Reading level: Young AdultGenre: Graphic Novel/Urban Fantasy
Size: 176 Pages
Publisher: Automatic Pictures
Release Date: October 16, 2008
ISBN: 978-0981873701
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Hatter M series
Source: Bought
Rating: 3/5 stars
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.
This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Graphic Novel Challenge
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge
- TBR Pile Reading Challenge
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