Lela Dowling's All-Ages Alice Brings Wonderland To Comics
Hitting comic shops and bookstores in January is Alice, a full-length graphic novel adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic whimsical work Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Drawn in a delightful cartoony style by Lela Dowling, this adaptation should enthrall both new readers and Alice aficionados.
"This adaptation was originally serialized in a comic called The Dreamery over 15 years ago. At over a hundred pages, we reckon it's the longest comics adaptation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland out there," explains Nat Gertler, publisher of About Comics. "When you take Lewis Carroll's great wordplay and combine it with the attractive and humorous art style of Lela Dowling, you get a joyful piece. Collecting it into a single volume seemed obvious to me. I can't tell you why no publisher beat us to the book rights, but we're thrilled to be able to offer this graphic novel."
Alice tells the tale of a young girl who follows a talking rabbit into a zany and adventure-filled world. There she encounters such characters as disappearing cats, a mock turtle, and a Queen Of Hearts who isn't playing with a full deck. The story includes fanciful poems, odd tea parties, and flamingoes used as sporting equipment.
Lela Dowling is an illustrator who has worked in everything from portfolios to video games. In comics, she is best remembered for her work on The Weasel Patrol and the graphic novelization of Anne McCaffrey's Dragonflight.
The Alice graphic novel will be issued in the About Comics Reader Format, a 5.5" by 7" paperback format that fits well into kids' hands and backpacks. This is the same format used by the About Comics edition of The Liberty Project.
Alice (ISBN 0-9716338-3-5) is a black-and-white book, 112 pages, with a full-color cover for $8.95. It ships in January from About Comics, and will be distributed by Diamond Comics, FM International, Cold Cut, and Diamond Book Distributors.
