Today's Oz Comics, Halloween Edition

Okay, technically one of these is from yesterday, but it fits the holiday nicely, so I'll give myself a pass today.

• First, from yesterday's Andertoons, yet another variation on one particular Oz character getting into the spirit of the holiday in a particular way. But this is at least another perspective on it.
• And in today's edition of Ripley's Believe It or Not!, a little bit of Oz knowledge that I suspect most of us already knew. But nice Denslow homage in the illustration! (And it was the bit about CCR that I found particularly interesting myself.)

Today's Ozzy Talk Show for the Holiday

There is a little tiny bit of a tradition of daytime programming having Wizard of Oz-themed fun around Halloween. There was The View all dressing as Oz characters one year (with Sharon Osborne's husband making a cameo as the Wizard, no less), and the year Drew Carey dressed as the Cowardly Lion to host The Price Is Right. This year, it's Drew Barrymore Scarymore's turn, as she dressed up as — nah, why spoil it? I'll just let you watch right here and see what she does for one of her viewers.

Yesterday's Oz Comics

I got so busy with another project yesterday that I totally spaced out on posting these two comics that sure would seem to indicate Halloween is coming!

• First, in Reality Check, the usual suspects you would expect in a brain-based comic show up. But then there's that other guy behind her right shoulder!
• And all I can say about this installment of Pinkerton is, "Eeeeeewwwwwwwww!!!" I need a brain scrubber to unsee that now!

Todays Oz Comics

Another double header today:

• First, today in Mutts, a special guest appearance.
• Second, although today's edition of Thatababy doesn't have any direct Oz reference, that special did include Margaret Hamilton playing the Wicked Witch of the West. (Side note: Since it's revealed that Billie Hayes' Witchiepoo is the Wicked Witch's sister, my new head canon is that Witchiepoo is the Wicked Witch of the East!) And for those who want to see that special:
  

This Week's Oz Very Short Story

Yes, there is an extra word in this week's title, because the second story from the 2017 issue of Oziana is only one page long. "Patchwork Memory" by Grace Willey is a very short reflection on Scraps, who she is, and the impression she leaves on others. And the writing doesn't even take up the whole page, as Willey also provided an illustration.

In circumstances like this, I like to use the space to also look at the rest of the issue, look at the little peripheral bits that aren't short stories, but these have been few and far between with recent issues. Still, I can mention the lovely front cover, "On the Shores of Skezer Lake" by David Bishop. The back cover is also by Grace Willey, and is entitled "Button Bright Find a Peach Pit". I think you can guess what's happening in that, then.

Today's Second Oz Comic

In today's edition of Mutts, we get a major recreation of a scene from The Wizard of Oz, with a new revelation of one character's motivation.

Today's Oz Comic

The always fun and frequently Ozzy Thatababy has a fun interactive Halloween/coronavirus-themed edition today that includes a bit of Oz. Enjoy!

Today's Oz Comic

I think the title for this post is not entirely accurate, since this edition of Free Range is over seven years old! But I recently discovered it, and didn't blog about it back in the day, so it's new to all of us!

Political Cartoon

Gary Varvel is a conservative cartoonist. So naturally he's cast Ncy Pelosi as the bad guy in the current battle for a coronavirus relief package, even though it's the Senate that isn't moving anything along right now (or, for that matter, most of this Congress). Still, Oz is Oz!

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: The Lost Appetite

Yay, a Wilhelmina story! She's lamenting that she always loses the ozberry pie eating contest to the Hungry Tiger. (This is actually a big ambition of yours, Wilhelmina?) But Wilhelmina has a plan to get that trophy into her empty trophy case: She has a spell that can transfer the Hungry Tiger's appetito to Lyman for twenty-four hours. As Lyman is a big fan of ozberry pies, this plan really appeals to him! The Hungry Tiger, meanwhile, feels a little guilty about winning every year, but the Scarecrow compares it to him in a thinking contest, so the Hungry Tiger feels better. At least he has enough self-control to not eat everything—and everyone!—in sight. But when Lyman shakes his paw, all of a sudden he's not terribly hungry any more. The contest starts, and Lyman starts eating pies like nobody's business. This includes the other contestants' pies, which gets his closest neighbor, the Cowardly Lion, all upset. So yes, Lyman wins the contest and the trophy, and Wilhelmina does a little victory dance. Unfortunately, Lyman can't stop eating! No more pies? He goes after the ants' crumbs. While Wilhelmina's bragging and Dorothy is observing how Lyman got an appetite at almost the exact time the Hungry Tiger lost his, Lyman is flying around eating just about everything in a nearby food shop—and he's still hungry! He empties an ice cream cart, eats the Munchkin mayor's hoagie, chases away some ducks to get their bread crumbs, and generally makes an even bigger nuisance of himself than usual. Without the Hungry Tiger's conscience, if Lyman isn't stopped, he'll eat all the food in Oz! Sure enough, after clearing out the Emerald City, Lyman heads north to the forest of the sandwich trees, which he rapidly defoliates, Dorothy and the gang arriving just a little too late to stop him. A baked goods factory? Lyman just lets the conveyor belts drop cakes and pastries into his mouth. The Lollipop Gild are soon holding just sticks. Dorothy finally manages to corner him at a Munchkin family's home where Lyman not only goes through the entire salad, he starts eating through the walls! Lyman then eats an entire catch of fish from a group of Munchkin fishermen, and then he finally makes it to Wilhelmina's castle. Dorothy and the guys arrive just in time for Wilhelmina to desperately ask for their help. She's so desperate, in fact, that she confesses to cheating in the ozberry pie eating contest. A cookie jar full of Ozma's lemon witcheroos is enough to lure Lyman into a cupboard, where they hold him long enough for the spell to wear off, and he has had enough food for a long time. Good thing, says Wilhelmina, he didn't find her secret stash of extra special witch treats. At that, the Hungry Tiger bursts in, extra ravenous not having eaten for twenty-four hours, bursts in and eats Wilhelmina's stash.

Yes, Wilhelmina is back and not, for once, being overshadowed by her auntie. (The Wicked Witch doesn't appear at all, in fact.) I actually like Wilhelmina as a character, but her longing for recognition takes some really odd turns once in a while. I mean, why does she want a pie-eating trophy? And if she wants it so bad, why doesn't she just bestow the Hungry Tiger's appetite onto herself? Still, the situation is actually a lot funnier with Lyman getting it, and in the end that's all it needs to be. It's straightforward, it's funny, the good guys win and the bad guys get their comeuppance—although apparently Wilhelmina still gets to keep the trophy!

Next week, another debut of a classic character from the books: Polychrome!

This Week's Oz Short Story

When I started off this review of every story in every issue of Oziana, I know I had an eight hundred pound gorilla coming up: The 2016 issue. This issue broke the format and was so different that I wasn't sure what to do about it for the longest time. But by the time I wrapped up the 2015 issue, I'd figured it out: I would skip it. Don't worry, I will write about it on this blog, but not as part of the weekly short story reading. It should come up within the next three or four years (yes, this is definitely some long-term planning). So now that that's settled, let's take a look at the first story in the 2017 issue of Oziana, which is "Angry Jack" by Sara Philips, with illustrations by Emilee Philips. This is pretty much "Jack Pumpkinhead and the Terrible, Horible, No Good, Very Bad Week", as Jack is just in a foul meed. Considering his basic personality, this is a huge shock, and his friends just don't know what to do with him. Scraps, especially, makes it her business to figure out what's wrong with Jack, but her efforts get nowhere. She is so upset that she even forgets to rhyme, which is highly unusual for her. But Jack even lashes out at Ozma, and is tired of being taken for a clumsy fool. He can't help what he is, after all. A (literal) run-in with Professor Wogglebug really shows just how bad things have gotten. In the end, Jack actually decides not to attend one of Ozma's parties at the palace, but he has to go and at least deliver the pumpkin pies he's made. So of course his friends gather for an intervention. And then comes the surprise ending! I don't want to give it away, but it is a little abrupt and still feels partially unresolved. But let's at least say Jack's old personality returns in the end.

The Top 100 Fantasy Books

When I saw that Time had published a list of "The Top 100 Fantasy Books" yesterday, I will admit to some initial trepidation, as often these lists are put together by high-falutin' literary critics who look down on children's books, and Oz in particular, it seems. But no, this was actually a panel consisting of Time editors and some of today's top fantasy writers. So I was pleasantly surprised to see several children's books on the list, and Oz is indeed represented—but not by the book just about everyone on the planet would expect! No, belive it or not (I won't hold you in suspense, so I'm going to spoil it here; this is your last chance to go look at the list before I let this cat out of the bag), The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is not on the list, but Ozma of Oz is! Since many Oz readers actually consider Ozma to be the best book in the series (whenever there's a poll for best Oz books, Wizard and Ozma usually battle for the top spot, with Marvelous Land a distant third), but for the rest of the literary world to notice is a testament to just how good it is. Personally, however, if I were to put only one book by L. Frank Baum on that list, it wouldn't even be an Oz book. I still think that Queen Zixi of Ix may be the best thing Baum ever wrote.

One other book I noticed is not on the list: The Hobbit! The entire Lord of the Rings cycle is there, but its prequel didn't make it. I would have also included Edward Eager's Half Magic, but they were limited to only one hundred books. I do think this list may be too heavily weighted towards books of the late twentieth century and the twenty-first (so far), but half the fun of lists like this is the back-and-forth of the reactions.

Today's Oz Comic

Today is Savage Chickens, we get the rarely-seen perspective of the fifth member of our little group. No wonder he didn't talk in the first book, he didn't have anything he needed to say.

Today's Oz Comic

Today in Rhymes with Orange, It seems Dorothy kept trying other ways to get to Oz before that tornado came along.

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: Prisoner Under the Rainbow

The Wizard's working on his magic some more, but it's not going quite as well as anyone wants it to. In fact, a whole lot of things are disappearing from the Emerald City and appearing in the land of lost magic items under the rainbow. So much stuff is disrupting the place that the Undertaker comes up to Oz to investigate and punish whoever is causing such a mess. Once he finds the Wizard, he takes him and everyone with him—of course that would mean Dorothy, Toto, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion—and confines them there. Of course the Undertaker is no fool; to keep them from escaping, he confiscates the Ruby Slippers and locks them in a magical cage. So, Dorothy reasons, it will take magic to get them out. But the only one of them who knows magic is the Wizard, whose magic got them into this mess in the first place. Lots of failed trials convince the Wizard that he isn't worthy of their faith, and he decides he's done with magic. But Dorothy helps the boys see that all he needs is a little confidence, and she hatches a cunning plan. Remembering the Scarecrow's diploma, the Tin Woodman's clock, and the Lion's medal, they give him a symbol of what he already has inside of him: A wizard's hat. (Yes! He finally takes off Professor Marvel's turban!) Sure enough, it gives him the focus and confidence to unlock the cage and, just as the Undertaker has come again, clean up everything that he messed up in the first place. They get back to Oz safe and sound, and the Wizard is a better wizard for it.

Not bad, another harmless little episode. We get a nice little tour of Oz as the Undertaker looks for the troublemaker, seeing Ozma, Glinda, and the Wicked Witch and Wilhelmina doing some magic. The callback to the Wizard giving gifts to Dorothy's friends and them turning the same table on him was a nice little touch. Let's hope the Wizard is a more capable magic-user from now on.

Today's Oz Comic

Today's edition of Eek! looks very familiar. I think this may be a rerun from last year (or maybe an even earlier Halloween season). But if you haven't seen it before, it's new to you. Although I don't think this is a specifically Ozzy comic, I don't see any reason it couldn't be about Jack Pumpkinhead.

This Week's Oz Short Story

A more accurate description for "Prince Pompadore in Oz" by Nathan DeHoff, with illustrations by Dennis Anfuso, from the 2015 issue of Oziana might be "This Week's Oz Novella", because it really does read more like an abbreviated Oz book, with several plot strands that go all over the place before meeting up again. And this story is a worthy successor to previous adventures about the royal family of Pumperdink, as it all starts with the disappearance of Kabumpo. Naturally, Pompa decides he has to go out and find him, over Peg Amy's objections, and he has a number of adventures in strange villageslike Itchville and Ditchville before getting on the right path. Meanwhile, it seems a transportation spell in the Nome Kingdom has gone wrong, bringing Kabumpo to Kaliko's palace! He has a time of it himself, picking up some allies before reaching the Earth's surface. Since he's now in Ev, he very sensibly heads towards the Red Jinn's palace to enlist Jinnicky's help. If that weren't enough, Peg Amy decides her husband has been gone too long, and sets out on her own adventure. Whether by design or accident, they all end up at Jinnicky's, who finally gets them all back to the Emerald City for the usual celebratory conclusion.

This very much reads like an homage to the Oz of Ruth Plumly Thompson. There's a lot of running around and visiting strange new kingdoms with their own little quirks, and everything works out cozily in the end. Despite its length, this is a light, airy little confection of a story, and there's nothing wrong with that!

Today's Oz Comics

Yet another two-fer:

• At first glance, you may think today's edition of Strance Brew is Ozzy, but the witch with an Ozzy name doesn't look at all like we usually think she does. But it is such an Ozzy name that I had to include it here.
• On a more forward note, Tom Toles' political cartoon today makes it extremely clear how he feels about this coming presidential election.

Today's Oz Comic

Gee, do you suppose Patrick McDonnell is referencing the Oz Scarecrow (and especially the original W. W. Denslow illustrations) in today's edition of Mutts? (Yeah, that was sarcasm, of course that's the Oz Scarecrow!)

Today's Oz Comics

Yes, it's another two-fer, and for once, neither is a political cartoon.

• First up, today in Grand Avenue, they're getting a little jump in the Halloween costume planning. Grandma has a very familiar-sounding question about Gabby's trial, and Gabby has a terrific answer.
• Then, even though today's Off the Mark isn't specifically Ozzy, I doubt we would have it if L. Frank Baum hadn't given us the trope of the wet witch.

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: Broomstormers!

There appears to be some sort of town in Oz just for the witches in Oz, and the Wicked Witch of the West and Wilhelmina pop in. The Wicked Witch is all excited about the Broomstormers sweepstakes, as she thinks it's her time to win—but so does her oldest rival, Mean Jeanne the Green! The Wicked Witch doesn't want Jeanne to win, but she has no magic of her own, either, so she pressures Wilhelmina to compete and keep the Golden Broom in the family, where it's been for five hundred years. But Wilhelmina and her broom have no experience stuntriding, so the Wicked Witch pulls out her secret weapon: Hex, a special turbo-charged broom that can do all the stunts. But Wilhelmina's first attempt results in a twisted ankle, and she can't fly. Frank and Lyman try, but they're no more successful. So, who can they recruit to ride the broom? Watching Dorothy successfully ride the Horse of a Different Color gives Wilhelmina the idea to recruit Pigtails! Dorothy, thinking it sounds like fun, agrees, on the condition that the Wicked Witch of the West is nice for one week. The Witch reluctantly agrees. But to successfully ride Hex, Dorothy has to channel her inner wickedness! Despite that, she proves to be pretty good on Hex (after a few practice rounds), and feels confident going in. Dorothy and Hex are leading in the haunted slalom, until Mean Jeanne conjures up a cyclone and throws her off course. In the cackle wackle half pipe, Dorothy has better stunts, but Jeanne's cackle can't be beat. Still, Dorothy moves up quite a bit in the standings. The next event is the full moon willy whoop (where do they get these events from???), and Dorothy nails it while Jeanne falls on her dismount. It comes down to the final event, and whoever wins the freestyle flying contest wins the Golden Broom. Jeanne conjures up a dancing black cat, but Dorothy (with a little help from a hidden button on Hex) conjurs up a cauldron full of bats. Dorothy wins! She hands the trophy over to the Wicked Witch, who also demands the Ruby Slippers. Dorothy reminds her that that wasn't part of the deal, nor is she being nice like she promised. The Wicked Witch smiles, reluctantly, and decides now is not the time to get the Ruby Slippers. But there will be another time.

Hmm. This was actually kind of a fun episode, but something kept bugging me. I finally figured out that the problem was the Wicked Witch and Dorothy teaming up. I don't think that would have happened! Oh, I suspect Dorothy would have done exactly what she did if she was asked, I just don't think the Wicked Witch would ever have asked her in the first place. I came up with an alternate take that better fit the characters: Wilhelmina gets the job, but she's having absolutely no luck at all managing Hex, so she goes to Dorothy for help, and Dorothy ends up secretly coaching Wilhelmina during the competition. It feels a little more credible to me, and it would have given Wilhelmina a bigger, juicier part, which she has been seriously lacking this season.

Also in this episode, Frank asd Lyman have blink-and-you'll-miss-them cameos as flying cheerleaders.

All right, let's see if I can actually get another episode in next week!

The Latest Oz-Adjacent Reading

It just dawned onme that I got a new book for my collection, read it, but didn't write about it here! It's not, technically speaking, an Oz book, but it's written by an Oz scholar and past President of the International Wizard of Oz Club, and it's about an incident that happened to L. Frank Baum's mother-in-law, so I think I'm justified in writing about it here. The book is The Voice of Liberty, and it's the first picture book written by Angelica Shirley Carpenter. The illustrations are by Edwin Fothringham. It's the story of how Matilda Joslyn Gage and other members of the New York State Women's Suffrage Association disrupted the dedication of the Statue of Liberty in 1886. Why should the symbol of liberty be a women, they thought, if women can't even vote? They faced some obstaceles, but they were finally able to make their voices heard. If you've read Carpenter's previous book about Gage, Born Criminal, you may already know about how it all happened. This is a fun retelling of the events, told simply but clearly. Fotheringham's illustrtations are charming, and he dose a great job capturing their likenesses. (Carpenter could not find a reference photo of one of the organizers, Katherine Devereaux Blake, at the appropriate age, but Fotheringham does a great job of extrapolating from her later visage.)

This Week's Oz Poem

Yeah, no short story this week because this week's item from the 2015 issue of Oziana is a poem, "Tin Man" by A. Waller Hastings. It's very short, and expresses Nick Chopper's regret at growing old, even in a tin body.

Since that was so short, we have a few other brief items from this issue to deal with, nely the covers:

• The front cover is a gathering of Oz celebrities by David Bishop entitled "Happily Ever After".
• The rear cover is a delightful portrait of Polychrome by Isabelle Melaçon, co-creator of the fine Ozzy webcomic Namesake.

Today's Oz Comic

In today's edition of The Argyle Sweater, Dorothy meets another Wicked Witch, and my goodness, she is a bad one!