The third issue of Cheshire Crossing is out. Rejoice, rejoice!

This issue isn’t quite as fast-paced and completely bad-ass as the last one, but it is still very, very good. It has some answers to nagging questions, lots and lots of clever references to the source materials, extremely good villains, and plenty of Weir’s fantastic humour. I know I’ll be reading it at least three more times today, and I’ll probably reread the other two issues as well.

Like I did last time, I’ll reread it now, and write down my thoughts as I go along, with little to no structure or planning. This will probably include many spoilers, so make sure you read the issue yourself first.

The page one flashback is fun, if only because it has Captain Hook. He pretty much makes everything awesome. I like how arrogant and calm he is in throughout, never caught off guard or agitated. While this makes him very cool indeed, I also feel a bit disappointed that his melancholy and depressed side appears to have been left out. On the other hand, he still obsesses over form, so perhaps he merely hides it well.

The Witch looks cool in pirate garb. I just felt that needed to be said.

Peter Pan, so eclipsed by his nemesis, flies cawing in, so we get fun observations from Hook, and a laugh from me. Poor Peter is swiftly defeated, Neverland really isn’t about him in this story.

Cut to Rutherford and our mysterious trench coat man. We’re given all the information we need to finally identify him here, but I won’t name him here in case Weir has planned a fun reveal for those who didn’t bother digging for it themselves later. Of course, knowing his name doesn’t really help all that much, it just raises a whole bunch of other questions, like “How is he still alive?” and “What powers does he have, and why?”

I wonder if the Witch reformed on her own, the slow way, or if she was given the help Poppins later receives.

I hope we get to see more of Lem and Rutherford in later chapters, they’re fun. They actually remind me a bit of the mad scientist dynamic from Casey and Andy, but British. If you know what I mean.

What I really really like about this issue are all the little references to the original stories, the ones that aren’t necessarily obvious, like Alice’s instant and clear dismissal of croquet on page 5.

last time I wondered if Alice could take people with her through the mirror, and in this issue we learn she can, but more than that her power appears infectious. Dorothy can now apparently cross through mirrors the same way Alice can, even though she herself has never even been to Wonderland. Come to think of it, might it be the slippers? We know that Dorothy had the ability to go to Oz before she got the slippers, and that her power somehow rubbed off on them. Alice wor them in the last issue, when she went to Wonderland, might they have copied her powers too? If this is what the slippers do, it’s no wonder the Witch wants them, all her sister’s powers might be contained in them as well.

Enter Tinkerbell, and off our heroines go to rescue the fairies. And Peter. we get to see hook and the Witch flirt, which is both disturbing and sweet at the same time, and Hook gets to be witty and cool again.

I love the expression on the Witch’s face in the first panel on page 11.

Hook’s use of Wendy’s last name gives me Blackadder flashbacks.

Wendy is wounded, and falls in the ocean. You’d think Hook would know that the mermaids might rescue her, though.

Dorothy throws the slippers overboard, and the Witch confirms that they’re very powerful things indeed, a plus for my theory.

Dorothy is captured, Wendy is gone, and Alice grabs Peter and escapes to Wonderland with a plan. A cool plan. I wonder if the Vorpal Sword will work the same way it does in Fables.

Wendy is healed by Tiger Lily, and is left to recover until the next issue, I suppose.

Poor Peter, who never wanted to grow up, has gone and eaten some Wonderland berries. It’s almost as if Weir doesn’t like him. Peter in puberty is fun to read, if only because Alice is at her best when annoyed.

But, oh! In all the clever references, Weir has forgotten that a borogove is a bird! I’ll have to forgive that, as “this borogove feels mimsy” is one of the most hilarious things I’ve read. I don’t know why I find it so funny, I just do.

Dorothy is clever, but Hook is more clever. Pity really, I thought her plan was sweet, and then Hook reveals that he planned for this all along. I think page 23 is my favourite, it just looks great. I particularly like the flying pirate in panel 4.

Wait, page 25 is pretty sweet too. Hook’s final line is again a great nod to Weir’s source material, and the flying ship looks very cool indeed.

And then we get Lem and Rutherford again, with the best little nod of them all, just a spoon full of sugar. While the final panel can’t quite stand up to Hook’s “marvellous” from the last issue, this is a very good ending as well.

Man, I really wish Weir didn’t need a day job, this comic is so insanely good, it hurts to wait so long for each issue.