Jack the Ripper: a journal of the Whitechapel murders 1888-1889 by Rick Geary is an entry in his series of true crime graphic novels. Mr. Geary's version is compiled from a set of journals (authenticated as being from the late Victorian era) by an anonymous Londoner who was following the case, and who evidently had contacts within among the police, both Metropolitan and City. The journals have been checked against 11 reference books in the bibliography. That is why this book is written in first person instead of third.

We are limited to what the anonymous gentleman wrote, which is why not all of the men suspected of being Jack the Ripper are mentioned, let alone discussed. Page 48 has 14 types of men (and 1 woman) who were suspected of being Jack the Ripper. The illustrations of the Indian thugee, German hill man, Chinese man, and the West-Indian sea-man are a bit racist, but in keeping with the way Londoners would have thought of such people at the time.

This is a good introduction to the Jack the Ripper murders. ( )

In this graphic novel, Rick Geary adapts a journal of an unknown person who was alive during Jack the Ripper's reign of terror and kept detailed records of the investigation, suggesting an intimacy with the police. While this was an interesting enough read for fans of true crime, I prefer when Geary does his own original research and presents various theories as to the mystery's resolution as opposed to his adapting another's observations. Given that this one is such a well-known case, there really isn't much here that isn't covered else. ( )

*Book source ~ Library

From Goodreads:
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, Geary's personal take on this story shines an ironic light on the repressive society that spawned such a monster. TOP TEN QUICK PICKS '96 American Library Association (YALSA)

Having never read any books about Jack the Ripper, I feel this graphic novel is a good starting point. It certainly whets the appetite to learn more details about what went down than the bare facts depicted here. Supposedly this is from an interested Englishman’s journals kept during the time of the attacks and I can say, this armchair detective uses a lot of !!!. The illustrations are quite detailed and I enjoyed them even if they are done in black and white. My 16-yr-old saw the book on my desk and was interested until he leafed through it and said, “Nope. There’s no color.” I said, “But it’s really good!” He said, “No.” So I said, “But it’s an historical book! They didn’t have color back then.” I got a “look”. You know the one, it says, “Really, mom? Just…really?” Well, I tried. lol Any fan of Jack the Ripper should pick this up. I think it would be a great addition to any collection. ( )

So cool! Pictures following the written account of "an unknown British gentleman" who lived near the murders and followed them closely. Very engaging. ( )

At first glance, Rick Geary's volume on Jack the Ripper may seem sparse and nearly clinical. It is not padded with endless theories on the identity of Jack the Ripper, reasons for the targeting of the particular women or endless gossip about the lives of those investigating the murders. Comparing this against Alan Moore's 575-page epic, From Hell, one might well ask, "what's the point of a simple 62-page graphic on Jack?"

The point is that Rick Geary has presented us Jack the Ripper in the purest form possible - straight from the journals of an unknown British gentleman that lived in London during the murders. These were copious journals (the real ones are 24 volumes) from someone that clearly had access to insider information and a desire to play a bit of armchair detective. So this is Jack the Ripper in his heydey, before the conspiracies, before the movies, before the endless tell-alls and long before the massive rumors.

In this, you get a lot of fact, many fantastic maps and a lot of surprising commentary. Popular conspiracy theories today are readily dismissed by our journalist back then (An equally sinister theory concerns the...Free-Masons...but what motive the organisation could have in these cases is difficult to discern). The journalist actually backs no official theory on Jack's identity, but there are several long-forgotten suspects that briefly appear in Geary's volume.

This is worth the read simply to see the story from the perspective of someone as they were watching it unfold. ( )