Big Ed's PlaceLost Girls by Alan Moore
Lost Girls, by Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie, is beautiful, thought provoking, and a bit disturbing. A very thick graphic novel, it’s not cheap nor, surprisingly, a quick read. The basic premise is that Wendy (of Peter Pan), Alice (of Wonderland fame), and Dorothy (of the Wizard of Oz) all stay at the same hotel in Europe in 1914. It doesn’t take long for their paths to cross and then… things go through the metaphorical looking glass.
The three women, of course, have a lot of sex with each other. As they do so, they relate their stories, which imply heavily that the known stories are just ‘covers’ for tales of sexual awakening. Dorothy discovers orgasms during a tornado and starts to seduce the farm hands, who resemble Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion. Alice was molested by a man that looks like a Rabbit and then tumbles into a world of depravity and drugs ruled by a Red Queen. Wendy discovers a hidden place where a boy Peter leads her in sexual adventures with the lost boys, while trying to avoid the older man with the hook hand.
Of course, as a graphic novel, all of these scenes are explicitly drawn, in a style that’s dreamy or almost like a drug haze. The art fits the tale beautifully, giving characterization far beyond the text.
But as the story progresses, it grows darker. The sexual perversion increase, and collectors of story codes would be happy to discover most of the big ones are there. But this progression has little joy until, in the face of the oncoming war, the women finally finish their tales and once again return to the world.
I bought it because I’ve enjoyed Alan Moore’s work in the past (notably V for Vendetta). As a work of art, it’s certainly provocative. I didn’t find it erotic, though, which is either a reflection on how jaded I am regarding porn these days, or how the fun just didn’t make it through.
I give it three out of five stars. It’s not an escapist read, though as I said, it is beautiful.
can be purchased from The Tattered Cover.
(Why The Tattered Cover? See my post here).