The Latest Oz Reading

Yup, been busy, especially since the comics arrived last week (after some delays because of the weather, and I'm not sure if it was because of snow here or back east). So, here we go:

• "Not in Kansas Anymore" by Lori T. Strongin, the latest short story from Shadows of the Emerald City. Good grief, what was that? If you combined Wicked, zombies, and the classic Star Trek episode "City on the Edge of Forever", you'll get some idea of how weird this one was! It turns out that, at the end of The Wizard of Oz, the Silver Shoes didn't work, and couldn't take her home after all. So she's forced to fend for herself by becoming a stripper (yeah, I know, me neither) named Kansas. Ten years later, the Scarecrow may have finally figured out a way for her to get home, using the Time Dragon (it seems Strongin's only other source of Oz outside of The Wizard of Oz was Wicked, as there are several references to that here). It's not an easy journey, of course, but Kansas makes it to the Time Dragon in the end. What she does next would give too much away. There have been an awful lot of stories in this anthology that really are not my cup of tea, but this one may be the least tea-like of the lot!
• Fables #136. Rose Red is continuing to forge her own version of Camelot, and finds out some ugly truths from the Lady of the Lake — but no Oz this time.
• Oz #5 from Zenescope. The Veridian Scepter is now complete, and Glinda is in a recuperative coma. Of course, now that the Wicked Witch has the scepter, it may not matter, as she's about to launch her final attack. Come on, all you hot Ozzy women, put some clothes on!
• The Steam Engines of Oz: The Geared Leviathan #3. Woo-hoo, some looks at the extended Oz canon, with appearances by Frogman, Tip, Ozma (yes, both of them!), Jack Pumpkinhead, and the Soldier with the Green Whiskers. But why was the Wicked Witch of the West named Mombi? That's another character! I'm still not quite sure what's going on, but I'm enjoying this one. But do you suppose it's significant that Victoria is not stung during an attack by bees?
• And finally, The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West #14. The Flying Monkeys continue to tell their tale to Gale, while the Tin Man gets the living daylights punched out of him some more. Interesting stuff going on in this one, but the main story isn't advancing very fast! Also, it was hard to tell at times which of the Flying Monkey panels were set now and which were flashbacks. They also had some really weird balloon placements that made it hard to follow the dialogue in the proper order at times.

A library book popped up unexpectedly, which is once again keeping me from delving into the Oz reading proper. But when I do, there are some very interesting new items that I'm really looking forward to.