Broken Frontier

I qualify this review by stating that I've never been a large fan of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland: I never read the source material, the Disney cartoon did nothing for me, and the old television version used to creep me out as a child. So, I go into this with admitted baggage of the story at hand.

Alice is an anti-hero. As soon as I came to this realization, it all started to really click. She is propelled by a selfish desire for the next shiny, beautiful object or locale. Yet we follow her illogical decision fuelled journey.

The reader is compelled by her adolescent drive while simultaneously disdaining and relating to her actions. This is made beautifully aware by the cadence in which she speaks, like a wonderful train of thought. I credit writers Leah Moore & John Reppion for making this so refreshing; not knowing how much is actually lifted from Carroll verbatim.

The story effortlessly begins as most dreams do, coincidently and without abandon. We are whisked down the rabbit hole with Alice, throwing caution to the wind and leaving normal logic behind. Some of my favorite bits of this adaptation are the little moments and how Alice is grounded by the love of her cat, Dinah. Falling down the endless hole, she ponders if there would be mice for her precious to catch, and if not, whether a bat would suffice. This gag is made all the more bright by Awano’s vibrant pencils, showing Alice flipping through a reference book about bats, searching feverishly if they are a suitable prey for Dinah.

I laughed aloud as the Mouse attempted to dry off the soaked collective of talking vermin and fowl with the most boring story he could muster. It’s moments like this of whimsy and childhood abandon that makes this all work. Juxtaposing the word dry with its literal and metaphorical meaning is something the mind of a small child seldomly comprehends. At this point in the story, I’m starting to think that I’m late to the party in appreciating the original text and its complexities.

I only recently became aware of Leah Moore and John Reppion from their just released Sherlock Holmes mini, but they are officially on my radar now, after taking a story I had no vested interest in and making me care. They have instilled in me a desire to understand the original as well as continue to read this version. As far as adaptations are concerned, I can think of few higher compliments.