Zenescope Entertainment 2018
Written by Raven Gregory
Illustrated by Allan Otero
Coloured by Grostieta
Lettered by Taylor Esposito of Ghost Glyph Studios
The realm of madness is back with a brand new twisted tale of love, loss and vengeance! It’s been a long time since Alice Liddle’s daughter, Calie, finally escaped the twisted world that her mother was pulled into many years before her. But the insanity of Wonderland has returned and this time around things are much more dangerous and horrifying than ever before. Can Calie and her daughter team up to stop a new madness from emerging from Wonderland and invading our world or is it too late to stop the inevitable?
It is time to welcome Raven back to a world he helped create. Boy I have missed his writing stories I can you that much. Having spent time way from this franchise is probably why this issue was so damn good, it’s given him perspective. I love the opening here as this strange man is introduced because it’s not who he is but what he does that’s capable of scaring the hell out of you. I mean this man is one that nightmares are constructed around and he’s only the beginning and we don’t even see the full aspect of what happens. The fact that the opening allows the readers mind to fill in the blanks here to expand the horror of what we are seeing is what makes this truly terrifying.
Our first look at Violet is a doozy and I love it. She is a handful and willing to do some things that well might be seen as going over the edge of morality. Still she’s Callie’s daughter and the apple doesn’t fall from the tree. She’s strong willed, determined and tough as nails who coincidentally wants nothing to do with her beloved mother, guess she’s not a your fans mother. I liked it because it’s real life for Violet and we get to see her personality range from protective, vindictive and everything in- between that makes her so interesting.
The Wonderland interlude here is intriguing only because we know that this figure is watching them. Watching and waiting for the perfect opportunity to present itself so she can attack. Whether she has orchestrated the opening remains unclear, I asked the magic 8-ball. Still I like the way that we are brought into this aspect of the story. That Wonderland is peeking in and not in full invasion mode makes the anticipation for that much sweeter and I think it’s a smart route to take. It is also a damn near perfect way to transition from daughter to mother as well.
Allan’s artwork here is pretty darn spectacular itself. The level of detail he brings to the work here is utterly fantastic and his manipulation of the varying weights of the linework in both subtle and bold ways really bring this to life. Plus there’s Grostieta’s colouring to compliment it all with the use of shadows and that almost cosmic background around the mirrors was a wow factor. The utilisation of page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a great eye for storytelling and the fact that we see so many backgrounds in play. There is some really sexy stuff going on without it being overtly sexual if that makes sense and I have to say it’s great to see.
This issue combines everything about the evolution of Zenescope from cheesecake to modern day horror storytelling having been achieved. This is smart, sassy, creepy and extremely well done. The characterisation is superb and how we see this come to life through words and pictures well this is why I continue to read and support Zenescope.