Abadazad

Abadazad is an American comic book written by J. M. DeMatteis and drawn by Mike Ploog, with color by Nick Bell. Published in 2004 by Crossgen Comics to rave reviews, the series halted after three issues when Crossgen went out of business. After Disney acquired Abadazad, along with the rest of CrossGen's intellectual property, the story was resumed in June 2006 in a hybrid format: a children's book series that combines sequential art segments alternating with prose segments. Originally meant to be a tetralogy, Disney Publishing changed plans to eight Abadazad volumes, When Kate suddenly finds herself journeying through the real Abadazad in search of her beloved younger brother, Matt — who vanished five years earlier — she discovers that the truth of Abadazad is far stranger, and more amazing, than fiction. She is guided to enter Abadazad by Little Martha, the protagonist of the novels which she had read, and is given cause to confront the villain known as Lanky Man, to whom is ascribed the disappearance of Matt.

Davies wrote "nineteen or twenty" Abadazad books, from 1898 to 1924, starting with Little Martha in Abadazad. Other titles mentioned include Queen Ija of Abadazad, The Eight Oceans of Abadazad, Professor Headstrong of Abadazad, The Enchanted Gardens of Abadazad, The Balloonicorn of Abadazad, The Edges of Abadazad, The Battle for Abadazad and The Wretchedly Awful City of Abadazad. Most of these feature Martha Cooper, a small, determined girl who possesses the means, in the form of a blue sphere, of travelling to Abadazad at will. The historical book series reveals that Martha herself had related the stories to Davies, who had written them into books, altering the appearance and characters as he thought best suited the audience. The difference between his version of Abadazad and the version Kate encounters in person is a recurring theme throughout the story. In the original Crossgen comic book, the fictitious author's name had been Franklin O. Barrie.