The Latest Reading, Part II

Let's see if I can hit the bottom of this pile today. If not, however, I have a few more days this week.

• Fables, Volume 15: Rose Red by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, and other guests artists, colorists, and letterers is, as you can probably guess, the next volume in the Fables comic series. Rose Red is still dealing with her depression after the loss of Boy Blue, but she is forced out of it as more and more Free Fables emigrate to the Farm as Mr. Dark takes a firmer grip on Fabletown in New York City. And a new leader emerges among the witches—Ozma! Yes, we've seen her before, but this is when Ozma truly comes into her own as a character in this series and becomes a formidable force. Also, Snow White and Bigby have to deal with their cubs and their ancestry, while Beauty and the Beast have offspring troubles of their own; they just don't kwon it yet. Thumbelina also gets a story of her own, and the creators answer some reader questions, including one about Bufkin! And this is going to be the last volume of Fables I will be writing about here, as I started collecting individual issues with the next one that comes after this volume, #101. So while I haven't read them all in order, I have now read every issue of the main series in one form or another, along with some of the side issues, miniseries, and the like. At some point, I hope I can do an epic reread of the entire series, but that's a few years off.
• Colorful Corniness in Oz by Marine Elizabeth Xiques and Chris Dulabone. I've been collecting and reading the books published by Dulabone ever since he started, and now that he's passed away I am determined to finish the set. Fortunately, I only have two more to go, but this was a recent acquisition. It's a short one, but wow, they didn't spre on the color! All the illustrations (many are photographs) and even a lot of the text are in full color, fitting this tale of colors and the search for different varieties of corn. Like a lot of books written or published by Dulabone, it may not be particularly memorable, but it is a lot of fun and very Ozzy.
• From the same team comes my next book, Havenly Dreams Beneath Oz, illustrated by Dennis Anfuso. This was a fortunate get for me, as I was comparing my list of books I owned with the website's list of books that had been published, and noticed I'd missed this one. Needless to say, I sent off for it right away. Only a few weeks after the book arrived, word got out about Chris Dulabone's death. Much of this stor involves Goblin Grotto, a land underneath Oz, and the goblins who live there. Our main character is Raspberry Surely, a red goblin who doesn't receive a lot of love from the rest of her family. She sets out to find a better life for herself, something more like what she reads about in the Oz books. Yes, after many adventures, she makes it to Oz, meets some of the celebrities, and returns to a better life with a found family in Goblin Grotto. And that's about all I have to say about this one.
• My one major nod to non-fiction in this reading cycle was Ray Bolger: More Than a Scarecrow by Holly van Leuven. Believe it or not, this is the first full-length biography of Ray Bolger. There had been attempts before, including Bolger's own writings, but van Leuven was the one to finally put it all together and bring it to the public. And she does a fantastic job, making Bolger's life journey from the working class neighborhoods of Boston through the final days of vaudeville, Broadway, movies, night clubs, television, and the showrooms of Las Vegas. While the book certainly covers The Wizard of Oz, that was only one small part of his career, and this book gives equal weight to everything he did, demonstrating his abilities and adaptability. We also see just how important Bolger's wife, Gwen, was to his career, as she sets aside her own ambitions to manage Ray and help him move along to the next level. It's a fascinating look into the complete life of an important figure in the annals of oz, and van Leuven should be concratulated for finally bringing Ray's story out.
• Finally, a book that I recently acquired but don't see the need to actually read, because I know the text so well already: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, illustrated by MinaLima. I already have plenty of editions of this book, so there must be something unique or unusual about it for me to want to get it, but I think this fits the bill very nicely. I've heard it described as a pop-up book, but that doesn't quite fit, although there are some elements. MinaLima, an art and graphic design studio, call it an interactive book, and that's much more accurate. It's the full original novel, but every once in a while something is inserted that invites the reader to play around, such as a pull-out tornado that becomes a map of Oz (including the Gillikin Country, which wasn't mentioned in this book). It's a fun way to present the story. Aside from the interactive element, the illustrations are colorful and striking, and frequently interact with the text (or the text interacts with the illustrations; it's a hard line to define). This is one many of today's children will treasure, and then collectors of the future will try to find it with all the interactive portions intact! So maybe you should buy two, and just not take the second one out of the wrapper.

Yay, I've hit the floor! That is, indeed, all for now. But I have a few other titles I'm working through, so there will likely be an update before too long.

The Latest Oz Reading

Following the second part of Pharaoh, I delved into Witches, the fourteenth collection of the Fables comic book. And now it's really starting to get Ozzy! Bufkin the flying monkey has a good deal to do, and even gets a chapter named for him in this volume's main storyline, about the latest maneuvering as the Fables face yet another powerful adversary. Bufkin even loses his wings in an accident! But the real star is Ozma, who is now acknowledged as being the little blonde witch in the coven. She's even on the cover. Ozma decides a change in leadership is needed, and moves to remove Frau Totenkinder as head. And Ozma proves to be very good in a leadership role, but that's partly because she knows when to call in help so as to make it look as if she's not involved. There's also a backup story about the problems when goblins try to go against their nature, all because of baseball. The whole series is pretty amazing, but if you only want to read it for the Oz content, and a single winged monkey isn't Ozzy enough, this is the collection you should start with, as Oz gets stamped hard onto the Fables brand here. And Ozma's role only gest bigger after this.

The Latest Oz Reading

It has been a very, very long time since I have posted one of these. But I have been very, very busy, and haven't had as much chance as I'd like to read. So I'm going to be playing a lot of catch-up here as I go through my latest round of Oz reading.

• And I am embarrassed to say that the first thing I read was the program book for OzCon International—last year's OzCon International! So I dove right in to see what I had done nearly a year earlier! There was an Ozzy guide to Oz sites in southern California; male emotional intelligence and the Tin Woodman; Woot the Wanderer; the bromance between the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman; thoughts on The Tin Woodman of Oz (our theme book for that weekend); a special copy of The Making of The Wizard of Oz (it's author, Aljean Harmetz, was supposed to be a guest last year, but had to cancel last minute; fortunately, she made it this year); an appreciation of the Oz books of Rachel Cosgrove Payes; an examination of the science fiction Rachel wrote under the pseudonym E. L. Arch, plus her one other pseudonymous book, by "Joanne Kaye"; a checklist (at last!) of all of Payes' published works; a short story by J. L. Bell, "Woot Meets the Kalidahs"; another short story, "The Twin Tin Woodmen of Oz" by Robert R. Pattrick; and a gallery of illustrations based on The Tin Woodman of Oz and other books celebrating anniversaries last year.
• Next up is a three-fer, because it's the first three issues of Zenescope's latest comic book trip to Oz, Oz: Heart of Magic. Dorothy has been body-swapped into a criminal, so she and Toto are on the run as someone is using her power as Queen of Oz to fulfill her own agenda, which seems to involve siphoning off all of Oz's magic! Of course, since our interloper looks like Dorothy, few question her. I've criticized Zenescope in the past for not delving into any of the Oz books at all, but this time we see a lot of characters whose names, at least, come from the books. But this being Zenescope, who have a very adult take on all of the old fairy tales they adapt to comics, that's about where the resemblance ends. Two more issues to go, and I will do my very best to report on them in more detail, and in a more timely manner, once I read them.
• The Puffin Graphics Plus edition of The Wizard of Oz. This is a clever way of introducing readers to classic literature, as it is both the 2005 graphic novel adaptation by Michael Cavallaro (which I already have) with the original text of the novel in one volume. I reread the graphic novel portion again and enjoyed it a lot. So far, Puffin has only done this with Oz and Black Beauty, but I hope there are plans for more.
• My Famous Forty reread continued with The Road to Oz. Despite the lean plot and frothy nature of this story, I've always enjoyed Road, partly for John R. Neill's stunning artwork, partly for the great new characters it introduces (I still have fond memories of Polychrome's introduction), and partly because it was one of the few Oz books my father read to me when I was a kid, before I really got into Oz in third grade and it became such a big part of my life. Unlike my very beat up first edition, this facsimile reprint is on bright, vibrant colored paper, and it was a lot of fun to read it again. Since I had it next to Road on my bookshelf, I also read A Short, Short Oz Story, a limited edition reprint from a long time ago of the dedication L. Frank Baum wrote in the copy of the book he gave to his first grandchild, Joslyn Stanton "Tik-Tok" Baum, to whom the book is dedicated. The title does not lie, as it only takes up a blank page in the book (in Baum's handwriting), telling the story of how Joslyn came to be blessed by various fairies and Glinda as the stork carried him to Earth before the Shaggy Man pressed the Love Magnet to him, resulting in a prosperous, beloved, and joyful baby.
• And finally, for now, Fables, Volume 12: The Dark Ages picks up after the end of the war against The Adversary, as everyone in both the Homelands and Fabletown figure out what happens next. Pinocchio shows Gepetto around Fabletown, but they are not greeted with open arms and kind words. Rose Red and Sinbad start a relationship and eventually get married. Boy Blue is in the hospital, where he eventually loses his right arm. Even then, that doesn't improve his condition, and he eventually succumbs to his injuries. Mercenaries release Mr. Dark from a chest. And Mowgli returns to the jungle on a mission of his own. Needless to say, a lot happens! For Oz fans, Bufkin makes a few appearances, but the big news is that we see Frau Totenkinder's coven of witches, including a young blonde girl who will later be revealed to be Ozma!

I read a lot more than this (most of which weren't comics or graphic novels), but I'll have to tell you more about them later!

The Latest Oz Reading

I say "latest", but it's actually been a few weeks since I finished this pile. Other, more pressing issues have taken precedence, however, and decided to hold off. Well, I finally have a little time to spare before things get nutty again in the not-too-distant future, so I'm going to jump on in.

• I decided to skip Crown Fire in my chronological rereading of the works of Eloise Jarvis McGraw as I'd acquired it so recently and it was relatively fresh. So instead I read Moccasin Trail, the story of Jim Keath, a young nineteenth century man torn between two worlds. As a youth, he ran away from his family in Missouri to go with his uncle, a trapper who worked in the Rocky Mountains. His uncle died, and after an encounter with a bear James was taken in by a Crow tribe, who eventually adopt him and he becomes part of their family. Now grown, Jim has left the Crow and is working as a trapper himself in the Oregon territory. It's getting harder to fine animals, however, and a chance encounter leads Jim back to his family, who are on the Oregon Trail headed to the Willamette Valley. He helps them finish the journey and claim their land, but the long time away and his long hair and Crow clothes make it hard for his family to understand and trust him. Adventures ensue, of course, and Jim keeps vacillating between staying with his family and heading back to the mountains. Of course there's a happy ending and Jim finds a way to, if not exactly be part of both worlds, at least do something that works well for him. This is very much a book of its time, with all kinds of attitudes and beliefs that were actually fairly progressive in 1952, but seem a little stilted today. Jim's character and the struggles he has to deal with are well realized, however, and I found it to be an intriguing read. As a native Oregonian, Eloise knew the area well, but this was her first historical, and it feels like she did her research well, as it has a feel of truth.
• Fables, Volume 11: War and Pieces, collecting issues 70 to 75 of the comic book series. The Fables finally go on the offensive against the Adversary, and make some major inroads and win some big victories. In fact, the Adversary is even turned toward their cause. Not a lot Ozzy going on, although Bufkin shows up in a few places. Also, the thirteenth floor witches are introduced, including a young blonde girl who will later turn out to be Ozma.
• The Steam Engines of Oz, Volume 1, another comic book collection. I'd read the single issues some time ago, but this was a nice revisit. In a dystopian steampunk future Oz ruled by the heartless Tin Woodman, Victoria Wright is one of the mechanics that keeps the Emerald City in motion around Oz. She ends up helping some prisoners escape, and gets caught up in the rebellion against the Tin Woodman. This volume ends with the Tin Woodman regaining his heart and beginning the process of mending his ways, but there is still a long way to go, so I guess I'd better get volume 2 soon. Even if the setting and premise aren't all that Ozzy, it's a fun book, and Victoria is a great character.
• Finally for this round of Oz reading is Sweet Wishes from Oz by Marin Elizabeth Xiques. Wintergreen is Santa's chief elf in charge of creating new kinds of candy, but she wants a break, and asks to spend a year running a sweet shop in the Emerald City. Wintergreen's place in Santa's workshop is taken by Andy Borough, an aspiring Emerald City confectioner whose parents were knocked silly one Christmas. Things don't go well for either Wintergreen or Andy at first, and they both learn to rely on the generosity of others, as well as time and patience, to get up to speed. Both, eventually, come out in the end as stronger candy makers and more contented with their lots. It's a sweet (yes, pun intended) little story, and a nice look at life in the Emerald City, something that isn't shown enough in the Oz books. I also like how each chapter is set up by a letter from Andy to Wintergreen or vice versa, as they both support each other and send samples to each other.

And that is it for the current round of Oz reading. I hope I get to read a lot more stuff by the time the next batch of Oz books comes up!

The Latest Oz Readings

Aside from my weekly Oziana short story, I've been reading a lot of Oz and Oz-related books lately. I've just lacked the time to tell you about them! But I'm on a holiday break right now, so let's do a little catching up!

• Phoebe Daring is one of the few books by L. Frank Baum that I don't own, and hadn't even read until earlier this year. But now that it's available on Project Gutenberg, I decided to at least download it onto my Kindle and read it. It sure felt familiar, because like the many Mary Louise/Josie O'Gorman books I've read recently, it's a mystery being solved by a strong-willed young woman. One of the two lawyers in town passes away, and important papers belonging to one of the richest and most unpleasant women in town have gone missing. The lawyer's lame clerk is accused of the theft, but the Daring family and many others in town believe he didn't do it, even when some of the missing papers are found in his shack. Phoebe leads the campaign to prove his innocence. Naturally she succeeds, but it takes a lot of legwork, dot-connecting, and a couple of visits from the governor (!) before all comes to a satisfying conclusion. Baum actually writes a pretty good mystery, and the Daring twin books definitely sew the seeds for Josie O'Gorman.
• With no new Rachel Cosgrove Payes books coming into my collection soon, I decided to start a reread of Eloise Jarvis McGraw's books, starting with her very first novel, Sawdust in His Shoes. Joe Lang is a circus boy. His parents were circus performers, he's already performing as a bareback rider, and the circus is all he knows. But when an accident in the ring leaves him an orphan, he gets caught in red tape, and must stay behind in small-town Oregon while the courts decide his fate. He rebels at his treatment in the local juvenile detention facility and runs away, and is taken in by a local farm family. Without the circus, Joe doesn't know what to do, and worries about losing his skills as a bareback rider. But with the support and aid of the Dawson family, he learns to balance all parts of his life and get back on his feet again. This is a book that is very much of its time (the book was first published in 1950), and is an extremely promising start to her career. I was also amused at all of the local Oregon place names and landmarks, as I've been in that area and know some of them. Now their all part of the greater Portland-Eugene urban area, and is all well developed, but back then it was mostly rural. So seeing it like it used to be through Eloise's eyes was a lot of fun.
• Fables, Volume 10: The Good Prince. Flycatcher, the former Frog Prince, Regains his memories of the Fabled Lands, and decides it's time to use his knowledge and powers to strike back at the Adversary by carving out a portion of the lands he's conquered and forming a new kingdom. This was an exciting and well-drawn out story, and Fly does a great job. For Ozzy content, we see a bit of Bufkin in the early chapters as he takes on a new role in the administration of Fabletown.
• The Sawhorse of Oz by Harry Mongold. This was one of the first books outside of the Famous Forty ever published, and I bought it when it first came out in 1981. I'm not sure why this one is named after the Sawhorse, since he doesn't even show up until halfway through the book, and doesn't really do that much in it. The story focuses on Krook, an ambitious Gillikin farmer who feels he deserves so much more. He finds a mysterious device that answers questions, so he decides to try to conquer Oz. He finds he needs a silver chest being held in the Tin Woodman's castle. But he keeps asking the wrong questions, and ends up traveling with Dorothy, Betsy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Woodman. They have adventures that don't quite seem to go anywhere, and then Krook is finally stopped and dealt with. At the time it was published, this was exciting, as it was all so new. But now, it just feels fractured and overextended.

I'm working on another book now, and there's one more in the pipeline, so there will be one or two more of these reports before I move on to other things.

The Latest Oz Reading

Yup, they're coming fast and furious now—but since my latest was Wolves volume 8 of the comic book series Fables, that makes sense. So, real quick, Mowgli goes in search of the missing Bigby, Bigby goes on a dangerous mission, Bigby succeeds and has a long heart-to-heart with Snow White, they get married, and then Cinderella is off on a mission of her own. No Oz content in this issue, then, but it sure moved a lot of stuff along!

The Latest Oz Reading

I'm slowly working my way through the backlog of the Fables comic, before I bought my first issue with #101, through the trade paperback collections. This time around it was volume 7, Arabian Nights (and Days). The Adversary has now invaded the world of 1001 Nights and other stories from the Middle East, so Sinbad leads a group of refugees to Fabletown to look at resettling there. Let's just say the culture clash does not go well, but all eventually works out in the end. We also deal with the aftermath of Red Riding Hood's appearance, and a back-up story of forbidden love between two of the Adversary's wooden soldiers. Not a lot of Oz in this collection, although Bufkin the flying monkey makes some appearances. But man, this is good. I see why the series earned so many Eisner Awards.

The Latest Turns-Out-Not-to-Be-Oz Reading

Last night, I finished Farewell, the final volume of Fables. This one is big. How big are we talking? It is both the 150th issue of the comic book series, and the twenty-second volume of collected trade paperbacks. Writer Bill Willingham, principal artist Mark Buckingham, and all the folks who helped them out have done an outstanding job of wrapping everything up, and giving a taste of what the future holds for both the characters and the Mundy world now that the secret of the Fables is out. In fact, now that we on Earth know that magic exists, it is embraced, and Earth in the future becomes one of the most magical worlds of them all. Unfortunately for the purposes of this blog, all the fates of the Oz characters were wrapped up some time ago, and so there is very little mention of anything Ozzy here. The only Oz reference I can find is that Snow White and Cinderella have an important meeting in a restaurant called the Yellowbrick Roadhouse. Still, if you've been following Fables for a while, like I have since Eric Shanower contributed illustrations to a very Ozzy storyline in issue 101, this is a great way to end the series, and just about everyone at least ends up living happily (or at least tolerably) ever after.

The Latest Oz Comic

There's not much to say about the main story in Fables #142 except that Ozma appears as part of the team trying to track down Bigby now that he's back. But the backup story should also be of interest to Oz fans, as "The Last Sinbad Story" is illustrated by Eric Shanower!

The Latest Oz Comic

Not only is Fables #141 my latest Oz comic book read, it will likely be the last for a while, since there were no other Oz comics in this month's shipment. Fortunately, I can say that this month, Fables is an Oz comic, as the 13th Floor are having a meeting, to discuss coming events and possibly recruit new members. The 13th Floor is a council of good magic workers in Fabletown, and they do their best to keep things working. Their current leader is Ozma, so naturally there is a lot of focus on her. I think I finally nailed down what bugs me about the Fables version of Ozma, and it's not the blonde hair (although I thought it was at first). It's her apparent age! She's extremely young. I've always envisioned Ozma as being a little older, maybe in her early teens. But I guess that's all a matter of interpretation, I guess. I am glad that she has such a prominent role in Fables.

The Latest Oz Reading

I just finished another book in my current spate of Oz-related reading. That book was Techniques of Writing Fiction by Eloise Jarvis McGraw, the final piece in my McGraw collection. Yes, I now have every book she wrote, and this one tells you how she did it. She gives some very good, common sense advice for how to write fiction, with all kinds of tips and tricks, most of which still hold up well today. Having talked with her a few times before she died in 2000, and read her articles in The Baum Bugle about how she wrote, I could clearly hear her style and sense in her writing, which is witty and charming and folksy, just like Eloise. Even though this was four years before the publication of Merry Go Round in Oz, there's a passing mention of Oz in her tale of how she first learned how to tell a story to a young audience. She also brings up examples from her earlier works, most of which I recognized (but now I'm starting to think that I should go back and reread some of her books). There's a lot of talk about writing for magazines that isn't terribly germane today, and absolutely nothing about using a word processor — plenty about making copies on your typewriter with carbon paper, however — but if you're a fan of her work, or just interested in getting some straight advice on writing from a good one, even though this was early in her career, you may just want to get this one.

The comics order also came yesterday, and since there were only two Oz comics, I read them both right away:

• Fables #139. Part 1 of a two-art story about Boy Blue's band going back to the Fable version of Scotland. No Oz in it, however.
• Tales from Oz #3. Okay, let's see how badly Zenescope messes up the Scarecrow's origin. (At least it can't be much worse than the origin revealed in The Royal Book of Oz.) Hmm, intriguing, and more in keeping with the Scarecrow's origin in the musical version of Wicked. Bartleby is a good man who has the trust of the people of Oz, so when he is summoned by the Wicked Witches of the East and West, it is to recruit him as an ambassador. The witches give him their word that all they ask for is loyalty, and that the people and their lands and livelihoods will not be harmed. Bartleby is successful with most (but not all) groups, then returns home to find that there is a reason they're called wicked witches. It does not go well for Bartleby or much of anyone else, including his fiancée Tessa, and the Scarecrow is the result. This book also contains the final part of "Good Dog", the story of what Toto was doing for much of the main Oz miniseries. One extra special plus to this issue is that Zenescope was selling an exclusive edition just for Emerald City Comicon while I was there last week, so I now have my first limited variant cover of a Zenescope Oz comic.

I'm working on a bit of non-fiction right now, and it's a little slower going than I'd like, but I should be able to review it some time next week at the latest.

The Lastest Oz Reading

And oh, there has been a lot of it! At long last, I've cleared out all of that other inessential reading of things not having to do with Oz, and gotten back to my latest round of Oz stuff. Naturally, the comics order came i, too, so let's start with the comics:

• Fables #138. We're taking a break from the regular storyline in this issue to see what Geppetto has been up to recently. Ooh, this does not bode well for the future! But no Oz. Next!
• Tales from Oz #2 features the backstory of the Cowardly Lion. If I'd had any doubts before, this issue makes it very clear that Zenescope's version of Oz has absolutely nothing to do with the books. Here, the Lion is a prince among a race of Lionmen, but because he prefers reading and beauty over fighting, his father and brother label him a coward. Of course, as he grows up, everyone learns that there is more than one kind of courage. This reminded me a lot of The Lion King and some of the Klingon issues Worf had to deal with in Star Trek: The Next Generation. There were a lot of cliches in this one, but it was also well presented, with very few skinny scantily-clad women with large breasts, and may be the best Oz work Zenescope has produced so far.
• There were two issues of The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West in this month's order. First, Issue 15 wraps up the story of the flying monkeys and the golden cap, and then Gale has her first encounter with one of her old friends since returning to Oz. The Tin Man certainly knows that there's something different about her this time, and in Issue 16, we find out what! Glinda comes to confront Gale about her recent actions, and discovers that Gale is now the Wicked Witch of the East and West. With that much power, however, comes that much corruption, and Glinda warns Gale that there could be big trouble coming. Gale also has some words with Tip, and Glinda tells Gale about some of her predecessors as the Wicked Witches (with a very surprising guest appearance).
• Speaking of comics, one of the books I read was Fables Volume 5: The Mean Seasons. This is a collection of three short tales, spread out over seven issues of the original comic book. The first is our first look at what Cinderella really does (and ties in nicely with her two miniseries, notably the very Ozzy Fables Are Forever), one about one of the Big Bad Wolf's adventures during World War II, and the main story, which deals with the election of a new mayor and its aftermath, while Snow White and Bigby must cope with becoming parents. Bufkin makes a few appearances, as does a little blonde girl among the witches of the thirteenth floor who will later be revealed to be Ozma, but that's it for the Oz content.
• My short story for the weekend (and very possibly the last for a few weekends) was "Lost Girls of Oz" by Theodora Goss, another selection from Oz Reimagined. Oh, this is a fun one! Intrepid San Francisco reporter Eleanor "Nell" Dale goes undercover to find out what has happened to several missing girls, and discovers a covert underground (literally!) method of taking them to Oz. Having read the Oz books as a child, she's intrigued, and goes herself, only to become part of Ozma's army to invade the United States! Sadly, we never get as far as the planned invasion of California, but I really want to see that! (Gee, this is the second consecutive story in this book where I wanted to read the sequel. I think they're doing something right!) Ozma actually has very good reasons for invading the Great Outside World, and it would be interesting to see if it could succeed. This is an epistolary story, by the way, told in a series of letters Nell writes to her sister Dottie, and it's clear to see why Nell is such a successful reporter, because she really has a way with words. Again, this is not a traditional, Baumian Oz (although Goss clearly knows the books well), but that's the whole point of this collection. It didn't stop me from enjoying this story!
• It took some work, but I managed to get ahold of the 75th anniversary Wizard of Oz special issue of Life Magazine. Lots of nice pictures, lots of good background (much of which I already knew, but there were still a few surprises), and it even talks about Baum and the books, and previous and later adaptations (yes, even Return to Oz). I can't help thinking, however, that a good pass by an Oz expert could have made this even more invaluable, as there are a few tall tales that have been debunked, but are still presented as established facts here, notably it's initial box office and critical reaction. Still, it was a fun read, and makes for a nice addition to my collection.
• Nelebel's Fairyalnd by L. Frank Baum. Many years ago, Michael O. Riley started the Pamami Press as a way to combine his love of L. Frank Baum and hand-made small press publishing. The very first book he put out was an edition of "Nelebel's Fairyland", a short story Baum wrote for a San Diego high school newspaper. Most of the copies were bought up by a single individual, and that was the last anybody ever heard of it! So when Riley decided to revive Pamami Press a few years ago, one title he put out was a new edition of "Nelebel's Fairyland". Other than that first edition, I've managed to get all of the other Pamami Press books, so it's nice to finally have this one to add to the set. It's a gorgeous little book, clearly put together with love and care. You can see and feel the impressions the type made into the paper, and the illustrations and colors are used very nicely. What makes this edition special is that Riley had access to Baum's original typescript, which had some small differences to the published version, and Riley took advantage of that. If all you want is the story, there are less expensive and more accessible ways to get it, but this is a beautiful little artifact.
• And finally (for now), a flipbook reprint edition of two of Baum's rarest titles, The Army Alphabet and The Navy Alphabet. The latter was reprinted a few years ago, but this is the first time The Army Alphabet has been reprinted in over a century, and also the first time the two have been available together. There's a good reason they're so scarce: They're not that good! Each is a pretty straightforward turn-of-the-century alphabet book, with a rhyme to go with each letter. This is clearly written in the aftermath of the Spanish American War, as there are some callbacks to that conflict. Baum did manage to slip in a few sly bits of humor, however, and while he's clearly not a hawk, he's also a patriot who is proud of the work of the armed forces. The best reason to get this is, in my opinion, the illustrations of Harry Kennedy. He does a fine job with some bold, poster-like work that still has fine details. Charles J. Costello's hand lettering also deserves praise (although his lower case q's look an awful lot like g's). Publisher Marcus Mébès includes a note about the technical issues involved in putting this edition out, but I can't help thinking that a scholarly introduction, putting some of the words used into historical context, would have improved this volume. Still, it's great to have them both available again in such a nice edition.

I've already started my next book (Hint: It's another Rachel Cosgrove Payes historical romance), there are a few more in the pile (including my next reread of a book I already own), and I'll likely have a few more reactions in the coming days and weeks.

The Latest Oz Reading

Did you think that, just because I'd finished the last book of Oz short stories, that I was done reading Oz short stories? Not even close! Yesterday, I finally started the second new anthology in my collection, Oz Reimagined, edited by John Joseph Adams and Douglas Cohen. I can tell already that this is going to be a lot of fun, because the premise is that the original Oz books of L. Frank Baum are what's being reimagined here. No movies, no Wicked (even with an introduction by Gregory Maguire), just pure Baum, but in new ways. (I just hope they don't go too far off the model, if you know what I mean.) And the first story starts at the beginning, with "The Great Zeppelin Heist of Oz" by Rae Carson and C. C. Finlay. This is an alternate version of what the Wizard did after arriving in Oz, using his skills as a balloonist to gather intelligence on the Wicked Witch of the West. He then approaches her with an interesting bargain. This is definitely a mirror universe kind of story, as Dorothy will find a very different Oz when she arrives (but I doubt we'll ever see that story, sad to say). I do have a couple of gripes, in that Scraps is in it (long before she was ever created in the "real" Oz), and in a different form, and the Emerald City is already there when the Wizard arrives. (This is, admittedly, also one of my biggest gripes with Oz the Great and Powerful, which I really need to review some time soon!) But the character of the Wizard is painted very well, in an original way that is still very much in character. If W. C. Fields had played the Wizard in The Movie, I could see him originating with this version. The collection as a whole is off to a good start, but there are still fourteen to go.

I also found a few more Oz comics in our order:

• Fables #137. (Good grief, have I really been collecting this one for over three years now?) Rose Red's attempt to revive Camelot are continuing, but the important arc for us is the twist in the fate of teh Big Bad Wolf. Yes, that means Ozma turns up again, since she's been leading the magic users who are attempting to revive him. It's not much, but after no Oz at all for the last few issues, it's good to see her again.
• They haven't even finished the original miniseries yet, but Zenescope has put out the first issue of Tales from Oz, which looks like a series of prequel one-shots. This one is about the Tin Man and how he got that way. If the writers of this ever read Baum's version of the origin of the Tin Woodman, they've chosen to ignore most of it, as this is a new take. True, he's named Nick (but his last name isn't Chopper), and he falls in love with a pretty young woman, but that's about where the similarities end. She suffers and accident, and so he takes her to the Wicked Witch of the West for help. The witch saves her, but then makes her an apprentice witch. Years pass, and she still loves Nick, but the Wicked Witch doesn't want her to leave her studies. Needless to say, complications ensue. I won't say any more, to give you something to look forward to if you're inclined to read this. As usual in Zenescope's Oz, the women wear a lot less clothing than they would just about anywhere else.

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.

The Latest Oz Comics

Our comic book order for the month came yesterday. And you know what that means, right? New Oz comics! So, here's what came:

• The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West #11. Jack, Tip, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Lion find evidence that Ozma has been at Mombi's ranch, but they're holed up by bounty hunters. Someone may have to make a sacrifice to save the rest. Pipt, it turns out, may have his own best interests at heart, and not General Jinjur's. Bungle makes a discovery, Jinjur comes very close to getting what she wants (but may not like it once she gets it), and could the new wicked witch be...Gale???
• Oz #3 from Zenescope. Dorothy, Glinda, and the three freedom fighters managed to dispatch a whole pack of...somethings that are after them, and Glinda gets the second part of the Veridian Scepter — but at what cost? Oh, yeah, and the Wicked Witch is spying on them. And now there's a prophecy to contend with, too.
• Fables #134. What's Bigby been up to the last few issues? We find out here. But no Oz content.
• Because of some of the quirks of getting my comics mail order (and also, I suspect, release schedules), I also got The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West #12 (the regular issues aren't listed on Big Dog's website yet), which is mainly about the origins of the Flying Gorillas. Yes, that means wild west versions of Gayelette and Quelala! But the main storyline hasn't been forgotten, with the four gorillas guarding our party at Mombi's ranch. Hey, can someone please explain to comic book publishers and movie studios and the like that the flying monkeys originated in the book, and are therefore public domain? You don't have to change them to baboons or gorillas or anything like that. Warner Bros. lawyers don't have a case.

One other Oz item that arrived, but I haven't unwrapped yet, is the 2014 Zenescope Oz calendar, reproducing several of the covers from the series. Considering how Zenescope draws its female characters, I'm not sure Laura's going to approve of this. But it is unusual, and probably a lot less common on Oz fans' walls this coming year than calendars from The Movie, Oz the Great and Powerful, and Wicked (yes, you can get all three).

The Latest Oz Comic Book Reading

Yup, I just finished reading Fables #133. Sure enough, not much Oz at all. However, Ozma does have a larger than usual appearance, and delivers some bad news to Snow White.

Er, and that's about all I have to say.

Oz Comics!

We just got our most recent comics order, so you know what that means: Oz comics! Here's what came:

• Fables #132. Ozma's still on the team trying to heal Bigby, but that's the extent of the Oz. A whole bunch of storylines are advanced in this one, and it's not looking good for a lot of our heroes. Incidentally, I found out today that both of the main guys behind Fables, Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham, will be at the Emerald City Comicon in Seattle next spring, so I may see if I can pick their brains about the book's Oz content.
• Oz #2 from Zenescope. Ooooookay, this is a "dark" and "edgy" version of Oz where all of the female characters are all grown up (and out) and wear as little clothing as possible. So, not your traditional Oz, then, is it? Dorothy manages to defeat the Wicked Witch of the East. Then Glinda sends her on a search for the other pieces of the Veridian Scepter (she found the handle, along with Toto, in Kansas) to restore peace in Oz and send Dorothy home. There's a big infodump about the history of this Oz, and how it ties in (loosely) with the rest of Zenescope's titles. Based on what I've seen so far, I very much doubt the writers have even bothered to rewatch The Movie, let alone read the book at all, and certainly no other Oz books enter into this version of Oz. It's kind of enjoyable in its own way, but I'm glad that this is a limited-run miniseries. On another front, I'm also glad that, if Zenescope has to go down the route of multiple covers, they at least allow you to order them all at once, and all for the same price. I managed to snag all four regular covers of this issue, as well as two covers of #1, and pre-ordered multiple covers of #3 and #4.
• The Steam Engines of Oz Volume 1 #2. I thought the infodump in Oz was big? This issue is almost entirely infodump, giving us the back story to this Oz, and especially the Tin Woodman. The creators of Steam Engines do know their Oz, as we see the flesh-and-blood version of Nick Chopper, Nimee Amee, Ku-Klip (although not named here), and the original events of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. We even get a version of Chopfyt, but not the same as in The Tin Woodman of Oz, and the consequences of his marriage to Nimee Amee is the big difference between the Oz of the books and the events of Steam Engines. And, oh yes, things are gearing up for the big conclusion to the first arc in the next issue. But we've already ordered the first two issues of volume two, so it looks like the story will go on. Despite the major differences between the "real" Oz of the books and this one, I'm enjoying this interpretation of Oz, and I really like Victoria, our engineer protagonist. But I hope the Tin Woodman won't be such a meanie throughout the entire run, and they get him back to his regular old self soon.
• The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West #10. Speaking of reinterpretations of Oz, here's probably my favorite one right now. Scraps has an encounter with Mombi, who gives Scraps a new pet (Bungle!). Scarecrow, Tin Man, Lion, Jack, and Tip raid Mombi's cottage, and make some discoveries about Ozma. And Jinjur and Pipt make a discovery of their own in the mines under the Emerald City. This was something of a step-back-and-take-a-breath issue, setting things up for some of the big events coming soon, possibly even in the next issue. I would never have thought a Wild West take on Oz could work, but this is an amazing book. And these guys certainly know about the Oz books. But when are Gale and Toto coming back?
• And finally, Marvel's The Emerald City of Oz #2 (which Marvel still doesn't have on its website for some reason). The reinterpretations can be fun, but there's no place like the original Oz stories. Eric and Skottie are still hitting these out of the park, and this one's no exception. Much of the issue is Uncle Henry and Aunt Em getting used to their new home, from their new wardrobes to their first look at the ground of the palace to the start of the grand tour, ending with their meeting with the Cuttenclips. But there's another story going on here, too, as the final pages see Guph convincing the Growleywogs to join the Nomes' alliance against Oz. I'm still worried that, with only five issues, this book is going to have to leave something out, but so far, everything that I can think of is there, although perhaps a bit rushed and compressed. (Say, is that a quidditch field at Professor Wogglebug's college?) I also like how Eric has altered the structure of the story, so as to even out the Nomes' story throughout. I presume next issue we'll get Guph's encounter with the Phanfasms (and won't Skottie Young's version of them be something to look forward to?), Guph reporting back to Roquat and Ozma discovering their plan in issue four, and the march to Oz in the final issue. I'm still holding out hope that these books will continue into more of the Baum books, but if it must end here, then it's a good place to do it.

The Latest Oz Reading

Wow, it's going pretty fast right now! I just wrapped up Fables Vol. 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers yesterday. Yup, it's Fables, so it's good. Big new threat comes to Fabletown, they handle it, but there will be a price to pay, did I mention that Snow White is pregnant with the Big Bad Wolf's child? If you enjoy a tightly-plotted story, yeah, you'll enjoy this, but the Oz content is very light. Bufkin makes an appearance, but doesn't do much. More importantly, we meet the magic workers who all live on the thirteenth floor. One of them is a little blonde girl who we will later learn is Ozma. But that's about it in this volume.

The Latest Oz Comics

Yes, I know I've been kind of quiet here lately. Things in my non-online life have been pretty busy, and a lot of stuff has just had to be put on hold. I may finally get my thoughts on Oz the Great and Powerful up soon, for instance, and I have a whole bunch of Oz stuff from Jeopardy! to report on as well. But today, I'll start the catch-up with comic books! I have two months worth to report on here. It's pretty quiet right now in the world of Oz comics, but I suspect that will change in the coming months once I get Marvel's The Emerald City of Oz and Zenescope's Oz miniseries. But here is what I've read most recently:

• Fables #129. With a little help from Ozma (who has a cameo) and the other witches, Snow White finally deals with the problem that has arisen from her past — but at a terrible price. At least Therese finally made it home.
• The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West #7 is still a lot of background during a standstill of Glinda's castle. This one is about Tip, how he escaped from Mombi, and how he met up with Jack. Then, we see what Jack is really capable of when the chips are down.
• The Legends of Oz: The Scarecrow #1 is the first of a two-issue miniseries. It's an early story of the Scarecrow, and how she encountered and dealt with anti-scarecrow prejudice in the town of Denslow (!). Yes, it turns out she's not the only one of her kind. And, oh yeah, Legend of Oz debut of the Good Witch of the North!
• Fables #130. Another Ozma cameo, as she helps to solve the problem of the fate of Bigby, but this one is mostly about some new residents of the castle, and why it's important to listen to your children.
• The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West #8 continues Tip's story about how he and Jack dealt with Mombi — once they deal with an Emerald Assassin who finally breaks into Glinda's. However, with the Scarecrow, Tin Man, Lion, Jack, Sawhorse, Tiger, and Glinda all against him, he doesn't stand a chance...right?
• The Legends of Oz: The Scarecrow #2 wraps up this prequel story. Scarecrow helps the town deal with their issues, but the roots of prejudice run too deep for her to be accepted. Still, she makes one friend.

The Latest Oz Reading

I recently wrapped up my latest round of Oz reading. Here are my reactions:

• First up was the latest Oz magazine I tracked down. Famous Monsters of Filmland #266 makes a case for most young movie-goers' first monster being the Wicked Witch of the West, so they decided it was high time to feature her. (Okay, that and the then-imminent release of Oz the Great and Powerful, I suspect.) What I didn't realize is that there would be several articles by people I know! L. Frank Baum's great-grandson, Robert A. Baum, writes an appreciation of Frank's creation (and gives a lot of background that starts well before MGM started making their movie). John Fricke writes about the career of Margaret Hamilton. Jonathan Shirshekan (who I don't know, but one book he co-wrote was featured in this blog not so long ago) writes about Jack Dawn, who not only created the make-up for The Wizard of Oz, but much of the modern make-up industry as we know it. Lianne Spiderbaby (who I've never heard of before) writes about the Wicked Witch's impact on pop culture. Alexandra West (another writer I'm not at all familiar with) writes about the starting-to-get-old-now link between The Wizard of Oz and Dark Side of the Moon. And finally, there's a profile of artist Mike Hill, who sculpts realistic statues of the Wicked Witch and Nikko. (As a bonus, this issue also covers The Creature from the Black Lagoon, including a look at my wife's favorite comic book character, Aquaman, and how he isn't lame any more — not that he was ever lame in the first place!)
• Then there are the rest of the Oz comics. First, Fables #128 has another appearance of Ozma while the witches try to deal with the spell that's been placed on Snow White, but beyond that, no Oz.
• The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West #6 sees Jack Pumpkinhead finally getting his audience with Glinda, and he tells her the story of Ozma, and his unfortunate role in her disappearance.
• I also picked up a copy of The Steam Engines of Oz on Free Comic Book Day last month. This is a free preview of a forthcoming new series from Arcana, and it looks extremely promising. It's a hundred years after the events of The Wizard of Oz, and Oz is now all steampunk. Victoria is an engineer who works under the Emerald City, quietly going about her business and helping to keep things running smoothly. So she's a little surprised when the flying monkeys kidnap her and take her to a mysterious woman who begs for her help. What is the ruler of the Emerald City, the Tin Man, doing, why do people what Victoria to stop him from expanding the Emerald City even further, and why are she and her new allies on the run? It's all very mysterious so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes.
• It wasn't all comics, of course. I had a few more traditional, paper-and-ink books to read as well. For instance, there was Love's Renegade by Rachel Cosgrove Payes. This is the second volume in her Seven Sisters romance series, about a group of seven sisters all trying to snag wealthy, titled husbands in early nineteenth century London society. It's Lena's turn this year, but her aunt who introduced her older sisters is off on a tour of the continent, one sister is on her husband's estate in Ireland, and the other is extremely pregnant! So she's going to have to miss out on London society. So she must stay in Chelmsford and take a position as servant to Lady Beekman, who prefers the country to the big city. In an effort to keep off the hangers on who want her fortune, Lady Beekman comes up with a scheme to pass Lena off as her godson's fianc&ecute;e — a man Lena's never met! It all gets a little wild and complicated, and Lena also finds herself falling for Lady Beekman's coachman. Will true love win out in the end? Well of course it does! But the path to get there is not always a straight line. I was afraid that this series would be all cookie cuter stories, all too similar to the others, but already I see that Rachel is throwing all kinds of different ingredients into the mix, because this book is different enough from the first to make it a fun read on its own.
• Ruby's Slippers by Tricia Rayburn is another of those books about a kid who likes Oz and is trying to figure out the world. In this book, Ruby Lee (and her red high top sneakers) moves with her bohemian mother from Kansas to live with her estranged grandmother in Florida. Can she navigate the hazards of middle school, learning about the internet, and all kinds of other things? Yeah, she's definitely not in Kansas any more. It's a fun little book, and the dynamic between Ruby's mother and grandmother is different from a lot of other books of this type. There's not a lot of Oz in this one, and it's all movie based, but it is a fun read.
• And finally, there was an actual Oz book, Outsiders from Oz by Jared Davis. I was a little unsure about this, just because I know Jared (and I hope to meet the illustrator, S. P. Maldonado, in a couple of weeks at the Winkie Convention). I'd hate to give it a negative review. Fortunately, I can hold my head up high next time I see Jared, because it's a good one! Like a lot of good Oz stories, there are multiple story threads that meet together at the end. The Wizard and Button-Bright are examining Button-Bright's father's old pocket watch when it transports them to a mysterious land. Ozma, Jack Pumpkinhead, and the Sawhorse examine a hole on Jack's property that leads into a tunnel where they encounter the Nome King! And then there are all of the adventures in Mo. It's a nicely constructed story, and it all hangs together well. More importantly, all of the old familiar Oz characters act just like they should. I heartily recommend this one!

And that's all of the Oz for now — except a new box of comic books arrived yesterday! So I guess there will be a few Oz comic reviews over the summer.