Did you know that Alice from Wonderland was the daughter of Dr. Moreau? Or how about a team up between the Wicked Witch of the West and Dr. Jekyll? And did you ever wonder how Mowgli could speak to the jungle animals? Maybe he was part Doolittle? These are only some of the wickedly inventive crossover tales found in The Weirding Willows, a new graphic novel being released by Titan Comics by writer Dave Elliott. Like The Avengers movie, Alien vs. Predator or even Once Upon a Time, Elliott has written the king of all crossovers starring a wealth of characters from classical 19th century fiction. Alice in Wonderland, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Wizard of Oz, The Wind in the Willows; even Peter Rabbit makes a guest appearance in this clever comic, the hardcover collection of which is due out July 1.

The first volume of The Weirding Willows seems to be just the tip of the iceberg of this hugely imaginative story. Elliot fills each chapter with cameo after cameo, presenting an intricately woven tapestry of adventure starring some of literature’s most favorite characters.

Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.

Alice is the star of this series, presented as a no-nonsense teenage girl who has discovered more than just a portal to Wonderland out in the woods surrounding her house. The titular Weirding Willow actually contains portals to all manner of fictional lands, including Oz, Pellucidar (Journey to the Center of the Earth) and NeverNeverLand. But Elliott’s story is not just about doorways to all of these worlds. The characters and creatures of fiction already seem to live in and around the Willows, and many already have a long history of working together. Alice is the daughter of Dr. Philippe Moreau, because why not? It’s not like we ever knew Alice’s last name in the original Wonderland stories (did we?). And Moreau is an old friend of Morty Doolittle, son of the famous doctor (not the Eddie Murphy version). And the Wicked Witch of the West wants both of them to help her build an army of flying monkeys. Moreau’s scientific specialty is making freaky hybrid animal monsters, is it not?

But while that evil is afoot, Alice is tasked with helping the White Rabbit and his bunny friends defeat a monster who has invaded their little bunny homes – Frankenstein’s Monster! Also there’s at least one T-Rex.

Join me after the jump for the full review! And the hardcover is available for pre-order on Amazon.

The strength of The Weirding Willows is in all the ways Elliott has created to entangle his characters. He’s clearly put a lot of thought into the bigger picture here, like how Mowgli is the grandson of Dr. Doolittle. Or how Dr. Moreau and Dr. Jekyll both once studied under Charles Darwin. Watching each new character pop up is a real treat, especially with how Elliott weaves them into the ongoing story. I’ll admit I’m not the most well-read blogger out there, so I needed a few hints here and there as to which character was from what story. But otherwise, the clever crossovers were a blast.

Like Alice and the evil Farmer McGregor

Elliott  instills real personality into each of the characters. Alice isn’t just a wide-eyed audience surrogate. She’s a blunt, fearless young lady who speaks her mind. Morty Doolittle is an ass, but Frankenstein seems like a pretty cool guy, once he’s calmed down. None of the characters get lost in the shuffle, and there is quite the shuffle. Each one has their own role to play in the growing adventures, and Elliott keeps each of them from getting lost or stale. And there’s more than enough action, like when Mowgli has to fight a werewolf. Because why not?

The art by Barnaby Bagenda has a nice painted style to it. He avoids heavy black lines, but still manages to paint expressive faces for his wide variety of characters, be they human, animal or a bit of both. He seems especially skilled in drawing sentient rabbit faces. Artist Sami Basri takes over the later chapters in the book, and personally, I like him a bit better. I was already a fan of Basri’s work at DC Comics, and his solid lines give a lot more definition to the characters. The last two issues in the volume have a more comic book feel thanks to Basri, and it really elevates the story. Not that Bagenda’s work was bad, it’s just that Basri takes the series to a new level of professionalism. His epic, two-page spread of Wonderland is a sight to behold.

Not that I’m going to spoil it.

Here’s some bunny rabbits instead

The one drawback to The Weirding Willows graphic novel is that this is clearly just the opening segment of a much larger, longer story. I don’t doubt that Elliott has an epic adventure planned, and based on these early issues, it’s probably going to be pretty good. But over the course of six issues, Volume 1 is almost all set up. We meet characters, we learn their connections, and we solve a few scuffles, but everything still feels like it’s in introduction mode by the end of the volume. This is only the tip of the iceberg of The Weirding Willows. I would have preferred a more cohesive story arc over the 6 issues, but as an introduction, Elliott paints a very big, very exciting picture.

The Weirding Willows starts with a pretty fantastic idea – mixing and matching a ton of classic literary characters – then takes it a step further by weaving them together in ways one might not expect. A lot of care was put into crafting this imaginative world, and it shows. Dave Elliott is brewing something pretty cool here. Anyone who loves themselves some classic literature would be sure to love this comic.

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