Je n’aime pas abandonner une lecture, surtout quand il s’agit d’une œuvre acclamée par la critique (des professionnels et des lectures). Mais je me suis profondément ennuyé pendant le premiers tiers de cette bande dessinée que j’ai péniblement lu depuis hier. Alan Moore et Eddie Campbell proposent leur vision des crimes de Jack l’Eventreur et de l’Angleterre victorienne, mais je n’y ai pas été sensible. Dommage ...
I'm confused by the fact that many call this Moore's best work.
The art is difficult to parse through. While it suits certain scenes, it made the pages completely unreadable at times. This is not a matter of me not enjoying the art style. Often times I had no idea what character I was looking at. People are either men or women, mustache or not mustache, fat or skinny. There are at least 5 sets of characters that look exactly the same,wear the exact same clothing, and speak the exact same. There were times I didn't realize it was a different character until 40 pages later.
While I am normally a fan of Moore's writing, I feel like the length of this text was masturbatory, especially when combined with the difficulty in knowing what the hell is ever going on at any given point. The story itself is meandering to …
I'm confused by the fact that many call this Moore's best work.
The art is difficult to parse through. While it suits certain scenes, it made the pages completely unreadable at times. This is not a matter of me not enjoying the art style. Often times I had no idea what character I was looking at. People are either men or women, mustache or not mustache, fat or skinny. There are at least 5 sets of characters that look exactly the same,wear the exact same clothing, and speak the exact same. There were times I didn't realize it was a different character until 40 pages later.
While I am normally a fan of Moore's writing, I feel like the length of this text was masturbatory, especially when combined with the difficulty in knowing what the hell is ever going on at any given point. The story itself is meandering to such a length that I frequently asked myself if there was even a point. The last few chapters shine, and at the very least add a bit of sense to the story as a whole.
The best part of the book is the appendix 1, where Moore provides a page by page breakdown of what was happening in each square. When a book requires a full section just to explain what you're seeing in every section, and why it was included, maybe it's a bit too long. When you need to explain your brilliance, maybe it's not quite that brilliant.
Appendix 2 is equally useful for understanding this behemoth tome, and why and how it came into being. Oddly enough, it happens to have better art than the rest of the book, and I knew characters as things other than "Fat moustache" or "Lady black hair".
I had a really hard time getting into this book, but that's the beauty of book club...you have an external motivation to keep plugging along. I felt terrible thinking, "Oh, good, he finally killed somebody," but that's when the pace picked up and I ended up staying late and waking up early the next morning to finish it. It's been awhile since I have done that. The graphics are pretty horrifying so not for those with a queasy stomach.
An impressive, majestic speculative work about what could have happened with the Ripper murders, and therefore far more significant than what actually happened.
I have tried to get into this book, but the extremely slow pace and the dreariness are just too much. Given that I have managed to read and finish other books at the same time, and I keep leaving this book on the shelf unread, I think that is a sign I should let it go. I do like Alan Moore (you can check my reviews here. I really have enjoyed some of his other graphic novels), but I think he really overdid it with this one. The book offers a very oppressive reading experience. I may give it a second chance in the future, but not anytime soon.
I'm working my way through Alan Moore's back catalogue and this large volume was well worth it. It's a great take that combines and weaves a number of Jack the Ripper stories, and is a fascinating story from beginning to end.
After the main story, there are extensive notes for each page explaining which Ripper story/source was referenced, how and why, along with appendices and other interesting bits and piece. The notes are a bit like the director's commentary on a DVD: you can use them to add to the experience or ignore it, as you prefer.
If you're wondering if it's "for you": it's about Jack the Ripper, a guy who killed people with a knife in a specific way. The "Ripper" in the name gives it away. :) It has violence, horror, gore, and sex in it - but I wouldn't call it a typical modern horror story, …
I'm working my way through Alan Moore's back catalogue and this large volume was well worth it. It's a great take that combines and weaves a number of Jack the Ripper stories, and is a fascinating story from beginning to end.
After the main story, there are extensive notes for each page explaining which Ripper story/source was referenced, how and why, along with appendices and other interesting bits and piece. The notes are a bit like the director's commentary on a DVD: you can use them to add to the experience or ignore it, as you prefer.
If you're wondering if it's "for you": it's about Jack the Ripper, a guy who killed people with a knife in a specific way. The "Ripper" in the name gives it away. :) It has violence, horror, gore, and sex in it - but I wouldn't call it a typical modern horror story, in that it's not designed to test your stomach strength.
