Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: archer & Armstronbg, Comics, eddie campbell, from hell, m alan moore, top shelf, valiant

Is From Hell Now Part Of Valiant Universe Continuity?

Published Wed, 11 Dec 2013 05:00:14 -0600

by Rich Johnston

Last updated Wed, 11 Dec 2013 10:26:31 -0600

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From Hell is probably my favourite graphic novel to date. The quality of the comic all gets jumbled up in the time I was reading it, the revelations about how stories could be told, and that I was living near where the comic was mostly set at the time, and I find myself rereading it most years. I have a page up on my office wall, and exhibited that page at the Harrods Comic Art exhibition I curated a few years ago.

Even walking around London, past certain churches, monuments, public squares and bridges, I find myself flashing back to Eddie Campbell's portrayals of those scenes, and The Shard building seems to take new significance in the light of Alan Moore's architectural analysis.

So I have a kind of From Hell radar sense. But anyone with a cursory glance at the book might do a double take if they are flicking through today's Archer & Armstrong #16 and the church of the Murder Saints, alongside other famous killers.

Well, that would be Royal Physician and Jack The Ripper, William Gull, in the fashion portrayed by Moore and Campbell. Now, Moore has stated that he doesn't believe Gull was the Ripper, just that it made for the best story.

Well, now From Hell is in Valiant Universe continuity… whether it wants to be or not. Here's hoping Gull's time travelling spirit makes an appearance in Harbinger, knocking over a vase or something.

Or maybe not.

Comics courtesy of Orbital Comics, London.