http://www.zenescope.com
http://www.zenescope.com/books.htm
Dupa RETURN TO WONDERLAND,
in Iunie 2008
apare #0 al seriei Beyond Wonderland

Interviu de Lucas Siegel cu Raven Gregory, Executive Editor
Zenescope Executive Editor Raven Gregory took readers down the rabbit hole in Return to Wonderland. He showed Calie (ah, anagrams), the daughter of the original Wonderland explorer Alice, what madness embodied looked like, and told her of her family’s horrific legacy. This legacy, along with a couple huge cliffhangers at the end of the mini-series, left the story wide open for a, well, return. When Beyond Wonderland starts with issue #0 in June, we’ll get a peak at what happens when the madness of Wonderland comes out of the looking glass. Newsarama had a chat with Raven Gregory about the recently concluded story, and where the story goes from here.

Newsarama: Raven, let’s start by reviewing Return to Wonderland a bit. Calie knows the cycle her family has honored for generations- where do you see her left at the end of the series?

Raven Gregory: Calie has lost everything. Her mother, Alice, committed suicide in a vain attempt at saving her daughter from her own fate. Her adulterous father was murdered by her brother. And her brother, Johnny, was sacrificed in Calie’s place to Wonderland through the looking glass mirror by his own sister. And Calie and her boyfriend, Brandon, have left for New York, where along the way she discovers she is pregnant…and that a piece of wonderland may have indeed escape out into the real world.

NRAMA: There are some very unique characters that hearken from Wonderland. Which character did you have the most fun writing?
RG: The Queen was a lot of fun to write if only because we knew the history behind the character. Two sisters that were tragically transformed by wonderland into the mad being that is the Queen of Hearts.

NRAMA: Likewise, with some of the bizarre speaking habits, was there a character that was just infuriating to write?

RG: The Caterpillar was a bit tough at first. The character is highly intelligent and philosophical and working that into a story and making it flow took a bit of fine-tuning to pull off.

NRAMA: Will both be back in the next series? What other characters should we expect to see return?

RG: Some of the characters will definitely be making return appearances.

NRAMA: Nice dodge. Finishing the wrap-up of Return to Wonderland, I have to ask were the signs in the woods in #3 you or the artist? I specifically liked the Konami code.

RG: Most were his idea. The Konami code was mine. That was a lot of fun. There are still signs I spot to this day that I didn’t notice before.

NRAMA: Various covers were a staple of the series, should we expect multiple covers for each issue again?

RG: Not as many as before but there will be at least two per issue.

NRAMA: Tell us about the covers for issue 0 of Beyond Wonderland you’re revealing today.

RG: We loved how the first issue zero cover for Return to Wonderland came out so we wanted to keep with that same theme and have two covers reflecting the basic concept for this story that when placed together become one massive wraparound cover. One side is Wonderland with the Alice character standing center. The other is of Calie with the setting in New York where she now resides. Eric Basadula did an amazing job on the pencils and Nei Ruffino blew the roof off with her incredible colors.

NRAMA: What about the story for #0? How long will it be, and does it pick up right where Return left off?

RG: It’ll be an original six page story, with some extra’s much like the RTW #0 issue, as well as various other previews of new Zenescope titles for 2008. It will be available in the May issue of Previews for only .99.

NRAMA: And the larger story for Beyond? What can you tell us about that at this point?

RG: Months have passed since Calie Liddle returned from the realm of madness, months since Wonderland took everything from her. Now jaded and bitter, Calie is attempting to lead a more normal existence in New York City. With a new name and a different identity, Calie is just beginning to adjust to another life. But not every story has a happy ending as she soon realizes that things in her brand new life are going to get really bad, really fast. Something from the realm of insanity has found it’s way out and Calie knows that she could very well be the only one who has a chance to send it back.

NRAMA: Will the shipping schedule be a straight monthly from start to finish?

RG: Monthly. All the way through.

NRAMA: In the meantime, readers can tide themselves over with the Tales from Wonderland one-shots. What characters and stories will each of these three feature?

RG: The series is a prequel of one shots that take place prior to Return to Wonderland.

The first one shot is Queen of Hearts (written by Joe Brusha and art by wonderland creative team Daniel Leister and Nei Ruffino) and focuses on the origin of the Queen of Hearts.

The second will be The Mad Hatter (written by Ralph Tedesco and art by Joe Dodd and Nei Ruffino) which reveals his origin and how he is tied to the legacy of those who sacrifice the innocents to Wonderland.

The last one shot is Alice (written by myself with art by incredible new comer Vic Drujiniu (Lynx Studio)) which reveals Alice’s original journey into Wonderland and the price she paid in order to escape that horrible place.
NRAMA: Thanks for answering some questions for us today Raven. Anything else coming up to tease?

RG: The Gift will be making a brief return as a massive maxi trade later this year.
http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=153334

Way to go, Vic!
Victor Drujiniu, storyboarder in Timisoara – in prezent; maine, cine stie?http://www.visualart.ro/forum/showthread.php?t=14475
http://victordrujiniu.wordpress.com/