Tales from Wonderland: Tweedledee and Tweedledum one shot (Zenescope – Brusha)
A young teen is constantly pushed by his demanding and overbearing father but what happens when the father and son find themselves transported to a world that can easily turn everything you know into a nightmare of epic proportions? The tables are turned as two men become three and one of them seeks a new kind of revenge. Enter a world where madness reigns supreme, enter the world of Wonderland! Includes part 3 of the back-up story ‘The Arrangement.’
Of the Wonderland One-shots, this one seems to have taken a different turn than the others. Much more dark! Yes, the others (Red Queen, the House, Cheshire Cat, etc.) have been filled with bleak and frightening stories… but they have also had a touch of campy fun and eye candy that went with the horror hand-in-hand. Tweedledee and Tweedledum is a devastatingly eerie tale about the consequences of generational verbal and physical abuse, that while well written, doesn’t leave you smiling.
The writing is excellent. Joe Brusha continues to show he has what it takes as a writer to grip us and twist our emotions, he makes the reader feel sympathy and fright in the same frame. There is no doubt he could make it as a writer in whatever media he chose. The art, as is typical with Zenescope, is very solid. But like I said, with this ish they have taken out the eye candy and amped up the violence / gore. It would seem this one-shot was designed more for the slasher-horror fan and less of the campy-horror fan. And while I certainly enjoy Talent Caldwell’s cover on this (and really, who doesn’t enjoy his work?), don’t let it fool you – the goofy-curvy-disneyesque version of Dee and Dumb are not anywhere close to the tone of this issue.
Issue Grade: B
