The Ripper Files. part 2
I probably picked the wrong time to be talking 'Ripper ' here with another fucking lunatic on the loose. I used to think Alan was making too much of the recurrence of names and odd details in the Whitecahpel Murder cases, but here it is all over, with a Police Superintendent Gull, and one of the victims named Nicholls.
* * * *
You should read yesterday’s part 1 before this. And while you’re looking for something to read, make sure you have a copy of The Fate of the Artist.
* * * *
The Ripper File: this 'book' consists of 35 A4 size loose pages (regular typing paper to you Americans) on which wee Hayley Campbell, age 7, catalogued, with one or two digressions along the road, all the ways of dying. I’ve dated the work from one of the pages which imitates the cover of the Kitchen Sink Press edition of From Hell volume #5 (dated 1993), in which Hayley , in a very rudimentary drawing that is not one of those I wish to present here shows us: “Rotton Kidney on a Hang Kachef.”
In her final edit and arrangement of the work, that appears as page 1. It is rapidly followed by “Witches cooking babies”, “Being Shot”, “Being buried Alive”, “Being bitten on the neck by a vampire,” “Being hit by Lightening,” and “Being left hanging up for the birds to eat.” And an early sign of genius, this one:
You can see how it has gone completely beyond the parameters of From Hell, and who could have put these notions in her little wee head is anybody’s guess. This morning she told me that this one came from the movie Gorillas in the Mist, which she was probably encouraged to watch on account of it being a nature film:
It is certainly one of the best pages in the series, for the clarity of its design, and the vibrancy of its execution, though the next one would be my choice for the best selection:
And finally for today, at the end of the book I submitted for inclusion a little sketch by myself, which has been given the red pen editorial touch by ms Campbell.
We will append some more pages from this precious artefact to future posts.
* * * *
You should read yesterday’s part 1 before this. And while you’re looking for something to read, make sure you have a copy of The Fate of the Artist.
* * * *
The Ripper File: this 'book' consists of 35 A4 size loose pages (regular typing paper to you Americans) on which wee Hayley Campbell, age 7, catalogued, with one or two digressions along the road, all the ways of dying. I’ve dated the work from one of the pages which imitates the cover of the Kitchen Sink Press edition of From Hell volume #5 (dated 1993), in which Hayley , in a very rudimentary drawing that is not one of those I wish to present here shows us: “Rotton Kidney on a Hang Kachef.”In her final edit and arrangement of the work, that appears as page 1. It is rapidly followed by “Witches cooking babies”, “Being Shot”, “Being buried Alive”, “Being bitten on the neck by a vampire,” “Being hit by Lightening,” and “Being left hanging up for the birds to eat.” And an early sign of genius, this one:
You can see how it has gone completely beyond the parameters of From Hell, and who could have put these notions in her little wee head is anybody’s guess. This morning she told me that this one came from the movie Gorillas in the Mist, which she was probably encouraged to watch on account of it being a nature film:
It is certainly one of the best pages in the series, for the clarity of its design, and the vibrancy of its execution, though the next one would be my choice for the best selection:
And finally for today, at the end of the book I submitted for inclusion a little sketch by myself, which has been given the red pen editorial touch by ms Campbell.
We will append some more pages from this precious artefact to future posts.
Labels: hayley campbell 1
posted by Eddie Campbell at
06:04
10 Comments:
Cute inclusion, indeeed :)
I would love to have seen a grade school teacher's face when the wee one holds her skin rotting/decapitation drawings up for show and tell next to the other kids' drawings of "me and mom and dad" drawings with smiling suns.
Fun fun fun!
I also love how the drawings are just statements. Like, "If you are cut up when you sleep by a man with a large two-handed butter knife, this is what it looks like."
If you lived in the U.S., these drawings would probably result in expulsion from school and a visit from Child Protective Services. I sincerely hope you don't have to put up with that crap in Britain.
The little dear. What a cool 7 year old! Very accomplished drawings too. Thanks for sharing.
Completely out of left field, and I think I can guess your answer.
I just picked up Fate of the Artist and it provoked a debate between my wife and I: Are comics necessarily narrative?
Something you mentioned about single panel comics still being comics brought this off.
I maintain that the most horrifying thing about those drawings is my spelling.
And it's true, you know -- if someone does chop your head off and your skin rots away you will look like that. The world needs to know!
I was reading about the Ipswich murders on the tube yesterday and noticed the names. Very very strange.
Goddamn.
thanks to all
andrew, I've got something on that theme coming up soon
Hayley: In addition to the "It's not a Graphic Nove, Percy" shirts, we should now have shirts with your chopped off head picture on 'em.
Eddie: Sweet.
YOU'RE
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