Perhaps it would help if I'd read Frank Beddor's novel, The Looking Glass War. I don't think so.

The first volume of Hatter M, Beddor's multi-part graphic-novel adaptation of the tale, centers on Hatter Madigan, the queen's bodyguard, who abandons his queen when her evil sister Redd attacks the palace in an attempt to save the princess, Alyss. Their escape through the looking glass goes awry, however, and the Wonderland refugees are separated and lost in our world.

According to the back cover, Alyss lands in England and attempts to tell her story to Lewis Carroll, who gets it all wrong, although none of that occurs in this book. Meanwhile, the Hatter is scouring mainland Europe -- primarily Paris and Budapest -- in an effort to find her.

The Hatter is an unmatched fighter, armed with an improbable -- and apparently inexhaustible -- supply of blades and a deadly hat that might possibly possess some level of sentience, I'm not sure. But the story, which includes zombies, vampires and thieves of the imagination, is a trainwreck, with everything pretty much coming down to the Hatter flashing some blades, throwing his hat and spilling some blood. I was bored fairly quickly.

Ben Templesmith supplies the art and, while he has stamped his signature style of the long-running 30 Days of Night vampire series, this book seems to indicate he's a one-trick horse. It's all rough edges and teeth and blood and blurred motion, and heck, I just want to know what's going on.

No, wait, I don't. After slogging through this volume, I find I have no desire to see the next.