Through the Looking Glass

Classics Illustrated comics returns with this dismal adaptation of Carroll's second Alice tale. Most of the charming paradoxes and silly puns are salvaged in gs the text, arranged in columns beneath the artwork rather than in word balloons. Consequently, a lot of very small illustrations are needed to carry the dialogue between Alice and the many looking-glass characters--to the detriment of the visual appeal of the work. g Baker ( Why I Hate Saturn ) is a good caricaturist, but the drawings often appear perfunctory and the color choicesg flat, garish and awkward. At its best (the Humpty Dumpty scenes), the g sketchy linework seems more appropriate to a realistic narrative, a thriller or a political satire, and the g book lacks throughout the careful design and rendering that a children's classic requires. (Feb.)