Broken Frontier

Raven Gregory is chasing the rabbit back into the rabbit's hole. After telling the story of Alice's daughter Callie, Raven now comes back to where it all started.

Come December 2012, Zenescope and Raven tackle the legendary Alice Liddle. The series will feature the artwork of Robert Gill with supporting covers by the likes of Eric Basaldua, Artgerm and Nei Ruffino.

Broken Frontier spoke with Gregory to delve more into the sage called Wonderland and what his view is on Alice, past and future.

BROKEN FRONTIER: What made you decide to create something of a prequel to your successful Wonderland adventure?
 
RAVEN GREGORY: Alice was always a story we had planned on doing. We were just waiting for the right story to come along. With this tale it really stands on its own. It also adds a whole new perspective on how longtime readers will view the original trilogy.
 
BF: How does ‘Alice and Wonderland’ fit in with the trilogy?
 
RAVEN GREGORY: The Alice series will act as the true prequel to the original trilogy. Whereas the trilogy focused on Calie and her adventures in Wonderland and her struggles against it as it tries to escape out into the real world, this story is all Alice. This is Alice trying to escape a fate that may truly be unavoidable.

BF: In the previous books, Alice was depicted as the crazy, mentally instable mother of your heroine, Calie. You did give some background already to why Alice became twisted and like a shadow of her pretty former self. How will you approach Alice in this new series?
 
RAVEN GREGORY: She's not that broken shell yet. Right now, she's a little girl growing up in this horrible realm and all that entails. But we are going to see the lengths at which she will go to escape this realm and the events that will eventually lead to her real world mental instability.
 
BF: How do you approach Lewis Carroll’s original story in all this?

RAVEN GREGORY: Having arrived at this point, we pay closer attention to the mythology we've developed with this universe while making sure to pay homage to those iconic moments that you just have to fit into a story like this.

BF: Over the course of Wonderland, you’ve worked with various art teams, but Dan Leister seems to have established himself as the main artist, with Eric Basaldua on covers. What made them a good art team for the book? And can you disclose some dark secrets about your new team?
 
RAVEN GREGORY: Calie will always be Leister's. He made her and brought her to life while Ebas has always drawn the best women in comics bar none. But beyond that ability to draw women, the man can draw just about anything and stand toe to toe with all the all-time greats. I feel blessed every time I've ever gotten to work with these guys. But that's not to say the new team is not giving them a run for their money. Robert Gill has really taken the story to a whole-nother level with his art. These are some of the most exciting outside of the box developed art I have ever been a part of. It's really exciting.  

BF: Speaking of Eric Basaldua, his cover art for Zenescope has led to some mockery and criticism on certain websites because of their high T&A value. What’s your reaction to that?
 
RAVEN GREGORY: If it wasn't cheesecake, it would be something else. Just looking at the Internet, people find things to bitch about and piss and moan and tear everything they can down and around them. I've learned long ago that you are never going to make something that everyone will love. It just doesn't happen. And knowing that is kinda of freeing.

So, when people make fun of the work or degrade it with negative statements I don't even pay attention to it anymore. It's all just noise. I'm very fortunate to be able to work with people whose work I dig and who help use create the stories that we want to tell. And really, that's all you can do. Try to make something you yourself love and hope people dig it.
 
BF: Will there be a new Wonderland series focusing on Alice's daughter Calie, after this?

RAVEN GREGORY: Next year there will be an ongoing series starting that will continue the adventures of Calie and her daughter Violet.

Grimm Fairy Tales Presents Alice in Wonderland #1 hits shelves in December and will feature covers by Artgerm, Eric Basaldua and Nei Ruffino.
It is currently available for order/re-order through Diamond Previews at 32 pages for $2.99 and in full color.