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ghastwood_niall's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent artwork. Very dark and rather gory, a twisted trip down the rabbit hole (or in this case a hole in the celler), definitely not the children's tale that was Alice in Wonderland. A good read.
grace_ezri's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
This was really the first comic I've ever read. It was a present from my best friend for my birthday cause I'm obsessed with Alice in Wonderland. It was a really fast, dynamic, and engaging read. I could have easily finished it in a day. The art was cool and appreciated how detailed and well done it was. However the cover wasn't as good as the inside art. The base story and plot line was good with a unique twist. However it was a little dark and raunchy. It seemed to rely on the darkness, gore, and sexiness to carry it. The plot was good and they should have just developed it more instead of relying on cheap tactics. It was just a little much and instead of having the desired effect you got desensitized. I enjoyed the reading experience but I don't think I will continue reading the rest of the comics.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual assault, and Suicide
adelaidemetzger_robotprophet's review against another edition
3.0
--This review covers all three books in the Zenescope Wonderland trilogy--
So what this review's late and spontaneous? I live an employed life.
So, my twin sister introduced me to Zenescope comics by having me read the Grimm's Fairytales first. If you are unfamiliar with Zenescope, you should know two things that might turn you off to the idea that they may be creative according to plot in any way. 1: All of their women protagonists have unrealistic figures (extremely large boobs, thin waist, ridiculously revealing outfits, etc.), and 2: The amount of gore or reason for excuse to show that much gore is also ridiculous. It took me a while to get over the first reason. Drawing half-naked women looking immensely coy on the covers of these issues is just an easy way to make money through their older, girlfriend-less audience, and gore and violence appeals to men as well as sends the message that this is clearly a fresh, mature take on classic stories that everyone is familiar with. However, these obvious themes made me have low expectations for any of Zenescope's stories which I believe is their goal so they can blow you away.
Brief History of My Exposure to Zenescope
As a quick contrast to the Zenescope Grimm series, this Wonderland trilogy is just that: A trilogy where all the issues (including the ones in the Tales of Wonderland volumes off to the side) carry an ongoing story that revolves around a singular plot and continuos characters all the way to the end as opposed to the Grimm series that involves each issue representing a single Grimm fairytale and ending it there. When I first read the Comicfest issue of the Grimm series I was unimpressed. It was a simple, singular story with characters that didn't go far on the lines of maturing with that simple story, so I was mildly surprised when I finished the first Grimm volume. The single issues became more creative with each revived fairytale. Still, individual samplers weren't my cup of tea and the simplicity of each tale had me doubting the popularity of Zenescope's ever-growing series'.
Down the Rabbit Hole--Or, Through the Looking Glass, or, whatever
I was more than pleased with this Wonderland trilogy. The characters are seriously flawed, there are real emotions that give meaning to the gore-fest, and the story is deeply complex--so much so that it feels like it continues even when it says it's finished (there are like six different what-if endings before you finally get to see the real one). Right when I was done with one volume, I grabbed the next one and kept reading. Keep in mind that this series contains adult themes that reach R-rated material such as sexual content, nudity, pedophilia, rape, explicit language, and let's not forget the buckets and buckets of blood, viscera, and dismemberment. If any of this makes you uncomfortable you will not enjoy this series. If I had to pick one word to describe the whole of this trilogy it would be "disturbing," and I cannot stress that enough (there are just some things you can't erase from your head after you've seen them). It's almost like the writers and artists wanted to see how far they could push themselves at drawing and describing the terrible, violent things that happen to some of these characters--as an excuse of some sort, none of the inhabitants of Wonderland can die except by this dagger, so they can get as mutilated as possible before regenerating and doing it all over again.
As unsettling as I was, I give this trilogy credit for surprising me and having a satisfying (and extremely tragic) ending. Overall I give the trilogy 4 out of 5 stars and now have an open mind to the other ongoing Zenescope series. Just don't judge the books by their covers because the sexual morale of the big-breasted femmes practically has nothing to do with the actual plots.
So what this review's late and spontaneous? I live an employed life.
So, my twin sister introduced me to Zenescope comics by having me read the Grimm's Fairytales first. If you are unfamiliar with Zenescope, you should know two things that might turn you off to the idea that they may be creative according to plot in any way. 1: All of their women protagonists have unrealistic figures (extremely large boobs, thin waist, ridiculously revealing outfits, etc.), and 2: The amount of gore or reason for excuse to show that much gore is also ridiculous. It took me a while to get over the first reason. Drawing half-naked women looking immensely coy on the covers of these issues is just an easy way to make money through their older, girlfriend-less audience, and gore and violence appeals to men as well as sends the message that this is clearly a fresh, mature take on classic stories that everyone is familiar with. However, these obvious themes made me have low expectations for any of Zenescope's stories which I believe is their goal so they can blow you away.
Brief History of My Exposure to Zenescope
As a quick contrast to the Zenescope Grimm series, this Wonderland trilogy is just that: A trilogy where all the issues (including the ones in the Tales of Wonderland volumes off to the side) carry an ongoing story that revolves around a singular plot and continuos characters all the way to the end as opposed to the Grimm series that involves each issue representing a single Grimm fairytale and ending it there. When I first read the Comicfest issue of the Grimm series I was unimpressed. It was a simple, singular story with characters that didn't go far on the lines of maturing with that simple story, so I was mildly surprised when I finished the first Grimm volume. The single issues became more creative with each revived fairytale. Still, individual samplers weren't my cup of tea and the simplicity of each tale had me doubting the popularity of Zenescope's ever-growing series'.
Down the Rabbit Hole--Or, Through the Looking Glass, or, whatever
I was more than pleased with this Wonderland trilogy. The characters are seriously flawed, there are real emotions that give meaning to the gore-fest, and the story is deeply complex--so much so that it feels like it continues even when it says it's finished (there are like six different what-if endings before you finally get to see the real one). Right when I was done with one volume, I grabbed the next one and kept reading. Keep in mind that this series contains adult themes that reach R-rated material such as sexual content, nudity, pedophilia, rape, explicit language, and let's not forget the buckets and buckets of blood, viscera, and dismemberment. If any of this makes you uncomfortable you will not enjoy this series. If I had to pick one word to describe the whole of this trilogy it would be "disturbing," and I cannot stress that enough (there are just some things you can't erase from your head after you've seen them). It's almost like the writers and artists wanted to see how far they could push themselves at drawing and describing the terrible, violent things that happen to some of these characters--as an excuse of some sort, none of the inhabitants of Wonderland can die except by this dagger, so they can get as mutilated as possible before regenerating and doing it all over again.
As unsettling as I was, I give this trilogy credit for surprising me and having a satisfying (and extremely tragic) ending. Overall I give the trilogy 4 out of 5 stars and now have an open mind to the other ongoing Zenescope series. Just don't judge the books by their covers because the sexual morale of the big-breasted femmes practically has nothing to do with the actual plots.
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