Synopsis
Carroll's classic stories reunited with Peake's celebrated illustrations, restored for the first time to their original glory.
In the 1940s, Gormenghast trilogy author Mervyn Peake was commissioned to produce a series of seventy pen-and-ink drawings to accompany Lewis Carroll's two classics, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Previously admired for his illustrations of Treasure Island and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Peake set to work, producing such luminous, eccentric images that Graham Greene would later refer to him as 'the first artist since Tenniel to recast Alice in a contemporary mould.'
In these editions, Peake's marvelous illustrations, many of them originally drawn on poor quality wartime paper, have been meticulously reproduced as they were meant to be seen. Thanks to a combination of old-fashioned craft and cutting-edge computer technology, the delightful images shine for the first time in over two decades alongside Carroll's fantastically eccentric text. With introductions by modern literary masters Will Self and Zadie Smith, these beautifully designed and printed books are the perfect gift for adults and children alike.
Publishers Weekly
Classics Illustrated comics returns with this dismal adaptation of Carroll's second Alice tale. Most of the charming paradoxes and silly puns are salvaged in gs the text, arranged in columns beneath the artwork rather than in word balloons. Consequently, a lot of very small illustrations are needed to carry the dialogue between Alice and the many looking-glass characters--to the detriment of the visual appeal of the work. g Baker ( Why I Hate Saturn ) is a good caricaturist, but the drawings often appear perfunctory and the color choicesg flat, garish and awkward. At its best (the Humpty Dumpty scenes), the g sketchy linework seems more appropriate to a realistic narrative, a thriller or a political satire, and the g book lacks throughout the careful design and rendering that a children's classic requires. (Feb.)