Written by Tommy Kovac
Art by Sonny Liew
Published by Slave Labour Graphics
$3.50
Wonderland is part of a wave of Disney licensed comics published by SLG. Set after the Alice in Wonderlandmovie, when Alice herself has returned home, the main character here is instead a young maid called Mary Ann. She’s a quiet character with just a touch of obsessive-compulsive disorder when it comes to cleanliness, especially with regards to her own person. She carries a talking feather duster named Feather and works for the White Rabbit who, true to form, still has no real sense of time.
In the wake of “the Alice Monster” rampaging through Wonderland, the Red Queen has resumed her favoured pastime of frequently beheading her subjects for minor indiscretions. Tweedledee and Tweedledum get offered to the chopping block (for the wonderfully self-referential crime of being unnecessarily annoying) but barter their lives by accusing the White Rabbit of associating with the Alice Monster. Cue the Queen and her guards out to find a ‘traitor’ for beheading.
The story here is light and essentially functions in the same way as the opening scenes of a movie would. It sets the characters out on their journey and establishes the forces chasing after them. There are a few points of interest introduced for later issues, such as Mary Ann clocking the Queen with her own sceptre and escaping with it, or who the Alice Monster was and why the White Rabbit mistook it for Mary Ann (elements of Alice Through the Looking Glass to be introduced in later issues, perhaps?), but nothing too subtle that the reader will miss it. The fact that not a great deal happens in this issue isn’t as much of a criticism as it probably sounds. The pacing for what does happen means the story flows well and is a satisfying first instalment for the series.
The art is the real selling point here. Liew’s pastel shaded pencils really capture the roots of the material and feel like the key frames from a never-released animated film. In fact, and this is something that I may have noticed more as a result of reviewing this from a digital advance copy rather than the static hard copy, there is a continuity of panels that moves the characters as if they were on screen. It’s an admirable talent, further evidence that Liew, best known for the charming Malinky Robot, is a master of his craft.
I have to wonder how much involvement Disney have actually had with this and forthcoming licensed titles from Slave Labor. While the Disney influence is clear from the character designs (in particular, the White Rabbit as well as the Red Queen and her card guards), and choice of language (while the term “execution” is used, the words “kill” or “die” are notorious by their absence), there is still something of a dark undercurrent to the story that has been prevalent in many post-modern adaptations of CS Lewis’ classic. It’ll be interesting how much of this potential darkness Kovac will investigate, given Slave Labor bill the series as one that “will satisfy fans of ALL versions of Wonderland.”
Worth keeping an eye on, I think.
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Matt Kamen is a freelance writer for a number of magazines in the UK
who probably spends more time and money on assorted geekery than is advisable, healthy or financially sustainable. On the plus side he sometimes even gets paid to watch anime and play video games, so it’s
not all bad.