Product Description: Rick has researched this book extensively and presents, with his own inimitable tongue-in-cheek style, the Jack The Ripper mystery as told through a journal of a fascinated Englishman of the day. Both factual and darkly funny, Geary¹s personal take on this story shines an ironic light on the repressive society that spawned such a monster.
Good -- but not nearly as good as the others in this series I'm a great fan of Geary's "documentary" graphic novels, especially his "Treasury of Victorian Murder" series. That being said, this one, about the preeminent unsolved murder spree of the 19th century, is something of a disappointment. For one thing, it's shorter than the others, even though the literature about the "Ripper" murders is huge. For another, he sticks pretty much to the public events -- the actual murders -- and never dips into the vast amount of alternative interpretations and conspiracy theories surrounding them. He could have laid out some of the possibilities without taking sides. And what happened to Aberline and the other principles? The black-and-white crosshatched artwork is first-rate, as always, and there's nothing at all cartoonish about his rendering of individuals.
Chilling unsolved crime as recorded by a contemporary, with Geary's fantastic pictures The title page says it all: "A Journal of the Whitechapel Murders 1888-1889 Adapted by Rick Geary." Don't expect shocking new "revelations" or speculations as to the identity of the Ripper; the text comprises excerpts from the journals of an anonymous Victorian chronicler of the Ripper's crimes. Yet it is precisely the ordinary, "following the day's news" quality of this account that is so chilling---it reminds the reader that the lost lives of these poor women were REAL and that their murders were never solved. Geary's renderings, as always, succeed admirably in fleshing out the journal entries, and his use of maps as backgrounds for many of his panels is ingenious. Reading this book was a fine approximation of taking a Ripper walking tour through Whitechapel.
Just the facts Jack the Ripper is a fact based comic. The story is told in the form of excerpts from an unamed Victorian man's journal. He says on this day this occurred on this day this body was found here, etc. The idea is to lay out just the facts and not to try to read into them. Theories on who the killer is etc are presented very briefly as they come up and no one theory is endorsed.
The visuals: The drawings here are done in a style that simulates wood cut prints. This lend itself to descriptive diagrammatic illustrations. It also keeps the gore from being so disturbing. This book isn't dwelling on the gore, but it isn't totally possible to avoid it in this case. The drawings of crime scenes etc here are very accurate, so the illustrations add to the information presented.
This is a good clean and straight forward telling of the Jack the Ripper stories. It lays out the facts and does this clearly and concisely. If you have already read lots about Jack the Ripper then this won't add anything new. It is also pretty expensive for a black and white comic book, since it is only 64 pages. The best use for this book is perhaps for families or school libraries that want a book about Jack the Ripper. It does tell about a slasher who kills prostitutes, but it is a clean treatment considering the subject.
A pleasure for the eye and mind I knew just the basics about Jack the Ripper when I picked this up in a used bookstore. The drawings were so detailed and clarified logistics (maps, diagrams, plans) in a way that text cannot. The text is extremely straightforward and reality-based, giving them an authority that hyperbole would've ruined. I had no intentions of buying this, but I had a hard time putting it down. Years later, this has turned out to be one of those purchases that I pull out over and over again. It is never far from my bed and sits with two other (soon to be three) volumes in the series. All of them lay out conundrums that leave you chilled and uneasy. You go to bed a little less sure that all is right in the world.
Once I was flipping channels on cable and the image of an alley with a distinct bend to it flashed by. "...looked like an alley from the the Ripper killings..." I thought and changed back. Sure enough, it was a documentary on the Ripper. That's how accurate this books visuals are. I correctly associated a photo I had never seen before with the crimes just from viewing Geary's drawings. His illustrative style is fastidious and engrossing.
True to it's title I do treasure these volumes. Best of luck and much success to you Rick!
Disappointment If I had wanted a picture book, done in a comic book format, this would have been fine. It was not what I was looking for - I expected a more intellectual treatment. Will NOT but Geary again.
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