Alice In Wonderland is one of the stories we’ve seen many versions of throughout various forms of media. That includes comic books as various companies have done their own version of the Alice In Wonderland story. Now we are getting one from BOOM! Studios from the creative minds of Dan Panosian and Giorgio Spalletta in the form of Alice Never After. We got an early look at the first issue. Find out how the debut issue in Alice Never After #1 turns out with our advance review.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Dan Panosian
Artist: Giorgio Spalletta
Colorist: Francesco Segala
Letterer: Jeff Eckleberry
SOLICITATION
“Alice finally got her wish. Wonderland has become her new home, but with her abuser’s avatar with the uncanny grin turning the mad residents of a moonstruck world against her, she’s clawing for a little rationality amongst the chaos. As Alice’s sister Edith and her childhood friend Earl fight for a way to bring her back, Alice has to contend with whether or not her torment is due to her father, herself, or maybe a curious combination of both…” – BOOM! Studios
REVIEW
Not having read Dan Panosian and Giorgio Spalletta’s Alice Ever After series it created a sense of great mystery behind the story that goes on in Alice Never After #1. It is a credit to Panaosian and Spalleta’s storytelling abilities that they can give enough context clues to what the story of Alice Never After is about so as a new reader I did not feel lost. Rather, it felt like there was this greater mystery of what is going on with Alice’s latest return to Wonderland and how those around her, both her family and the Wonderland residents, go about their interactions with Alice.
What particular stood out is how Panoasian and Spalletta handle mental health and trauma. Whatever Alice dealt with in her past was clearly so traumatizing going to Wonderland represents a form of escapism. As the story goes on that escapism becomes its own form of Alice tackling all the trauma she suffered from her abusers. This in turn makes the well-known characters from Wonderland viewed differently. Which speaks to how Alice’s interactions with these characters work to get you to examine specific lines of dialogue and what is going on in the background of scenes event more.
While Alice is obviously the main focus of this first issue Edith, Alice’s sister and caretaker, is the other standout. Even though Edith doesn’t get as much screen time as Alice the time she does get is maximized by Panosian’s writing. Edith not only shows great care for Alice but is also actively shown trying to help her by finding answers for how she can do that. By not being a bystander Edith helps make what we see take place beyond Wonderland even more intriguing.
For all the good there are some unavoidable aspects of the story in Alice Never After #1 that keep it from being completely new reader friendly. There are certain names talked about that were clearly a big part of Panoasian and Spalletta’s Alice Ever After, the series that preceded this sequel. The way those characters are spoken of does indicate you should know who they are. While we don’t need a big recap of who these characters are adding a little more context through a one-page flashback in a future issue would help in this.
Spalletta’s artwork does a good job at capturing the Victorian era style of the real world and the all the fantasy elements of Wonderland. Both settings compliment each other because Spalletta, along with colorist Francesco Segala, find a way to make whenever we transition between the two to help the pacing of the story. The Wonderland segment in Alice Never After #1 particularly has things going on in the background that could be easily missed. Catching these things add to what we could anticipate taking place in future issues.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Alice Never After #1 is a strong start to this dark twist on the Wonderland story. In exploring the impact Alice’s traumatic life experiences had on her mental health Dan Panosian and Giorgio Spalletta do a great job tackling how escapism can blur the lines of reality and fantasy. This leads to adding importance to how everyone around Alice plays an important role in her journey. Even if you didn’t read the series Panosian and Spalletta’s worked on that preceded Alice Never After this first issue gets you invested in the journey this sequel will take the reader on.
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10