I’m not usually into graphic novels, but my friend showed up to our weekly DnD game with “Cheshire Crossing,” and was like, ‘you have to read this!’ Being that it was free (hello, #no money bingo square), I did, and was not disappointed. Now, I still haven’t read the Martin, so I didn’t realize who Andy Weir was, but I love Sarah Anderson’s art, and from the start, the cover and all the comics of this graphic novel are gorgeous.
Weir’s writer’s note on the first page is also totally worth the read before diving into the actual story. This book was several years in the making, in which Weir had always wanted the stories of what happened after the classic tales ended. He was most interested in the 3 big fairytales that Disney went and totally Disneyified, and as a person who grew up with the Disney versions of Wendy, Dorothy, and Alice, I was on board.
“Cheshire Crossing” unravels the tale of what would happen to these girls in the world outside their fantasy stories; three girls who can access other worlds are, in reality, crazy, and Weir does an excellent job utilizing how society treats crazy people as a constant thread through the story. As the girls meet up at an Xavier’s-School-for-Gifted-Children version of a boarding school, they all return to their ‘other worlds’ together, and kick some serious patootie.
For me, the best part of this work was how Weir takes all the characters we know so well and twists or tweaks them into a more realistic version of themselves. Everything about this book is incredibly clever, and Anderson’s beautiful art makes you keep turning the pages. I’d definitely recommend this book for anyone who loves a twisted fairytale.
4 stars.
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