From Hell: Master Edition #1

From Hell: Master Edition #1

by Alan Moore, Eddie Campbell (Artist)

Jack is back—and this time, the blood is red. “My all-time favorite graphic novel… an immense, majestic work about the Jack the Ripper murders, the dark Victorian world they happen in, and the birth of the 20th century.”—Warren Ellis, Entertainment Weekly. Experience FROM HELL as never seen before: fully restored and in color for the first time! Five unsolved murders. Two of the greatest creators in the history of comics. One sprawling conspiracy, one metropolis on the brink of the 20th century, and one bloody-minded Ripper ushering London into the modern age of terror. The award-winning bestseller FROM HELL, often ranked among the greatest graphic novels of all time, takes on haunting new dimensions in FROM HELL: The Master Edition, enhanced with impressionistic hues by Eddie Campbell himself.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics

68 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 10, 2018

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

[Sébastien · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'avais jusqu'à regimbé à la lecture de ce classique du roman graphique. Toute variation autour de Jack l'Eventreur était pourtant faite pour me tenter, et le crédit d'Alan Moore était certain - j'ai relu au fil des ans La Ligue des Gentlemen Extraordinaires ou Top Ten. Mais les éditions françaises en noir et blanc de From Hell me rebutaient, où je peinais à distinguer les personnages, et où le rendu de l'anglais Cockney dans la traduction me paraissaient effroyables. Tout paraissait moche et interminable. Une adaptation avec le navrant Johnny Depp achevait de me dissuader complètement - pire, s'y galvaudait dans un second rôle, si j'en croyais la bande annonce, Robbie Coltrane, savoir le plus grand acteur au monde. L'affaire était pliée, je ne lirais jamais ce monument.

Et puis j'ai revu il y a quelques jours - pour la... énième fois - la première saison de True Detective, pour quoi le même éblouissement, sinon même plus grand encore qu'à chaque visionnage précédent, a joué. De là, j'ai voulu creuser, revoir, lire, me plonger dans les à-côtés, les boni, le paratexte. Time is a flat circle, sorti récemment, paraissait un compagnon idéal dans ce travail d'exégèse qui, au chapitre des influences bédéistiques, plaçait le chef d'oeuvre de Moore & Campbell comme l'une des plus importantes. Je ne pouvais donc plus procrastiner.

La sortie d'une Master Edition en 2018 est à cet égard une aubaine insigne - et qui justifie rétrospectivement mon attentisme. La colorisation des planches permet de mieux s'y plonger, Campbell étant certes habile à brosser une Angleterre sinistre, mais n'étant pas le dessinateur le plus doué pour autant, loin s'en faut. C'est toujours aussi moche - on se demande quel niveau aurait atteint les storyboards de Moore si, à l'instar d'un Brian Vaughan, il avait trouvé sa Fiona Staple - mais au moins peut-on distinguer désormais les carnations rosées des personnages des briques rougeâtres de Spitalfields.

Mais aussi, et peut-être surtout, pour la première fois semble-t-il, un appareil de notes a-t-il été ajouté par Alan Moore, indispensable et parfaitement agencé. Il permet d'expliciter les sources, de séparer le fait de la licence créatrice, de saisir le processus d'agencement progressif du récit, sans jamais galvauder le plaisir de la lecture et de l'immersion progressive, mais au contraire en le démultipliant. Au passage, Moore l'atrabilaire remercie tous les assistants gracieux à ses investigations bibliographiques - et il est ainsi assez cocasse de lire les chaleureux remerciements à Neil Gaiman pour ses photocopies rapportées de la British Library !

Ainsi donc, trente ans après qu'il est sorti, puis-je me lancer avec enthousiasme dans les pas du Dr Gull, en échos à ceux de Rust Cohle & Marty Hart...

[Facundo Melillo · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've have read From Hell 2 times by now, and I've finished my second reading last month, so I got this edition just for the sake of seeing it coloured. And it's a big NOPE for me, but let me explain. I think From Hell is Alan Moore's masterpiece and Eddie Campbell's art at it's peak. That means that is a perfect reciprocal relationship between the art and the narrative and that is what makes this comic (and most of Moore works) something so special, the perfect balance between the bleak Moore's prose and Eddie's dark and "dirty" artwork. THAT IS WHAT MAKES THIS COMIC WORKS.
But the idea of colouring it was... Interesting, and I was kind of exciting! And then I saw it...
Probably the worst idea on a comic ever was to put the HORRIBLE tones that Eddie used in this pages. I can't take it serious because every dark and depressing page is now bright with happy colours which makes a discordance with the story.
Sorry, this is my favourite comic of all time (with The Sandman by Neil Gaiman) but this version is just not my thing.

[Piemaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Commenting and rating solely on the colouration here, as the original story is of course still top notch. There are some spectacular moments greatly enhanced by the decision to recolour, but also some moments that simply do not work. Efforts to produce smoky backgrounds in panels that were once dominated by black look amateurish rather than conveying depth - but where, e.g. in chapter 3 page 9, the smoke effect is dropped and the coloured art remains on a pure black void, it is unnervingly effective. The decision to utilize existing art for advertisments etc is a misfire.

On the whole - a compelling idea, but badly executed in some key respects. All the same, certain shots are now all the more vibrant and astonishing. Worth a look.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven’t read this in almost 20 years. I didn’t quite remember how brilliant it is. These newly colored (by Eddie Campbell himself, in subtle tones which don’t “drown out” his line-work) smaller, shorter editions are going to make the reading nice and digestible, which is good for “absorbing” the density of the text, with its nine-panel format and epic scope. I even read some of the annotations, which were quite interesting. IDW/Top Shelf are definitely doing right by this Alan Moore masterpiece with these colorized editions. Highly recommended!