The ongoing story of Calie Liddle has been one which has left many questions unanswered about the realm of Wonderland.  Most of the early stories featured characters that were close facsimiles of those from Lewis Carroll’s books, although with a more violent twist.  As the series moved away from the focus on Wonderland to a focus on Calie trying to protect her daughter from its perils, the land once again was ignored.  With the eventual and recent ascension of Calie to be the White Queen of Wonderland, at last the land was freed to be explored.  With a focus on fantasy the realm is given the potential to be a rich landscape, especially with the tie-ins to the literary background, but at the same time it is necessary to find a landscape which fits both influences as well as Calie’s ties to the real world.

The most recent issue of Wonderland represents the middle issue of only the second story arc since Calie was let loose on the land to free it of the remaining pieces of its madness.  In the previous issue Calie is led top the Antipathies who can reveal her true dreams to her, but at the same time a new warrior arrives to fight those that have been using dreams to fuel their own evil.  This acts as the second issue of what is a longer story arc and doesn’t have as many big moments, but manages to move the plot along well enough as Calie enters the pool of the Antipathies and as she comes face to face with the new warrior.  While this is an intermediary issue, it does also highlight the depth to which the new series writer Erica J. Heflin is willing to take to layer more into the realm.  Some of it is too convenient to fantasy (dragons) but much of it is not, and while this issue lacks a lot of big moments, it at least shows the logical approach that the writer is taking to make the series emulate and give homage to the source material as opposed to distorting it.

There is less to expect from this issue, though as opposed to the previous week’s White Queen tie-in to Realm War, this at least works to get the non sequitur out of the character’s path and to get her back on track for her own stories.  Those picking up this particular issue for the first time for a look into the well developed characters will likely be a little bit unimpressed as this is really not the strongest issue around to highlight what is so special about the character.  Nonetheless this issue does what it needs to, moving the plot along and setting the stages for another memorable story arc.

Story: Erica J. Heflin Art: Manuel Preitano
Story: 8.4 Art: 8.4 Overall: 8.4 Recommendation: Buy