Abadazad may be the best thing Crossgen has yet published. I'm certain that it's one of the best things DeMatteis has ever written. As with most of the best Crossgen titles, it has its roots in the familiar, in this case a riff on the "kids into a fantasy world" genre from The Chronicles of Narnia, Wizard of Oz or Labyrinth, but it's a genre rarely tapped in comics and it's done very well. DeMatteis creates a believable relationship between Matt, Katie and "Frantic Frances," an interesting contrast with the glimpses we get of the fantasy world of Abadazad. Both are drawn in beautiful detail by Mike Ploog, and while it's his weirder designs (like the character who graces the cover) that really capture the imagination, even his depiction of the mundane world is gorgeous and inviting.
What DeMatteis does with his first issue of Abadazad is not to dump the reader headlong into the fantasy world, but to set up the foundation of the book. The relationship between Matt and Katie is developed in such a way that the life-shattering effect of his disappearance is easy to believe, and the relationship between Katie and her mother is heart-breakingly real, as Katie lashes out and her mother, battered by a number of unfortunate life occurrences, can't quite cope. There are points in the issue where I just hated Katie for her selfishness, but I also found it to be completely in character for a teenager who has lost the most important person in her life. And Matt, though glimpsed largely through Katie's eyes, makes for an interesting character as well as a plot device to get Katie into Abadazad.
Then there's the creation of Abadazad itself. Without really giving away too much detail, DeMatteis evokes classic literature like the Wonderland and Oz series, as well as reminding this reader of William Goldman's The Princess Bride. The notion of a magical world that captures a child's imagination is not the easiest thing to capture (just ask the numerous frustrated children's book writers out there looking enviously at the Harry Potter series), but DeMatteis does a pretty good job of hinting at Abadazad. The Lanky Man seems suitably wicked, and the glimpses we get of the persona of Abadazad seem intriguing as well.
Of course, some of the credit there must go to Mike Ploog, who makes sure that the occasional glimpses of Abadazad spark the imagination. The cover certainly gets attention, but the most notable visual representation of Abadazad in this issue comes at the tail end of the issue. The sequence where Katie glimpses Abadazad for the first time is magical, like something out of a good Disney film (cast your mind back, kids... that didn't used to be a contradiction in terms), and the final page has me chomping at the bit for more. In addition, while this book was originally to have featured "real world" sequences by Butch Guice to distinguish them from the Abadazad sequences, I find that having Ploog handle the whole book works out quite well, as it adds a somewhat wistful fairy tale quality to the story of Katie and her family, and takes the edge off what could be a relentlessly dark tale of kidnapping and family disintegration.
From here, Abadazad goes into completely different territory, being the tale of a teenaged girl trying to find her brother in a fantasy realm. This first issue, however, is all about setting up the relationships in the real world and making us care about the characters, and it's a strong foundation upon which to build the more fantastical premise. Not quite an all-ages tale because of the darker elements in the script, Abadazad nevertheless captures the younger, more innocent side of adult imagination, and in so doing draws the reader into a fantasy tale rich with potential.
