There is one major difference between the stories of Wonderland and those of the remainder of Grimm Fairy Tales. The majority of Grimm Fairy Tales franchises tend to focus on one world entirely, not two at the same time, as series are either based in the real world, as with the main series, or in their own separate worlds, as with Oz, Neverland, The Jungle Book and others.  Wonderland is the series from all of them which takes a magical realm and shows the relevance of the real world on the events there and vice versa.   While recent issues have tended to focus on something closer to a fantasy element for the series, it has nonetheless still been rooted closely enough to the events of the real world, as Calie still struggles to find a place in both.

The story here is told as the Terror has escaped and as the Squire faces punishment for this escape.  While the events might have seemed to be restricted to Wonderland with the various plots being advanced by different characters, the action jumps back to the real world.  As Calie meets up with Drew again she realizes that the darkness from her realm has spread back to Earth, with the Terror and the Red Rabbit keen to exploit her human connections against her.  Meanwhile in Wonderland, the Squire finally begins to explain her own opinion on what could be happening to cause all of the malevolence.

This is a series that tends to balance somewhere between good and great, and while the past few issues could be said to be only good, this seems to be the return to something more for the series.  There is a bit more gore here than what has been seen recently, but it also adds weight to what has happened.  Certainly this story still has some distance to go before resolution, but the approach here is the one that has worked best for the series overall.  Some Earth and some Wonderland equals the best outcome for story telling here.

Story: Erica J. Heflin Art: Marc Rosete
Story: 9.1 Art: 9.1  Overall: 9.1  Recommendation: Buy