Zenescope - Omnibusted #16: Neverland

Article by Sean Wilkinson,

a.k.a. the Omnibuster.

I've been recycling nearly the same content for about five weeks now, and I'm done with that seven-page paper on how fake companies run by idiots can learn to change and be smurt, so it's time for something new and completely different.

Also, something that’s been a hundred years in the making. Not because Zenescope has been around that long or planning the series that long—as we’ve seen, Zenescope can barely afford licensing fees for certain hotels and coffee shops after having been in the comic book business for a mere five years at this point in the Retrospective—but because the 2008 Annual took place in 1912, onboard the RMS Titanic, whose passengers included Sela, Belinda, Morrigan, and Mary and Daniel Darling.

But before I turn this into a self-indulgent rant about my tempered loathing of humanity (and by inclusion, of myself, because I can't get over the death of my long-time parrot companion of over thirty years—pirate reference?—and I am a Lost Boy who periodically refuses to grow up—Neverland reference!), please remember to comment at the bottom of this post, Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, help out my ad revenue as you read, and follow me on Tumblr, Reddit, and Facebook to like and get hooked by the latest news on my content.

Pans! I mean, puns!

Neverland Volume 1

Like the Wonderland trilogy before it, Neverland starts with a zero issue, and sees a boy named Billy Hitchcock doing parkour over suburban New York rooftops as he flees from a shadowy figure. Whether he’s a Falseblood or not is unclear and unimportant, as Billy is soon caught by his sharp-toothed pursuer. Cut to Michael Darling, waking from what he thinks is a nightmare. It’s unclear if Billy was so close to the Darling household that his screams woke Michael, or if Michael is a Falseblood and had a vision of Billy’s murder/kidnapping. Based on Death’s interest in Daniel Darling in the 2008 Annual, and the early revelation here that Daniel is Michael’s great uncle, the latter is entirely possible. So, a quick family tree on the Darlings.

There’s Mary, mother to Daniel. There’s Wendy, who is Daniel’s niece (I think?). George Darling and his wife (named Mary in the original source material by JM Barrie; both are referred to in the Disney version only as Mr. and Mrs. Darling, and in this version are deceased and referred to only as Mom and Dad by the boys) are John and Michael Darling’s parents. John and Michael call Wendy their aunt in Zenescope’s version, which could just be what they call her because she’s older and taking care of them with their parents dead—Wendy calls them Mom and Dad, too—as Wendy was simply their older sister in the Barrie and Disney versions.

Yeah, Zenescope took some liberties and fuzzed some of the details, but the buildup made the finished product worth it all in my opinion.

After Wendy reveals to the boys that Daniel disappeared under mysterious circumstances, the story switches briefly to the Peters family (Peter Pan shoutout?), who are talking to police about their son, Billy’s disappearance. Now, Billy’s last name is Hitchcock, and his parents are the Peters.’ Does that mean Billy is adopted, or are the writers at Zenescope suffering from memory loss again? Hopeful speculation and the whole Lost Boys thing has me thinking that the former might be true, but we’ll see. There’s talk amongst the police (who have offensively stereotyped names like Bob Doyle) that signs point to the (foster?) parents being responsible, and timely references to the JonBenet Ramsey disappearance and the Susan Smith drowning are included for a spirit of social awareness. Then one of the detectives finds what “looks kinda like pixie dust.” Why is a grown man’s first thought to compare evidence to the magical, flight-inducing dandruff of a tiny, mythological person with insect wings? I mean, I know it’s because the Grimm Universe is this comic book universe where everything is somehow tied to the fictional works of dead people who wrote stories to entertain and/or frighten children, so the mindset of everyone is supposed to be geared toward that kind of thing in-universe. But also remember that so far in the series, the world at large is basically ignorant of all of this fairy tale weirdness, and as such, it would have made more sense for Culturally Offended Irish Detective Robert O’Doyle to have simply said, “looks kinda like glitter,” or “looks kinda like pulverized insect wings,” if the writers felt like making Robbie O’Doyle a closeted bug enthusiast. But to jump straight to pixie dust? That don’t make sense.

In the next few pages, we’re briefly introduced to Nathan Cross, a homeless man with a hook prosthesis who bumps into John and Wendy before making a call to his therapist. Could Cross have some missing child issues of his own to work through, or is he the serial kidnapper that the police have been looking for?
Somewhere in Neverland, a barely glimpsed man, whom Fenton addresses as Pan and “King of this realm,” returns to his palace with a fairy by his side (who is likewise not completely revealed yet) and a bag in hand (which most likely contains Billy Peters/Hitchcock). Fenton, ever the slimy, pretentious, perverted bastard, hands Pan a photograph of Wendy Darling and claims to have found Pan’s “Queen.” Murky details, name inconsistencies, and (spoiler alert!) possible incest aside, this was an interesting prologue issue that managed to grab my attention with callbacks to the 2008 Annual, the Pawns short story, the Collection short story, and the many recent references to Zenescope’s fairy lore.

The first issue starts by dipping into Nathan Cross’ past, and shows that he lost his brother, Timmy (not to be confused with Zenescope’s other Timmy, the once and could-have-been-future serial killer who cried wolf before Sela set him on the right path, though we haven’t seen him in GFT since), twenty years previously in a place vaguely defined in Star Wars intro terms even though we know it’s Neverland because comic book titles.

Aside from the writers not knowing the proper usage of “your” versus “you’re” and not recognizing tonal cues in their own work or providing appropriate punctuation or font emphasis (even though they are professional writers who presumably went to college to learn how to write properly so they could get hired as writers and therefore get paid to write correctly, but no) they do a halfway decent job of leading the reader to believe that Cross is the villain because he has a hook and everyone old enough to have seen the Disney cartoon but not old enough to have read the book (wherein it’s revealed that Peter Pan kills off the Lost Boys after a certain age) “knows” that Captain Hook is the villain. But if you’ve read the prologue issue and/or you read the series about the same time that season three of Once Upon A Time was airing like I originally did, you will not be fooled quite so easily. Also, there’s the part in Zenescope’s version where the supposed kidnapping mastermind gets himself publicly arrested for stealing a wallet and his therapist brow-beats and guilts him into hypnotherapy so he can face his nightmare memories of Neverland. Ergo, Nathan Cross is not Pan.

However, we get more details on Cross in issue #2, after the first ended with Pan and his fairy accomplice kidnapping John and Michael. Cross’ tale unfolds alongside a conversation between Wendy and Doctor Harlow (Cross’ therapist) after her statement of the boys’ abduction tinkers some strange bells with the psychiatrist. This early in the series, most of the characters are as predictably characterized as the villains were in the previous GFT Volume. Pan is vaguely ominous and speaks of all his needs in terms of hunger, power, and varying concentrations and orders of the two. Belle (who is obviously Zenescope’s Tinkerbell now that Nissa is dead) is overtly slutty, prone to petulant jealousy, and dismissively objectified by Pan when so much more could have been brought to her character. There is (as I spoiler-warned you in my coverage of the prologue issue) a vaguely hinted-at “evil plan” involving Pan using his jealous (and therefore extremely uncooperative) winged sex object as a means to capturing (and then engaging in possible cross-generational incest and pedophilia with) Wendy Darling.

Let that sink in and try not to vomit.

Pan also has Nob in his employ, who is so obviously the stereotypical deformed assistant character that I automatically read his lines in a cartoonish Peter Lorre voice. Last and least of all, John, Michael, and Billy are just scared children with very little development beyond being one-dimensional rescue fodder.

Despite the disgusting nature of Pan’s endgame, the issue does have scraps of real meat to it when the story focuses on Harlow and the relationship dynamics between Wendy and Cross. Cross finally agrees to hypnotherapy, and for some reason that isn’t immediately (if adequately or ever) explained, the process fades him, Wendy, and Harlow into Neverland.

The third issue opens with the trio in the jungle, having magically changed clothes. Cross is now decked out in buckle-beswashed, but badass-looking Captain Hook attire, with his prosthesis having turned into an improbably large…hook. Harlow looks like Benjamin Franklin, and Wendy looks like Neverland got her an expensive pirate wench costume at Spirit Halloween. No sooner do the displaced trio begin their trek through the Neverland wilderness than they are thrown into a battle with the island’s tribal natives, who are looking for Tiger Lily.

Meanwhile, Pan marinates the Darling boys in fear (mentioning a “long history” with Wendy) and attempts to extract information from Tiger Lily regarding Provenance relics (previously mentioned in GFT #49) and other means of invading the Nexus should Belle’s jealousy become an obstacle to his evil incest plan.

The fight with the natives ends with Wendy poisoned, Harlow surrendering, and (because comic book artists can draw any geographic location or geological feature anywhere they want for plot convenience) Cross going over a cliff and landing in the clutches of a group of color-coordinated evil mermaids who are basically Neverland’s fishy answer to the Flower Girls of Wonderland. The folks at Zenescope must be fans of Bionic Commando because Cross’ hook turns into a grappling hook at one point. Also, Nathan Cross…Nathan Spencer…? Draw your own conclusions.

And speaking of drawing my own conclusions, I would not be surprised if The Little Mermaid’s fairy tale component took place in Neverland. Of course, that means that The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and part of The Lamp short story also took place in Neverland, but if that’s true, how did Belinda’s lamp end up in the Middle East (in the Nexus)? I guess it doesn’t matter because Grimm Fairy Tales is a comic book series presented as an incomplete history of things that aren’t real, but it’s still interesting to try thinking about it anyway.

In this issue, we are also introduced to a group of disposable mercenaries who work for Nob, and visit the natives’ camp to take possession of Wendy and Harlow in exchange for Tiger Lily’s freedom. As distrusting of Pan’s goons as they are of their two prisoners, the natives assert their leverage over Nob’s group. How Pan will respond is sure to play out later, but he’s a predictable villain, so let’s get back to Cross.

The fourth issue opens with Cross fighting for his life against the four lustful, flesh-eating fish ladies and getting rescued by pirates, who are as disposable as (and some of whom are almost identical-looking to) Nob’s mercenaries, and whose acting captain seems to know Cross for some reason. 

Elsewhere, Pan and Belle’s thin characterizations interact with each other as they have since their introductions. Same goals, same jealousy, same dysfunctional yawn fuel.

Thankfully, there follows a cut to Wendy and Harlow, whom the natives think are working for Pan. Harlow is having his view on sanity and societal norms wadded up and thrown into a burning trashcan by Neverland’s abundance of empirical evidence against everything he believes in, and Wendy is showing the first signs of concern (and perhaps love?) for Cross since his “defeat.”

But before any sort of development can happen for them, the story shifts back to Cross and a man calling himself Barr, the pirate leader of dubious character and origin who rescued Cross at the beginning of the issue. He claims to have been the former ruler of Neverland before Pan’s arrival, as well as the one who helped Cross return to the Nexus twenty years ago (the name Barr could be a nod to the original Peter Pan author—the actual original ruler of Neverland, so to speak—and a symbolic taking of the torch on Zenescope’s part).

We get a brief origin story on Pan, and how he struck a deal with the Dark Horde to turn him into a villain so that he would never (ha!) have to leave Neverland. Pan usurped Barr’s throne, Barr helped Cross escape Neverland, and now, Barr offers to mentor Cross on the use of his power. Of course, art style, Barr’s ex-ruler status, and the fact that he looks like the stereotypical image of a pirate hint at darker, more selfish motives. Barr’s exposition on Pan leads Cross to a lost memory of his time in Neverland, presumably of watching his brother get eaten by the Crocodile because he was too late to save him. I don’t really like all of this jumping around in the comic book medium, but the writing here has purpose in allowing Cross to remember and realize his powerlessness so that he can embark on his spiritual (and actual) journey toward the real power that might also lead to him saving Harlow and the Darlings and give him an arc of redemption.

Meanwhile, the character you’d expect to be the focus of a Grimm Universe story (scantily clad female lead, Wendy Darling) is still tied to a stake with Harlow, and is forced to watch as Pan murders Tiger Lily’s father and makes his Evil Plan clear by threatening Wendy with “the fingers I’ll lay on you.” 

Cringe!

It was moderately interesting to learn that Pan can summon and control the soulless bodies of the Lost Boys he feeds on, but the cool presentation of this information doesn’t make him any less disgusting as a character.

The issue ends with Barr continuing to try and convince everyone with eyes and ears that he has good, unselfish motives, and then leading Cross to an underground cavern where he and his crew have been building a fleet of high-tech, flying pirate ships.

Issue #5 opens with a flashback to Pan’s recruitment of Belle (a free-thinking exile from the fairy kingdom) by preying on her insecurities with some inside information on the Nexus invasion (leaving out the detail that he will be partially responsible for the genocide of her and Nyssa’s race that makes Belle “the most important fairy that ever was”). Side-by-side with this, we see Pan giving Wendy a similar sales pitch—within earshot of Belle, of course, because he’s a creepy, egomaniacal, sociopathic, unfaithful, incestuous asshole—with less favorable results. After threatening to turn John and Michael into Lost Boys (or just dead boys), he gives her the night to change her mind, and we catch back up with Cross and Barr.
With plans underway to unleash their technomagical, flying pirate ships on Castle Pan at the same time as Wendy’s ultimatum, Barr continues to train Cross in the use of his power. So, not only is Cross based on Nathan Spencer from Bionic Commando, he’s also part Megaman. Must be some Capcom fans at Zenescope….

Enter a retcon that makes no damned sense without a massive ton of speculation: Barr claims that he used Neverland energy and Nexus technological concepts to create Cross’ Hook Buster, which we saw shapeshift from his real-world prosthesis when he, Wendy, and Harlow hypnotized their way from Earth to Neverland. We know from GFT #49 that the fairies and Provenance energy (the source of the Nexus, the four Realms of Power, and the portals between them) are made of the same stuff. We know from GFT #37 that Neverland is the realm of wonder and imagination (but not dreams?). And we know from flashbacks that Cross did not receive a hook prosthesis from Barr or anyone else as a child; the prosthesis that manifested as the Hook Buster in Neverland was one he had only in his adult years. So either Barr had his invention on standby for Cross’ return and Cross’ imagination and psychological link to Neverland associated his Earth prosthesis with the closest available concept (that being Barr’s Hook Buster invention), or Barr spent his entire life going back and forth between Neverland and the Nexus, posing as Cross’ doctor, and fitting him with a new weapon-in-disguise every time he outgrew the old one. The second option is ludicrously inefficient (and given Barr’s limited-to-nonexistent connection to Earth and the Council-imposed portal quarantine, highly improbable), and the first option, as I said previously, takes a heaping amount of shakily informed speculation to even arrive at to begin with, so I think this was just meant to be another “cool coincidence” detail that gets lost in the spectacle of reading and the frequently retconned lore of the writing. Barr also reveals himself to be an aged historian of the realms, and provides us a hypocritical lesson-by-proxy on the dangers of science and technology (blaming it for the loss of magic in the Nexus even as he plans to use it in Neverland to kill Pan).
Back in Pan’s Castle, Belle visits Wendy to gloat and lay blame for Pan’s disinterest in her. Belle also reveals an intriguing bit about her origins as a creation of “the First Master” (perhaps the creator of the realms?) and seemingly helps Wendy plot against Pan. But however much they try to tell us otherwise, Neverland villains are flat and simple in execution, so expect this not to be the case. Far above, Cross and Barr unleash Hell on Pan, losing handily ( more puns!) because they fail to remember how soul consumption and power scaling work, leaving Cross in a one-on-one fight with Pan that is full of awesome imagery (yay!) and psychology-heavy exposition (yay?).

The psycho-position (expo-cology?) continues into the next issue as Wendy musters her inner tiger-aunt and fights off a two-faced, jealous fairy and Pan’s giant, pet crocodile, only to escape to a magnificent view of Cross getting his ass kicked and his spirit crushed on the set of a Nicolas Cage movie (because cheesy but entertaining dramatic monologues, and everything’s on fire). Also, Pan seems to have gotten an advance copy of Stranger Things Season 3 because he’s suddenly choke-lifting everyone who gets in his way, including Belle, who “helped” Wendy escape. Being one-dimensional, two-faced, and disposable is a bitch. And being a one-dimensional, two-faced, disposable bitch can get one locked in a magic cage by a creepy, egomaniacal, sociopathic, unfaithful, incestuous asshole.
Meanwhile, with Cross’ spirit broken, Wendy gets another chance to be heroic through a trite and rote, inspirational speech that does a disservice to the imagery it accompanies, but packs in enough emotional context and subtext to bring the two of them closer together. Ultimately, Cross vows to help Wendy save John and Michael, redeeming himself by proxy for not being able to save his own brother when he was their age. Writing and Pacing force an end to the conversation as Plot Convenience has their paths cross with Harlow, Tiger Lily, and several stern-faced natives. It’s refreshing to see the gang back together here, and with her strength of will and the loss of her father, Tiger Lily fits right into their character dynamics without missing a beat. However, when they return to the cave Wendy escaped from, Cross’ “you can’t have possibly killed a giant crocodile because you’re a woman and I have PTSD” exchange with her before he takes the lead “like a man” was insensitive.
Meanwhile, in Pan’s throne room, the Choke-lift Marathon continues with Michael as part of an epic crossover with Marinating Children In Fear and Despair as we close in on the final issue.

Insensitive writing aside, Wendy’s “killing” of the crocodile proved less effective than previously stated, giving Cross a literal threshold guardian to overcome. Not only is he taking his first step into hero status after a soul-crushing defeat, he is getting further redemption by slaying the monster that devoured his hand and his brother, not unlike Calie’s (much longer) character progression arc in the Wonderland trilogy (which involved her growing into a stronger version of herself, coming to terms with her loss, and slaying two monsters who took her brother from her—one a giant, green lizard, the other Johnny Liddle himself).
Pan’s attack on his great-great-…-grand-nephews(?)—yes, Pan is Daniel Darling from the 2008 Annual—leads Belle to see the error of her ways and the falsity of her love for him (and the absence of his love for her). This stalls him long enough for the rescue party to arrive and engage Pan, Nob, and the mercenaries. I noticed for the first time here that Wendy’s Spirit Halloween pirate wench costume also includes a necklace that (though it is neither blue nor heart-shaped) made me think of the Heart of the Ocean from the movie, Titanic. Purposeful character design, or my brain making obscure connections again?
Whatever the case, Wendy and Cross have good fight banter with Pan while John and Michael rescue the unconscious, scantily clad fairy, who uses her Provenance magic to transport Cross, Wendy, Michael, John, Harlow, and Pan to the Nexus, where he will have less power; further proof that Zenescope is run by A Nightmare on Elm Street fans.
Despite the lack of Neverland powers (the Hook Buster is out of play, too), the final confrontation between Cross and Pan is more epic than anything else in the last seven issues, serves as appropriate juxtaposition for how the series began (back in the Nexus, but this time, Pan is the one on the run), and ends with Cross victorious and Pan’s fate unknown.
In an epilogue, Cross visits his family grave (father Nathan Cross, Sr., mother Elizabeth Mary—a first and middle name we will see in the next Tales From Wonderland volume—Cross, and brother Timothy Ethan Cross), and decides he wants to rejoin society and be part of the Darlings’ lives going forward. The final silhouettes of the main characters are telling. Facing each other from opposite sides of the panel are those of Cross and Wendy. It is obvious from a surface perspective that the two between them belong to John and Michael, but the poses of the shadows are also suggestive of Pan chasing Billy Hitchcock, or one of the Darling boys, or a young Nathan or Timmy Cross, symbolizing the trials and tribulations that brought them together.

Supplemental materials from the individual print edtions include excerpts from Cross’ psychiatric file. Little is revealed that we don’t know from reading the series (Timmy’s abduction, Cross’ criminal history, etc.), aside from how his mother and father died (suicide and alcohol poisoning, respectively), and the dark and extreme motivations for his criminal behavior (feeling that no punishment is too harsh for his failure and loss).

Until recently, Neverland held the record for longest miniseries, beating out the original Wonderland runs by a single issue each. There have since been several twelve-issue event miniseries, but few that I have read pack in the level of symbolism and artistry that Neverland achieved. Yes, the pacing was formulaic and relied too heavily on coincidence and cheesy, grain-of-salt dialogue. Yes, the villains were flat and disgusting. But the history behind the Neverland series and the themes underlying it were top-notch, not to mention the brutal, hectic desperation of that last fight scene. While by no means a perfect work on Zenescope’s resume, I hold Neverland in high regard.

A Tales volume and several one-shots and follow-up miniseries would follow much later.

Speaking of Tales, I have one review of Tales From Wonderland left in my offline files, and I'd like to get a few reviews ahead before continuing the Retrospective and Omnibusted series, so this will be my last such content for awhile. Until then, please remember to comment down below, Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, help out my ad revenue, and follow me on Tumblr, Reddit, and Facebook to like and get the latest news on my content.

Omnibuster,

Out.