Through the Looking Glass: Bryan Talbot

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BRYAN TALBOT IS a showman. He might not get up on stage and perform, but on the pages of his beautiful new graphic novel, "Alice in Sunderland," he puts himself on an imaginary stage to tell the tale of one of England's misunderstood locations.

"I had no idea what Sunderland was like at all, apart from the English perception of it being a grimy, industrial town," Talbot said. "I didn't want to move here."

But he did move to Sunderland after his wife got a job at a university there. Upon arriving, he was taken by the rich history of the region — a history that includes Lewis Carroll and a certain young girl by the name of Alice Liddell.

Talbot, who is responsible for the seminal graphic novels "The Adventures of Luther Arkwright" and "Tale of One Bad Rat," had been itching to do something related to Carroll's Alice stories, but "Alice in Sunderland" is much more than that. It explores Sunderland and its connections to Carroll and other literary figures.

On a broader level, when you strip the book down to its core, "Alice in Sunderland" is "about storytelling and history and myth, and how history becomes myth," Talbot said.

When you crack open the book, though, you're exposed to a lavish stage performance with an incredibly knowledgeable host in Talbot, who provides a visual feast spanning an assortment of art styles.

"It occurred to me, with the setting being an Edwardian Palace of varieties and a music hall, it should be a variety show," Talbot said. "I think it's best to stop the audience, the readers, from getting bored of everything being the same style."

The 300-plus-page tome takes the idea of a variety show performance to heart. The three-page retelling of "The Jabberwocky" is done in the style of original "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" illustrator John Tenniel, while other pages vary from intricate collages to bubbly cartoon drawings.

Talbot does a masterful job of making his book as accessible as possible, with his beautiful artistry as well as striving for clarity on even the most visually confusing pages.

"I think if you place the speech balloons quite skillfully, it can lead you through it," Talbot said. "My mother can read it and she's 80 now, so I think most people will be able to read it."

» Big Planet Comics, 4908 Fairmont Ave., Bethesda; Wed., 6-8 p.m., free; 301-654-6856.