Customer Reviews

Hatter M, Vol. 1: The Looking Glass Wars (Hatter M Looking Glass Wars)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When Desperado decided to part ways with their partnership with Image Comics earlier this year it was certainly a risky venture. Desperado had been publishing for over two years under the Image banner but would they be able to thrive without the Image safety net? I think that question still remains to be seen but Desperado is certainly on the right course with titles like Hatter M: The Looking Glass Wars.

The hardcover book reprints issues 1 - 4 of the series and if you haven't checked out this title, it's a very dark and bloody revisionist take on the Alice in Wonderland story by Lewis Carroll. In Beddor's version, it is Alice or Alyss as she is known in the book, who relates her story to Carroll and not the other way around. Wonderland is not the place of whimsical creatures but a world rife with war between the Red and Black factions. Alyss is the daughter of Queen Genevieve, the Queen of Hearts. The Queen's sister, Redd, stages a bloody coup with the aid of the Cheshire Cat who is now a savage, predatory beast. Hatter Madigan is the Queen's loyal bodyguard, the Top Cut of the Wonderland Millenary. Madigan, with blades that pop out of his blades and arms makes Wolverine look like he has a set of butter knives. But his deadliest weapon is his hat, which becomes a cyclone of razor-sharp death when hurled. The queen orders Madigan to take Alyss and leave Wonderland. They escape through the Pool of Tears to our world but become separated. Now, Hatter M is on a quest to find little Alyss. His trek takes him through Victorian-Era Europe where he encounters friend and foe, including a sinister group known as the Baanskratar that steals children and drains off their imaginations. The trail of Alyss leads to this horrific cartel...

Hatter M builds its Victorian horror originality cleverly upon the building blocks of a muck-lived children's story. Carroll's Wonderland was already a bit demented in the first place with a beheading-happy queen, the insane tea party participants, and floating cat heads but Beddor has ratcheted up Carroll's tale about a hundred-fold, and things don't get any less bizarre when they move from Wonderland to our world. At first it may seem as if Ben Templesmith's art was a strange choice for this take on the children's story...quite the contrary. Templesmith's lavish abstractions fit perfectly with the direction Beddor has taken the tale. Templesmith's gothic color palette is the perfect contrast to say the Disney animated film version. Hatter M is fantastic book and totally out of the box compared to so much of the ordinary that clogs the shelves in comic stores today. A breath of fresh air!

REVIEWED BY TIM JANSON

I don't write reviews often and I am inclined to leave my own opinions out, but I have appreciated parent reviews sometimes that have warned me of something I may not have expected from a book or product, and decided to share my thoughts to that end with respect to this book. My son, who reads well beyond his years (12) and who is highly imaginative and intelligent, requested this book after reading and immensely enjoying The Looking Glass Wars and Seeing Redd. However, he found this peripheral to the central series, and extremely disturbing. It actually frightened him and he found it difficult to sleep --- very surprising in light of all the other material he has read, appreciated, and understood. So, I gave this small book my attention, and indeed, while the art (it's a comic/graphic novel style) is unusual, interesting, and not poor quality depending on your own comic art style preferences, (looks like the artist made extensive study of corpses to prepare for this project) the substance is in fact rather ghastly, with violent themes, images of torture, and bizarre and disturbing happenings of the largely gratuitous sort, and overall the content is rather simply depraved more than meaningfully or usefully provocative. It bothered my son so that he no longer has any interest in reading any more of the original central series, whereas before this he was hopeful for the next installment. So, parents beware, and readers who loved The Looking Glass Wars and Seeing Redd beware too, because this may not be what you think, it may be a significant disappointment, and you ought to have a look in hand before you buy it for yourself or your kid.

This is one of the best comic books I have ver read. It will especially appeal to those who read Alice and Wonderland but prefer a darker read. On this subject I also reccomend the looking glass wars, and seeing red. These tie-in graphic novels fill readers in on what happened those thirteen years while Hatter searched the globe for Princess Alyss of Wonderland and also tells those who have not experianced the LGW novels what is happpening. (I still reccomend reading LGW first, however.) And though Hatter is traveling earth, where nowadays most events are boring when read in a comicbook, the story is anything but boring. Frank still finds plenty of ways to make it interesting. Wether its fighting zombies, battling creepy monkeys, leaping out of an unrolled carpet and out the windoiw in the middle of a courtroom, chasing imagination-eaters and fighting thugs, Beddor always finds ways to put our blade-toting hero into impossible situations. And the illustrations are awesome. Dark, moody, sketchy, and strange, they give the comicbook a bizarre feel to it, of which I quite enjoyed. Sometimes, they are a bit blurry, however, and may take a little getting used to for those who enjoyed the Spiderman comics, or any other comicbook not labeled Ben Templesmith.
One other thing: if you are a parent, and you are wondering if these books are appropraite for your child, read on. There is a lot of dark images, e.g. shady characters, rotting undead, snarling monkeys, but the comics are very short, so I tend to forget about those sort of thing quickly. There is also a considerable amout of violence. I would reccomend it 12+ or maybe a 10 or 11 year old if he is very mature.
Anyway, its awesome. A must-read. Buy it.

I "fell" for Ben Templesmith's art when he teamed with Ellis to do, yeah, FELL. So, when I happened upon this compilation called HATTER M, and saw that it had art by Ben Templesmith, I picked it up and bought it, without even glancing at the story blurb.

Thankfully, I was not disappointed. Then again, I like dark retellings of familiar tales (such as the updated fairy tales that Datlow/Windling offered us for the last decade plus in their fantasy anthologies).

In this case, we have a Hatter who is mad--as in furious--but not crazy. Although, okay, perhaps if you happened upon him in 1859--the year he popped into our reality from Wonderland after escaping the massacre royale contrived by the evil Redd, sister of the Queen and aunt to young Princess Alyss--and saw his crazy hat and crazy knife-throwing skills. Maybe you would think he was MAD.

But he's simply an honorable bodyguard to the Princess of Wonderland, brimming with white imagination who, in escaping from the massacre back home, was separated from the young princess, and now must search for her and protect her from the forces of Black Imagination.

We open with Paris in the 19th century, where hatmakers--imaginative and honorable in their professsion--first draw our Hatter's eye. Wherever there is imagination--in art, in music, in children who are "especially juicy" with it--there is a glow. Our Hatter follows that glow, because Alyss herself will, naturally, glow with the wonderlandishness of her own imagination.

We come across imagination vampires, an evil baronness, gypsies, hungry zombies, an intrepid Russian female reporter, and even Jules Verne. But in the end, what's most interesting is slowly piecing together what is going on from a disorienting, action-packed start. By chapter three, we are given a flashback to the evil goings on in Wonderland and feel more grounded.

My favorite chapter dealt with the orphanage that trained children in conformity. Little Edwina and her colorful butterly delighted me. The bit of humor with the dogs, her utter childlike trust in the Hatter, just simply shone for me.

Templesmith's art, like in FELL, leaves a lot of blurry space and it uses color in such a way that you feel the dark, mysterious atmosphere suited to the subject matter. There is plenty of violence (this is NOT for the very young), and some sly dark humor, and a big thematic cheer for, yes, of course, nurturing imagination of wonder.

You could have guessed that, though.

The machine at the orphange adds a definite steampunky element for those of you who like that. (I DO!)

The war is on. The Hatter is on the hunt. And I will be wanting to see where his journeys take him and his amazingly lethal hat.

I wish the whole storyline was in comics format(as I'm not inclined to read the young-adult novels in the trilogy). I guess I'll wait for more in the Hatter M vein.

Mir

I picked up the hardcover edition of this book at San Diego Comic-Con last year. I already was a fan of the The Looking Glass Wars novel trilogy, so felt this was a "must-have"--and I was not disappointed! The book follows Hatter's adventures looking for the lost Princess Alyss in our world, expanding on what is a tiny sequence in the first of the prose novels. The art is amazing; I wasn't familiar with Templesmith's work prior to Hatter M, though I have since sought out 30 Days of Night and some of his other books after being introduced to him here. Truly a unique artistic style. Since I'm not really a comic book person, it grabbed me in a way a lot of comic artists do not. And the story is a lot of fun, too, a worthy companion to the prose it compliments.

This may be a strange review, but i will write it anyway.
I have only read two of the Hatter M. comicbooks, of which I dowloaded for free on http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=92159514, and they rocked! I am definantly going to buy the next books in the series. I decided not to buy this book, though. I highly reccomend the M. Hatter books, which are full of action, suspense, and stylish fighting, but its cheaper to buy them inividualy. And like I said, you can dowload the first two for free.
Anyaway, that is my review, and if you are still intereseted in buying this hardcover edition, I would reccomend buying it from the official site, which, shockingly, is cheaper.
http://www.lookingglasswars.com/bazaar-folder/hats.html

What if Alice in Wonderland really existed? And Lewis Carroll got the story all wrong?

One character from the children's story, body guard Hatter Madigan, is looking for princess Alyss Heart. Stumbling into our world, he not only loses his beloved hat but also the princess. Labeled le monstre by those in Paris, he continues to search for Alyss. He ends up in a place where less imagination is the norm. Will he find his beloved princess?

This graphic novel companion to the bestselling novel THE LOOKING GLASS WAR is a surreal twist of Victorian fantasy touched with madness. Fans of the novel are sure to enjoy this tale. Beddor creates an imaginative world where Wonderland might have indeed existed. This novel is a treat. I can't wait for Hatter 2 and where he will end up next.

I have been a long time fan of The Looking Glass Wars series, so I was really excited to take my love for this series into a different medium. The first thing I did upon opening the novel was take a minute to fully appreciate the artwork of this graphic novel. It is simply breathtaking. My attention was captured by its sketchy style, layers of textures, and colors. It is interesting to note that most of the colors are dark, so when the reader sees red or pastels, it really jumps out at you.

If you have read the LGW, then the plot will not be too original for you since the novel features the beginning of LGW, and follows Hatter Madigan during parts of his 13 year hunt for Alyss on Earth. However, I found this graphic novel to be a nice addition to the series due to the reader getting to see some of the trials that Hatter M underwent. Overall, I was very pleased with this graphic novel. It is a wonderful addition to my LGW collection, and I am looking forward to reading the next installments.

Lewis Carroll could never have seen this coming, but Frank Beddor did.

Frank, Liz Cavalier, and Ben Templesmith have created a moody, compelling masterpiece, complete with magic, myth, and mayhem. Hatter Madigan, in his pursuit to protect Alyss, travels through space to Budapest , and Paris only to find himself in a place he does not quite understand, searching for the proverbial needle in the haystack.

This is an intense journey, in more than one sense. The physical transition from Paris to Budapest, and from there to the Benevolent Orphanage for Girls by Baroness Dvonna is violent and dangerous. Spiritually, the Baanskratar mind control cult is bleeding the young orphans dry, and the quest for Alyss takes Madigan into combat with those who would destroy imagination. Gaining an ally in Magda Pushkin, Madigan continues his search armed with a fierce determination to succeed!

There is so much more to this book that makes is equal to "Through the Looking Glass". The art is stunning, and Ben Templesmith creates a world and look so symbolic that even his panels edges are not what they seem. What seems to be real just may not be. Touches like color captioning on the children as they escape the Orphanage, and side portraits of those who would batter Madigan ooze creativity. There is also social commentary within. The Orphanage run by the Baanskratar focuses on mind control, and a concerted effort to kill our imaginations. Is that our modern media and entertainment industries? What about the dead who feed on the living? What do they represent? Is Hatter Madigan in his quest for Alyss on a journey of his own without knowing what he will find?
I can hardly wait for Volume Two...and more Looking Glass Wars.

www.lookingglasswars.com

Tim Lasiuta

I read Beddor's Looking Glass War series and enjoyed it but I wanted to know more about Hatter M! I was excited to see that this graphic novel was supposed to cover just that...Hatter M's backstory. Unfortunately the artwork was vague and hard to follow and the story itself didn't add nearly as much as I had hoped.

This graphic novel starts the story of Hatter M's years searching our world for Alyss. In this novel he finds a girl he thinks is Alyss and tries to save her from an evil Countess who is set on draining her imagination. Also drawn into the story is a reporter who wants a good story from Hatter M.

I had a hard time with this graphic novel. I didn't find the story all that engaging and the artwork was hard to follow. For large portions of the story it was hard to even tell what Hatter M was doing from frame to frame. The writing itself is pretty sparse so you are depending on the illustration to add a lot to the story. With the illustration so hard to follow it just didn't work for me.

There some interesting elements in the story. Hatter M gets involved with a secret society that is trying to drain white imagination from imaginative children. It is also amusing to watch as Hatter M tries to navigate the differences between Wonderland and our world. We get flashes of back story that show what transpired when Hatter M was forced to leave the Queen's side and hide Alyss; we get to see how Alyss was lost as well.

Overall I found the whole novel to be okay. There are some interesting additions to the story; it was great to get some more background on Hatter M and to fill out some of the events that transpired while Hatter M was searching for Alyss. The inclusion of this mysterious society in our world adds to the mystery in the story. The artwork is very hard to follow though and the story is sparse. With the story so dependent on the artwork and the artwork hard to follow I was a bit disappointed. I don't think I will reading future installments in the Hatter M graphic novel series. This might be a good read for a die-hard Looking Glass Wars fan; but it didn't add enough to the story for me to stay interested.