Oz Comic Books

Our monthly comic book order arrived this week, and you know what that means, don't you? That's right, Oz comics! Here's what arrived:

• Ozma of Oz #2. Ooh, lots of creepy Wheelers on the cover! Ooh, Dorothy and Billina meet Tik-Tok inside! Ooh, now they're on the way to Evna! Ooh, terrific cover for issue #3 (which I gather most of the rest of you have already, my I'm jealous). Yet another winner from Eric and Skottie, but that's not really a surprise any more, is it?
  
• Speaking of Eric Shanower, another book that came was Age of Bronze #31. The Achaeans must face the Trojans' latest ally, a deadly accurate archer. And Troilus and Cressida have their own problems to deal with as well. Parting is not sweet sorrow for these two lovebirds. As always, Eric does a terrific job on this book. No sign of that darned horse yet, so this still has a ways to go, I'm sure.
  
• And finally comes The Royal Historian of Oz #3. Jasper now knows that Frank has been kidnapped, but the vast bulk of this issue is devoted to Frank being a "guest" in Oz, and his reaction to everything going on around him. There is a definite lack of boys his age around the palace that Frank can relate to. So instead, the Tin Woodman takes him out hunting (in a very Ozzy way) for Kalidahs. Fun stuff, and the fate of poor Bungle is perhaps inevitable some day. My one gripe about this book is that the Tin Woodman is a giant robot. This works, at times, in some alternate versions or reinterpretations, but this is clearly supposed to be the Oz of the books. It's a minor point, and the rest of it is a lot of fun and very Ozzy.
  

I also caught a very small Oz reference in a forthcoming product while flipping through Previews, the catalog of what's coming out in the next couple of months. Paizo Publishing has a board game out called Kill Doctor Lucky, which sounds a bit like the anti-Clue, in that you're all racing around the mansion trying to fulfill the title of the game. Well, they've added an expansion that adds into the mix Dr. Lucky's little Scottish terrier, Shamrock. The name of the expansion? Kill Dr. Lucky...and His Little Dog, Too! (If you don't already have the original game, they now sell it with the expansion, so you don't have to buy it twice.)