Mayhem, Murder, and Masons

The book I am reviewing this week isn't technically a book, it is a graphic novel(long comic book), but the narrative and storyline are so confusing and engaging that it kind of counts anyway....

It is called From Hell, and it is about the events surrounding, and resulting from the Jack the Ripper murders in East London in 1888. The crime remain unsolved to this day, but many theories have been thrown back and forth throughout the years. This book is really just a glorified conspiracy theory, but the implications are interesting enough to make it worth while. The idea is that the victims, who were all drunken prostitutes, were not chosen at random, as the mainstream theory say. They were all in on a huge secret that they evidently had to die for. The crown prince had secretly knocked up and subsequently married a common, poor woman, and the Queen was forced to take action to ensure the reputation of the royal family was preserved. So she enlists the aid of the royal surgeon, Sir William Gull. Gull is a very popular suspect among Ripperologists, because of his close ties to the throne, and his knowledge of anatomy. Apparently he was kind of a psycho too.....

The book has some weird religious ideas about the masonic order, and one whole chapter is devoted to explaining the myths of the Masons, and the symbolic and powerful architecture of London. The masons are the most secretive and powerful order throughout europe at this time. So anyway, Sir William is a bit nuts, and he takes the order of the queen entirely too seriously. He enlists the help of a coach driver to take him to and from the murders. From what I know of the real Ripper crimes, the authors used a lot of documented information and spun it into the story. The women are hunted down one by one, and horribly murdered. The violent illustrations are a little over the top, and it was obvious the authors were trying to shock the readers. There is also the side story of the chief investigator on the case, who is pretty much the only cop who doesnt know who the real killer is. The killer actually walks up to the chief of police and tells him what he is going to do, and orders the chief to put pro-masonic cops on the case. This way he is never even suspected and the police wont really investigate to the best of their abilities.
The artwork is a little dark, and looks hastily drawn, but this just lends to the foreboding and tense feeling to the whole work. I would definetely recommend this to anyone who is a fan of crime dramas, and just comic books really. It is pretty violent, and sex filled, but the real meat is in the narrative between the characters caught up in the middle of all the horror.
All in all, not a bad read!