The White Rabbit is still late, the Queen of Hearts still wants your head and Alice is Mary Ann. Wait, who’s Mary Ann?

Wonderland
Publisher: Disney Press (SLG Publishing)
Writer: Tommy Kovac
Artist: Sonny Liew

Summary: Among the numerous curiosities that have gone unexplained in the classic tale Alice in Wonderland, perhaps the most perplexing might be who, exactly, is the “Maryann” that the White Rabbit mistakes Alice for at the beginning of the story? Lewis Carroll first made us ponder this and, years later, Walt Disney again made viewers wonder who Maryann might be in his classic feature length film based on Carroll’s book.

Now, the amazingly talented folks at SLG Publishing, through a licensing deal with Disney, have finally answered this age-old question. In their beautifully executed comic book series, WONDERLAND, readers experience Alice’s fantastic world as they’ve never seen it before. Writer Tommy Kovac’s Wonderland is missing Alice herself, but it’s still populated by the other characters that make the world such a curiously exciting place. The Queen of Hearts is present, barking orders to lop off people’s heads, as is the Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter and the rest of Wonderland’s beloved cast. And there are some new faces, too, including the book’s main protagonist, the mysterious Maryann herself. All are beautifully illustrated by Wonderland’s artist, Sonny Liew.

The graphic novel will collect the six issues that comprised the Wonderland comic series in a beautiful, collectible, jacketed hardcover edition.

Review: If Lewis Carroll were alive today, he would have written Wonderland. Sadly, he’s been six feet under for quite some time now and while Zombie Lewis Carroll sounds like a lot of fun to me, that’s a graphic novel tale for another day (I’d like story credit for whomever winds up writing that by the way). Fortunately for us, writer Tommy Kovac (Autumn, Skelebunnies) and artist Sonny Liew (My Faith in Frankie, Malinky Robot) offer up a story worthy of Carroll’s lofty imaginative legacy without the smelly corpse.

In the simplest terms, Wonderland is Alice in Wonderland without Alice. Replacing her is the vaguely similar, and decidedly unusual Mary Ann. Do you remember hearing that name briefly in the 1951 Disney film or reading it in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland? I admit I was always curious to find out who she was but there was so much going on in the story I quickly forgot about her. Kovac tells us she’s the White Rabbit’s servant. An extremely OCD servant at that. She cannot stand for a mess, even if it’s outside on a dirt road, she must clean. Mary Ann begins a journey not unlike Alice’s where she passes through peculiar doors and falls down lengthy holes without so much as a scratch. She meets all the familiar characters – the Mad Hatter, the Caterpillar (now a butterfly of course), the Cheshire Cat, etc. She’s treated just like Alice too, completely ignored one minute and the center of some much heated attention the next.

Humor is also central in Wonderland. Along the way Mary Ann manages to find the Queen and King of Spades and notices the King is fairly quiet. “We share our thoughts, our dreams, our opinions, our voice and right now I’m using all of those things,” says the Queen. The Jabberwock, omitted from the animated film, makes a larger than life appearance. While running away from it, a sign that reads “safety” points to a cozy nook with cookies and milk and kittens playing with string. Several plays on words just add to my positive Carroll-Kovac comparison.

Lots of people in Wonderland thought Alice did a great job putting the Queen of Hearts and her deck of cards in place but Mary Ann would like nothing to do with the “Alice Monster.” It seems there’s more of a connection between her and Mary Ann than meets the eye though as the two never cross paths. Curiouser and curiouser.

Wonderland is everything an Alice in Wonderland fan could ask for and more. I cannot stress enough how deftly Kovac emotes Carroll’s wit and charm. He’s not just copy and pasting here, he’s added a whole new layer to an already rich universe. Sonny Liew’s art goes the extra mile to make that universe a reality. Justly so, his work on this book was nominated for an Eisner Award in 2007. The attention to detail is tremendous. Flipping back through the book I keep finding little items I missed the first time around that add to it’s enjoyment. Drowning spoons, the aforementioned kittens and animals without pants are just a small portion of the adorable factor in Wonderland.

Through the course of the book there are a few British slang terms that kids might not understand. Then again, if they’re Harry Potter readers, they probably will. Wonderland is listed as a thirteen-and-up book but you can skew much younger than that. Do yourself a favor and pick this up now. Sure, it’s Alice in Wonderland without Alice but with Kovac, Liew and Mary Ann you won’t even miss the blond. Or the smelly corpse.

Wonderland is in stores now.

Rating: 5/5

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