What do you think?
Rate this book
ALICE AU PAYS DES COMICS - Tome 0
Alice like you've never seen her before! Some of the greatest comic book artists ever to put pen to paper tumble down the rabbit hole for their own unique look at Lewis Carroll's famous creation! Walt Kelly, Alex Toth, Dan DeCarlo, George Carlson, MAD-men Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Davis, and Dave Berg, the Simon and Kirby Shop, the Walt Disney Studios, pioneering Yellow Kid creator R. F. Outcault, and many more visit Wonderland and write... draw!... home to tell about it! You'll be astonished to see Alice gruesomely starring in the banned horror comic book stories of the 1950s, as the basis of a romance comic, riding on a flying saucer, meeting Santa Claus, as a teeny-bopper, hanging out with famous comic characters, going to the weird Monkey Island, looking like Alfred E. Neuman, selling out to pimp bread... and even have a sex change - TWICE! The fascinating - sometimes bizarre - comics, the rare original art, a special introduction by Mark Burstein, president of Lewis Carroll Society of North America, and a revealing foreword by the award-winning comics historian Craig Yoe make this book truly a wonder! Alice in Comicland will leave you grinning like the Cheshire cat!
- GenresComicsGraphic Novels
192 pages, Hardcover
First published April 8, 2014
2 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 6, 2014
This anthology collection contains works by many titans of the comic art form. Their individual takes on Alice are each different and entertaining in their own way. Unfortunately, the all-star names which made the cut to get printed on the cover of this book only account for 10% of the page count. The rest of the artists are not bad (save a few), but I wanted more than 5 pages of Alex Toth.
There are paragraph blurbs in one of the introductions, written about each story in this book. However, the back story on each of the stories collected here fails to address the elephant in the room: Disney's 1951 Alice in Wonderland animated movie. While there are a good number of stories collected in this book which predate the Disney movie, there seems to be a huge surge in Alice-related comic stories from 1951-1955. I would think this deserved more than the very brief mention it received.
I only recommend this book for dedicated Alice fans.
There are paragraph blurbs in one of the introductions, written about each story in this book. However, the back story on each of the stories collected here fails to address the elephant in the room: Disney's 1951 Alice in Wonderland animated movie. While there are a good number of stories collected in this book which predate the Disney movie, there seems to be a huge surge in Alice-related comic stories from 1951-1955. I would think this deserved more than the very brief mention it received.
I only recommend this book for dedicated Alice fans.
December 12, 2020
I absolutely love, love, LOVE this book! It's a collection of some of the different comics Alice has inspired or appeared in throughout time.
I think it's very fitting for Alice because of comics starting in Victorian times, Tenniel being a comic artist for Punch, and Dodgson a visual artist with his photography, it all comes in one big circle. It is really amazing the many different artists Alice has inspired in some way. There is Peanuts, Little Max, Superman, Archie and so many more!
This book is amazing with its content, and you will love reading it. If you are a Carrollian or Alice fan, this is a must have.
I think it's very fitting for Alice because of comics starting in Victorian times, Tenniel being a comic artist for Punch, and Dodgson a visual artist with his photography, it all comes in one big circle. It is really amazing the many different artists Alice has inspired in some way. There is Peanuts, Little Max, Superman, Archie and so many more!
This book is amazing with its content, and you will love reading it. If you are a Carrollian or Alice fan, this is a must have.
December 5, 2019
Definitely fascinating, but I guess I'm enough of a stick-in-the-mud that I simply prefer the original novels, no matter how much I love Golden Age comics.
September 27, 2022
3.5 stars. 4 for Alice fans.
June 10, 2014
This book could have been great.
Instead, it stops short at "good."
There are perils to reprinting golden age comics. The paper stock was never meant to last: it crumbles at a touch. The ink fades. Fades so much, at times, that the action is elipsed beyond the fade. Therefore, it's understandable when a publisher reprints a less than sterling copy. But the versions that made it into Alice in Comicland are so inferior to my own copies that I have to wonder if these were really the best available. My Alice at Monkey Island is of comparable quality (mine is faded; Alice in Comicland's has stained-through pages).
But both my copies of Alice #11 (Ziff-Davis) are so superior that I cannot imagine that this was the best version available. In fact, one of my copies is a public domain scan a friend gave me (which he got from Golden Age Comic Archive). The colors are richer, there's little to no bleed-through, and the years have not run the text together half so much. Curious.
Some of the editor's selections are mind-boggling. A large chunk of the book (29 out of 130 story pages) is taken up with the conventional (though pretty) retelling of Through the Looking Glass from World's Greatest Stories #1 (Jubilee Publications). But the editor leaves out Buddy Tucker (Alice's very first appearance in what we would recognize as a comic book) and the incredibly fun Alice story from Santa Claus Funnies #2. And, for that matter, the second Alice story from Alice #11 (or any of the delightful Alice stories from Alice #10).
The collection opens with bits of Alice ephemera: most of it is forgettable. Covers without context, single comic strips without their preceding or following installments, a splash page without the remainder of the story. On the plus side, much of Charles Schulz's Alice content is collected neatly together (and, in one stunning case, reproduced from Schulz's original art).
The lack of a bibliography for all Alice comics--or, at least, all golden age Alice comics--is, perhaps, the greatest downfall of Alice in Comicland. The pieces exist in a vacuum; there is nowhere to go if you'd like more of the same. Mark Burstein, one of the editors, wrote Pictures and Conversations: Lewis Carroll in the Comics: An Annotated International Bibliography. With the lack of an bibliography, one can't escape the feeling that this is an illustrated advertisement for Burstein's book.
Should you buy this book?
If you're a serious Carrollian collector, you'll probably own all but a handful of the items.
If you're a serious Carrollian collector who hasn't focused on golden age comics, this is a great starting place, filled with great stories (but be warned: almost all of the contents are public domain, and can be found free online). There are only a handful of rare or new stories.
If you're not a serious collector, there's little here of interest. Many of the items can be found online, for free, in much better quality.
If you're wondering just what is included, this is what is collected herein:
"Alice in Cartoonland" (a short story from 1916, newly illustrated)
"Lewis Carroll: The Rev. Charles L. Dodgson" from It Really Happened #5 (Visual Editions)
"Through the Looking Glass" from World's Greatest Stories #1 (Jubilee Publications)
"A Modern Alice in Wonderland" from Superman #41 (DC Comics)
"Alice in Terrorland" from Lost Worlds #5
"Alec in Fumbleland" from Puzzle-Fun #1 (George W. Dougherty Publishing Co.)
"Glory" (previously unpublished Walt Kelly piece)
"Mother's Gooseberry Rinds" from Pogo Possum #10 (Dell)
Alice on Monkey Island (Pentagon Publishing)
"Through the Looking Glass!" The Thing #17 (Charlton)
"Archie in Wonderland!" Archie's Madhouse #5 (Archie Comics)
"Alice in Flying Saucers" Alice #11 (Ziff-Davis)
"Little Max Meets `Alice in Wonderland'" Little Max Comics #69 (Harvey)
"Alice in Wonderland!" Mad #18 (EC)
Instead, it stops short at "good."
There are perils to reprinting golden age comics. The paper stock was never meant to last: it crumbles at a touch. The ink fades. Fades so much, at times, that the action is elipsed beyond the fade. Therefore, it's understandable when a publisher reprints a less than sterling copy. But the versions that made it into Alice in Comicland are so inferior to my own copies that I have to wonder if these were really the best available. My Alice at Monkey Island is of comparable quality (mine is faded; Alice in Comicland's has stained-through pages).
But both my copies of Alice #11 (Ziff-Davis) are so superior that I cannot imagine that this was the best version available. In fact, one of my copies is a public domain scan a friend gave me (which he got from Golden Age Comic Archive). The colors are richer, there's little to no bleed-through, and the years have not run the text together half so much. Curious.
Some of the editor's selections are mind-boggling. A large chunk of the book (29 out of 130 story pages) is taken up with the conventional (though pretty) retelling of Through the Looking Glass from World's Greatest Stories #1 (Jubilee Publications). But the editor leaves out Buddy Tucker (Alice's very first appearance in what we would recognize as a comic book) and the incredibly fun Alice story from Santa Claus Funnies #2. And, for that matter, the second Alice story from Alice #11 (or any of the delightful Alice stories from Alice #10).
The collection opens with bits of Alice ephemera: most of it is forgettable. Covers without context, single comic strips without their preceding or following installments, a splash page without the remainder of the story. On the plus side, much of Charles Schulz's Alice content is collected neatly together (and, in one stunning case, reproduced from Schulz's original art).
The lack of a bibliography for all Alice comics--or, at least, all golden age Alice comics--is, perhaps, the greatest downfall of Alice in Comicland. The pieces exist in a vacuum; there is nowhere to go if you'd like more of the same. Mark Burstein, one of the editors, wrote Pictures and Conversations: Lewis Carroll in the Comics: An Annotated International Bibliography. With the lack of an bibliography, one can't escape the feeling that this is an illustrated advertisement for Burstein's book.
Should you buy this book?
If you're a serious Carrollian collector, you'll probably own all but a handful of the items.
If you're a serious Carrollian collector who hasn't focused on golden age comics, this is a great starting place, filled with great stories (but be warned: almost all of the contents are public domain, and can be found free online). There are only a handful of rare or new stories.
If you're not a serious collector, there's little here of interest. Many of the items can be found online, for free, in much better quality.
If you're wondering just what is included, this is what is collected herein:
"Alice in Cartoonland" (a short story from 1916, newly illustrated)
"Lewis Carroll: The Rev. Charles L. Dodgson" from It Really Happened #5 (Visual Editions)
"Through the Looking Glass" from World's Greatest Stories #1 (Jubilee Publications)
"A Modern Alice in Wonderland" from Superman #41 (DC Comics)
"Alice in Terrorland" from Lost Worlds #5
"Alec in Fumbleland" from Puzzle-Fun #1 (George W. Dougherty Publishing Co.)
"Glory" (previously unpublished Walt Kelly piece)
"Mother's Gooseberry Rinds" from Pogo Possum #10 (Dell)
Alice on Monkey Island (Pentagon Publishing)
"Through the Looking Glass!" The Thing #17 (Charlton)
"Archie in Wonderland!" Archie's Madhouse #5 (Archie Comics)
"Alice in Flying Saucers" Alice #11 (Ziff-Davis)
"Little Max Meets `Alice in Wonderland'" Little Max Comics #69 (Harvey)
"Alice in Wonderland!" Mad #18 (EC)
July 20, 2015
A very cool book for fans of Alice and comics. Some of the stories in here are better than others, but there are some real gems - specifically the ones by Walt Kelly, Dan DeCarlo and Kurtzman/Davis. The rest...well, they're interesting, but not great. The Superman story in particular is just weird...it's very typical of the Golden Age incarnation of the character. The story by Alex Thoth is interesting, but not among his better work.
I did find the lack of context for the stories a little disappointing. There are two essays at the front, and then just the stories. I'd have liked to know more about some of these.
But anyway, it's a handsomely designed book (the cover is gorgeous...it's die cut and has to be seen up close to appreciate fully), and easy to recommend if you fall in that Alice/comics vent diagram like I do.
I did find the lack of context for the stories a little disappointing. There are two essays at the front, and then just the stories. I'd have liked to know more about some of these.
But anyway, it's a handsomely designed book (the cover is gorgeous...it's die cut and has to be seen up close to appreciate fully), and easy to recommend if you fall in that Alice/comics vent diagram like I do.
February 14, 2016
The book obviously deals with how Alice in Wonderland has been presented in comic books. It covers the earliest appearances of the Alice character in comics and publications that were sort of comics. Some of these are reprinted in full. There's a section on Alice in both Pogo and Peanuts comics.
There's also a number of covers reproduced that show some version of Alice on them. There's a Superman comic that features a character named Alice and there's even a story called Alice in Terrorland. Even Archie appears in one of the stories.
This is a good book and I'd like to see more books reprinting various appearances of Alice and Alice in Wonderland.
There's also a number of covers reproduced that show some version of Alice on them. There's a Superman comic that features a character named Alice and there's even a story called Alice in Terrorland. Even Archie appears in one of the stories.
This is a good book and I'd like to see more books reprinting various appearances of Alice and Alice in Wonderland.
February 18, 2016
Anybody who knows me, knows that I'm a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland and anything related to it. I've always had a love of books and of comics so when I came across this book, I had to have it. This is a collection of some Alice in Wonderland, and Alice in Wonderland related comics, including some well known illustrators like Walt Kelly and an Archie Alice in Wonderland comic that I had not previously seen before.
It is amazing to see how over the years, Alice in Wonderland has had such a wide influence. This is a great addition to anybody who is a fan of Alice and/or comic books. Most of the comics I had not seen until this collection.
It is amazing to see how over the years, Alice in Wonderland has had such a wide influence. This is a great addition to anybody who is a fan of Alice and/or comic books. Most of the comics I had not seen until this collection.
May 28, 2014
Another great collection from the dexterous mind of Craig Yoe. If you're a fan of Carroll's Alice -- or anyone's Alice, for that matter -- then this book is for you. Just say "yo!" to Yoe.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews