As I was writing them, I came to the realization that 2 previous posts of mine inadvertently had an Alice in Wonderland theme. This one is advertant. Very advertant. This comic was a series based on the wonderful Batman: The Brave And The Bold animated series which ran from 2008 to 2011 in which Bats teams up with a fellow hero du jour to take down a common foe. It was a great series with a lot of silver age camp to it.
The gist of this issue is Mirror Master traps Batman and The Flash "through the looking glass" in a world designed by Mad Hatter based off Lewis Carroll's book of the same name. The two Alice books have been public domain for years, and it slightly grinds my proverbial gears when adaptations tend to mix the two willy-nilly. Such as the Disney animated film using Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, characters from "Looking Glass", in their "Wonderland" film. This issue happily and surprisingly leaves my gears unground.
The issue's writer, Sholly Fisch, is either a fan or has clearly done his homework. Not only does he cram a ton of Looking-Glass only characters to encounter our heroes, all the heroes and villains seem to be well aware of the story itself and dunk on each other when mistakes are made.
Upon their arrival through the looking glass, Flash exclaims, they're not in Kansas anymore, to which Batman replies "wrong book".
Once again, when Flash quips that Mirror Master has vanished like a Cheshire Cat, the Red Queen admonishes him, "Cheshire Cat? Stuff and nonsense! Those filthy felines belong down a rabbit hole not through a looking glass!" Poor Flash can't catch a break!
My personal favorite bit is when the Red Queen shouts "Off with his head!", Batman reminds Hatter himself that that line is from Wonderland and not Looking Glass, to which Hatter simply shrugs "Not quite accurate, I know.But it's such a lovely sentiment I couldn't resist." This was a nice jab at all the times folks don't differentiate the Red Queen from the Queen of Hearts (*cough* Tim Burton *cough*)
This being based on Looking Glass, you naturally need a scary attack from the Jabberwock (who Alice only reads about in the original story and never actually makes a physical appearance, but whatev. It's a cool looking creature.) Batman refuses to slay the beast (His whole no killing thang, even extends to imaginary dragon things apparently), but he gets a great idea to control the monster using Tetch's mind controlling hats. Which results in one of the greatest panels ever committed to the comics page:
Yup, a top-hatted Batman astride a beanie clad Jabberwock. Thus saving the land, he also commands the monster far away, never to return. Batman and Flash's escape is a bit bizarre, using Batman's meditation techniques to teach Flash and himself to "live backwards" and find the original mirror that transported them there in the first place. All in all, a fun issue, especially if you're an Alice fan! Until next time, catch you by the spinner rack!
