Review – Call of Wonderland #4

Call of Wonderland #4 Story by Dan Wickline, Raven Gregory, Joe Brusha, Ralph Tedesco Written by Dan Wickline Art by Nacho Arranz, Alfonso Ruiz, Carlos Paul, Stephen Downer, Tomas Bonvillain, Jeff Balke, & Jim Campbell Covers by Marat Mychaels & Jeremy Colwell, Pasquale Qualano & Vinicus Andrade, Anthony Spay & Sanju Nivangune, and Elias Chatzoudis Released: September 19, 2012

Everyone knows the about Alice’s adventures in Wonderland. You might not know some of the more obscure details, but you know the basics. You’ve probably seen the Disney cartoon movie, and the more recent Johnny Depp/Tim Burton take on the story. What you might not be aware of is just how crazy you can make that whole universe. Lucky for us Zenescope has been doing it for years. They have a pile of stories focused around their own take on Wonderland and the characters that inhabit that universe. Call of Wonderland is taking some of those myths and mixing them up with some other famous literature to give us one hell of a ride.

Issue 4 is the first one I’ve read, which obviously isn’t the greatest jumping on spot for a 4 issue limited series. However Zenescope helps out a new reader, as they do with most of their books by including a recap at the beginning. It’s only a two paragraphs, but it’s enough to get a new reader familiar with what’s going on in the story. We’re presented with two different stories in the book, one being our female protagonists, Salome Grey and Julie Sands, trying to figure out what the hell is happening to them. And another featuring H.P. Lovecraft and Charles Dodgson, who as any literature fan knows was the birth name of Lewis Carroll, author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. They’re both trying to protect our world from other realms like Wonderland.

Crazy stuff right? You have no idea, but it’s pretty badass all the same. The issue jumps right into action our the heroines get attacked by hellhounds, use axes, and just generally get into some insane situations. Being the last issue we’re seeing the story really come to a no turning back point. Salome and Julie are finally realizing there is more to them than meets the eye. Meanwhile we’re learning more about Lovecraft and Dodgsons friendship and future. And like any good story we’re left with a cliffhanger and a nice “To Be Continued in Madness of Wonderland”

So you’ve got an idea of how the story is, it’s interesting and for fans of Zenescope or just Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland this is a really fun read. You see elements that are always in adaptations of Alice’s story used in very different ways. That’s what really keeps the story going, it’s hard to make characters be cared about after just a few issues. So build those characters around things that people do care about and it makes them that much more appealing. The artwork is exactly what you expect from a Zenescope book, clean, sexy, and at times violent. My biggest complaint is near the end of the issue. Julie’s shirt changes from a tank top to a turtle next long sleeve shirt for a few pages with no reason or explanation. At first I thought it had to do with what occurred on the previous page, but after checking it out more that seemed less likely.

Overall this was a fun read, and I’m definitely interested to see what comes next in Madness of Wonderland. Before that I should probably go back and read the first 3 issues. Basically if you’re a fan of hot girls killing hellhounds and other crazy magical creatures, and two historical figures who didn’t really live in the same time period being friends this is 100% the story for you. If you’re not a fan of those things, it probably isn’t but at least give it a shot, you might surprise yourself.

Chris talks a bunch on PodQuest each week. He's also been known to write about stuff from time to time. You can Email Chris or follow Chris on Twitter @Just_Cobb or Facebook

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