Madness of Wonderland #4

The madness stops here, or at least that’s what Emma Legrasse is hoping for as she closes in on the suspect behind the murders.  With her girlfriend’s life on the line, she will stop at nothing to bring this person in and put an end to the violence.  However, the killer may not be who she thinks.  Read the final installment to the Madness of Wonderland mini-series that will leave you crazed for more. 

So, now Madness of Wonderland comes to a close.  The killer has been revealed (which I won’t give out here) and the legacy of the Mad Hatter lives on.  It’s been a wild ride and Emma just wants it to stop, for her girlfriend’s sake as well as for anyone else this murderer might lay claim to.  But, what is Danko’s involvement in all of this and why did he take Shelly?  As luck would have it, Emma tracks him down to the very site where Hall and Lovecraft discovered the caves with all of the strange writing.  A final showdown is at hand where they finally air-out their dirty laundry and their connection with Johnny Liddle is finally unveiled.  There were so many twists and turns in this issue that “madness” is an apt title for this series.  However, that’s what makes a good psychological thriller.  You don’t really know where the story is taking you and in the end the big reveal finally pays off.  All throughout the series you had little glimpses of the Mad Hatter and you’re told that Emma witnessed her whole family killed while being held captive when she was a kid, so when it’s shown that Johnny was there back during Emma’s imprisonment it gets you thinking of how it may have effected Johnny down the line.  Did his involvement play a role in him becoming the Mad Hatter?  That’s something for the reader to speculate on and it’s things like that, that make the story that much more enjoyable for me.

So, let’s continue on that thought of the continuity tie-ins.  When you’ve got an ever expanding universe of characters and locations, one can start to lose track and get lost in the myriad of stories that come about from all of that.  However, when a writer throws in a bit of back story that places characters at a specific event, you can develop a timeline of the universe and then try to figure out, unless you’re specifically told, how these characters or events influenced the next in line.  So, like I said, did Johnny’s involvement influence his actions down the road?  Now the fun part is going back through the series that started it all and try and place when that happened.  Not sure if Raven had this planned out way back then, but it would be some awesome foresight into an already amazing universe.  Kudos to Dan Wickline for executing this so wonderfully.  I feel like a read through the earlier series is now in order.

Now, my thoughts on what I didn’t like about this issue were simply that I thought the big reveal as to who the killer was at the end was a bit obvious.  I don’t know, I feel like they could have thrown you completely, but decided on the familiar path so-to-speak.  This is still worth the read though, so don’t let that deter you from a great issue.

Emma Legrasse has finally confronted the killer and prevented any more deaths, but where will she go from here?  Only time will tell what Wonderland has in store for Emma, but one thing you can be sure of is that it won’t be pleasant.  So, be sure to pick up this issue from your local comic shop or wherever you get your Zenescope needs.  This is not one to be missed as I’m sure the repercussions from this book will be playing out in series to come.  For more info on where to find this issue, visit the Zenescope website, or the Zenescope Facebook page.

Geek-o-Rama received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, comments and opinions are those of the individual reviewer and not the Mad Hatter.