Hatter M: 01 - A Not so Mad Hatter
The Cover
The muted cover of this first issue in the Looking Glass Wars series is not the most enticing cover I've ever seen (the preview image of issue 2 looks far more attention grabbing) but it does still catch the eye and oddly its more the lettering of HATTER M that drew my attention. I am an Alice in Wonderland fan and you might say the had me at the words Looking Glass.The Story
Now Looking Glass Wars has been on my novels 'to read' list for some months now and a chance to hop into the story with this comic was too much to miss.The story itself in this issue, that i can only assume is a side story of the novel, is very very thin. Page one is a brutal full page of exposition to get you into the themes and ideas of where this is going and the world you are about to enter, lest you have an misconceptions.
Following this the rest of the story is more or less cell after cell of art with the odd bit of narration or speech that blasts you all in one page of exposition that feels like the kind of mistake that new film makers make when they realise they are half way through the movie and they haven't gotten anywhere near the information we need to know for the ending to play out.
Artwork
There is a certain style here and while the first cell is a beautifully detailed scene that looks like its was rotascoped from a photograph most of the rest of the comic is strange scratchy affairs of water coloured like scenes. I'm not really a massive fan of the simplistic look of these scenes but at the same time its not run of the mill either.Some cells sparkle with simple elegance while some look like they were done as quick and slapdash as possible. There is interesting use of what looks like post digital blurring to add depth that i found annoying but again.. different.
