I’m a Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There fan.

I am not a fan of this adaptation. Especially not at $10.

It wasn’t so much « adapted » as it was « sloppily hacked away at by Norman Bates ».

I bought an original paperback copy in the 1990s at Pic-n-Sav (now called Big! Lots!) for 75 cents.

The small format diminishes both Mr. Baker’s artwork and makes mince meet out of an already choppy episodic tale.

Yes, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has been done to death, but I think Mr. Baker would have had a superior and « smoother » tale to deal with and many more fun images to translate. (i.e. falling down the rabbit hole, Alice’s growing-shrinking-stretching, the caucus race, getting stuck in the rabbit’s house, the Duchess’s kitchen, the mad tea party, etc.) Kyle Baker’s Chesire Cat! How can we miss that?

The illustrations for Looking-Glass lacks inspiration; Mr. Baker seemed to settle for a bland interpatation of the gorgeous original Tenniel block prints rather than take a chance with a new style. (For instance, his Alice has blond hair, blue dress, and white apron… Gee, how original.)

The transitions from one episode to another seem abrupt and disjointed; yes, the journey ultimately turns out to be a dream, but where as the original telling was sly with the phasing in and out from one encounter to another, this retelling feels like your riding shot gun to a 15 year driver’s ed student. Brake-gas-brake-gas-brake-g-wait! brake.

A major disappointment.