Friday, July 13, 2012

The Latest Oz Comics Book Reading

And so we come to the end of Marvel's adaptation of Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz with issue #8. This one should be subtitled "The Trial of Eureka the Kitten", for that's pretty much it, with everyone going home in the last few pages. A pretty straightforward adaptation of the incident, with Eric Shanower cleverly slipping some of Baum's descriptions into dialogue said by the people of the Emerald City. The big star here is Skottie Young (yes, again), as he illustrates some things we've never seen before, like Ozma and Dorothy's rooms. I also really liked the Wogglebug's oversized powdered wig as prosecutor, and his growing frustration at the many interruptions to his accusatory speech. I know there are some Oz fans out there who don't like Young's interpretation of Oz, but I suspect in many cases it's just because he's not slavishly imitating John R. Neill — although I seem to recall taking a little while to warm up to his style at first myself, so maybe I'm projecting. Anyway, that one's done, and then we have a few months wait until The Road to Oz kicks off. Just think, Skottie Young doing the Scoodlers, and Polychrome, and Johnny Dooit, and all those guests at Ozma's birthday! This one will be fun!

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