About Books Blog 56 - Complete Alice in Wonderland

Author: Lewis Carroll 

Adapted by: John Reppion and Leah Moore 

Genre: Graphic Novel, Fantasy, Classic 

Favorite Line 

“I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!” 

 Summary (from Barnes and Nobel)

Take one stubborn and opinionated young girl. Add an overactive imagination. Shake in a heavy mix of puzzling and bizarre guides. Reduce all morals and lessons to the nonsensical degree and send it all on a journey to nowhere... These are the ingredients that Lewis Carroll combined to create a fairy tale unlike any other.

Dynamite Entertainment is proud to present for all ages The Complete Alice in Wonderland, the most vivid adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s genre bursting tales of young Alice and her Adventures in Wonderland.

My Thoughts

I want to like Alice in Wonderland. I really do. The fact is that it bothers me. It wasn’t always that way. As a child I thought it was quite a lovely tale. Then I re-read it sometime in my late teens and I suddenly found it unsettling.

I started to notice that the story made zero sense. All the characters are mean beyond measure. Except for Alice of course, she’s quite nice. A little eccentric...but she’s still pleasant. I don’t know why all the other characters have to yell at her so much. I do like the bit of the story with the mad tea party. On the other hand, I find the part where the Duchess sings about beating her baby when he sneezes decidedly disturbing. I unexplainable issues with the mock turtle section as well. I like Through The Looking Glass better. Living chess pieces are awesome. Sometimes all the poetry gets on my second nerve. Though there are one or two poems I do enjoy. It’s safe to say that I have mixed feelings when it comes to Alice’s adventures. The nonsense of it all makes my head spin.

 Despite my qualms I decided I wanted to give it another try. Like I said, I really do want to like it. I found this graphic novel version of Alice in Wonderland and thought this was the perfect way to give it a chance. After all I haven’t met a graphic novel adaptation that I didn’t like. Not yet anyway. The complete Alice in Wonderland is a collection of four comic issues telling the whole tale from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass. It even includes the lost chapter from the second book “A Wasp In A Wig.” Obviously not everything from the novels ended up the comic. Still so much of it remain true to the original material. I thought the authors did an excellent job at converting it graphic novel form. The artwork is so beautiful that I bought it for that factor alone.

I did like the story a better in this format. However, I couldn’t shake the fact that Lewis Carroll’s original tale disturbs and annoys me just the slightest bit. I did get some insight while doing research for this review. Alice in Wonderland is classified under the genre nonsensical literature. A writing form, which focuses on wordplay and the well...general lack of logical reasoning. So the author wasn’t insane. Alice in Wonderland is actually supposed to make no sense. Somehow understanding the concept of the story has helped me realize that maybe I’ve been taking it too seriously all along. Alice in Wonderland might not be exactly my cup of tea but this graphic novel was certainly worth buying and keeping in my library for re-reading.

Interesting Facts

Lewis Carroll was Charles Dodgeson’s writing pseudonym. Not only was he a writer but he was also a mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon, and a photographer.

The original manuscript of the book was entitled Alice’s Adventures Underground.

The character Alice is said to take her name from the real life figure Alice Liddell. The poem in Though The Looking Glass “A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky” is an acrostic poem that spells her name.

There is said to be a hidden code in the chess theme of Through the Looking Glass. It has something to do with Alice Liddell and references to Dodgeson's favorite number 42. It's a very LOST like theory isn't it? Ha ha!

One of the authors of this graphic novel adaptation, Leah Moore, is the the daughter of renowned comic creator Alan Moore, who wrote such works as Watchmen. She and her husband, John Reppion, also collaborated on a story for the graphic novel Comic Book Tattoo. Ironically I have reviewed both Watchmen and Comic Book Tattoo.

 Movies and TV

 There are quite a few movies and television depictions of this novel considering it has been adapted again and again since 1903. This is a quick overview of the ones I’ve seen. Forgive me if some of my recollections are a little foggy. I haven’t watched some of these since I was a child.

 The 1951 Disney animated film of Alice in Wonderland was of course my first experience with the tale. The movie combines elements from both the first and second book which was a lovely choice. The songs are full of wit. I love “The Unbirthday Song.”

When I was young they used to play and old version of Alice and Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass on TV all the time. I remember really loving both films but I can’t figure out what year they were made. I don’t think it is 1966 version. Hmm...Maybe it was the 1972 version. I also use to watch a re-watch a version of Alice in Wonderland that I had on tape. This one depicted Alice as a teen and had so stop motion elements I believe. Gosh, I don’t know when that was made either. Curiouser and curiouser. Warned you that I was fuzzy on some the details.

I do remember enjoying the Disney TV series Adventures in Wonderland in the 90’s. I thought it was darn cute. I was nice that Alice could step through the looking glass and have her unusual friends help her solve her problems. I haven’t seen it since then. I kind of miss it.

In 2009 the Syfy channel came out with a science fiction re-imagining of the story in their two part mini-series Alice. If you’re wanting something true to the book this movie isn’t it. It’s one of those things where you have to play find the relationship to the original material game. If you want some creative steampunk with some entertaining acting performances, Alice is a nice choice. The first part of the series was a little slow, but the second part was pretty fast paced. It’s one of the the better Syfy original movies. 

There is of course Tim Burton’s 2010 adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. I wouldn’t say it was my favorite Tim Burton film. The only reason I didn’t completely love it is because it gave me that feel you get when reading the second book in a series without reading the first. Does that make any since? I couldn’t really get into the way the screenplay was written. Even so it has really cool imagery, and awesome actors doing awesomely. I would watch it again. However, never again in 3D. I had a headache for two hours after seeing in 3D in the theater. Perhaps the imagery was just too over powering in three dimensions. 

Lastly if you are looking for something not Wonderland exactly, but related to it you can take a look at the film Dreamchild. The movie centers around fictionalized flashbacks of an elderly Alice Liddell, primarily focusing on her childhood around the time the book was written. I watched this several years ago. I vaguely remember it was pretty good. The only thing I strongly remember about it was this creepy flashback/dream about the “mad tea party.” That part totally freaked me out. I haven’t watched it since, but maybe I should try it again. 

 Music To Read By 

I didn’t listen to any music. I just enjoyed reading though the television commercials this time around. I was going to make a playlist containing all the songs written that are based on the book . Then I found a web page that listed 20 songs inspired by Alice in Wonderland. I thought why not just link you to that page. It even includes songs with music videos based on Alice in Wonderland. That is way more awesome than the playlist I had planed. 

That is all my darlings. This was a long one and a link extravaganza. Now you see why it took me so long to post it. Sorry for the wait. Happy reading and keep it shiny!

About Books Blog 48: Marvel 1602

Author: Neil Gaiman

Genre: Graphic Novel, Mystery, Science Fiction

Favorite Line

“But hope, like heroes, can prove hard to kill.”

Summary (from Goodreads)
All's not well in the Marvel Universe in the year 1602 as strange storms are brewing and strange new powers are emerging! Spider-Man, the X-Men, Nick Fury, Dr. Strange, Daredevil, Dr. Doom, Black Widow, Captain America, and more appear in the waning days of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. As the world begins to change and enter into a new age, Gaiman weaves a thrilling mystery. How and why are these Marvel stars appearing nearly 400 years before they're supposed to?

My Thoughts

If you like comics at all you are sure to love Marvel 1602 as much as I did. This graphic is an extreme what if story asking: “what would happen if you took well know Marvel Comic characters and set them back in Elizabethan times?” It is a very creative story indeed. I loved the new interpretations of the characters, and seeing how their stories inter-weaved.

The great thing about Marvel 1602 is that you don’t have to read every Marvel Comic in the universe to understand it. If it turns out that you don’t know who one or two of the characters were in the original comics it doesn’t effect the enjoyments of the story. Though I’d be surprised if everyone didn’t know more than a few of the characters in the Marvel Universe due to the amount of films made about them in recent years.

Even though I had read this before, I soon realized that I had forgotten the whole entire book. The reason I forgot it is that 1602 is a serious mystery and espionage story. The plot is enjoyably intricate. I liked that the tale brings in so many historical elements about was going on in the government in the time period. I felt that really grounded the story in realism while the not totally human characters were flying around. I personally think Marvel 1602 is awesome. It’s serious drama with a lighthearted quality, which is a pretty good mix if you ask me. Of course, it also has beautiful art by Andy Kubert and Richard Isanove which makes it all the more fun.

Facts I Found Interesting

Due to the success of 1602 Marvel has release three sequels, 1602: New World, 1602: Fantastic Four, and Spider Man: 1602. I totally did not know about the sequels. I need to get my hands on them soon.

For the art in Marvel 1602 a technique called “enhanced pencils.” In this technique the penciled pages are sent to the colorist instead of the inker first, this results in cleaner more elaborate lines. Click here to see the art from 1602.

As with most books you can find more facts on the inspiration behind the novel in the afterword of the book. Don’t you just love an afterword?

The Movie

Obviously there is no movie. Which is really sad because I would probably do a wacky happy dance if there was one. The story is so elaborate it would probably be difficult to do in a really nice way. Therefore I will just enjoy the fabulous art for now.

Music To Read By

As I did with American Gods I found myself drawn to Sun and Moon by The Bravery. I don’t know what it is about Neil Gaiman and The Bravery, but hey it works for me. I also listened to the album System by Seal. It’s a semi-dance album so that might seem weird. However, Seal dance music is different I suppose. It has more of a mood and deeper lyrics. For the playlist I decided to use not only songs from the albums I listened to, but songs from the soundtracks of the films that have been made about the Marvel characters in this book. It actually turned out to be a pretty shiny playlist.

Marvel 1602 Playlist

Believe(Moon Version) - The Bravery

System - Seal

Come On, Come In - Velvet Revolver

Chasing The Storm - Patrick Doyle

Bleed for Me - Saliva

Playing With Fire - John Ottman

Hero - Chad Kroeger and Josey Scott

Passage of Time - Alan Slivestri

That's all folks. See you all later. Keep it shiny!

About Books Blog 24: Watchmen

Writer: Alan Moore

Artist: Dave Gibbons

Colorist: John Higgins

Genre: Graphic Novel

Favorite Line

“Why are so few of us left active, healthy, and without personality disorders?”

Summary

I totally took this summary from IMDb. I couldn’t figure out how summarize it without telling the whole story.

In a gritty and alternate 1985 the glory days of costumed vigilantes have been brought to a close by a government crackdown, but after one of the masked veterans is brutally murdered an investigation into the killer is initiated. The reunited heroes set out to prevent their own destruction, but in doing so discover a deeper and far more diabolical plot.

What I Thought of This Book

Almost everyone I know who likes graphic novels (including my mother) said I needed to read Watchmen. In fact, everything I read about the graphic novel genre said I should read Watchmen. That is quite a few people referring something, so I thought I would finally take a crack at it.

I can see why people suggest Watchmen. It is thought provoking and on occasion darkly hilarious. There are so many ranges of dramatic and emotional directions in the plot. It is filled with plot twists and excitement.

The characters are extremely interesting psychologically. They are a little on the crazy side. I suppose you would have to be a bit barmy to put on a revealing costume, and go off to fight the scum of the underworld. Especially considering only one of the heroes actually has superpowers. Despite the characters’ inner darkness and sporadic moments of cruelty, I still found them endearing.

I think I will have to read Watchmen second time to take it all in. There are many elements to the story. There are several characters and their back-stories. Between each chapter there excerpts from books, news articles, and other various documents, created by the author to give further incite to the story. In addition, excerpts of a fictional graphic novel called Tales of the Black Freighter were inserted. It goes without saying that Watchmen has a rather complicated plot, but it is not difficult to understand. The only issues I had reading were the afore mentioned articles in between chapters. Part of it was that quite a lot of the book deals with politics. I am not an overly political person. I didn’t mind the political part in the comic sections, but I was so tempted to scan when reading about it in tiny black and white type.

Facts I Found Interesting

There were so many interesting facts! I just picked a couple, for more go over to the Wikipedia page.

Alan Moore originally proposed the Watchmen story line using characters from another comic recently purchased by DC Comics. Though DC liked the idea, they suggested Moore use original characters of the tale. Moore said, "DC realized their expensive characters would end up either dead or dysfunctional." Ha ha.

Artist Dave Gibbons stated that the character Rorschach was his favorite to draw because, "you just have to draw a hat. If you can draw a hat, then you’ve drawn Rorschach, you just draw kind of a shape for his face and put some black blobs on it and you’re done."

The Movie

The film is alright. It is extremely close to the novel. The visuals are beautiful. As always, I give the film kudos for using exact dialog from the book. Most of the casting was right on, and the action scenes were great.

While I was watching it, I couldn't help but think if you had not read the book you probably would not like it much. Even though they tried to give you all the back-story, there was no way they could have fit enough of it in there. I personally enjoyed watching it just because I liked the book and had fun seeing the scenes in live action.

I only had one major disappointment. They striped some of the hilarious parts that were depicted in the novel. Well, I suppose they didn’t remove the funny scenes. They just played them in a way that wasn’t as funny as I saw it in my head. Overall, it was fun to watch but not as good reading the novel. I think it would have been extra wonderful if they made it into a mini-series.

Watchmen Trailer

Obviously, there wasn’t enough time in the Watchmen film to include the comic within the comic, Tales of the Black Freighter. Thus, the filmmakers conceived of making it in to a separate animated feature. I haven’t watched it yet, but the trailer makes it seem interesting.

Tales of the Black Freighter Trailer

Music To Read By

Favorite Albums

I enjoyed American Idiot by Green Day, and I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love by My Chemical Romance. I think this is because these albums and the book explore similar ideas. I also loved a compilation album of works by Nat King Cole. This choice was inspired by the fact that the song Unforgettable was mentioned in Watchmen. Lastly, I liked Bare by Annie Lennox and Best of Led Zeppelin. For no reason really, I just like them. Oh yes, I also listened to the Watchmen film soundtrack. The soundtrack used several songs that are quoted in the book.

Watchmencomicmovie.com has a page containing all the musical references in Watchmen. I picked some of my favorites from the songs referenced and the soundtrack for the playlist.

Watchmen Playlist

The Times They Are A Changin’ - Bob Dylan

Desolation Row - My Chemical Romance

Ride of the Valkyries - Budapest Symphony Orchestra

The Comedians - Elvis Costello

The Sound of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel

Neighborhood Threat - Iggy Pop

Walking on The Moon - The Police

Hallelujah - Imogen Heap

Unforgettable - Nat King Cole

You’re My Thrill - Billie Holiday

Boulevard of Broken Songs - Green Day/Oasis

All Along The Watchtower - Jimmy Hendrix

A Thousand Beautiful Things - Annie Lennox

Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin

Revolution - Jim Sturgess

Take A Bow - Muse

The Times They Are A Changin’ - Me First and The Gimme Gimmes

That's all folks. See you soon. Keep it shiny!

About Books Blog 19: Comic Book Tattoo Tales Inspired By Tori Amos

Authors: Various

Editors: Rantz A. Hoosley and Tori Amos

Genre: Graphic Novel

Summary

Comic Book Tattoo is an anthology graphic novel featuring 51 stories based on or inspired by a song by Tori Amos.

What I Thought of This Book

I did not enter the bookstore intending to buy this book. I was actually looking for the fourth graphic novel in The Sandman Series. Unfortunately, everyone else must have needed the fourth book too so all of them were gone. Considering it was the second bookstore I'd looked for Sandman in, I resigned to getting the book online. I decided to see if there was anything else that seemed interesting. I discovered they had Comic Book Tattoo. Though I had wanted to buy it eventually, it wasn't at that top of my list. There were many comics I intended to read first. However, the artwork in Comic Book Tattoo was just so awesome, and I am a bit of a Tori fan. I figured why not buy it?

A few of the comics differed from what I interpreted the songs to be. This bothered me for a few seconds. Then I realized that everyone interprets a song differently. That is the beauty of music. I read more on the concept behind the book, which made the stories make more since. All the graphic artists were asked to created something that reflected the way the song made them feel, not how the song could be interpreted. Sometimes the way songs make you feel has nothing to do with what the song is about. When you think about it, Tori's songs can occasionally be down right difficult to interpret. I will never forget when my mom and I spent many hours trying to decipher the lyrics on one of her albums. It made my brain hurt a little, but the music was still great.

As I said the artwork done by a off the artists is beautiful. I was expecting that I would like that. As I expected one or two of them to be just a little too weird for me. I didn't expect that the stories based on the few songs I don't like would be some my favorite stories. On the other side of the coin, some stories based on my favorite songs were good but not quite my favorite. These stories are cute, meaningful, reflective, and many have awesome sci-fi/fantsy plots. As you can guess, some of these comics contain mature themes. However, if you are old enough to watch the shows on Showtime or HBO you probably won't have a problem with this.

The only little inconvenience with this book is that it is huge. I read almost all of this during an all night black out due to rainstorms and flooding in our area. I had to hold the book at weird angles to read by candlelight. Because of the size of the book, by the time I finished it the outer cover completely came off. Fortunately, the binding of the pages held together. All I can say is that if you are going to get it you might want to invest in the hardback copy. Aside, from this I enjoyed Comic Book Tattoo very much. It was a great way for me to pass time when I had no television, internet, or you know electricity in general.

Facts I Found Interesting

The title of Comic Book Tattoo comes from the song Flying Dutchman. The song was written about editor and graphic novelist Rantz A. Hoosley who is Tori’s close friend. Rantz also introduced Tori's music to fellow graphic novel creator and writer, Neil Gaiman, by giving him a demo tape of hers before her first album came out. He told Neil that Tori had written a song about him on it and asked him not to sue her. Ha ha. The tape actually lead to Neil calling her on the phone and them becoming friends. Neil Gaiman wrote the forward to Comic Book Tattoo. Ironically, I went to the bookstore to get a book in the Sandman Series created by Neil Gaiman. Therefore, in a round about way I still ended up with something Neil related.

Art of Comic Book Tattoo

Here is a link to an image gallery on my favorite Tori fan site hereinmyhead.com which feature some of the art in Comic Book Tattoo.

Comic Book Tattoo Images

Music To Read By

I bet you're thinking I listened to every Tori Amos album ever while reading this. In fact, you would be wrong. I didn't listen to any music at all. Part of it was that each story is prefaced by the lyrics to the song it is based on. It can be hard to read lyrics to a song while listening to a different song. My other reason is the aforementioned black out. I wasn't sure how much charge I had on my Mp3 player, and with no electricity, I couldn't charge it. The playlist below features all the songs featured in the book in order

  Comic Book Tattoo Playlist

Flying Dutchman

Bouncing Off Clouds

Girl

Merman

Take To The Sky

Mr. Zebra

Little Earthquakes

Marianne

Crazy

Programmable Soda

Toast

Jackie's Strength

Little Amsterdam

Here, In My Head

Suede

Sugar

Teenage Hustling

Father Lucifer

Snow Cherries From France

The Waitress

Caught A Light Sneeze

Winter

Baker Baker

1000 Oceans

Space Dog

The Beekeeper

Siren

Iieee

Silent All These Years

Leather

Gold Dust

Precious Things

Glory of the 80's

Honey

Crucify

God

Pandora's Aquarium

Scarlet's Walk

Beauty of Speed

I Can't See New York

Upside Down

Northern Lad

Roosterspur Bridge

Cornflake Girl

Pirates

Hey Jupiter

Devils And Gods

Past The Mission

Sweet The Sting

Ribbons Undone

Pretty Good Year

I thought it might be fun to share with you a Tori Amos Tribute video I edited a long time ago. I made it when I was in a deep Tori phase. I still like her now, but I don't think I'm quite as obsessed as I was. Haha. Anyway, I mixed footage from some of her music videos and one of her live performances. I think it's pretty good. It's edited under my screen name Scarlet Cherry.

Take To The Sky: A Tori Amos Video Tribute @ Yahoo! Video

Next About Books Blog: So B. It by Sarah Weeks