Everyone claims to have Alice’s best interests at heart, but her sister Edith has her doubts. But how much of a hold does Mistress Hulda have over the Lutwidge family? Find out in Alice Ever After #4 from BOOM! Studios.

ALICE EVER AFTER #4

Writer: Dan Panosian
Artist: Giorgio Spalletta
Colorist: Fabiana Mascolo
Letterer: Jeff Eckleberry
Editor: Kathleen Wisneski
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: July 20, 2022

Previously in Alice Ever After: When Alice and Matthew look for drugs after hours, they are found by the orderlies, Thomas and Theodore, who inject them with heroin for fun. Mistress Hulda steps in to make it clear that Alice is off limits to them as she is worth money. Alice makes a journey to Wonderland and ponders why she never fits in. Then we learn her father’s back story. He was a prosperous dentist who specialized in false teeth. Real teeth were in demand, so he also became a grave robber. Even more awful, when his wife dies, he harvests her teeth and Alice witnesses this. She mentions something of this to her sister Edith when she visits, and Mistress Hulda overhears!

CURE OR EXPERIMENT?

Alice Ever After #4 opens with Mistress Hulda playing croquet with Dr. Madsen. She cheats at croquet, and if you know your Alice, this is yet another trait she shares with the Queen of Hearts. Thomas and Theodore interrupt the game to inform Hulda that this weekend is Matthew’s birthday and his family sent gifts. They have opened them and already eaten the box of chocolates. Another gift was an expensive watch, which Hulda appropriates. Hulda and Madsen decide that Matthew is still being punished, so he should not have a party either. Instead, Dr. Madsen suggests they do a procedure on him. This is a Victorian sanitarium. Be terrified. We know nothing good can come of this.

At the Lutwidge house, Edith talks with Lorina and their father about Alice. She does not feel comfortable about the facility or the people there. She mentions that Alice saw their mother in their father’s office. He vehemently denies it and insists that this is why Alice needs treatment. Dr. Lutwidge has a visitor. It is Mistress Hulda, and he claims that he arranged this meeting to talk about Alice.

Mistress Hulda’s visit is odd and sinister. She hints about tea and accepts when it is offered. Lutwidge says he has heard some troubling things about Alice. Hulda says she has heard some troubling things about his dentistry practice. He asks if Alice could be sedated more. Instead, she tells him about a new treatment Dr. Madsen offers, a procedure that makes his patients much quieter. She also hints at its being costly. Outside the door, Lorina and Edith overhear this discussion, which has a distinct mafioso-type sound. She leaves before tea and takes a stuffed squirrel with her.

Lutwidge asks his daughters if they were listening in. Edith confesses to hearing something. Lutwidge frames the conversation as a discussion about a possible cure. Lorina trusts Hulda. Edith continues to be worried.

Earl watches Alice and Matthew through the fence at the institution. They seem happy until one of the orderlies comes to take Matthew. When Alice tries to stop him, he drags her along as well. Earl calls out that is no way to treat her and is told that they do not accept visitors without an appointment. Edith finds him there and insists she must talk to him.

Alice is taken to her room. She finds that she is out of opiates. She asks to see Hulda, who says she already has special considerations and already gets a higher dose. Her withdrawal symptoms are a good thing and an indication that she should be getting more exercise. Hulda rings a bell and orders Matthew to escort Alice back to her room. We immediately recognize that he has had his surgery, and it doesn’t look good.

A HARSH YET SURREAL WORLD

Alice Ever After #4 continues to draw on ideas from Wonderland and incorporates them into the everyday world. Things that should be absurd and amusing take on a distinctly sinister cast. Mistress Hulda is every bit as pompous and over-the-top as the Queen of Hearts. She always wears red, and often has heart motifs around her. She commands the people around her and manipulates them into getting what she wants. But her face, not a conventionally attractive one, has echoes of her being a crime boss. She may look frilly and silly, but we also see the sharp edges below the surface.

The sanitarium was never the most pleasant setting, but ever since the introduction of Dr. Madsen, we know it is a chamber of horrors beneath the surface. When Madsen first obliquely mentions his new procedure, we see a resident in one panel, slack-jawed and with bandaged head. The Victorians, not understanding mental illness, were not always kind to asylum patients and the art plays on that situation making it feel both horrific yet terribly mundane.

BOTTOM LINE: A SENSE OF LOOMING DREAD

Alice Ever After #4 drifts further away from Wonderland. Seeing Alice’s life laid out for us, we understand why she so desperately seeks escape when she has no capacity to deal with her problems. It is a story that is fascinating in its darkness.

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