Saturday, August 15, 2020

This Week's Oz Short Story

Wow, the last issue of Oziana was so packed I thought I'd never get through it! But here at last, my first review from the 2014 issue! And our first story is "Lost and Never Found" by David Tai and Jared Davis, with illustrations by Dennis Anfuso. Trot and Betsy Bobbin find a lost boat, and in the process of trying to return it to its owner they get lost themselves—in the Valley of Lost Things in Merryland! (Note to self: Now that I have an edition of Dot and Tot of Merryland with all the color, I should reread it!) Fortunately, Queen Dolly of Merryland finds them! Unfortunately, now that they're found, they can't be in the Valley of Lost Things anymore. But they have no way to get out of the Valley except for a pair of silver slippers that they find. Yes, that pair of silver slippers! It all gets very messy and complicated, and eventually a parrot-ox (from Paradox in Oz) turns up. It's all very silly yet oddly disconcerting. Eventually the two girls work through all the layers of logic and find their way back to Oz, andthey decided it was best to just not mention their adventure to anyone.

Yeah, this got kind of weird. Any story with a parrot-ox is going to get weird. But it was also another great exhibit of how Tai writes for Betsy and Trot. He does what few writers can ever do with them (and Dorothy, when she's around), and that's make them separate, distinct characters with their own personalities. Here, Trot is a little brattier than usual, but Betsy stays calm and centered and is trying to understand the situation and solve their problems, despite Trot's efforts. It's a fun little story, and a nice light way to start off this issue.

1 comment:

Jay said...

While my name appears on this one, it's mostly David's work. I got co-credit for handling the Merryland aspect. We got permission from Edward Einhorn to use Tempus. The original version had Dolly scream at realizing the paradox, which I felt was not quite in character for her.