Friday 15 December 2006

"Tumbling into Madame Tussaud's."

I don't want to become a self-appointed commentator on all matters concerning the word 'ripper'. I once declined a television magazine-type program when they wanted me to comment on-screen about Patricia Cornwell's nutty theory about the Ripper, DNA and Walter Sickert. (though I'm sure we'll have something to say about it when we do the Dance of the Gull Catchers, part2). But I do find myself curious about the phenomenon of commentators and explainers who all come out of the woodwork on cue, 'ripperologists' if you like. Thus I found myself drawn to this interesting snapshot of the current flurry of ripperology in England in a commentary column in The Guardian: "...this country has a surprisingly large number of shadowy individuals whose profession is described in a variety of ways, from the colloquial "real-life Cracker", to the flexible "reader in personality", more formal "criminal psychologist" and catch-all "profiler" or "leading criminologist". Between lurid criminal events, little may be heard from these individuals, as they ply their trade in obscure corners of the semi-academic world. Indeed, in the absence of eye-catching crimes, some of these experts on the deviant mind may struggle to survive, diversifying into comments on football and celebrity, stress and compulsive shopping. In recent days, however, many of these men have been restored to prominence and prosperity by the murders in Suffolk..."
and: "Meanwhile, the British media tumbled, en masse, into Madame Tussauds. The killer was, naturally, a "Ripper". Forget the details: centuries-old, penny-dreadful tradition holds that this is what serial prostitute-killers are called."
* * * *

This next item went the rounds just before I started this blog.

The news was that Alan Moore had been written into an episode of The Simpsons. "'Husbands and Knives' is an upcoming episode of that will air during in 2007, as part of the show's 18th season." That link will give you a short summary of the episode. "The sub-plot of this episode sees a new, 'cool' comic book store open in Springfield, which competes with Comic Book Guy's store, The Android's Dungeon. Alan Moore will guest star." A blogger responded to the original posting of the news by pointing out that Moore had already appeared in the Simpsons, albeit in the Bongo comic book version. This is from Gary Spencer Millidge's From Hell and Back or: The Truer Story of Jack the Ripper, which was in Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror #9, from 2003, and which was subsequently collected in The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror: Hoodoo Voodoo Brouhaha. Whaddayaknow! Campbell's there too. I liked the way Millidge used hand lettering (when i saw it in the 2003 appearance), which made his story stand out among all those others with the godawful computer fonts.
* * * *

The Ripper Files. part 3
(by Hayley Campbell, age 7, 1993)
this is one of my favourites. Count the toes.

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13 Comments:

Blogger mrjslack said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

15 December 2006 at 04:58:00 GMT-5  
Blogger mrjslack said...

Even Oliver Stone has joined the ranks of Ripperologists. Just saw this on IMDB. He was presenting an award at the British Comedy Awards and remarked...

"It's great to be back in England. I feel like Jack The Ripper days are back. Nothing ever changes here." Realizing the gag had bombed, Stone jeered, "You're a lovely crowd."

Some people... no sense of humour.

15 December 2006 at 05:00:00 GMT-5  
Blogger spacedlaw said...

Wonder if they'll try to tie Lewis Caroll to that one as well...
Nathalie

15 December 2006 at 05:06:00 GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, man. I guess you've made it now. You and Moore are now icons for the ages.

J Ruttan, Montreal (bitter wannabe, who can't even remember his Google username)

15 December 2006 at 10:59:00 GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Talking about hand lettering, I've read somewhere that you asked the italian editors of From Hell to letter the book by hand. Is that true? I have the spanish version, whose lettering I don't like. It looks like done over a rule.

15 December 2006 at 14:19:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Eddie Campbell said...

Everybody refuses to hand letter now.

After i wrote that about Gary I had second thoughts. I wouldn't put it past him to create a whole font just for a 14 page story. Now i wonder...
those lines look too straight...

15 December 2006 at 15:49:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Andrew Hawthorn said...

You can make a font of your hand writing pretty easily, actually. I did, and when I'm not fake-hand lettering comics, my wife forges my signature on things.

15 December 2006 at 23:08:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Andrew Hawthorn said...

Also? I had a lot of time tonight to muck around on the computer.

Enjoy.

16 December 2006 at 00:36:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Eddie Campbell said...

Andrew
that's brilliant
can I use it?

16 December 2006 at 01:47:00 GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wifey just realised they have an Ipswich in the UK as well. She has been afraid to put the garbage out at night all week.

Your pal, Best

16 December 2006 at 02:18:00 GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've actually annotated From Hell and Back (with some help from Gary Spencer Millidge)
You can find the annotations here:

http://eroomnala.0catch.com/FromHell.html

Eroom Nala

17 December 2006 at 16:39:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Eddie Campbell said...

'Eroom'
can you check that link

I can't get a connect
eddie

17 December 2006 at 16:44:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Eddie Campbell said...

ha, don't worry
got it

17 December 2006 at 16:50:00 GMT-5  

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