Covering someone's work?

lets say i'm an artist, and i want to cover someone's work, lets say, Alice in Wonderland, kind of like McGee's Alice in Wonderland, how he took the idea of original Alice, and changed it around and made a video game, so lets say i wanna draw Alice in Wonderland, but a little different, maybe a little dark or something....would i have to get the permission from the original artists of Alice in Wonderland if i distribute my artwork?