It's a mad, mad, mad world as Royal Bodyguard Hatter Madigan's maniacal quest to find Alyss continues! In Volume 2, Mad With Wonder, Hatter follows the Glow from London to the battlefields of America's Civil War in search of the Princess who must some day be Queen. The America that Hatter encounters is a sprawling, wounded, boiling landscape of innocence and energy run amok. The war is tearing the country apart, yet Hatter must maintain his sanity in this maelstrom of holy rollers, child healers, prophetic snake handlers, deranged outlaws, and passionate southern belles. As Hatter searches he learns he is not the only Wonderland presence that has found its way to the Promised Land. Queen Redd's black imagination is fueling the Civil War and threatening our world with her evil!
Literary Sleuth and world creator Frank Beddor dared to expose the true story of Wonderland in the New York Times bestselling young adult trilogy The Looking Glass Wars. To satisfy the awakened curiosity of his readers he continued to tell the parallel adventures of Royal Bodyguard Hatter Madigan’s search for the lost princess in the graphic novel series Hatter M. He lives in Los Angeles.
This book suffers from the same problems that the first volume suffered from. Namely the art - even though this volume was drawn by a different artist. While it is beautiful in a single frame it fails at coherently portraying a story from frame to frame as it is so ethereal, undefined, and foggy. It is often hard to determine what actions are taking place, and even after reading 2 volumes I am still unsure as to what Hatter really looks like.
The plot in this volume also jumps around and is hard to follow. Nothing quite meshes like it should. For instance he ends up in the American south practically wooing some debutant (even though the books let readers know he has someone back in Wonderland). Then all of a sudden he is in a mental institute with an imagination vampire. The books make him seem like the never ceasing, always serious, undeterred hero, but this one makes him seem sloppy, unfocused, and unsure as to what he should be doing. This I guess is an example of the madness that is settling into his mind, but it seemed more out of character than should be.
Finally, I find it hard to believe that even though 5 years has passed since he has last seen Alyss that he wouldn't be able to tell immediately whether or not someone was Alyss. He begins by chasing a story of a glowing girl to some faith healing type of revival event. Once he finds her he has to ask her if she is indeed Alyss, and verifies her identity by looking for a birthmark. He lived with the royal family in the palace, saw this child every day of her life growing up as a bodyguard. He should be able to tell if someone is or is not Alyss.
All in all I won't be reading the next installment when it comes out later this year, and frankly am glad I got these volumes from the library instead of purchasing them. Oh well, I gave it a shot. Not all stories translate well into graphic novels I guess.
Mad with Wonder, the second volume of Hatter M's journey across Earth searching for the lost Princess Alyss of Wonderland, was not quite as engaging as the first volume of the series. There seemed to be too many interludes trying to tie in the events of the Wonderland civil war with event going on in our world, such as the American Civil War. Don't get me wrong, as a huge fan of The Looking Glass Wars series as a whole, I enjoy seeing the "lost" adventures of Hatter M as he traveled our world in search of Alyss, but this volume seemed detached from the rest of the story somehow. Again, characters were tied into the story that eventually make their way into the main part of the series, but the story itself just didn't seem to mesh in my mind with what would be going on in the main novels.
I also felt that the art seemed a little hard to follow. Not that Ben Templesmith's (the artist of the first graphic novel) is all that clear, but I felt that Sami Makkonen's shifts in scenes were a little hard to follow and unclear as to what was always going on in the frames. His characters were a little to indistinguishable from each other, making it hard to figure out who was who throughout the volume.
As in the first volume, the supplemental material in the back of the volume is interesting, but even more so than in the first volume, you need to read this material to really make clear what is happening in the volume. I personally just don't think it should be a necessity to read the supplemental material in order to fully understand what is happening in the story. The story itself should be able to stand on its own, with the supplemental information adding to the already existing story. I guess it could be argued that these graphic novels are the supplemental material to the main novels, but it just felt like the story could have been presented a little better in the main part of the volume.
Not necessarily a bad volume, but not the best either. Only die-hard fans of The Looking Glass Wars will find this interesting, however. All in all, I'm still going to pick up the final volume in the Hatter M series when it is released.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I definitely didn't like this one as much as the first one but I will absolutely finish the trilogy. However, this one did quote Doctor Who, so that was a plus.
So again I felt the artwork was quite messy and busy. It was hard to focus on the story. While the concept isn't bad I just can't bring myself to really like Hatter Madigan of the Hatter M series. I think there is not enough time spent with building his character, it is just documentation of his search for Alyss, and so I feel his character is not as dynamic as it was in the "Looking Glass Wars" series. I am not a fan of the artwork and the pace seemed pretty quick, while also making the story feel a little disjointed. I don't plan on continuing.
Art not as good, hatter gets involved in civil war and sent to mental institute. Some funny mental patients. We learn it is a bug on his back. Didn’t read rest of follow on material, story not engaging enough.
This was cringe at many points. Derogatory depictions of freed slaves, Circus "performers" especially those in the sideshow, and inmates at an asylum. I wanted to Binge this series, but I am not sure how much more I can handle.
this book was good. over all i think this books meaning is really good. 10/10 book you should read it. the book was kinda graphic there was some blood and killing but its still a really good book
I think that "Made with wonder" was a good book because it was about that a Man was looking for a girl and it took place in England and there is this woman who is like a evil queen but she would do heads or tails for to live and get rich or death.
This fits in the category, Graphic Novel. So this book was done by a different artist, but the style is close to the same, which I found interesting. And unlike the first book, there was a lot more dialogue to read and more story to process. They've tapped in to hatters past, involving his brother during his years in training in the millinery, and it was a nice surprise. I think creating more to his character was a great choice, and I greatly appreciate it. My favorite scene was when they showed Redd in the mirror. There are so many things I could say were great about this book, but my favorite new twist is the inner thoughts of the animals that are so random yet so funny considering the situation. I definitely look forward to the next book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I’m not much of a comic book/ graphic novel reader but “Mad with Wonder”, volume two in the “Hatter M” series, continued to be a good introduction to the genre.
Frank Beddor re-imagined Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” so richly with “The Looking Glass Wars” that it’s no surprise the novels has spun off into an online RPG and comics to tell all the stories. In Beddor’s Wonderland, there are no rabbit holes and no mad tea parties but a full fledged war where cards and chessmen turn into soldiers. Hatter Madigan- get it?- is the royal bodyguard with a cool array of weapons.
The comics take place within the first novel, providing backstory for Hatter M’s search for Princess Alyss Heart- having escaped assassination attempts by her power-hungry Aunt Redd and the deadly Cat. The comics, like the novels, playfully travel between Wonderland and Earth even explaining how a certain author got the story of a little girl all wrong!
It was definitely interesting to see how stories unfold in this format and the techniques used to create flashbacks or suspense from one image to another. After the story proper, each volume of the comic series includes fun extras that treat Hatter M’s adventures in and out of Wonderland as actual happenings. There are also concept art and excerpts.
If you enjoyed Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland, check out Frank Beddor’s fresh take on the classic.
The Novels
The Looking Glass Wars
Seeing Redd
Arch Enemy
(Also available in audio books with exclusive content)
I do love these books and the world that Beddor and Liz Cavalier have created, especially considering Hatter is my favorite character in the entire series. I love how they’re focusing on his search for Alyss and where that’s taken him. I doubly love that they’ve worked history into the mix and really blended reality with Wonderland and how seamlessly it all mixed together.
Being able to see Hatter as a young boy almost humanizes him. He is a bit of a stiff character and watching him interact with his older brother and how he jumped right in to save the princesses when he was little shows just how human he is, not just a machine built to guard.
The art itself, I like the stand-alone pieces like the cover and the art in the back after the comic is done. They’re so vivid and colorful and bring so much of the world to life. For the panels, though, I’m less than impressed. I liked Templesmith’s work much better. I like the grittiness that Makkonen brings to the table. It’s the same type of gritty that Templesmith had, so no surprise that Beddor hired this guy to pick up the pen for the series. But where Templesmith’s characters were better formed, being more solid people within the frames themselves, Makkonen’s depictions of people are something out of a nightmare. Faces are smudged and barely discernible, sometimes making the panels hard to decipher when all of that grit and slash was factored in together. They remind me of the drawings found in something like SCARY STORIES and a lot of the time I couldn’t reconcile the tone of the drawings with the tone of the story. And again, it made some of the panels more difficult to read.
So good story here. I’m definitely going to keep reading in the series. But I like the panel art in these less than in the first one.
While graphics are far more rudimentary in Beddor's comics, the story line, themes and ideas are intense and amazing. Perhaps meant for a far more mature audience, Hatter M, appeals to more of my current students than other comics from Marvel's ridiculous Daredevil series.
This series is "Dedicated to the lost Sir Cook, following his own radical map," which I'd like to say, I'm on a similar journey.
What I like best about Beddor's books are their subtle and not-so-subtle themes and how they are pitted so well against archetypical opposites. Ones of Home vs escape vs. rescue, obsession vs. true love as well as time-old father-son relationships vs. choosing just leader and leading by example. Additionally, the settings of late 19th century London juxtaposed with the evils of slavery and racism across the ocean had me wanting to see Hatter locating some more fascinating characters such as Sister Sally, on his quest to rescue Princess Alyss Heart in the land of Reality. Queen Redd is a great villain, as well, rendering some great evil witches from the Children's Classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll and C.S. Lewis' Lion-Wardrobe Series.
page 24 - "You win by not allowing others to have an effect on you. By remaining clear of their violence, you are respected."
"In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom" - J.G. Ballard
*SPOILERS* Hatter M Vol 2 is great. It’s hard for me to outdo Vol 1, but this is a good follow up. Hatter is still looking for Princess Alyss and is still not finding her. But along the way he runs into other young girls with high imagination and manages to save them at times. Redd sends magic bullets with his name on them to kill him via 3 incompetent idiots. Is it me, or should Redd just come to Hatter and kill him herself with such stupid minions? In THIS volume, it is Hatter who needs to be saved in the end and finds help in the weirdest of places: his fellow crazies in the F-ward of the Virgina Insane Asylum in the late 1800's. One is even a follower of dark imagination, but still helps him. It is FINALLY pointed out to Hatter that his way of looking for Alyss may not be the right way, so he should open his mind and try going to the secret keepers of the world- Washington DC. After losing his hat for like 2 weeks they are reunited (and watching it attack other wearers!), all his knives are attached again (BTW, very cool to see the flashback of how he was taught to use them!) and he is off for DC. The artistry of this book is dark and fatastic. The part about the asylum is the best part of the book for me. Its drawn and written so well with a nod to scary techniques and a Dr. Frood to chuckle at with a familiar set of famous questions. Good times. Read this series!
Starting off in Wonderland Redd receives a report of the events of book one (this also helpfully refreshes the reader's memory) then we return to Hatter who is now in London and five years have gone by since his search began. He then leaves London for America at the time of the Civil War, fighting all sorts of enemies from earth and Wonderland as he continues to search for Alyss. I've become more comfortable with the story at this point but with the appearance of characters from the novels realize one should read this series after the books. The artwork is done by a different person than the first book and is much more visually appealing using a palette of browns, blues, yellows and greys with touches of red here and there it has a dark atmosphere. Interesting story line which particularly deals with madness. I especially enjoyed the episodes taking place in the sanatorium. I'll read the novels now before I continue with the GNs.
Holy cow. Poor Hatter. Who knew he had gone through so much trying to find Alyss?
This one was a bit more confusing for me than the first. I'm not sure if that's because of the plot or the...no, it was because of the plot. The basic idea remained the same from the first graphic novel - Hatter's search for Alyss - but there was so much going on that I think I lost the thread a couple of times.
I don't want to say too much or spoil something, but .
Regardless, I did enjoy this quick graphic novel. The drawings remain gritty and dark, but entirely expressive. The story is interesting and engaging. And I'm ready to pick up Volume 3.
This is the second volume in the story of Hatter Madigan's search for Princess Alyss.
I liked the artwork in this one even less than the first. The faces of the figures was cruder and less realized and I have always found the overuse of blacks, browns and grays to be annoying, making the artwork harder to connect with and the story harder to get involved in normally. And unlike the first volume I felt none of the art or images really worked for me at all. None of them stand out really, except for the depiction of some tarot cards, and that probably has more to do with my interest in the tarot vs the art.
At least this time the story was strong and for the most part interesting all the way through, the only bump in the road was a brief stop at a Souther Plantation that just felt like it came out of nowhere and went back to nowhere.
Artwork aside, I am really enjoying the story in this series and am looking forward to reading more.
I haven't read the Looking Glass Wars series of novels by Frank Beddor so I can't compare this to that, but I'm a big fan of Ben Templesmith's work so I really enjoyed his artwork in volume 1 of this comic. In this volume, Sami Makkonen has taken up the mantle previously held by Ben Templesmith as the illustrator. Makkonen's style is similar to Templesmith's and definitely adds to the atmosphere of the story, but I feel Makkonen's style is less refined and more sketchlike. Templesmith's artwork also tends to be sketchlike, but his work seems cleaner and more controlled somehow.
Perhaps this change in illustrator was purposeful, however, as in this part of the story, Hatter Madigan, Royal Bodyguard to Princess Alyss, is institutionalized, and Makkonen's sketchlike drawings do seem to indicate a messier (or more mad?) sensibility than Templesmith's.
I only started this series because it was recommended to me. I really am finding it hard to get into these books. On the other hand, my daughter thinks they are genius. So there you have it. She loves everything about them but says that the art/illustration is better in book one. I think the opposite. I thought the storyline was better in book 2 and I also thought the art was better in book 2. More color, more detail... Though I have given this book only 3 stars, I don't want that to keep anyone from reading it. It was merely because I am not a fan of this genre. Anyone who enjoys this type of book should definitely give it a go. My favorite part, as it also was in the first book, was the last pages. After the actual book ended. Where the author goes into the facts and findings. They have included pieces from their "research" and pages from Alyss's lost diary. Quite interesting.
this is the second graphic novel release in the hatter m series by frank beddor. they are companion comics to the novel series which reimagines the alice in wonderland series. the hatter m series finds hatter madigan (the title character) hunting in the "real world" for princess alyss of wonderland. she had been pushed in the the pool of tears which connects to the real world and hatter jumps in to find her. he continues his journey and many different barriers attempt to take him down. this is a great read and beddor did a wonderful job in finding an artist able to continue in the style of ben templesmith. a great read and an even more beautiful style!
I love this series... So imaginative. This time we get a glimpse of the War (with Lee & Custer) and Hatter gets more "cutting" action. As his searcher Alyss continues... They changed Illustrators for book 2. Not bad, and pretty similar to the first but I still prefer the first Illustrator.
*spoilers*
It was amusing when Hatter ended up in an Asylum for the Insane.... Too funny running into a Wonderland Vampire who sucks imagination at an asylum. Which is perfect for the vampire... So much imagination in an asylum. I wonder what happened to Hatter's brother, maybe we'll find out in a future book.
Sigh. While the art is easier to follow in this volume, there are still times when I can't figure out what's happening. Also, some things only made sense after I read the extras at the end of the book. While there are a few interesting philosophical points about the nature of Hatter Madigan's journey, mainly that the people he encounters on his quest to find Princess Alyss are at least as important to his overall mission of saving Wonderland as the princess is, I find the story is largely filler or set-up for later volumes.
I really like Hatter Madigan, I have a slight crush on him actually and I love the whole idea of these graphic novels where Hatter M is searching for the lost princess of Wonderland, Alyss, by following the Glow of Imagination off people in our world but I have a difficult time following the storyline and I don't really like the illustrations but it still keeps my attention and I did really like the historical part of this one and how Queen Redd's Black Imagination is fueling the American Civil War.