BY JENNIFER M. CONTINO
If all you know of Wonderland is what you've seen in the Disney film, then you're missing a decidedly dark, horrific freakfest that delves deep into the psyche to reveal the inner demons we all might have to face someday. At least that's how it's playing out in the pages of Zenescope's many Wonderland series. Raven Gregory's been point man on much of the concepts and ideals conveyed in the Wonderland universe. He's getting ready to shed some light on some of the magical realm's hapless victims and residents in the upcoming Tales From Wonderland four-part miniseries. He told us some of the secrets of the land, how he balances his family with work and how Wonderland is the like the Hotel California!

THE PULSE: You've worked on so many different projects recently, wearing many different hats as well at Zenescope. How do you balance your work day and manage to get so much done in such short amounts of time?

RAVEN GREGORY: I think a lot of it has to do with my short attention span. I honestly can't sit still for too long, or focus on one thing for any extended period of time; and in the case of writing and editing that actual works in my favor. That and I try to stay as far ahead of schedule as possible when it comes to anything I'm writing. I also have four kids, so I'm well aware of the time, as once they get home from school, I can consider my work day done until they go to sleep.

THE PULSE: So you work out of your house? What's that like balancing your family being around with the jobs you have to get done at any given time? Do your kids understand, "Daddy's working now!"?


GREGORY: Not really. My daughter is about to be six months on the 15th, and she's hitting that stage where when she wants her daddy, she gets her daddy. But most of the time she lets me get my work done without too much trouble. The other three are in school, and at daycare until the afternoon, so I only have to do the "daddy's working now" on rare occasions when a deadline suddenly pops out of nowhere. And when it does, they do their best to drive me crazy, but what can you do? Kids are kids.

But I've made it a habit to not work on the weekends. That time is theirs. No computer and no phone, unless it's an emergency. I think every working parent feels like they don't spend enough time with their kids, but you do the best you can, and that's about all you can do.

THE PULSE: Right. So speaking of kids, you're working on characters from the Alice in Wonderland mythos, as we've talked about before, but these are definitely not stories for youngsters. What's it like taking characters who most associate as "kiddie-fare" and turning them into these dark versions, even if the source material was quite dark as well ....?


GREGORY: It's a lot of fun. Trying to find just the right twist that works. Especially because of the larger mythology we've set up in the Wonderland universe, where you have a character who is sent to Wonderland for whatever reason, and they are then transformed into this dark reflection of who they really are inside. It gives you a chance to really dive deep into the two sides of these characters in who they really are and who they appear to be.

THE PULSE: It's quite dramatic at times. We all have this vision of our ideal self, but there seems to be no hiding some of your emotions and "true" nature in Wonderland, right?

GREGORY: Correct. Wonderland reveals a person for who they are whether they want to or not and not always in a good painless way.

THE PULSE: How did you come up with that twist to the mythos?

GREGORY: I think a lot of it has to do with us (me, Ralph Tedesco and Joe Brusha) being huge horror fans, and wanting to do something more so than a modern adaptation of the material. I loved reading Lovecraft and Poe growing up. I think we all wanted Wonderland to be more than just a dream, and having it become this dark reality, where the madness of the world emanates from, just made a lot of sense.


THE PULSE: Speaking of your dark take on Wonderland, where does the new Tales From Wonderland fit into this puzzle? How does it relate to Beyond Wonderland?

GREGORY: In Beyond Wonderland, Calie Liddle, the daughter of Alice Liddle, has moved to New York and is trying to disappear and forget her past not knowing that something had gotten out of wonderland and is now stalking her and those close to her. The new Tales series partly fits in between issue five and six of Beyond while also going back before Return, and focusing on characters you may have only caught a small glimpse of briefly, as well as tell the story of some brand new characters stepping into the limelight.

THE PULSE: Like who?

GREGORY: We have the Red Queen, a character we have seen before, but just didn't know who that person would become once Wonderland got its hands on her. Also, for those who watched closely in Return to Wonderland, there is a brief scene where you see Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum in the carpenter's kitchen. You'll get to see how they both ended up in such a state and who they were before Wonderland twisted and turned them inside out.

THE PULSE: Wait a second are you saying everyone in Wonderland came from like our world, and was changed into those strange types?


GREGORY: Yup, with the exception of the Jabberwocky everyone else came from the real world.

THE PULSE: That's pretty dam freaky. Who came up with that idea? How long have some of these people been in Wonderland? Do they remember life before it?

GREGORY: Joe came up with the concept. Some of these characters have been here for decades or even longer as time moves differently in Wonderland than it does in the real world. As for which ones remember their past lives, it's different for everyone. Some remember and some don't.

THE PULSE: Did Wonderland target them? Because the White Rabbit probably let Alice follow him, don't you think?

GREGORY: Again, it's different for everyone. Most of the people who have been sent to Wonderland are a part of a select group of people chosen to be sacrificed to Wonderland, to keep the madness of that world from pouring out entirely into our own. There are exceptions to this, but most fall into this category.

THE PULSE: Who decides about the sacrifice? I mean, is there some kind of secret cult or something here?


GREGORY: Kinda. There's one guy behind the whole thing. He's Wonderland link to the real world. He's been feeding it for a long while now in exchange for something. That part of the story is revealed in the back up story of the Tales series.

THE PULSE: Ah, a grand conspiracy theory. So Wonderland seems like the Hotel California, you can check out, but you can never leave!

GREGORY: Exactly.

THE PULSE: How is Wonderland different from Oz or any other "magical" realm where ordinary people find themselves a part of sometimes?

GREGORY: Each realm is a piece of a larger puzzle in which earth is the center piece. Wonderland is a world of dreams that was corrupted by someone or something. Much in the same way that other realms are the sources of magic, imagination, etc.

THE PULSE: What's next for Wonderland after this Tales special? It sounds like the possibilities could be limitless here ....


GREGORY: We'll have a big announcement to make in a few weeks but fans of the series will be pleased.

THE PULSE: Who's drawing the Tales book?

GREGORY: Dan Leister, who draws the regular Wonderland series, will be doing the back up thread story that runs through all four issues. Eduardo Ferigato is drawing the Cheshire Cat story, Rich Bonk is doing the Red Queen story, and Tweelde Dee and Tweedle Dum and the Hatter artist have yet to be announced yet.

THE PULSE: I noticed the covers were pretty racy and sexy. Do you think you might be catering to the LCD by doing covers like that and turning off potential female readers who might mistake the book for being a different kind of comic, just by the cover?

GREGORY: We try to offer something for everyone. That's part of the reason we do two covers for each issue. Strangely enough we have a very large fanbase of female readers and we haven't heard many complaints about the covers. The books aren't for everyone, but we try to keep people who are not into those type of covers in mind as potential readers.


THE PULSE: Has Zenescope been hurt by the way the economy is right now? How is that affecting your comics publications?

GREGORY: It has in some ways and in others it hasn't. I think that we, just like most of the industry, are tightening our belts and being extremely careful about what we are releasing. You have to be very carefully about releasing new titles and new series right about now, because things are so tight across the board for retailers and fans. You have to make sure that what you put out is the best bang for your buck, and that the fans are happy with what they are getting.

THE PULSE: What else does Zenescope have coming up?

GREGORY: Some big, big things, but I can't announce any of them quite yet ... but soon.




PULSE readers can learn more about Raven Gregory and Wonderland in this PULSE interview here:
http://www.comicon.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=372433&Searchpage=1&Main=34216&Words=Raven+Gregory&Search=true#Post372433