Alice in Sunderland

Alice in Sunderland is a hardcover graphic novel by Bryan Talbot published by Jonathan Cape (in the UK) and by Dark Horse Comics (in the US) in 2007. A unique and ambitious project, it is effectively an illustrated history of Sunderland and other parts of North East England, with a particular focus on how the area relates to the life of Lewis Carroll and his most famous creation, Alice in Wonderland. A combination of 'ordinary' comic strip illustration, painting and even photography, and of colour and black & white, every page is a mix of styles which renders the mammoth 319 page tome unlike any "comic book" previously seen. The cover is by graphic artist Jordan Smith, whose daughter Kaya was his model for Alice (depicted in the style made famous by John Tenniel's illustrations in Carroll's original story).