Wow, two Oz comics today!

We got not one, but two Oz comics today. Wow, who would hae ever tought that could happen? The Oz/Wonderland Chronicles #0 came today, after it was supposed to have come last week. Looks good, and these guys definitely know their Oz and Wonderland books. also arriving today was Dorothy #4, which has a very different and interesting take on the Scarecrow (then again, everything about this book is different and interesting). I just hope Dorothy can make it through this latest ordeal, she didn't look so good in that last panel! More later, when I have more time.

Two new Oz arrivals yesterday

I got home last night, and there were two packages for me, full of Ozzy goodness.

The first was from BuyMeToys.com. I bought two variant versions of issue #0 of their new series The Oz/Wonderland Chroncles, which features Dorothy Gale and Alice Liddell becoming college roommates neither one remembering the adventures that made them so famous. The regular issue was supposed to have come out last week, but our shop didn't get theirs, which is sadly typical of the distribution process. The two variants, however, are only available through the website. The first is the exclusive cover edition, but they don't say who did the cover. The second version is Wizard World Exclusive Edition, which was previously given out at a con in Chicago. And hey, you can buy them unsigned, or signed at no additional cost!

The other arrival was from the publishers of a new omnibus edition of all fourteen Baum Oz books, plus The Little Wizard Stories of Oz. I helped them out a bit with some questions, and they thanked me by sending me two copies of the paperback edition, with two copies of the hardcover edition coming soon. I promised that I'd give all those extras a good home. (By the way, those of you who want your Oz books unedited and unaltered? Avoid this book. Not only is it text only -- no illustrations -- but there were a few edits about the Tottenhots in The Patchwork Girl of Oz and Rinkitink in Oz, and Victor Columbia Edison's song in Patchwork Girl was also altered. These appear to be different edits than in the Books of Wonder editions, however, and unlike the BoW Patchwork Girl, they acknowledge the changes in the opening pages.

I am very slowly reaching the end of The Oz Principle, which is interesting but not terribly Ozzy, as it's about accountability in the business world, with a little Oz thrown in to illustrate points. The things I go through as an Oz completist...

Review Copy Review - Dorothy Gale: Journey to Oz #2

Dorothy Gale: Journey to Oz #2: It had been long enough since I read the first issue that I had to pull it out and reread before I got more than a few pages into this second issue. This is a complicated and interesting story, and if you want to follow it, you need to order the first issue. If you can't, here's an inadequate summary: Dorothy and Toto fall into a cellar while being chased by an old salesman for stealing his blanket, and end up somewhere else. There's a LOT more in the book, but that's the quick summary to get you up-to-date. Now, on to the second issue.

This is a very twisted and different version of Oz. We learn in the first issue why it's that way, but in this issue things just keep getting worse as we're introduced to the Scarecrow and Tik-Tok, along with paranoid Munchkins. The story moves along fast, and it's almost difficult to keep up with it while reading. And Toto is a riot. I'm telling you, most original Toto ever.

I wasn't thrilled with the first issue... I gave it an "average" rating. But this one... this is a little bit different. A bit better. I can see why 64 pages were needed to get to another good stopping point. Fans of Oz and fantasy will want to check this out.

• Dorothy Gale: Journey to Oz #2 - AUG05 2832 - $7.99

Flipping Through Previews (Oz Edition)...

This is my monthly look at Previews Magazine to find all the comic book Oz stuff that Oz fans ought to know about. For a little more info on what this is all about and how to get this stuff, see this post. These items are due to arrive in comic shops in November 2005.

Oz Books

Oz: The Manga continues to be published by Antarctic Press. This series is a retelling of the Oz story in a Manga style by David Hutchison. There will be a total of eight issues in this first mini series, and they will be collected when the full series has been published.

• Oz: The Manga #6 - Order Code: SEP05 2730 - $2.99
  Previous Issues:
  
• Oz: The Manga #1 - Order Code: APR05 2602 - $2.99
  
• Oz: The Manga #2 - Order Code: MAY05 2477 - $2.99
  
• Oz: The Manga #3 - Order Code: JUN05 2744 - $2.99
  
• Oz: The Manga #4 - Order Code: JUL05 2615 - $2.99
  
• Oz: The Manga #5 - Order Code: AUG05 2682 - $2.99

Classics Illustrated Jr is offering two 50th anniversary slipcase sets of their reprints. The second set appears to have the Wizard of Oz reprint in it, but I recommend checking with your local store before ordering it.

• Classics Illustrated Jr 50th Anniversary 12 Title Set Volume 1 Slipcase - Order Code: SEP05 2851 - $59.99
  
• Classics Illustrated Jr 50th Anniversary 12 Title Set Volume 2 Slipcase - Order Code: SEP05 2852 - $69.99

Oz-Related Books

Coming out from Alias is a book called Lullaby. This book started with a mini series of four books from Image comics in which Alice (from Wonderland) goes on a quest to Oz and runs into Little Red Riding Hood, the Pied Piper, and some other fairy tale characters. The group has yet to reach Oz at the end of the first mini, but they have met the Tinman in an unexpected form. This series is mildly recommended.

• Lullaby #3 - Order Code: SEP05 2680 - $2.99
  Previous Issues:
  
• Lullaby: Wisdom Seeker #1 - Order Code: DEC04 1535 - $2.95
  
• Lullaby: Wisdom Seeker #2 - Order Code: JAN05 1606 - $2.95
  
• Lullaby: Wisdom Seeker #3 - Order Code: FEB05 1594 - $2.95
  
• Lullaby: Wisdom Seeker #4 - Order Code: MAR05 1693 - $2.95
  
• Lullaby: Wisdom Seeker Vol 1 (collection) - Order Code: JUN05 2684 - $9.99
• Lullaby #1 - Order Code: JUL05 2561 - $2.99
  
• Lullaby #2 - Order Code: AUG05 2631 - $2.99

I know almost nothing about Midnight Kiss from APC, but I do know that the characters go to Oz in the second issue, and are talking with the Scarecrow in the third. This is a Mature Themes book, so it's not for kids or anyone who wants their Oz to remain pure and gentle.

• Midnight Kiss #3 - Order Code: SEP05 2737 - $3.50
  Previous Issues:
  
• Midnight Kiss #1 - Order Code: JUN05 2753 - $3.50
  
• Midnight Kiss #2 - Order Code: AUG05 2693 - $3.50

Non-Oz Books

This month's only non-Oz books is the very tangetially-related Grimm Fairy Tales #2 from Zenescope. This book appears to be going back to the source material, which means it's likely to be fairly gruesome. I haven't seen this book, and it only makes this list because of the fairy tale aspect. Your mileage may vary on this one.

• Grimm Fairy Tales #2 - Order Code: SEP05 3290 - $2.99
  Previous Issues:
  
• Grimm Fairy Tales #1 - Order Code: AUG05 3318 - $2.99

So that's it for this month's Flipping Through Previews (Oz Edition)... This was a very light month for Oz stuff. If you found something I missed, feel free to use the comments below to point it out. If you have any questions, also feel free to comment.

Previous Flipping Through Previews:

• Aug/Oct 2005
  
• Jul/Sep 2005

I got it today, much to my surprise

Today, I picked up the DVD of The Muppets' Wizard of Oz. I hadn't really meant to, but I've been asked to review it for the Bugle, and there it was at Costco at a pretty reasonable price, so I went for it. I'm looking forward to seeing the extra twenty minutes that weren't on television (including Kelly Osbourne's cameo) and the extras. It looks like the extras are some bloopers (always a treat when the Muppets are involved), a behind-the-scenes making-of special featuring one of my favorite new Muppets, Pepe the Shrimp King Prawn, and Pepe interviewing Quentin Tarantino. Frankly, I think Pepe needs to get his own talk show! Sadly, no commentary track, it appears, but the biggest injustice of all? Frank Oz wasn't involved! Yup, there are now new Muppeteers doing Miss Piggy and Fozzie, and they're pretty good, but this was one production custom made for a guy whose last name is Oz! Oh, well. I'll let you know what I think once I get a good look at it.

My latest Oz reading

I just now finished that book I mentioned in an earlier post, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in American Popular Culture: Uneasy in Eden by Neil Earle. It's one of those academic books that Professor Wogglebug would love, analyzing The Wizard of Oz to within an inch of its life. Fortunately, Earle comes at it from many different points of view, and doesn't seem to have a particular point of view that he's advocating; on the contrary, he tries to show that it can't be interpreted in just one way, as it has so many layers. It's too bad, however, that he's limited his focus to just the book, the famous 1939 movie, and The Wiz, as this leaves out all kinds of other information that would have helped develop his points -- or blown them out of the water! I don't think he even mentions the rest of the Oz books, nor does he touch at all on the 1902 stage play, the 1925 movie, or any of the other theatrical versions of Oz before 1939. In fact, at one point he implies that the '39 movie was the first time the story had ever been referred to as The Wizard of Oz as opposed to the novel's original title of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (which was shortened on the cover within just a few years).

Earle also makes assertations about how The Wonderful Wizard of Oz shows its roots in American economics, and how Dorothy's life is made better by the cyclone when she gets a new, better house -- yet fails to mentioned what happened to Dorothy and her family later on in the books when Uncle Henry can't pay the mortgage and the bank comes to take away his farm, or that Oz eventually does away with money itself. Earle also ties in some aspects of Oz with the advent of mass advertising, but completely fails to mention Baum's role in that phenomenon as one of the first to realize and communicate the effectiveness of displays in show windows.

All in all, this was a more rounded book than I was expecting, but the omissions and numerous factual errors that could have been very easily checked left me cold. The extremely high price tag certainly doesn't help, and I very much doubt that I will see this book in my collection in the near future.

Joint Review - OZF5: Gale Force

Hello! This is Eric and Laura (aka Tegan). We're going to review another comic book... together! This time it's OZF5: Gale Force from Alias Comics.

Tegan here... I'm not sure what I expected from this comic, but the solicit made it sound like another "Oz Squad" to me, and I didn't really enjoy the angle that "Oz Squad" took on Oz. It was a little too violent. So I think I came into this book with a lot of doubt.

Eric here... I pretty much felt the same way. There have been so many permutations of the "dark Oz" theme, and this just looked like more of the same. On the other hand, the ads do say that "this time, Dorothy has a water gun". So maybe they're not taking it quite so seriously.

I didn't get enough of that impression to change my expectations. I definitely came into this book thinking it was going to be very dark.

So! Let's dig in, shall we?

Ok, first few pages, very dark. Extremely difficult to read.

Very prologue-y. Nice take on the Scarecrow, though.

How can you tell? I can hardly read it. The text just blends in. It's so monochromey and dark.

Yeah, but nice take on the Scarecrow, all flexible like you would expect someone stuffed with straw to be. The Lion looks good in a kilt.

Ok, I'll give you that much. But it's still really hard to read. Whoever did the design on this made a poor choice of font and color. I'll admit, I nearly gave up on the book after just a couple of pages. Luckily, I flipped forward a bit and saw that the whole thing wasn't this bad.

So why is the Tin Woodman a robot? That's Tik-Tok!

He's a robot? Where does it say that?

He's steam driven. It's in that part you can't read. Oh look! The witch is about to be squashed by a house.

Huh?

It's in that part you can't read.

Oh. Ok.

Oh look, real text! Now Laura can understand what's going on.

Hey, and color, too. The writing is suddenly readable and the pages brighten up so much... the difference is as big as... well, from Kansas to Oz in the MGM movie.

Can you understand what the Lion's saying? When did he become Scottish? It works with the kilt though.

Yeah... not too bad. But who's the chick in purple?

That is Dorothy. Looking like she never has before. And she wants to kick some Winkie butt.

What have the Winkies ever done to her?!??

How does she even know what a Winkie is? She just got to Oz.

I was gonna ask that. Next. Really. Ok, about this point, just a couple of pages into the color section, I'm beginning to get the impression that this book is not... um... as serious as I thought it would be.

Yeah, I get that too...

The Tin Woodman saying Kansas sounds exotic was one big hint. The Lion asking if Dorothy has another house handy was another clue.

But on the next page... her giant water pistol! Actually, that's more of a water rifle, isn't it?

Um, yeah. That's a big gun. How does she know water will harm the witch? Should I stop asking dumb questions and just enjoy the ride?

Oh yeah.

Gee, the Wicked Witch of the West looks like Elphaba.

And the monkeys have jetpacks! Monkeys with jetpacks! That rocks!

Couldn't you see that in a Silver Age DC book?

Yeah, and if we looked hard enough I'm sure we'd find an example of it. Heh... If the monkeys in Kansas don't have rocket packs... *giggle*

Aw, we didn't see most of the battle. One minute there's fifty or sixty flying monkeys, the next they're on the yellow brick road.

What, the monkeys?

No, Dorothy and her friends! Try and keep up.

Sorry. Is Toto a bulldog?

He seems a little big for a bulldog, but I'm not sure just what he is. Oooh, Kalidahs!

Bless you.

You're getting into the spirit of the book, aren't you?

Heh heh heh.

Flying Scarecrow, falling Kalidahs. Again, good use of the Scarecrow being stuffed with straw. Many writers seem to forget that.

Not to mention his brains. He comes up with a nice little plan there.

The fighting trees showed up early. Then again, this book doesn't seem to care much for the proper chronology of the novel, anyway.

Kindling!

The monkey king looks like the rocketeer.

The witch can cry, and it hurts her. If that holds true for all bodily fluids that might touch her skin, no wonder she's in such a bad mood. Ouch.

Ooooh poppies!

Oooh, groan, a "disturbance in the forest". Now I know not to take this very seriously.

It seems to be moving along at a fairly standard Oz clip. The humor is good.... Did Dorothy just kick the witch into her own cauldron?!??

Yeah, she did. That's new.

The flying monkeys aren't. I mean the bit about the crown.

Yes, but Dorothy giving them their freedom right away is. Well handled, I thought.

Oh.

What, it ends with Dorothy as the new Witch of the West?

Well, it's not supposed to be the last issue. They wanna do more, apparently.

Ok, works for me. All in all I thought it was a fun ride.

Except for the beginning, which was pretty much unreadable for me, this was pretty fun, yeah. There were a lot of good bits and silly puns.

It reminded me of a DC Elseworlds title. Odd but satisfying. And it certainly played by its own rules. So if you want a fun, not-too-serious Oz read, go for it. Traditionalists might want to stay away from it.

Until next time, this has been a joint review from Eric and Laura (Tegan) Gjovaag. Hope you liked it!

Dorothy Website Update

The Dorothy folks have updated their on-line store so you can buy issue #4 from them. You can also get a copy of The Baum Bugle featuring the article on Dorothy, or a copy of Bibliographia Oziana. Go check it out.

Winkie Convention Report

I had some time (finally!) yesterday, and so I wrote up my report for The Baum Bugle* about the Winkie Convention. Wow, it's a really good thing I started this blog when I did. I actually used my blog entries on the convention to help me out. Fortunately, I've been given a reprive on the other Bugle article I was asked to write, a review of The Muppets' Wizard of Oz. That's been pushed back to the Winter issue, so I can do it later, like when I can get ahold of the DVD.

Current Oz books that I'm reading:

• The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability by Roger Connors, Tom Smith, and Craig Hickman. This is an Oz-themed how-to-succeed book for businesses. The Oz content is actually pretty light, but overall it's an interesting read, and I can't help thinking that it wouldn't take a lot of tweaking to make the same ideas work for individuals. However, this one is on hold right now, as I'm concentrating on reading...
  
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in American Popular Culture: Uneasy in Eden by Neil Earle. This is one of those books written to tell you all about what Oz means, etc. I've seen it available, but at $110 (no, that's not a typo), I never could justify buying it. I think I've only ever paid more than one hundred dollars on one book in my collection, and that was a 1920s color edition of The Patchwork Girl of Oz! My local library doesn't carry it, either, but when I was poking around on the library's website and saw a button marked "Interlibrary Loan," I thought, "What the heck," hit the button, and put in the information. A couple of weeks later, I got a notice that it had arrived. Too bad the notice was early, as it didn't actually show up for another day or two, and I spent time with some confused librariand before they gave up. But now I have a copy loaned from the University of Oregon, so if any Ducks are looking for this book, hold on, I should get it back to you within a couple of weeks. Anyway, to make a long story short ("Too late!"), it's actually not bad so far. It's not one of those academic tomes with a Perspective and an Agenda. Earle actually looks at The Wizard of Oz from a number of different perspectives, and even says that none of them alone is adequate to explain the appeal of Oz. This makes a refreshing change from all those academians who come at it from only one viewpoint, and claim (or are interpreted as claiming) that that's what Oz is all about, and everyone else is wrong, or at least misinformed. To be sure, Earle makes a few howlers, such as claiming Baum is a New Englander, even after writing about his upbringing in upstate New York, or that "You've come a long way from Kansas, Toto" is one of the memorable lines from the MGM movie ( I think he was thinking of "Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," and this would have been extremely easy for him to check). I've only read the first two chapters so far, so I'd better not make this a full-blown review, but so far so good. But could I ever justify its price tag? Nope, not at all. Libraries are very good things!
  

* The journal of the International Wizard of Oz Club

Ruby Slippers On The Run

A pair of ruby slippers have been stolen from a museum in Grand Rapids, Minn.

Dorothy of Oz Update

Dorothy's Journal updates us on the estimated shipping date for Dorothy #4: September 14th. Look for it then or the next week.

More About Oogaboos

For some odd reason, I posted my report of the Oogaboo Rendezvous over on Bloggity. So feel free to go on over there to read about it.

There is one major inaccuracy in the report, however. The Jeopardy game was not the quiz, as I thought, but just a fun game. The quiz was a scavenger hunt followed by identification of the objects found in the hunt. Lynn was the winner.

This will go down as the "chicken" Rendezvous, as the potluck somehow turned out to be mostly chicken.

Also, the toilet backed up toward the end of the evening, which led to some worries, but it's all fixed now.

After most of the Oogaboos had left, the teenagers who were staying with us for the night rented Napoleon Dynamite to force it upon us old fogeys.

Happy Birthday Ozma!

Oogaboo Rendezvous

We're having an Oogaboo Rendezvous at our place tonight, here in lovely Bothell Washington. The party will continue all night long and into tomorrow, when it will finally break up around 10 pm or so, depending on when people want to leave.

This is not the first double-day Oogaboo Rendezvous, nor will it be the last, but it will be the longest one I've helped to co-host.

If you are in the Seattle area and are interested in dropping by, drop me a line for directions. If you are very clever, you might even figure out how to call Eric and ask for directions.

By the way, updates to the Oz website may be a tad slow over the next few days/week because Eric's computer apparently caught a cold (neat trick for a Mac, actually) and is in the shop until he can get it repaired.

Dorothy Gale: Journey To Oz

Shane Kirshenblatt of Freefall Comics has kindly updated us on the status of this book and why the first solicitation was cancelled.

I just thought I'd write here to mention that Dorothy Gale: Journey to Oz Book One can be ordered directly from the publisher, as there are still quite a few available.

I would also like to clear up the cancellation issue regarding book two:

It was originally intended to be a 36 page installment, however, the story demanded more pages and time to complete it. Although Previews doesn't say so, the book will actually a 64-pager, which would explain the higher price-point.

So there you have it! Visit Freefall Comics to order your copy of book one or just to get more information on the book.

My review of The Emerald Wand of Oz...

...is now up on my website's reviews page. I'll just add that I sure liked it a lot more than some people, whose views of Oz can get very narrow sometimes.

My latest Oz idea that will probably never, ever happen

Like just about everyone else on planet Earth, I get lots of ideas that, for reasons of time or money or it's-already-been-done or whatever, I never actually do anything about. But this one has to do with Oz, so I thought I'd share it with you. And possibly one of you may have the time and energy to make this a reality, so who knows?

If you're not familiar with a wiki, here's the basic idea: It's a communal website/database/reference are where anyone can not only go in and read what's there, they can also alter the contents. Yup, if you go to a wiki about cars, and you find that they left off that variant model of the 1954 Ocelot*, you can go in and add the information. Probably the best known and most comprehensive wiki is Wikipedia, an online user-edited encyclopedia. I've even had someone ask me about using information from my site for the Oz entries -- the Oz entries that were put in to counter some of the weird and not-really-true stuff that other people had put in. And that points out one of the biggest problems with wikis, is that they can be misleading, or even out and out false. Sometimes it's deliberate, sometimes it's just out of ignorance, but it does mean that a good wiki would need to have an editor who's on top of things.

At any rate, getting (at last) to my good idea, wouldn't an Oz wiki be cool? About all aspects of Oz: the books, the movie, the fans, the toys, the people... The possibilities are endless, and it could be potentially very useful and fun. Too bad I won't be the guy to do it. But if someone were to start one, I'd gladly contribute and offer my advice...

* No, there is no such car as an Ocelot**, and certainly not one made in 1954**. I'm just making something up to illustrate my point.

** So far as I know. I'm no car expert.

Flipping Through Previews (Oz Edition)...

This is my monthly look at Previews Magazine to find all the comic book Oz stuff that Oz fans ought to know about. For a little more info on what this is all about and how to get this stuff, see this post. These items are due to arrive in comic shops in October 2005.

Oz Books

Oz: The Manga continues to be published by Antarctic Press. This series is a retelling of the Oz story in a Manga style by David Hutchison. There will be a total of eight issues in this first mini series, and they will be collected when the full series has been published. I'm quite taken with this cover, featuring the Cowardly Lion in Manga glory. This is sure to please all Oz fans, even the most hard-core and traditional.

• Oz: The Manga #5 - Order Code: AUG05 2682 - $2.99
  Previous Issues:
  
• Oz: The Manga #1 - Order Code: APR05 2602 - $2.99
  
• Oz: The Manga #2 - Order Code: MAY05 2477 - $2.99
  
• Oz: The Manga #3 - Order Code: JUN05 2744 - $2.99
  
• Oz: The Manga #4 - Order Code: JUL05 2615 - $2.99

Dorothy Gale: Journey To Oz #2 continues a story started way back in February. The painted pages of this book make for a different reading experience, but the price point may scare some people off. In addition, because the first issue came out so long ago, it may be difficult to reorder it. However, this book has one of the more interesting takes on Toto that I've seen, and any die-hard gotta-collect-'em-all Oz fan would like this one.

UPDATE: Shane Kirshenblatt of Freefall Comics has given a little more detail on why this book is late and how to get copies of issue #1. Please see this entry for more information.

• Dorothy Gale: Journey To Oz #2 - Order Code: AUG05 2832 - $7.99
  Previous Issue:
  
• Dorothy Gale: Journey To Oz #1 - Order Code: OCT04 2806 - $5.99

I'll start this one with the usual warning about this book: it contains mature themes and language, and if you want your Oz to be innocent and sweet, this is not the book for you. This is a neat retelling of Oz in a fumetti format that features a Goth Dorothy finding a robot Toto and learning about her strange past during a visit to Oz. This is from Illusive Productions, and you can get these books through your local comic book store using the order codes listed below, or directly through their website.

• Dorothy #1 (2nd Printing) - Order Code: AUG05 3008 - $5.00
  Previous Issues:
  
• Dorothy #2 - Order Code: JAN05 2840 - $5.00
  
• Dorothy #3 - Order Code: MAR05 2987 - $5.00
  
• Dorothy #4 - Order Code: MAY05 2838 - $5.00
  
• Dorothy Collection 1 (includes first four chapters) - Order Code: JUL05 2960 - $14.95

Oz-Related Books

Coming out from Alias is a book called Lullaby. This book started with a mini series of four books from Image comics in which Alice (from Wonderland) goes on a quest to Oz and runs into Little Red Riding Hood, the Pied Piper, and some other fairy tale characters. The group has yet to reach Oz at the end of the first mini, but they have met the Tinman in an unexpected form. This series is mildly recommended.

• Lullaby #2 - Order Code: AUG05 2631 - $2.99
  Previous Issues:
  
• Lullaby: Wisdom Seeker #1 - Order Code: DEC04 1535 - $2.95
  
• Lullaby: Wisdom Seeker #2 - Order Code: JAN05 1606 - $2.95
  
• Lullaby: Wisdom Seeker #3 - Order Code: FEB05 1594 - $2.95
  
• Lullaby: Wisdom Seeker #4 - Order Code: MAR05 1693 - $2.95
  
• Lullaby: Wisdom Seeker Vol 1 (collection) - Order Code: JUN05 2684 - $9.99
• Lullaby #1 - Order Code: JUL05 2561 - $2.99

Non-Oz Books

An ordinary young boy is thrown into a world of people with fantastic abilities and powers and must make his way in this strange new world. Well, that's not exactly what PS238 is about, but you could definitely write it that way. This series is strongly recommended to all who are young at heart. This book is from Dork Storm Press and the first two volumes collect the first ten issues. You should be able to reorder #11-13 if you like the book. And I expect that most Oz fans will like it.

• PS238 #14 - Order Code: AUG05 2886 - $2.99
  Previous Issues:
  
• PS238 Vol 1: With Liberty & Recess For All - Order Code: APR04 2574 - $15.99
  
• PS238 Vol 2: To The Cafeteria For Justice - Order Code: MAR05 2822 - $15.99
  
• PS238 #11 - Order Code: JAN05 2659 - $2.99
  
• PS238 #12 - Order Code: MAR05 2821 - $2.99
  
• PS238 #13 - Order Code: MAY05 2710 - $2.99

Next up is the Kid Friendly Amelia Rules #16 from Renaissance Press. I would love to give you more codes for this book, but it's been coming out a little irregularly lately. You can get the first collection on the website.

• Amelia Rules #16 - Order Code: AUG05 3084 - $2.95
  Previous Issues:
  
• Amelia Rules #14 - Order Code: JUN05 3126 - $2.95
  
• Amelia Rules #15 - Order Code: JUL05 3036 - $2.95

Last up is the very tangetially-related Grimm Fairy Tales #1 from Zenescope. This book appears to be going back to the source material, which means it's likely to be fairly gruesome. I haven't seen this book, and it only makes this list because of the fairy tale aspect. Your mileage may vary on this one.

• Grimm Fairy Tales #1 - Order Code: AUG05 3318 - $2.99

Whew. So that's it for this month's Flipping Through Previews (Oz Edition)... If you found something I missed, feel free to use the comments below to point it out. If you have any questions, also feel free to comment.

Previous Flipping Through Previews:

• Jul/Sep 2005

Baum Bugle Volume 49 #1 - Spring 2005

As the comic book expert here on the Oz blog, I'm pleased to show off the cover to the latest Baum Bugle (the journal of the International Wizard of Oz Club). This issue features a nice long article on Dorothy, a full six pages long, featuring production pictures from the comic book. Additionally, the "about our covers" section states: "This striking, colorful collage of characters and images from the comic was prepared especially for this issue of The Baum Bugle". EXCELLENT.

I'll let Eric tell you about the rest of the issue, if he wants to.

If you'd like your own copy of The Baum Bugle, you can contact the International Wizard of Oz Club at their website.

Back to Oz!

Finally finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince the other night, and can finally get back to reading some Oz. In fact, I read the preview of Son of a Witch in the back of the Broadway tie-in edition of Wicked last night and this morning. Yes, Son of a Witch is the sequel to Wicked. It looks like more of the same, and since I liked Wicked, this is not a bad thing. Those who don't like Wicked, or haven't read it just because it's not at all like they think Oz should be, will probably want to avoid the sequel as well. Next up is The Emerald Wand of Oz, since I'm supposed to review it for my website's reviews page. I've heard good and bad about it so far, so I'm looking forward to actually making up my own mind.