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Alice in Sunderland
Book Released: 18 Apr 2007
Posted 02 May 2007
Writer: Bryan Talbot
Artist: Bryan Talbot
Publisher: Dark Horse
4.50 out of 5 Stars
Reviewed by J. W. DeBolt Jr.
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When my local comicbook supplier complained to me that the
distributor had accidentally sent him five copies of the tome Alice
in Sunderland, I noticed the title and picture of Alice, of
Wonderland fame, on the cover. I fell for the complaint ruse, for in
another moment, down went I into the book in fascination, never once
considering how in the world I was to get out again.
Have you ever heard of Sunderland, England? Neither had I. You
may not know that it is the center of civilization, the core of
learned Christendom, a nexus of history, a producer of inventors,
artists, legends, and, most importantly, writers such as Lewis
Carroll.
“Alice in Sunderland contains over 300
pages of a panoply of images — drawings, maps, reproductions of
vintage advertisements and playbills, pen and ink (of course), and
photographs, retouched and not.”
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Sunderland resident Bryan Talbot (Judge Dredd, The
Adventures of Luther Arkwright) discovered this. He has thus
graced us with what must be the most thorough and creative history
ever written of Sunderland, and the area around the river Wear, in
fact and legend. Alice in Sunderland, an ambitious
four-year project, contains over 300 pages of a panoply of images
— drawings, maps, reproductions of vintage advertisements and
playbills, pen and ink (of course), and photographs, retouched and
not. The book, in Talbot’s words, “is a little like the
history of Britain in microcosm.”
The information is structured initially in the form of a stage
play, in Sunderland, with an audience of one common oaf (representing
— unfortunately and, perhaps, unfairly — you and me, the
readers) who continually is unimpressed with the soliloquy and
narration by the highly informed raconteur, our host, Mr. Talbot. The
narrator uses Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland as the rabbit
hole entrance to the maze of warrens that is Sunderland’s
history. I can understand why some commentators have complained about
the lack of continuity in the presentation, but I see it as an
existential illustration that sunders the conventional storytelling
genre to reveal all that is, as a history that is a living body in
contrast with, say, the humdrum series of dates and events one
experiences in one’s perfunctory seventh grade World History
class.
In a manner not unlike that of the wonderful television series (and
companion book) Connections by James Burke, Talbot uses the
village of Sunderland as a spindle and draws a thread out that unites,
it seems, almost everything under the sun. The past is extant in the
present, and yet the way Talbot relates the tale, it seems the entire
area exists outside of time in an almost relativistic way.
What is his purpose in dispensing all this information? Is he
proud of his Sunderlandish heritage? I think it’s more that
he’s proud of all the accomplishments of mankind. After all, if
this universe of ideas can come from a little village in northern
England, how much more can be achieved from the contributions of every
village everywhere?
After reading this, if anyone asks you what the following have in
common, you can instantly say “Sunderland”: Alice in
Wonderland, Captain William Bligh, Doctor Who, George Formby, John
Lennon, “nailing your colors to the mast,” the Order of
Lenin, Ptolemy, Thomas Edison, Thor and Ulysses S. Grant. And
that’s just in the first 60 pages of this chapterless volume.
You may be able to negotiate down the $30 price (£16 in
England) with your comicbook dealer if you’re a regular
customer, but if you don’t see the book there, ask him to order
a copy.
I’m abashed to say I really didn’t know much about Talbot before picking up this book and didn’t realize that he illustrated The Nazz and Neil Gaiman’s Teknophage, Mr. Hero and Wheel of Worlds. But after reading Alice in Sunderland, and recognizing his influences (not only Carroll, but William Blake, Michael Moorcock and Gustave Dore, to name a few), I will be seeking out more of his work. I recommend that readers let this book “make their eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale.”
—CCdC—
Cover image used without explicit permission in accordance with the "Fair Use" provision of US copyright law.
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