I'd been meaning to mention this for a little while now. In late August, Andy Weir announced that he was taking an indefinite hiatus from his Casey and Andy comic strip, so he could focus on a new project called Cheshire Crossing. Now, I heard of it because I was looking for comic book stories that sprang from the Wonderland and/or Oz mythos, but I understand Andy had developed something of a following from Casey and Andy. (I'm somewhat out of synch with the online comics community.)The basic premise is that Alice (from Alice in Wonderland), Dorothy (from Wizard of Oz) and Wendy (from Peter Pan), having been in and out of sanitariums since their respective adventures -- which no one believes actually happened -- are brought to a center that not only believes their claims but is trying to determine how they were able to travel between worlds. The girls are put in the care of one Mary Poppins, and things start going to pot when Alice tries to escape using Dorothy's ruby slippers.
The story is clever and Andy has done a particularly good job characterizing each of the girls. They're older and wiser from their earlier adventures, and each have grown up in very different ways. There are a number of sly literary references for those more familiar with the original stories, and the story is generally well-paced.
I have to admit that I was surprised by the art. At first glance, it looks a bit simplistic, with the cartoony character designs and limited backgrounds. But the more I studied it, the more evidence I found that Andy really does have a fair degree of artistic talent, and there are a number of subtle design and illustration elements that work very well.
I suggest heading over to CheshireCrossing.net and reading the first two issues. (The second just went online a couple weeks ago.) They're available for free and it's proving to be quite an entertaining and clever story. Well worth your time!
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