When I read the original Joker’s Asylum mini-series in trade form a couple of years ago, I loved it both for the idea and the execution, but I had one burning question: Where was the Mad Hatter?

Always one of my favourite Bat-villains, yet no writer ever really seems to know what to do with poor little Jervis Tetch, and so he has become reduced to an “off-the-shelf” bad guy and pretty much a parody of himself.

With this much-anticipated follow-up to Joker’s Asylum, Landry Q. Walker has done the Mad Hatter some justice in his whimsical tale Tea Time, with storybook-like art by Keith Giffen and Bill Sienkiewicz.

The reader is lured deep into the rabbit hole that is the mind of Jervis Tetch, as we see the world through his eyes as his own personal Wonderland. The Hatter’s madness is portrayed with disturbing realism, and eerie lines such as “Her name must be Alice” show the extent of his delusions.

Walker gives Jervis just the right balance of lunacy and obsession, expertly detailing his fondness for both hats and the works of Lewis Carroll without overloading us with references and irrelevant quotes. Giffen and Sienkiewicz’s art also mirrors this delicate equilibrium, as it is ever so slightly jarring but without being offputting.

Most importantly though, we see that underneath all his insanity and mania, Jervis Tetch is merely a misunderstood, mixed-up, childlike genius looking for nonsense in a far too sensible world. I can only hope that Tea Time influences future stories involving the Mad Hatter for the better.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m late for a very important date. Oh my paws and whiskers…