Cheshire Crossing


Cheshire Crossing is a fantasy webcomic written and originally illustrated by Andy Weir from 2006 to 2008, and later illustrated by Sarah Andersen for Tapas from 2017 to 2019, the latter version also published as a graphic novel by Ten Speed Press and Random House in 2019. The story, taking place in the early 1900s, depicts the adventures of Alice Liddell, Dorothy Gale, and Wendy Darling after they are united at "Cheshire Crossing" by the mysterious Dr. Ernest Rutherford and Miss Mary Poppins for their previous respective experiences in Wonderland, Oz, and Neverland, before facing the combined forces of the reconstituted Wicked Witch of the West and Captain Hook.
The graphic novel received an audio drama performed by an ensemble cast, including Rebecca Soler, Lisa Flanagan and James Monroe Iglehart.

Plot

Issue 1

In 1904, Alice Liddell's parents discover her unconscious on the grounds their estate, after she was missing for six days. After having her see a doctor, they ponder aloud where she was for that time and what happened to her, as Alice sits silently in her bed.
Six years later, Alice is brought to the apparent mental institution Cheshire Crossing by Mary Poppins, where she is introduced to Wendy Darling and told to await a third girl before meeting Dr. Ernest Rutherford. After Poppins leaves, Alice finds the windows to be locked while Wendy practices throwing knives. Both briefly discuss their diagnoses of "dissociative psychosis", with Wendy speaking of "Neverland" and Alice of "Wonderland" and their histories in similar institutions, both seeing the other as madwomen. After the arrival of the third girl, the American Dorothy Gale, Poppins brings the trio before Rutherford, who reveals Cheshire Crossing to be a research facility disguised as a boarding school, and that he is aware that all three girls are actually sane and fully capable of traversing other worlds, surprising Alice. After informing the trio that experiments will begin the following day to Alice's dismay, who expresses her not wanting to be a lab rat, they are sent to shared sleeping quarters by Poppins, who is stated by Rutherford to serve as their nanny and tutor. That night, Dorothy asks Alice and Wendy about Wonderland and Neverland, revealing she herself can traverse to the land of Oz using a pair of ruby slippers and calling out "There's no place like Oz", having first travelled to the land in a tornado; after prompting, Alice reveals she can travel to Wonderland via any reflective surface, most commonly mirrors, while Wendy states Neverland as being located at "the second star to the right". After attempting to escape and being thwarted by Poppins, Alice takes Dorothy's slippers while she is asleep and uses them to escape to Oz, inadvertently taking Wendy with her.
After awakening in Oz, Alice's entry is detected by the Wicked Witch of the West with her crystal ball, who, surprised to see the slippers on someone other than Dorothy, sends a squad of flying monkeys to retrieve them. Both the Witch and Alice are shocked when, after the flying monkeys lift her up into the air, Wendy herself nonchalantly flies into the air and rescues Alice, both the Witch and Alice expressing their disbelief that Wendy can "#%&@ing fly". After the Witch casts a spell from a distance to put Wendy to sleep, which Alice resists due to a high laudanum tolerance, Alice flees to Wonderland through a nearby pond, where she is greeted by the Cheshire Cat.

Issue 2

Back at Cheshire Crossing, Dorothy recalls being informed by Glinda the Good in Oz as to how to use the slippers to return to her home in Kansas, before realising Glinda could have told her earlier and had manipulated her into killing the Wicked Witch of the West for her. In the present, after informing Poppins and Rutherford of Alice's actions, he informs her that her "powers are inherent" and to go to Oz. After saying "There's no place like Oz", Dorothy is transported to Oz alongside Poppins, who explains to her that rather than the slippers providing her the power to travel to Oz, she herself had provided the power to the shoes, having subconsciously brought herself and her house to Oz previously during the previous tornado. Dorothy and Poppins follow the Yellow Brick Road to the Munchkin Village, where Dorothy is surprised to learn from its mayor that the Wicked Witch of the West is once again alive, having returned a few months prior, and has captured "a girl from afar"; Dorothy is berated for "sheer carelessness" by Poppins upon revealing she had previously accidentally killed both the Wicked Witch of the West and her sister.
In Wonderland, Alice is greeted by Jack the Knave of Hearts and his playing card soldiers, who hail her as a hero for having previously stood up to the Queen of Hearts. Grateful for her having previously saved him at his trial, Jack introduces her to the rebel troupe she inspired ; Alice offers to bring Jack and his troupe to Oz in exchange for his help in finding and saving Wendy. In the Witch's castle, a shackled Wendy attempts to escape before being knocked unconscious by the Witch after meeting her in-person for the first time. The Witch is surprised after examining Wendy to find her to be a "conduit to another world"; after consulting dark spirits about this world, the Witch learns its name, Neverland, and that it has fairies. Now viewing the slippers as unimportant, the Witch has Wendy brought to her casting chamber, and, after careful research, uses her to create a gate to Neverland.
Outside the castle, in the mountains of Oz, Dorothy and Poppins encounter Alice and Jack's troupe after being led to them by Glinda after Alice had re-entered Oz with Jack's troupe. After returning Dorothy's slippers, Alice uses a shrinking potion she acquired from Wonderland to sneak past the Winkies, the Witch's personal guards and open the castle's door from the inside after growing herself again with a specialised biscuit cake. After overcoming the guards, the troupe reaches the Witch's casting room as she opens a portal to Neverland. Upon seeing Dorothy, the Witch attempt to disintegrate her, but Dorothy is protected by Poppins' umbrella. As Poppins engages the Witch in battle, the Cheshire Cat frees Wendy and she saves Alice and Dorothy from King Nikko of the flying monkeys. Recognising Poppins as a fellow witch, and citing the "strange rules" of Oz, the Witch splashes Poppins with a bucket of water, melting her. Enraged, Dorothy punches the Witch through the portal to Neverland, closing it behind her. After Dorothy proclaims her belief Poppins can be restored given the Witch had returned from Dorothy previously melting her, Alice gathers Poppins' remains into a bucket, with the intent of returning her to Rutherford. Meanwhile, in Neverland, the Witch awakes on the pirate ship of Captain James Hook, explaining to him that she had designed the portal to bring her to "the most evil being in Neverland". After learning of his disdain of fairies and being asked by Hook as to her morality, the Witch responds that she is "very, very bad", to which Hook responds: "Marvelous."

Issue 3

One month later, on his ship, Captain Hook tells the Witch, whom he refers to as Miss West, of a time when he and his first mate Smee had taken Wendy prisoner as a child to lure Peter Pan and Tinker "Tink" Bell to his ship. Having raided half the fairy villages of Neverland with his crew, Hook presents them to West as Smee sends word of Peter's and Tink's arrival, who intend to rescue the captures fairies. Upon being introduced, West hits Peter and with lightning, rendering him unconscious, while Tink flees.
At Cheshire Crossing, Rutherford and his assistant, Lemony "Lem" Snicket examine Poppins' remains to find that while she is slowly reforming to her original configuration, it will take her years to completely reform if left on her own. Meanwhile, while doing her hair, Dorothy finds she can now pass through mirrors like Alice, upon informing Alice, Alice warns Dorothy not to do it again. Simultaneously, Tink crashes through the window and relays the circumstances of Peter's and the fairies' kidnapping to Wendy. After informing Alice and Dorothy of the situation, they agree to join her in rescuing them, and Tink provides the pair with fairy dust to allow them to fly like Wendy, powered by happy thoughts. To fly, Dorothy thinks of her aunt, while Alice thinks of a man named Richard, information upon which sharing she is teased for. While proceeding to fly towards Neverland, Dorothy draws up a plan to rescue Peter, deciding that she will confront the Witch while Wendy distracts the pirates and Alice shrinks herself to rescue the fairies.
Upon arriving in Neverland and approaching Hook's ship, the trio put their plan into motion. While Hook and West are becoming romantically involved as he teaches her to how to pilot his ship, Wendy flies in above to distract them, while Dorothy throws a bucket of water at West from behind her, only to be surprised by it having no effect on her – witches' weakness to water being exclusive to Oz. After Dorothy dodges West's lightning, West uses a spell to disable flight in the area, grounding both girls and Tink. After embarking in a duel with Hook, Wendy is stabbed in the gut and falls overboard. Elsewhere, a cornered Dorothy also throws the slippers overboard to keep them from West and tricks her into burning her own face, before being taken prisoner by Hook. meanwhile, Alice, having snuck into Hook's quarters, is unable to open the orb in which the fairies are imprisoned and hides in Wonderland through Hook's mirror after he and West enter. After they leave the room again, Alice returns and drags the unconscious Peter through the mirror into Wonderland. Upon waking Peter and explaining the situation, Alice decides they will require stronger magic to defeat West and ventures into the Tumtum Forest with Peter to retrieve the Vorpal Sword.
Elsewhere, an unconscious Wendy is rescued by an ex-girlfriend mermaid, who delivers her and the recovered slippers to the Neverland tribe of Tiger Lily, another ex-girlfriend of Wendy, to whom she is known as the Pan-Mother. Upon awakening, Wendy is surprised that Tiger Lily has healed her, despite her wound having been a one. After attempting to leave, Wendy begins to feel woozy and is told by Tiger Lily that she will require a day of sleep to fully recover, before she promptly falls asleep. The following day, Alice awakes in Wonderland to find Peter, having been eating the size-altering berries of Tumtum Forest, to have physically grown up; while initially confused, Peter remarks that he now finds Alice particularly pretty, and her chest interesting, although he has no idea why. As Peter continues discussing his "weird feelings" with Alice, he remarks that he sees Wendy as his mother, as she had agreed to raise him and his friends, surprising Alice.
Meanwhile, on Hook's ship, West punches Dorothy for having previously killed her sister, informing her that she will kill her over the course of several days. Hook, however, advises West not to do so given "beating prisoners is bad form", and so that she can serve as "alive and kicking" bait for a trap for Wendy and Alice. Hook and West loudly announce that they will be invading the shores of Neverland once again to capture more fairies; subsequently, Dorothy calls out "There's no place like Oz.", running Hook's ship aground in the fields of Oz and rendering herself unconscious. While unconscious, Hook and West delight in Dorothy having fallen for their plan, and West uses the captured fairy to set the ship aflight. Hook orders Smee to sail to West's castle to reclaim it for her, delighting West. Recognising him as "evil and honourable", she hugs him, welcoming him to Oz, as Hook declares "What a world, what a world." Meanwhile, in Cheshire Crossing, Rutherford manages to accelerate Poppins' reconstitution using a teaspoon of table sugar, informing her subsequently of her former state as an aqueous solution and asking her how she presently feels. Poppins responds that she is "quite peeved".

Issue 4

Years previously, after saving Emerald City for the seventh time, King Scarecrow and the Tin Man, as the two smartest people in Oz, agree to teach Dorothy everything they know as repayment for her help. In the present, as West insists Hook not use his cannons against her castle in reclaiming it, Tink sneaks on board and unties Dorothy. Dorothy decides to remain and pretend to still be bound and gagged while Tink warns the castle of West's return with Hook. After firstly preventing the Cheshire Cat from eating her, Tink warns Jack, who prepares his troops for battle. Elsewhere, Wendy, having returned to Oz after recovering and being informed of the situation by mermaids that had been surrounding Hook's ship, encounters a Munchkin by the hole where the ship landed, who expresses his intent to turn it into a farm on behalf of his new ruler, "Prince Jack", and directs Wendy in the direction as the ship, towards Castle West, who flies after it.
As Hook and West invade the castle, Dorothy sneaks away to. As Hook duels Jack, he stabs him in the chest and is surprised by him not dying; Jack explains that as he is a living playing card, poking holes in him won't kill him, disappointing Hook. Meanwhile, in Wonderland, Peter and Alice face the Red Bishop, keeper of the Vorpal Sword, who offers to give it to them if they can solve his riddle. While Alice attempts to solve the riddle, Peter instead punches the bishop and flees with the sword. As the pair subsequently fly towards the portal which Alice left open to Hook's ship and Peter remarks his new urges are making it "harder and harder to fly" due to him being unable to "think straight", Alice promises to help him see to his "physical needs" later on. Upon entering the portal and finding the fairies gone, Alice is surprised to find they are in Oz, and Peter immediately runs outside to attack West with the sword, who apprehends both him and Alice from a distance with giant fists made of magic. Elsewhere, Dorothy finds herself surrounded by two pirates, and is rescued by an arriving Wendy, who knocks them out and hands Dorothy a sword, who in turn requests her slippers back for a plan of her own.
At Cheshire Crossing, Poppins discovers the girls to be gone, and ascertains their current location as Oz after consulting "the spirits of children", proceeds there through a drawing of Castle West given to her by Dorothy. Landing on Hook's ship, Poppins informs West that she as "been very naughty and must be punished", and sets the spirits upon her, having promised them her soul, only for them to be quickly banished to "the light" by West. Recognising that Poppins is much more powerful than her, West amplifies her power using the fairies and knocks Poppins off the ship in a wave of magical fire. After challenging Hook to a "duel-thingy", Dorothy cuts the ropes surrounding them, allowing Hook to fall to his apparent death while Dorothy remains flying thanks to the slippers, having realised that the actual power of the slippers to be mimicry of the inherent powers of whoever wore them last, being Wendy's flight. Dorothy is complimented by the Cheshire Cat as she flies away. Elsewhere, while Poppins recovers in a crater, she encounters Tink, who provides her with a plan to face West. Returning to the ship and announcing "Say hello to my little friend!", Poppins amplifies her own power with Tink's to partially negate that of the fairies West is using, leaving the pair evenly matched. Alice awakens on the ship, and, picking up the Vorpal Sword, breaks open the orb containing the fairies, engulfing West in fire. Recognising herself to be defeated, West flees by teleporting in a puff of smoke. Elsewhere, rather than taking Hook's crew prisoner, Jack secretly offers to make them his officers and requests use of Hook's still-flying ship, employing Smee as captain, while the Hatter, finding Hook alive, steals his hat and has him hidden away in the castle dungeon.
Later that evening, Wendy hugs Poppins upon seeing her alive, while Alice and Peter each drink a glass wine as they prepare to "see to physical needs" as he had requested; Peter finds himself shrinking, Alice having given him the shrinking potion. Stating that Peter is "blind to things that are obvious to any woman" and that she "know a woman in love when see one", Alice places Peter before Tink, with Peter then remarking he never noticed how "good" she looked before; Peter and Tink subsequently kiss, while Alice walks away. After Wendy inquires as to Peter's whereabouts, Alice assures her that he is "busy" and "doesn't have a scratch on him. Yet.", before leaving to confront Poppins after being told she is looking for her.
Meanwhile, in Wonderland, the Knave of Spades reports Alice's theft of the Vorpal Sword to the Queen of Hearts, and that her court wizard, the Ace of Clubs, has discovered from studying Alice from afar that her body generates a weakness between her world and Wonderland, and were they to enter the rabbit hole that served as her initial entry point to Wonderland, it would take them to her general vicinity. Consequently, the Queen orders the Knave of Spades and the Ace of Clubs to track down Alice and decapitate her.

Development

Weir initially started creating and uploading Cheshire Crossing from June 2006 to January 2008, having developed the series during his previous webcomic Casey and Andy, which was placed on a temporary hiatus while Cheshire Crossing was published. He was working as a computer programmer at the time, a profession he later left to pursue writing full-time after publishing The Martian. Weir noted in an interview that while publishing Cheshire Crossing as a webcomic allowed him total control over the creative process, he still took feedback about the series when provided it from his fanbase. Weir's webcomic makes use of characters from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, L. Frank Baum's Oz series, J. M. Barrie's Peter and Wendy, P. L. Travers' Mary Poppins series and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, to the point Weir has described the comic as "nothing more than a fanfic if you think about it", with the intent behind the comic to "attract anyone who felt the magic of those original stories and would be intrigued at seeing the characters from them older, a little more jaded, and interacting with each other." Weir also criticised his own artistic skills, stating "the art an annoying and necessary evil that is required for me to tell my story".
In May 2017, Weir collaborated with webcomic artist Sarah Andersen to remake Cheshire Crossing for the syndicate Tapas, later also publishing it as a stand-alone graphic novel in July 2019 published by Ten Speed Press and Random House; however, due to restrictions regarding copyright from the estate of P. L. Travers, the character of Mary Poppins from Weir's original version was renamed Miss Gwendolyn Poole in the published version. Other differences from the original version include the skin colours of various characters, including Dorothy Gale, Captain Hook, and the Wicked Witch of the West, Lemony Snicket only being known as "Lem", and Jack the Knave of Hearts being alternatively known as Jack of Knaves and Jack of Hearts. In the published graphic novel's foreword, Weir expressed interest in collaborating further with Andersen on the script in addition to her serving as illustrator in potentially developing sequels to Cheshire Crossing.

Audiobook

On July 12, 2019. Penguin Random House Audio released an audio drama version of Cheshire Crossing, performed by an ensemble cast; directed by executive producer by Nick Martorelli and with music by Penguin. Cast members include Rebecca Soler, Lisa Flanagan, James Monroe Iglehart and Pete Bradbury.

Voice cast

On November 15, 2019, Amblin Partners and Walt Disney Pictures were announced to be developing a film adaptation, to be produced by Michael De Luca and written by Erin Cressida Wilson.

Reviews

Cheshire Crossing has opened to largely positive reviews by critics.
Cheshire Crossing was a difficult book to rate. But, ultimately, it was an incredibly fun read, with a creative story, and great illustrations. I just loved reading it, and I couldn’t think of a single thing I didn’t like. I can see why fans of Andy Weir might not also love this one – it is a huge departure – but I would definitely recommend it for fans of the Wayward Children series, especially if you’re interested in a similar but more lighthearted story.
s a story with a great concept, a strong sense of humor, and plenty of potential for future installments. While the writing and some of the jokes are maybe a bit on the mature side for young children, it’s an excellent graphic novel for teens and young adults, as well as any adults who like a side of wry wit with their genre-bending fantasy.
The plot is fast paced and the story flowed quickly, it was easy to follow the dialogue in each box. The illustrations didn’t look extravagant but were simplistic and elegant. The artwork is suitable for a younger audience, however, the dialogue does include course language so please exercise discretion if you choose to read this graphic novel. If you’re a fan of graphic novels that features retellings of the classics then definitely give this one a go!
Andersen’s delightful cartoon drawing style meshes perfectly with Weir’s prose, allowing the work to broaden its appeal beyond middle graders to young adults and adults.
A shrewd and spirited adaptation that will leave audiences hoping for another installment.
“Cheshire Crossing” is a fun exploration of three girls who deserve a little more credit and an expansion of three well loved fantasy stories. People who love Oz, Wonderland, and Neverland will find a lot to like! A very cute mash up of three beloved children’s lit heroines, “Cheshire Crossing” has some good commentary on female marginalization during the time the original books were written.