This Week's Oz Short Story

Yet another tale from The Lost Tales of Oz, this one being "Tommy Kwikstep and the Magpie" by Jared Davis. It's another little slice-of-life story, this time about Tommy Kwikstep off to deliver a message. He's accompanied by a magpie friend named Corina. When they get to the amethyst mining town of Amethyston, they find that the woman receiving the message is Locasta, the former Good Witch of the North. She gave up that title many years ago (in part explaining the differences between Locasta and Tattypoo, the Good Witch of the North actually seen in the Oz books), and is running a music hall. While waiting for a reply message, Tommy meets Perry, Jinjur's son. They decide to wander around Oz together (Tommy turns his messenger service over to another local entrepreneur), and a year later make their way to the Emerald City, where they get into a conversation with Ozma and Dorothy about love in Oz. It's all very quiet, without a lot of actual adventures, but it lays a lot of groundwork for how one can interpret early twentieth century stories in a modern twenty-first century context.

Today's Oz Comic

It looks like The Wizard of Oz meets Fargo in today's edition of 1 and Done.

This Week's Oz Novella

Even though I'm on my winter vacation, the holidays have taken their toll, and I'm falling behind a bit in my reading of The Lost Tales of Oz. I hope to catch up over the next few days, however, and bank a few entries in this series for the new year. But at least I've now gotten through the single longest story in the collection with "Lurline and the Talking Animals of Oz" by Joe Bongiorno. This story goes further back than any other story in the collection, as it has to do with the enchantment of Oz! Specifically, it's a diary by a farmer's wife about what happens when the animals start talking. Naturally, most decide they don't want to be penned up, enslaved, or eaten, so they tell the local farmers this and leave. This does not go over well, and many of the local farmers want their old life back, complete with their animals. Things start getting tense, local leaders step in, and then government officials from the central government (which has to deal with similar problems all over the country). A summit between the humans and animals takes place, but it does not go well, and there are assassinations and a riot. Finally, Lurline, leader of the fairy band that enchanted Oz, has to step in, stop further bloodshed, and provide solutions. Some of the farmers, and their loyal dogs, opt to head back to their original homes in the Great Outside World. Others, wishing to stay but not change their ways, are exiled to a new settlement in the Quadling Country, Rigmarole Town. But Lurline is finally forced to create the Waters of Oblivion to erase everyone's memories of the old ways so that they can start again, fresh, in an uncivilized land. There are still written records, such as this diary, and a handful entrusted with complete knowledge of the old ways, so Oz continues, but it's a much kinder, gentler place now, on the way to becoming the land we all know and love.

This is at once an epic about a major change in society and how everyone (people and animals) react to it, and an intimate story about one Munchkin village and how those changes affect it. It does a terrific job with its premise, and also aspects of what we know about early Ozian history and its origins.

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: Abraca-Oops

Ozma is practicing for a big magic contest. When Dorothy suggests "abracadabra" as a magic word, however, Ozma loses her powers until sunset, as "abracadabra" is an anti-magic word in Oz. (Hmm, couldn't Dorothy just say it around Wilhelmina and avoid a lot of troubles tat way?) With the contest that afternoon, Dorothy and the boys all leap in to help Ozma at least appear to be doing magic. Among the other contestants are the Warlock of Ev, Dr. Pipt—and Wilhelmina! Despite all odds, things are looking good for Ozma, until Frank and Lyman figure out that her tricks are fake, and expose her. Despite the touching, heartwarming show of support and affection that her friends are showing her, Ozma is disqualified! Wilhelmina wins the contest, and gets one wish from the Wishing Stone. Just as she's about to wish for the Ruby Slippers, Lyman (who has been even more of a chatterbox than usual in this episode) starts up with a long list of things he wants, most of which involve bananas. Wilhelmina finally shouts at him, "I wish you'd shut up for ten seconds so I could think!" Sure enough, Wilhelmina gets her one wish, and Lyman shuts up for ten seconds. So, a win for Wilhelmina, for once, but not the way she wanted to. Poor kid, I hope she gets away from the influence of her aunt and becomes the nice kid we've sort of seen underneath at times.

Today's Oz Comic

Nothing Christmassy at all about today's edition of Rubes. But there is singing. (My tip to the Tin Woodman: Don't go with such a difficult song! There is a jump of a whole octave in just those first two notes.)

Yesterday's Oz Comic

I have no idea why I waited until this morning to post this edition of Red and Rover, but wait I did. While a fun take on an Oz trope, I'm not sure if it really fits into Red and Rover, since that strip is set in the late '60s/early '70s. The strip's Wikipedia article mentions a few anachronisms that have popped up, but nothing quite like this.

Today's Oz Comic

Hmm, yeah, I guess there are some disadvantages to monkeying around with classic movies, as evidenced in today's edition of Herb and Jamaal.

This Week's Very Short Oz Stories

Yes, I still have a few stories to go in The Lost Tales of Oz, but I don't really have the time right now to read these long tales. Don't worry, with my winter break coming up, I'll try to catch up and bank a few entries for the coming weeks. But I still want to blog, so I've dipped back into Oziana with the 1997 issue, and found two very short stories:

• "Junk Mail" by Dave Hardenbrook extols the virtues of a new computer and all the wonders it can do in an advertising e-mail sent to Ozma. Considering this was 1997 and the very dawn of the internet as we now know it (my website debuted just a few months earlier, for instance), it is surprisingly innocent yet prescient.
• "A Generic Oz Story" by Tyler Jones is a brief encapsulation of the travails American children Timmy and Tammy go through when they find their way to Oz, which includes being captured and enslaved by the inhabitants of no less than three isolated Ozian communities, before making their way to the Emerald City for the obligatory party.

Okay, I promise the other Lost Tales novella next week; I just can't promise how early in the week it will be...

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: A Cut Above the Rest

While showing the gang how to play marbles, Dorothy unleashes Ozma's chaos stone, which, well, cause a lot of chaos! While recovering them, Ozma tells Dorothy that she's hosting a royal ball. Never having been to a ball, Dorothy is worried. Plus, she has to wear something. So, all this happens:

(Yes, I'm cheating by including this clip. Plus, more Patchwork Girl!) Dorothy and the dress keep spinning around, many times on her head, and causing chaos, and both Dorothy and the Patchwork Girl are afraid they've ruined the whole event. Things look especially worrisome when events throw Baroness Bunchausen and Duchess Doofus together, but they end up bonding over the cheese bread their encounter creates. The chaos stones are discovered, Dorothy ditches the dress and acts like her regular self (good thing she had her gingham on underneath!), and Frank and Lyman slink away.

This was a fun one, in that we see a bunch of people from around Oz, and get hints of what else they've mined from the books, even if Baroness Bunchausen of Bunbury isn't an actual bun like she would have been in The Emerald City of Oz. And King Glum of Merryland? Inspired! Despite the dress and the chaos stones, Dorothy's sweet self wins out in the end, and helps improve relations in Oz as well. Which is exactly what we'd expect from any version of Dorothy, right?

Today's Oz Comic

It's not a new idea at all, but today's Mother Goose and Grimm at least clearly takes place in Oz.

Today's Festive Oz Comic

Strictly speaking, today's edition of The Argyle Sweater isn't Ozzy, but a celebrity very closely associated with Oz is. I'm sure you'll know who it is once you get there. But, if you ask me, they gave her the wrong carol to sing, since she was the one who first introduced the world to this one:

Today's Oz Comic

I'll be brief this morning: The Wiz is mentioned in today's edition of Trivquiz, as one might expect from who it's about.

This Week's Oz Short Story

I'm taking a break from The Lost Tales of Oz this weekend to present a very brief story, "The Troublesome Party of Oz" by Nick Campbell, which recently arrived with the annual Christmas card from the International Wizard of Oz Club, an organization I have now been a member of for over forty years. The card often cowes with humorous pondering on Christmas in Oz or musings on Oz books that could have been, but this is the first time I recall it coming with a short story! As the events of The Tin Woodman of Oz are wrapping up, the Shaggy Man is delivering his report via the magic telegraph (as first mentioned in the introduction of The Patchwork Girl of Oz) as Dorothy stops in, disappointed that there won't be a royal wedding and reception party. Suddenly, the telegraph goes haywire, and for the first time it's not a message from Mr. Baum! The first part of the message is lost, but it's obvious that someone is coming to the Emerald City for a visit. So, the cancelled wedding reception is quickly turned into a welcoming banquet for whoever it may be. The weather in the Emerald City starts getting windy and cold, however, and Dorothy even predicts that it might snow! Sure enough, the next morning, the whole city is blanketed in white, and Ozma almost cancels the party—until the snow speaks to her! Sure enough, the snow is the visitor. To facilitate communication, Ozma and Dorothy make snowmen, and the party goes on as an outdoor winter fair.

I have little to add, other than that it was a fun piece, and I hope this starts a trend of more stories in future Christmas cards. This was a nice touch!

Today's Oz Comic

Today in Mother Goose and Grimm, one of our friends goes in for some advice. Sounds like he's in good hands!

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: Everything's Coming up Poppies

In preparing for the first ever Poppin Poppies Parade, the Cowardly Lion goes off to find a few more poppies to finish the float of Ozma that Dorothy and the gang are putting together. He finds them behind a fence, and the float is finished. But the Lion is so tired he lies down for a little nap. Wilhelmina, working on another float nearby, figures out that the poppies come from her aunt's quarantined poppy field, and put people to sleep! Sure enough, Dorothy, Toto, Ozma, and just about everyone else also succumb. Quickly flying back to her castle, Wilhelmina consults her aunt in the crystal ball and figures out that with everyone asleep, she can get the Ruby Slippers. The Scarecrow and Tin Woodman, however, also figure out what's going on, and wake Dorothy up just enough to get the Ruby Slippers to take them all to Glinda's castle. Glinda puts a bubble around Dorothy, reviving her, but then the poppy pollen hits Glinda! Wilhelmina, Frank, and Lyman, with clothespins on their noses to keep from inhaling the pollen, can't find Dorothy or the Slippers, so they take over the castle and try on Ozma's clothes, play around with her PA system, and generally make pests of themselves. But eventually they head back over to the floats, where Dorothy, Scarecrow, and Tin Man have enclosed the float in a bubble, cutting off the pollen. (Toto and the Lion are still asleep!) Wilhelmina and the monkeys, having removed their clothespins, still manage to kidnap Dorothy, but the Tin Man still has some poppies in his chest, and the Scarecrow blows the pollen up towards them. They breathe it in, fall asleep, and everything is tidily wrapped up. The parade goes on, but now they really are floats, all encased in Glinda's bubbles. And on the float shaped like a banana, Wilhelmina, Frank, and Lyman can be seen peacefully sleeping.

All I will say is, this was another fun one. I'm not sure exactly how the poppy pollen works (couldn't it even get out of their quarantine enclosure?), but that's just a story telling device. And this may be the strongest indicator yet that Wilhelmina doesn't really want to be wicked, she just doesn't know what else to do, especially under the influence of her beloved auntie.

Today's Oz Comic

In today's Bound and Gagged, the Tin Woodman is getting into the holiday spirit in a very retro way.

This Week's Oz Short Story

This week's story from The Lost Tales of Oz is "Ali Cat in Oz" by Sam Sackett. In case that name is familiar, he was one of the co-authors of last week's story. This works out very well, as Ali is the cat that the Wizard found on the streets of New York and adopted. This story follows on directly from that, with Ali getting used to being in Oz and the Emerald City (it even takes him a while to figure out that he can talk). Having Toto and Bungle around take some getting used to as well! He doesn't have too long to figure out the Emerald City before he's carried away by a gryphon! Naturally, he escapes, but now he's somewhere in the wilds of Oz and must find his way back to the Emerald City. A farm couple take him in, but lock him in a barn to catch mice, which the mice certainly object to. He escapes, encounters some fish that also don't want to be eaten, and then comes to Fussbudget Municipality, which isn't very far, as you may guess, from Flutterbudget Center. Since the Fussbudgets want to shave Ali, he decides this isn't a place for him, either. Ali next comes to Kitty City, another Oz town inhabited by cats (this story implies that there are several). He doesn't get along with the Boss Cat, however, and wanders off again. He evetually finds a yellow brick road and catches a bus to the Emerald City, He finally wanders back into the Wizard's apartment, where he relates his adventures to his new friend.

Again, it's just a few adventures, but it sure is a great way for Ali to find out a little bit more about his new home and the rules of being a cat in it. There's also a subplot about how Ozma and the Wizard help Queen Ann of Oogaboo from getting restless again, but I'll leave that one alone for the readers to discover.

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: Mirror Madness

For once, they succeeded: This episode opens with Frank and Lyman stealing Ozma's magic mirror! While the gang in the Emerald City is looking for it—they even go to the Emerald City Lost and Found, which has all kinds of other interesting things—Wilhelmina looks in the mirror and is immediately entranced. She's so unresponsive, Lyman is afraid he'll never share a banana malted with her! Her reflection eventually turns into an even more twisted, evil version of Wilhelmina. Frank and Lyman see no other way of helping her; they have to get help from Dorothy! Leaving a trail of banana peels, Dorothy and the gang follow them to Wilhelmina's castle, where theyfigure out what's going on. No problem, move the mirror. Whoops, they break it, releasing the reflection! Wilhelmina snaps out of her trance, and when the reflection turns on her, she tries to stop it with her magic. But everything bounces off! In desperation, Wilhelmina turns to Dorothy for help, who realizes the only way to stop her bad reflection is for Wilhelmina to do good things. This does not make Wilhelmina happy, but she does it anyway, and the reflection begins to shrink, even as its terrorizing the Ozian countryside. Eventually, she has to perform one last good deed, but Dorothy is out of ideas. So Wilhelmina comes up with the last one: Sharing a banana malted with Lyman. She even gives him the cherry on the top. That does it, and Wilhelmina's reflection at last disappears in a puff of green smoke.

This was a fun one, especially the montage of Wilhelmina doing good deeds, which for some reason all end with something eating her. She saves Ojo from the Hungry Tiger—who then eats her. She helps an old lady bear across the yellow brick road, through a bunch of Wheelers— and then the bear eats her. Even giving a daisy to a little girl ends with her getting eaten by a large plant, reminiscent of the ones that ate Ojo and company in The Patchwork Girl of Oz. But alls well that ends well, and watching Dorothy and Wilhelmina team up was actually a lot of fun. I have a sneaking suspicion Wilhelmina isn't quite as bad as she thinks she is, she's more a victim of her circumstances and the influence of her aunt. And since I haven't mentioned it before, I'll now bring up her nickname for Dorothy: Pigtails!