Today's Halloween Oz Comic

The story in today's Thatababy isn't at all Ozzy — but take a look at that other family trick-or-treating in the final panel!

Oz Comics Roundup

My trip to North Carolina kept me busy. Then work kept me busy. It's been very hard to get caught up, but I'm doing my best. So here is one way I have to do that and close some tabs that have accumulated: A roundup of all the Oz comics I've come across over the last month or so. I'm going to keep it all brief: The date (in order), the comic (or, in the case of political cartoons, the artist and outlet when known), and a wry comment. Here we go!

• Drew Sheneman, The Star-Ledger (New Jersey), September 25: Trump decides one debate against Harris is enough. One guess what character he's portrayed as here.
• Loose Parts, September 27: A take on an old classic. Good thing it wasn't another certain green-skinned character.
• Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News, September 29: Hey, this request didn't work for Dorothy, either.
• Eek! October 2: And Jack makes his first appearance of the season!
• The Argyle Sweater, October 7: This is not an improvement over the shower, as we can see.
• The Argyle Sweater (yes, again already), October 20: I can see how she'd be triggered by that movie.

And that's all for now. But I'm a little worried about Jack, it's only one more week until Halloween and he's only shown up once so far this year.

An Update on My Ozzy Wanderings

The past few days have been busy but boring, as both Erica and I had to work much of the last three days. The nice thing, with remote jobs like we have, is that we can be anywhere and still work with our colleagues and students in Washington state. But today we left Beech Mountain at last and headed back to Charlotte. But first, we stopped in Statesville to encounter the "Twist of Oz" escape room at Keys to Escape. That was a lot of fun, frankly, and I hope Oz fans can come and try this out—but with what's going on right now, I can understand not wanting to leave Charlotte. We're on the northern fringes of Hurricane Helene, and while it looks unlikely we'll get hit by the center of the storm, we are definitely feeling the effects. Much of the state is on a tornado watch, and all this rain proves it. Already, most schools around here have been closed for tomorrow, including UNC Charlotte, which is hosting most of the events for both CharlOz and Oz: The National Convention. I suspect we're going to have a huge shake-up in the schedule. Fortunately, at least at the moment, it looks like we'll get a break in the weather on Saturday. I will keep you posted!

Back from Oz

Saturday was travel day, as we flew from Seattle to Charlotte with a layover in Dallas. Well, there were mechanical issues with the plane we were supposed to get on in Dallas, and we ended up getting a new plane, which meant an exodus to another terminal, and an overall four hour delay. It was about 10:30 at night by the time we landed in Charlotte, and what with deplaning, baggage claim, getting our rental car, going back and getting another rental car when the one we were first assigned wasn't there, and getting some food, it was nearly midnight by the time we hit the road. And hit it we did, because our condo for this first part of our week was another two hours away! But Erica had had plenty of rest and caffeine, and we made it at about 2:00 and crashed. All in all, from leaving Sunnyside to getting to Beech Mountain, I was on the road for just about twenty-four hours straight.

We set the alarms for 7:00, and got going right away. We had a big breakfast, and then we were off to Oz! Our timing was impeccable, as we pulled into the parking lot at about 9:30, and our entry tickets were for 10:00. I think I'm going to save the big report for later in the week, when I have a little time to properly write it up and access all the photos (from three sources!), but the weather was spectacular, if maybe a little on the warm side, and the so-called mountains* of western North Carolina are gorgeous. We got back to our condo, decompressed, went out for some amazing barbecue for dinner (checking off another item on this week's bucket list), bought some groceries, and called it a night. Thanks to the all-day travel and sleeping on the plane on Saturday, my body's rhythms seem to have already adjusted to a new time zone, as I woke up this morning at my usual time. The problem with this is that my workday still has to synch with Washington time, so I'll be officially working from 11:00 to 7:00! And we can both work remotely, which is what allows us to take this trip and see both The Land of Oz Park and attend the combined CharlOz/Oz: The National Convention this coming weekend. We may have to make some accommodations when we have meetings that overlap (this condo is definitely set up for leisure travel, not business), but it should be fine.

Okay, I think I've nattered on long enough for now. My top priorities the next few days are work, getting ready for my presentations in Charlotte, and posting my Land of Oz report here. I hope I can do it justice!

* See, they claim to be mountains, as the Blue Ridge Mountains, where we are, are in the High Country here, and include some of the highest elevations in the eastern United States. But back home, these would be called foothills.

Celebrating Fifty Years of Being an Oz Fan

My life has been crazy busy the last few years, dealing with both Laura's health and my career finally taking off in a very good way. This poor blog has been neglected, being little more than a repository for the latest Oz cartoons.

That changes now—at least temporarily. This has been in the works for well over a year, and the time has finally come. It all started with an invitation by Dina Schiff Massachi to pitch some panels for CharlOz, a big interdisciplinary conference about The Wizard of Oz. I figured nothing ventured nothing gained, and sent in about a half dozen proposals. I knew Dina was aiming at a more general crowd than the usual Oz convention, and especially wanted material that would appeal to teachers, so I sent in a few ideas, and two were accepted.

Oh, shoot! Now I have to go! And since it's in September, that means going during the school year! But my bosses not only told me to go for it, they gave me their blessing and even got the company publicity department involved. (More on that later, I suspect.) I also crunched the numbers, and found that my new job gave me enough room in the budget to do something wild like this. So I was going to North Carolina! My first trip to the east coast! (Sadly, too far away to actually see the Atlantic Ocean.) And hey, I thought to myself, I can probably even go to the old Land of Oz Park in North Carolina for one of their Autumn in Oz weekends.

But a problem arose: The Land of Oz wasn't going to be open that weekend. CharlOz was a week later than their last weekend! But this was too good of a chance to pass up. Why would I go that close, in both time and location, and not go to the park? So I did some more number crunching and figuring things out. Yes, I could make it that last weekend, spend a few days in North Carolina (I work remotely, so I can do my job anywhere), and even miss one day less of work. I went for it, and got a ticket for the final Sunday of Autumn in Oz, which is now in only two days. The Oz trip of my lifetime (so far) was on!

There are a few other surprises coming up this week, and I will do my best to tell you about them as the come up. But tonight I'm heading to Seattle to get my flight to Charlotte, via Dallas-Fort Worth (incidenally, my first ever trip to Texas). But a few weeks ago, I realized that this was an especially appropriate year for me to go on this trip. It was in 1974 when my third grade teacher, Mrs. Hanford, read The Wizard of Oz to us in class, and I got interested in the collection of Oz books in her room. I picked up the Rand McNally paperback for myself, and got a bunch of the rest of the books at Christmas. So 1974 was the year I became an official full-fledged Oz fan, which means I have now been an Oz fan for fifty years.

You get to celebrate with me! I am going to be busy this coming week, but I will do my best to share what I'm doing. I am really excited, and I don't have to wait much longer!

This Week's Classy Oz Comic

The Great Ruth Berman alerted me to this cartoon by Ali Solomon in the most recent issue of The New Yorker. A friend suggested that Dorothy should have left a fake name, so I suggested Betsy Bobbin!

Yesterday's Oz Comic

Ooh, look, according to The Argyle Sweater, Dorothy is famous!

Today's Oz Comic

Today in Between Friends, you can even make housework Ozzy!

This Week's Other Oz Comic

I've seen variations on this before, but yesterday's Strange Brew is still a fun take on an Oz trope.

Today's Oz Comic

Today in Mother Goose and Grimm, Grimmy has a close encounter of the Ozzy kind.

This Week's Oz Political Cartoon

It's probably a little premature, but someone in the Daily Kos community submitted this cartoon on the current Presidential candidates.

Today's Oz Comic

I can't recall if this is a rerun or not, but today CowTown trots out another of its frequent Oz comics. Well it is based in Kansas City.

Today's Oz Comic

Normally, I tell you what comic has an Oz reference. But this one really took me off guard, so I'll just let you click here and discover which one it is for yourself.

Today's Oz Comic

Today, Red and Rover go on a backyard adventure. A familiar refrain begins...

This Week's Oz Comics Roundup

I'm back at work, so updates may be less frequent. Case in point, this past week in Oz comics:

• Friday, The Far Side had this classic cartoon on its website.
• Also last Friday, my favorite political cartoonist, David Horsey, had this to say about the current state of the Presidantial race. (This is especially appropriate for Horsey, as he works out of Seattle, AKA The Emerald City!)
• Finally, Sunday's edition of Bizarro gave us the greatest crossover you never knew you needed! Thankfully, no cringey stereotyping in this portrayal.

Today's Oz Comic

Frank and Ernest get elemental, which means a mention of one favorite Oz character.

This Week's Oz Comic

Naturally I've seen variants of the joke in yesterday's Grand Avenue before. But this is the first time I can recall it hitting so close to home! (Yes, we're having a heat wave this summer in my neck of the woods.)

Today's Oz Comic

It's ironic that today's edition of The Argyle Sweater has to be printed in black and white to get the joke across, even though Sunday strips are generally prented in color. But maybe that's the paint! (One commentor pointed out that maybe the card should have been printed in color, just to make the point even plainer.)

The Latest Oz Comic

I'm pretty sure this is a rerun, but today's edition of CowTown is pretty Ozzy!

The Latest Reading

My reread of the works of Eloise Jarvis McGraw continues!

• A Really Weird Summer is, well, weird, and Eloise's firsht brush with the supernatural. Nels' parents are getting a divorce and both working far away for the summer, so the kids are shuffled off to an aunt's place in rural eastern Oregon that used to be an inn. It's weird enough dealing with not having either parent, and dealing with their aunt and uncle's quirky ways, but when Nels spots a mysterious figure in a mirror, it just gets weirder. Alan befriends Nels and gives him something to focus on for the summer, but before long he realizes that there's something weird about Alan. How come Alan can't leave his rooms in the inn? Why does he never see Alan's mother, or any evidence of his father? But it takes Nels' brother, Stevie, to figure out that something is seriously wrong with Nels, and Stevie decides it's up to him to do something about it. Eloise has a great sense of knowing what's important in a kid's world, and uses that knowledge to give her stories depth and heft — three-dimensionality, as the late Warren Hollister put it. The weird stuff is never explicitly stated or explained, which just adds to the weirdness, but it is definitely there, adding a layer to at least Nels' experiences in the book. Although not the kind of book that usually has pictures, Eloise also contributed two drawings of the inn, before and after Nels' experineces, just to show how weird things are. Even though I doubt you could call this a mystery, I can see why the Mystery Writers of America gave its Edgar Award for Best Juvenile to this book.
• Normally I only read one of Eloise's books at a time, but I know that Joel and the Great Merlini, her only book for very young readers, would be a quick read, so I added it. Joel loves doing magic tricks, but is frustrated that he can't always get them right, even with practice. So he wishes on the evening star, and the Great Merlini is there to help him out. Only trouble is, Merlini's idea of magic doesn't jibe with Joel's. Merlini practically takes over Joel's act and has Joel performing real magic, like pulling a St. Bernard out af a hat! At first, though, Joel doesn't mind, and he's a smash at the school's talent night. But Merlini's tricks are so good that Joel is suddenly doing shows several nights a week, and his schoolwork is suffering. Not only that, he becomes more and more uneasy that Merlini's doing most of the work. This leads Joel to have to make some very tough decisions, and dealing with Merlini. It's a fun little romp about integrity and persistence without getting preachy. Joel is definitely a good kid, even if it takes him a while to figure out the right thing to do.