cheshire cat Archives - Graphic Policy

Tag Archives: cheshire cat

Fashion Spotlight: It’s Hard to Choose!, Grinning, Not the Dragon You Are Looking For

Posted on January 22, 2016 by Graphic Policy Team

Ript Apparel has three new designs! It’s Hard to Choose!, Grinning, and Not the Dragon You Are Looking For, by mathieupynte82 and Dr.Monekers, are on sale today only! Get them before they’re gone!

It’s Hard to Choose!

Grinning

Not the Dragon You Are Looking For

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Graphic Policy does purchase items from this site. Making purchases through these links helps support the site.

Fashion

Review: Wonderland #37

Posted on July 9, 2015 by

That the world of Wonderland is intricately layered should not be confusing. The series is after all based on the somewhat drug-fueled dreams of Lewis Carroll, and involved a land of whimsy and fantasy. The modern adaptation of this featuring heroine Calie Liddle has vacillated between different inspirations, especially since the takeover of Wonderland by Calie, and the handover of the creative duties to a new creative team. This essentially caused that it become a new series, one focused on pretty much anything, and one which has moved away from the madness inducing realm that it had started as. Sometimes the focus on more of a sword and sorcery fantasy, and sometimes it is closer to Carroll. The previous story arc involving the Squire and the En Passant was much more like the sword and sorcery inspiration, but the Carroll inspiration also usually remains.

This is the follow-up to the previous arc, and while it essentially continues the same story, it is evidently also somewhat different, and worthy enough to start its own story arc. With the Squire implicated in the escape of the Terror, she decides to keep her silence. Meanwhile other forces, these closer to the original source material, are at play in the effort to take out Calie from play. The resulting confusion is one which no one can seem to figure out what is happening, and where the Cheshire and Calie cannot comprehend the actions of the Squire, who had apparently become their new ally.

If the series seems to be somewhat convoluted, it is because it is. The story in this first issue of this new story arc continues what came before, but also throws it away. The Terror was a villain that had to be dealt with, but his role seems to be relatively unimportant here. Still this story deserves some benefit of the doubt. After the series writer Erica J. Heflin has somewhat of a pattern by this point of creating a puzzle for herself to start with and then to sort through it carefully and meticulously by the end of a story arc to produce another stunning victory. Such would seem to be the case here as all the pieces are in play for another amazing story, just that it is not clear how that will play out yet.

Story: Erica J. Heflin Art: Marc Rosete
Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy

We Talk About Wonderland with Manuel Preitano

Posted on July 7, 2015 by

Manuel Preitano is relatively new to the medium of comic books but he has already turned some heads primarily with his work at Zenescope. His work has particularly been noticed in the pages of Wonderland, the sometimes fantastical and sometimes maddening realm of dreams and nightmares. He joined us to talk about the series and its inspiration.

Graphic Policy: Grimm Fairy Tales features Calie Liddle as its main character, and unlike many other characters in comics it has looked at her evolution from a younger age to being older. She has undergone various changes in her appearance, but when taking on the role of the White Queen she evidently changed again. How do you draw her differently to reflect the fundamental change in the character?

Manuel Preitano: I was lucky enough to approach the amazing world of Wonderland gradually: first with the five issues miniseries “Clash of Queens”, which focused on the four queens of Wonderland battling each other; then, the main series, with Wonderland #33-36, which was my first occasion to draw Calie. You’re right about Calie changing a lot, and I think that’s part of the fascination of Wonderland setting. Wonderland is an unstable world that changes the people who fall into it. If you remember, in the original Alice in Wonderland book Alice undergoes a size change as soon as she gets down the rabbit hole, so this is definitely part of the Wonderland mythos. What Calie keeps all the time is her humanity, so I tried to draw her as a human being who suddenly has to deal with a wider world than she ever imagined. I had the occasion to draw her in many outfits, and I really had fun making different versions of her White Queen attire. The winter one in my Wonderland #33-36 run was a special favorite!

GP: Calie is the queen of a land of fantasy but also based in reality on Earth. How do you depict the character artistically to make sure that both are believable while also being the same character?

MP: It’s her continuously changing, but keeping her humanity at the same time. The script (written by Erica Jeanne Heflin) in Wonderland #33-36 made good use of this concept, I think. We had a good variety of real world scenes and fantasy ones. In Wonderland world she commands armies, she has great powers, she faces monsters and slays them with her sword… but in the real world problems are less direct, with the solutions coming from her relationships with other people. She has different approaches to different problems, and my approach as an artist tried to reflect that, with her body language, the way she poses and so on. I hope I did a good job!

GP: How hard is it to draw Wonderland, the realm of madness? Do you find yourself challenged to come up with increasingly weird things? Or is it kind of liberating as you can do whatever you want?

MP: I love to draw the contrast between the real world and Wonderland, as the former tries to explain everything with logic (and this reflects in the visuals) while the latter allows way more freedom and can really contain any setting you could imagine, ready to be drawn. It’s definitely liberating, yes! Erica had me draw some wonderful things (e.g. dragons, ghouls, pixies, etc.) in her story arc, and a big part of the story was set in a huge forest. I could work this contrast between real world cities and their geometrical shapes and fantasy woods with their organic, asymmetric designs. As a huge fan of Swamp Thing, I love drawing woods, swamps, and natural settings.

GP: Wonderland has become a lot more oriented to big cats in recent issues, with the battle of cats occurring on numerous occasions? Do you like drawing them?

MP: Yes! I love cats, and I love drawing cats. It always relaxes me when I have a whole Cheshire Cat sequence to draw. I’m very glad there were plenty of scenes with the character on the Wonderland related comics I worked on! Vincenzo Riccardi did a great job on Wonderland #32, where the story was really, really focused on cats!

GP: Wonderland as a series seems to be venturing out from the original books and taking on the fantasy genre. Do you have any particular inspirations when it comes to this genre?

MP: I like to study many references before drawing something, and that’s really easy when you love the genre. They come from very different places: many French comics have visually astonishing settings, so I went through them. Among other things, video games are also a good source of inspiration, and I always try to make a mix of contemporary and old school fantasy when drawing Wonderland. Works like Sandman: Overture have been a great inspiration for the unusual settings of Wonderland, as well; I try to follow the flow, checking both classics and more modern fantasy works.

GP: Are there any characters that stand out from a design standpoint in the Wonderland series?

MP: I like the White Queen design a lot, but there are so many to choose from. It’s quite a colorful world when it comes to design, as many of the characters have a very distinct style. I have a soft spot for the Queen of Spades in terms of design, as she really represents the archetype of the evil queen, so I hope to see her again at some point!

GP: The depiction of Violet as the Mad Hatter is kind of similar to that of Harley Quinn, which according to cosplayers is one of the most popular looks from comics. Why do you think that the female jester image is so appealing?

MP: It connects to that tradition of ambiguous, antihero characters, where you see they’re not completely evil (or they’re just crazy, so not intentionally doing evil), but they’re not good either. Harley Quinn is moved by her mad love for the Joker, and who hasn’t done crazy things for love (but not as crazy as Harley, one hopes)? Back to the Jester figure, in the Middle Ages and Renaissance there were licensed fools, people who were allowed to act crazy and criticize kings or nobles. They were allowed to tell the truth in a world dominated by strict rules and etiquette, so—no surprises here—the truth teller remains a popular figure today. Visually, characters like Mad Hatter Violet and Harley Quinn (referring to her original costume here) have a very solid look and color palette, immediately identifying them in this tradition, and this surely contributes to their popularity. I can pick a Harley Quinn costume out of a crowd of cosplayers, let’s say! The asymmetric design of Harley hints to her madness, so it’s like everything in her look talks about her inner life, which is very important in character design.

GP: Are there any characters from the Carroll books that you would like to see introduced or reintroduced into the ongoing stories?

MP: I love to draw monsters, so having the opportunity to draw the good ol’ Jabberwocky would be lot of fun to me!
I’ve been given the opportunity to design some creatures for the ongoing series, like Terror, the Red Rabbit, the Grinner and so on, so I’m eager to see what they’ll make me draw next time!
For the rest, Wonderland is a world with so many possibilities, so I would love to see new writers inventing new crazy concepts for the series, following Carroll’s concepts but adapting them to new times. Wouldn’t that be really fun to see? It’d be a lot of fun to draw!

Review: Wonderland #36

Posted on June 4, 2015 by

The denizens of Grimm Fairy Tales standout series return her for what is the end of the second major story arc after Erica J. Heflin took over the helm for the title. The change in focus under the new writer is one that was perhaps a natural evolution of the characters and setting but it is also one which leaves a lot open to interpretation. After all Wonderland is the seminal setting for the literary nonsense genre of fiction, a genre which really only contains a handful of recognizable entries. The setting is one which is full of the abstract and bizarre, but also one which is full of the stuff that makes up the fantasy genre, and so while this series is still very much set in the madness that was and is Wonderland, at times recently the series has almost taken on a fantasy feel.

As the final issue of this story arc, there are still evidently a few loose ends to be wrapped up. With the Terro on the loose, Calie and Cheshire are forced into an alliance with the Squire, who had given them the means by which to control the Terror. The Terror was not so easy to be controlled though and worked its powers to manipulate the minds of the Cheshire and the Squire into being enemies of Calie as she sought to control this threat. As Calie faces off against them here, it is not the most engaging part of the story although the action is fun enough, instead she faces against her own worst nightmares, but as a veteran of the torment of Wonderland, there are not as potent as her enemy thinks.

Once again this issue proves why this series is far and away the standout series from Zenescope. The characters are rich and the concept has depth. The metamorphosis of Calie from troubled teen in the earlier books to superhero queen is maybe not the most evident from the earlier stories involving the character, but as they are written it is natural and logical progression in the character’s path. This issue continues forward the strong momentum behind this series and finishes the second story arc with a bang, and sets up the future for more grat stories to come.

Story: Erica J. Heflin Art: Manuel Preitano
Story: 9.3 Art: 9.3 Overall: 9.3 Recommendation: Buy

Review: Wonderland #35

Posted on May 14, 2015 by

There is an interesting moment near the middle of this issue. It is reminiscent of the original source material, but at the same time very different. This singular moment acts as a microcosm for this series as whole. It is now very much different from the original source material, but it retains the same spirit, and as such acts as a logical interpretation of the evolution of this series. The creative team has taken what has come before, both from Lewis Carroll and from its predecessors at Zenescope and taken it in a new direction while still retaining enough from the past to make it maintain its continuity.

The present version of Wonderland has taken on what is essentially a fantasy setting, with inspiration from the original world of zany madness. Calie and the Cheshire Cat are aided by the Squire, who spends the issue hunting for her adversary before joined by her allies. Calie and the Cheshire are busy at the beginning dealing with their own peril, including the scene which pays homage to the beginning of the classic book. This involves an interesting scene involving a literal cat fight which plays out in the background while the series heroine has to find the artifact which she is after. Meanwhile a group of evil fairies aim to imprison the villain for this story arc, but in doing so they risk unleashing his true power.

The entire story here flows well, with the action balanced equally with the plot. The plot is going almost full-on fantasy, with Calie playing a similar role to many other iconic heroes from the genre, all the while retaining her ties to Wonderland and the real world. For a story arc which started out a bit slow, it has picked up all the momentum that it needs here, and it promises a memorable enough resolution.

Story: Erica J. Heflin Art: Manuel Preitano
Story: 9.0 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy

Review: Wonderland #34

Posted on April 15, 2015 by

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

Review: Wonderland #33

Posted on March 11, 2015 by

Calie Liddle has been getting a lot of focus recently, between two Grimm Fairy Tales miniseries in the past year that have tied her into the larger universe, and her own ongoing series. While the other series are great in that they increase the exposure for this complex character, they are also not where the true strength of this character rests. For the majority of the character’s existence her complexity was derived from a simple question, trying to figure out how much of her madness was within and how much came from Wonderland. Now ruling over Wonderland as its White Queen, the series has been redirected to a completely different direction, focusing instead on her quest to rid the realm of the madness which infects the others.

In terms of the new direction, it was relatively seamless, her victory not resulting in the end of her stories, but rather serving as the continuation of what has come before. The first story arc of this new direction featured Calie battling a menace on both Earth and in Wonderland, and presumably operating under the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” concept, this second story arc is laid out in a similar pattern, as Calie goes to hunt for a bizarre group known as the antipathies, but not before getting kind of creeped out on Earth. While the format is the same, the presentation is not. While this issue suffers a bit of a bump is in its presentation of new characters, it is only a minor setback compared to the interpretation of this fantastical setting as well as the surprisingly close relationship between Calie and her cat. By the end of the issue with what lays ahead, this may end up being a noteworthy story arc.

One of the main criticisms of most Zenescope titles is that they rely on selling scantily clad female characters, and otherwise it is just a bunch of boring fairy tale stories. The same can be said for a lot of comics not just for Zenescope, and those that think so are missing out on a lot of interesting stories. This can be especially said for Wonderland, what is Zenescope best series and product by a wide margin. In some respects this issue falls a bit short of the expected, especially in the replication of the format which came before, but as always there is more depth here than in a lot of comics and so this issue, while maybe not a standout, serves as a good example of why more people should think of this series as a standout.

Story: Erica J. Heflin Art: Manuel Preitano
Story: 8.8 Art: 8.8 Overall: 8.8 Recommendation: Buy