REVIEW: Wonderland Return To Madness #2

Through The Pop Culture Lens

Wonderland’s Return to Madness follows Violet into a weird world as she desperately seeks to resurrect her mother; her quest brings her to a topsy-turvy wheel of fortune run by an oracle of chaos sporting a playing card motif. The Oracle has called for our hero but is just as quick to tell her to leave as is the Oracle’s chaotic nature, and this refusal to leave is met with Violet getting jumped by a massive armoured trapdoor spider that emerges from the tiles.

After Violet proves her mettle, The Oracle and her discuss the current state of affairs of Wonderland and the key to its future, lying with a girl who is wandering the realm following a rotting crow at the behest of the Mad Hatter.

The version of Wonderland this comic book explores feels warped by the pop culture lens and would be more at home in a video game, having more in common with the 2011 video game Alice: Madness Returns than the original children’s novel. Both draw inspiration from. Instead of whimsical, the world is deadly, and in place of the wonder associated with the land is an injection of insanity. While at times the costumes, especially of our main heroine, can visually lead one to think this is a porn parody, the rest of the book does not have that problem leading to some interesting depth with the other characters in this twisted version of Wonderland.

Iconography

What this interpretation of Wonderland lacks in wonder, it makes up for in weirdness with Violet riding a flamingo balloon flying machine and encountering floating heads far above the marshmallow scented clouds. The Mad Hatter, still speaking in nonsense riddles, is given a darker twist by becoming a greedy being bent on death and seemingly feeding off the souls of people from the real world. This sets up the steaks as he comes into contact with the child of destiny, who can alter the fate of not only Wonderland but seemingly Earth as well.

I would be remiss not to call attention to the art of Giulia Pellegrini and colours by Robby Bevard, who bring this dazzling alternate Wonderland to life with its vibrant colours, stunning environments and beautifully rendered characters. The visuals are the standout of this issue, really sucking me into this world and letting my mind wander beyond the edges of the panels, encouraging me to imagine what the rest of this realm looks like. The environments require special mention as they sucked me into Violet’s adventure, keeping me reading just because I wanted to see where she’d go next on her action-packed adventure. While Violet’s outfit makes it look like she should be serving drinks, the comic heroine does do most of the talking with her fists, so it just lets her get away with the cheesy costume, allowing this story to have its cake and eat it, too.

We leave Violet on a ship with the odds stacked against her with her freedom hanging in the balance, and I, for one, am looking forward to the next issue.

“If you want a wicked remixed look at Alice In Wonderland, keep an eye on this story as it develops.”

FINAL SCORE 4/5 STARS

WRITER: Alec Worley
ART: Giulia Pellegrini
COLORS: Robby Bevard
PUBLISHER: Zenescope