Rule Brittania

I'm still pursuing my new found interest for comics. I read the second Alan Moore book From Hell, which was also brilliant (a brilliance the film in no way catches, so don't judge it on that). It uses the 'royal conspiracy' theory about Jack the Ripper, where the 5 prostitutes are killed by the royal doctor Gull (don't worry, that's not a spoiler - it isn't a whosdunit it's a whydunit). I heard an interview with Alan Moore, where he talks about magic, which he perceives as manipulating the conciousness of people through symbols (words and pictures), which is exactly what From Hell does. Let me tell you, it is horrifying, more so than most other things I've read (Lovecraft comes to mind), so much in fact that I actually felt dizzy during some of the most horrifying scenes, not to mention nauseous, which is a good thing! In my book at least. The drawings are black and white pencilled, gritty and detailed, Eddie Campbell did a wonderful job.

I'm truly scared of Dr. Gull

The appendix is a masterpiece in it's own right, there is an entry for about each page - 572 - in the comic, which in detail explains what is fiction and what is based on sources, and what sources they are. Locations, dialogue, architecture, method of killing, even the faces are based available photographs. It's all so meticulously researched it takes your breath away, and even when Moore invents scenes, they are very often based on educated speculation. And despite (or indeed because) that, the story is still absolutely captivating. The second appendix briefly gives an overview (in comic form) over the field of Jack the Ripper research - very entertaining.



I guess the problem with starting out with Alan Moore, is that he's set the bar so very very high, that my few pursuits with other comic creators, have left me wishing for more (literally haha). It's a good thing then he has created so much, my next project is V for Vendetta, recently purchased on comic and the adaptation on blu-ray.
I've also been reading some Frank Miller - who of course is also legendary - both his Sin City books and his tenure at Daredevil are very entertaining.

Brideshead Revisited. Homoerotisch? Very.

Simultaneously I've been very fascinated with England, especially old England (Guess From Hell is at least slightly to blame). I've been reading some Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolf, and might read Elliot's Middlemarch and some Jane Austen. I've also started watching the seminal British television show Brideshead Revisited, which is absolutely stupendous I dare say.