FROM HELL 231
Th e Final Solution (1976), a publication that has been marketed and received as both a
serious exposé and elaborate hoax. Moore also credits Iain Sinclair’s work on London
architecture and C. Howard Hinton’s theories of time. A second appendix (“Dance
of the Gull-Catchers”) is also included, which dramatizes Moore’s research and the
emergence of Ripperology.
From Hell is a deeply layered book that operates far beyond the boundaries of gothic
horror or historical fi ction. Rather than merely recreating a grisly tale or investigating
a solution to the Ripper murders, it is a treatise on the nature of fi ction and human
psychology. Moore ties the murders to Masonic ritual and themes of the occult, the
oppression of women, a philosophy of time as a spatial dimension, and a wider dis-
cussion of the nature of fact and fi ction. He uses Masonic symbolism (such as the
pentagram) alongside other terminology and rituals of the society but, although Gull
defi nes his acts as a Masonic defense of the realm, they are also presented as rites that
lead to the continuing male social dominance over women. Th e inequalities of Victorian
society are emphasized still further by Campbell’s artwork, which shows a brutal and
unglamorized London.
Moore creates an “architecture of history” that relies on a notion of co-present time
(“the fourth dimension”) and cyclical patterns repeating throughout history, based on
a pamphlet published by C. Howard Hinton, who appears briefl y in the text. Intertex-
tual references such as this abound in From Hell and other fi gures of the period such
as Joseph Merrick (the Elephant Man), Oscar Wilde, Walter Sickert, the boy Aleis-
ter Crowley, and Robert Louis Stevenson also feature. Gull’s visions also allow him to
range beyond this timeframe as he visits other famous characters including William
Blake, Myra Hindley, Ian Brady, and Peter Sutcliff e. Disparate historical fi gures and
viewpoints are woven into a rich tapestry of events and philosophy, although From
Hell also takes pains to establish its content as fi ction by pointing out the inherently
fi ctional status of all history, emphasizing the conjectural nature of Ripperology, and
using self-conscious metaphor in its pictorial elements.
Th e narrative is driven by Eddie Campbell’s stark, scratchy artwork, which proves
unexpectedly evocative in its unfl inching depiction of the violence and bleakness of
lower-class life in Victorian London, particularly when contrasted with the brief
insertion of a softer, muted style to illustrate upper-class life. Th e layout is composed
of regular panels, most often arranged in a three-by-three grid, the uniformity per-
haps also stressing the inevitability and realism of the events depicted. Th e story is
event-driven; Moore uses no omniscient narration in the main body of From Hell,
with the exception of providing places and dates. Th e only explicit narration is either
drawn from police reports, or attributed to William Gull during his out-of-body
experiences.
Th e beginning of the series was originally published between 1988 and 1992 in the
short-lived anthology Ta b o o (Tundra Publishing), and as a stand-alone series between
1991 and 1996 (Mad Love/Tundra/ Kitchen Sink Press ). Dance of the Gull-Catchers
was fi rst published in 1998. Th e trade paperback collecting both was fi rst published in
