Dan Rafter is a freelance writer and editor. He's also the author of GEARZ, a new comicbook mini-series to be published in early 2008 by BlueWater Comics.
For me, the main reason to read a graphic novel not released by D.C. or Marvel is the thrill, the thrill of the unexpected.
When you crack open a graphic novel serializing the latest adventures of Batman or Spider-Man, you pretty much know what you’re getting. When you open a graphic novel centered on characters you’ve never heard of, written by someone you’ve never heard of and published by someone you may have only vaguely heard of, though, you have no idea.
Sometimes the results are bad, sure. But more often than not, you end up discovering a whole new world.
Such was the case with Alice in Sunderland: An Entertainment. Written by Bryan Talbot and published by Dark Horse, this thick – and I mean thick, the hardcover version of this book stretches 328 pages – graphic novel mixes real history, imaginative fantasy and a fascination with all things Lewis Carroll to create a bewildering piece of, as its subtitle suggests, entertainment.
A simple plot description does this novel disservice, but here is one: Talbot begins the novel by sharing with readers a history of his hometown, the northeast English city of Sunderland. The book then goes into great detail about the life of Lewis Carroll and the inspiration for his most famous work, Alice in Wonderland. Perhaps the most interesting story element, though, is Talbot’s recounting of a disastrous live performance of Carroll’s work staged in Sunderland.
While Talbot’s narrative is fascinating, the way he presents it is equally amazing. Rather than relying solely on pen-and-ink drawings, Talbot combines newspaper clippings, photographs, paintings and computer modeling. The real joy of reading Alice in Sunderland is the time you’ll spend wondering what visual treat awaits with the next flip of the page.
The only weakness? The book does seem a little long. Talbot doesn’t run out of imagination or visual feats as the page count hits the 300s, but I know I began to run out of patience for them.
My advice? Find Alice in Sunderland and be prepared to spend some time with it. The book is a longer read than are most graphic novels. But the experience is definitely a rewarding one.