This review of Oz/Wonderland Chronicles #1 originally appeared in the Sequential Tart Webzine on December 1, 2006. If you’ve not yet read the comic, be aware that this review contains spoilers.

Publisher
BuyMeToys.com
http://www.buymetoys.com/

Credits
Writer: Ben Avery, Casey Heying
Penciler: Casey Heying
Colorist: Snocone Studios, Casey Heying
Letterer: Comicraft
Cover Artist: Joe Jusko, Boris Vallejo

Grade: 8

This second issue of The Oz/Wonderland Chronicles begins with Humpty Dumpty singing on a wall, when he is rudely interrupted by the Jabberwocky, a fearsome creature imagined in a poem and brought to life. As Humpty falls off the wall, Alice wakes from a nightmare in which she has seen these events unfold. She immediately sits up in bed, grabs her guitar and begins to compose a song out loud, singing Humpty’s lyrics. It may just be a joke, or it may be another example of synchronicity among the dimensions, that her roommate Polly comes in immediately to ask if she wants some eggs for breakfast. Alice declines the eggs but accepts some coffee and, as she is drinking it, she learns that her best friend and roommate Dorothy has been out all night - again. Meanwhile, a roommate named Dee (short for Wendy?) is going out for a jog, with the comment that she can’t stay young forever. Later, it turns out that Dee also tends to date younger guys, making it even more likely that Wendy Darling will also turn out to be a major character in The Oz/Wonderland Chronicles. These are all examples of the way that even the most mundane conversations and events have meaning in this comic. Paying attention to detail is rewarding, even at times when it seems on the surface like nothing is happening.

As the rest of the story unfolds, the uncanny occurrences are not only appearing in Alice’s dreams and her roommates’ conversations. Alice and Dorothy look out their Chicago apartment window and to see a flock of flamingos flying by, munchkins walk by outside the bar while Alice has played, and an official from the Emerald City approaches Alice and Dorothy looking disheveled and speaking with his conversation laced with clues that ought to jog Dorothy’s memory. By this time, Alice and Dorothy are starting to seem either like they’re a little slow or like their memories are massively repressed. As they walk home from the bar, the former Wizard of Oz helps them fight off a group of strange men with bicycle wheels for hands and feet - they’re Wheelers, which Dorothy somehow knows. This is finally the turning point.

The story suddenly speeds up as Mr. Oz fills them in on the tear in the fabric of both worlds. He, too, has been seeing many sightings, including a Wogglebug indigenous to Oz. The epicenter for the tears is Chicago, where Dorothy and Alice have been drawn together to be friends and roommates. Mr. Oz makes a new head for Jack Pumpkinhead, who tells Dorothy she is needed in Oz. Aunt Em still has the magic slippers, and Dorothy puts them on and returns to Oz, where she takes the form of a little girl again and is recognized by the denizens of Oz as Princess Dorothy. Alice doesn’t have such an easy path to Oz. She is nearly attacked by the lion and the tin man, until they realize she is a friend of Dorothy’s. At the close of the story, Dorothy asks where Scarecrow is. We see that the witch has captured him for questioning. When he refuses to tell her any answers, she spills the stuffing out from his head and hints that she will use magic to extract from the straw the answers she seeks.

This issue of The Oz Wonderland Chronicles has pulled me even more into the story, and I’m looking forward to finding out what will happen next. The plot development had seemed slow to me at first reading, but when I paid more attention to detail on my second reading, I saw that even when it seemed like nothing was happening, the panels were rich with information. A sophisticated story seems to be taking shape, one with a lot of layers and details that can be discerned from a close reading. Eventually, the story arc is sure to involve Wendy (Dee) and probably even the other two roommates, as well. There are already hints about this possibility. Knowing how much it pays to understand all the details, I’m planning to re-read Alice in Wonderland and to read the Oz books. I like these heroines. They remind me a little bit of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They are young, pretty, contemporary, sassy and tough. They have active social lives that intersect with other dimensions as they battle evil. I am going to be able to get into this series.

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