And Then I Read: THE COMPLETE ALICE IN WONDERLAND

Image © Savage Tales Entertainment LLC.

This handsome hardcover collects a four issue series written by Leah Moore and John Reppion that faithfully adapts Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” and the sequel “Through the Looking-glass.” I haven’t compared the original books to this one, but much of the dialogue is very familiar. There are few captions, so I’m guessing what’s left out is the author’s narrative voice. Unfortunately, I missed that. The story is not as rich without it. As for the art by Erica Awano, it’s attractive, with well-drawn figures in a somewhat manga style. The depiction of the characters is close enough to the original John Tenniel illustrations to work for me. I did not like the coloring, though. The entire book uses a technique on the line art that puts a burnt sienna glow around every line. I suppose this was meant to give it an old-fashioned look, but to my eye it simply makes all the art look blurry. The rest of the colors are dull with lots of earth-tones and gray-greens. After a while I found the general effect to be depressing.

I wanted to like this book, but in the end I found I couldn’t. I’d rather read the original books to get the full flavor of Carroll’s voice and intricate genius, or if I were to look at an adaptation, my favorite is still the Disney animated film. Despite its departure from the books at times, and perhaps because I first saw it as a child, it’s the best I’ve yet seen.

Terrific logo by Jason Ullmeyer, though!

Mildly recommended.