comprised of script excerpts. Why read the bones when you can read the full finished story? Eddie Campbell tends to be really good at digging deep, and Alan Moore's dense scripts are legendary/notorious in the comics industry so I gave it a shot. It was worth it. It get's a little long in the teeth but for the most part the exploration of script to finished project is worth a read if you are a fan of the original book. My only complaint is the thumbnail size reprints of the finished script pages, it would of been nice to have larger reproductions to better explore the differences.

If you haven't read FROM HELL and only know it from the mostly S**t Hollywood film, do yourself a favour and dive in it. It's worth it's weight in gold. The companion is really for fans only and creative types interested in the workings of making it.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

From Hell is one of my favourite comics of all time so I totally loved this. It was like sitting in a room with Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell for Hours and Hours and hearing them talk about the book. The book was largely comprised of Alan's scripts to Eddie detailing how the panels should look and what should be in them. This should have been quite dry but it was fascinating, there was insights into the characters, the history, jokes, and beautiful passages of prose. I learned a lot about the creative process that went into making the book and how it was written and drawn, so much detail and so much work. This is definitely one I'd recommend to fans.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I liked this better than I do. Don't get me wrong. It's good. There are some fascinating insights into From Hell and into the creative process in general. Excerpts from Moore's (in)famously detailed scripts are reproduced. In the end, though, it just feels kind of flat, like something's missing. Perhaps if From Hell were fresher in my mind before reading this? It has been a while since I last read it. In any case: good book. I just thought it would be better.

[Johann_tor · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting sample of Alan Moore's scripts for, in my opinion, his most accomplished work in comics. Eddie Campbell's editorial notes are terser than I would have liked, but I suppose his detailed thinking on the matter is on the pages of the comic as well. In that sense, I find it interesting to think that Moore's intention with the Appendices was to ensure an unmediated connection with the reader in his authorial voice.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

via NYPL - Yes, there are some interesting anecdotes on the creation of a great comic book series here, but mostly it's just page after page of Alan Moore's verbose scripts (appealing for a short while, tedious in the long run) to compare to Campbell's final (thumbnail-sized) pages (unless you want to put the book side-by-side, which is more effort than I thought necessary). But nothing here is going to change how you view From Hell.

[Peter Damien · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book and a very careful examination of how a remarkable and dense comic cane together. If I have a complaint, it's that I wish there had been more of Eddie Campbell in the book than there was. I've long been a fan, particularly when he gets biographical. It's a minor complaint though. I'm thrilled to have read this book.