The Latest Oz Reading

Okay, the pile is getting big again, and I still have some material in it that's been sitting here at least a year. So I may as well just do a lightning round version and give some quick impressions rather than my usual drawn-out thoughtful posts. Ready? Here we go!

• The Oracle of Maracoor by Gregory Maguire. Book two of Another Day, the trilogy of Rain's adventures after Out of Oz. The middle book of a trilogy is often the disappointing one, as we all know what's happening now, but there's still a long way to go, but we don't get a definitive conclusion yet. But I'm happy to say that there were some surprises in this one. A few more characters from Oz turn up, and the identity of the titular oracle took me by surprise. Plus, things are set up well for the conclusion.
• The program book for OzCon International 2023. Hey, I've been to every edition of this con since 1980, I wasn't going to stop now! I talked about the one new piece of fiction in it in last week's short story roundup, and for just about everything else, you really had to be there. (Start making plans for next year's con NOW! It will be July 26-28, 2024.)
• Scarlet Witch #7. This issue of Wanda Maximoff's latest comic book series slipped under my comic-buying radar, so I'm thankful that a friend was able to acquire it and send it to me. Yeah, Wanda goes to Oz—and it's book Oz, with mentions of L. Frank Baum and silver shoes. Some interesting mechanics, as I gather the antagonist here is a new character, and one that may cause issues down the road. But Wanda figures out a clever way to get out of a jam, and all is right…for now…
• Return to Oz by Joan D. Vinge. Yes, it's the novelization of the 1985 Disney movie, which I hadn't read for nearly forty years. (Hey, wait a minute, I interviewed Vinge at a panel at OzCon a few years ago, why didn't I get this autographde???) It's a pretty straightforward novelization, but there are a few scenes in it that got cut from the finished movie, and we also get to see inside many characters' heads in ways we couldn't on screen. A fun, nostalgic revisit.
• Stairway to Oz by Robin Hess. Just how did the Shaggy Man's brother get to the Nome Kingdom in Tik-Tok of Oz? This book explains. But the stairway is still active and viable, so when an American boy and his grandparents find it, they have adventures of their own as they try to stop the latest Nome invasion of Oz.
• Geronimo Stilton Classic Tales: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I knew there was a version of Oz in the long-running Geronimo Stilton series, but for the longest time I could only find the Italian original, and not an English translation. But it finally appeared in English recently, and I was not disappointed. This is a surprisingly faithful retelling of the original book, with charming illustrations and a lot of words enlarged and colored. I presume this is a quirk of this series, but there seemed to be no sense or reason for why those particular words were emphasized. One fun twist is that, since Geronimo Stilton is a mouse, Dorothy and all her friends are depicted as mice. This could have made for a bit of an awkward incident when the Tin Woodman chases off the wildcat. But a little change meant that in this book, doing so rescues the Queen of the Rabbits, not Field Mice!
• Ozma of Oz, or The Magnet of Love by L. Frank Baum. This is one of L. Frank Baum's preliminary scripts for the stage show that would eventually become The Tik-Tok Man of Oz. Let's just say I believe Baum was a better author than he was a playright, even though he probably longed to be the latter more than the former. The biggest change between this script and The Tik-Tok Man of Oz is the songs, as these are all Baum's lyrics. He seems to have found a more sympatico collaborator in Louis F. Gottschalk, because they are head over heels above what's in this book. Still, it's fun seeing into Baum's mind, and the evolution of this show.
• We've had it for a few years now, but I finally got around to reading Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation by Lou Scheimer and Andy Mengels. Not only was I part of that generation of kids who watche a lot of Filmation cartoons when they were new, they were responsible for Journey Back to Oz. But this book is also important for Laura, since they also made the Aquaman cartoons back in the '60s, and she's a big Aquaman fan. Oz and Aquaman actually take up very little of this book, but there were so many other shows I know in it that I had a great time reading this. It's much more Scheimer's life story and a chronological history of Filmation, so if you're looking for detailed production notes and episode guides, this is not the book you are looking for. There's still lots of useful information, however.
• And finally, for now, The Maid of Arran by L. Frank Baum. (Full disclosure time: I was a proofreader on this book, and received an acknowledgement for my contributions, small though they were.) Yes, at long last, one of L. Frank Baum's earliest popular works, the play The Maid of Arran, gets a book publication. And what a book it is! It would have been of great interest if it were just the script, maybe with a few annotations and a scholarly essay or two. But editor Marcus Mébès does so much more here! There are a number of essays (plus an original short stoy by Robert Baum about his great-grandfather, later reprinted in Oziana), two chapters from A Princess of Thule by William Black (the novel the play is based on), cast biographies, a complete rundown of where the show played, and contemporary reviews. I don't see what else could fit in here! The highlight is probably "The Peculiar Pedigree of Sheila O'Mara, Maid of Arran" by Éamon S. Green, a thorough examination of the story and how it came to be dramatized—several times! No, Baum was not the first to put it on stage, and therein lies a sordid tale of copyright piracy and the state of nineteenth century show business.

All right, that's it for now. But I hope to have some more quick hits up soon, mostly on comic books and graphic novels.

The Latest Oz Reading

Hooray, I'm tearing through everything else and have gotten around to my next wave of Oz reading again! But right now, I have an item that I found out about and acquired through an ad on Kickstarter. Mount Olympus Comics was looking to fund issue #3 of their series Samurai of Oz, so I bit the bullet and funded it, with my reward being a set of the first three issues. Hey, if an Oz comic can be set in the Old West, why not feudal Japan? It quickly became apparant that Samurai of Oz had a rather, shall we say, relaxed attitude towards women's clothing. And the women were also—hmm, how to put this delicately?—stacked. Endowed. Top heavy, even. Okay, not my usual, but I was still interested, and Laura was okay with it, so I went for it.

Dorothy Blade is a great samurai swordswoman (yeah, I know, women weren't samurai, but most of this doesn't make much sense anyway, so just go with it, okay?) who finds herself and her pet wolf, Toto, swept to a far-off land after surprising thieves in her home. In the ensuing battle, Dorothy's kimono pops open (I did tell you), and one of the thieves leaps from the body she's occupying and into Toto! To keep Toto alive, they strike an uneasy alliance, and are saved by the Blade of the East, who wants Dorothy's ruby-handles swords, by a scarecrow. But he's no fan of hers and wants to take care of Dorothy as well. Dorothy and "Toto" escape, aided by the honorable Blade of the North. The scare demon is now Dorothy's reluctant companion, and now that they are out of immediate danger, Dorothy takes off her clothes (yeah, again) and goes for a swim. In the process, she finds the head of a metal statue, which she brings to the surface. Bringing the head back to the body reunites the metal warrior, both body and soul, and he is grateful, vowing to kill the scare demon! But Dorothy steps in and commands them to stop, so they become reluctant allies to protect Dorothy. Next up is a lioness-spirit who hunts demons, but Dorothy defeats her, too. And that's where issue three leaves off.

The setting is sure different, and the characters are also a lot different than in most other adaptations of Oz. Since this is set in a violent, warlike time, the characters also act the same way. And all the elements of the Japanese supernatural culture also make it interesting. I plan to keep on reading this, even if it means I have to acquire subsequent issues via Kickstarter campaigns. But it is not a cheap book, each issue covers very little of the story, and, well, Dorothy gets naked a lot. So I suspect it's not going to be a book for everyone's tastes. If you are a real Oz completist, into Japanese mythology, or just like the general premise, you may want to get this. But I suspect a lot of people will understand if you choose to take a pass on this one.

The Latest Oz Reading

Thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign, I got caught up on the comic book series The Zombieful World of Oz. Dorothy's grown up now, but is recruited by her old friends to fight the victims of a plague that is causing the dead to arise and wreak havoc. Thankfully, the people behind this tale know about the books, as evidenced by the zombie Wheeler on the cover of the ashcan edition! Other characters who show up include Jack Pumpkinhead, Mombi, and Languidere. The art in this one is crisp and sharp, and has a clear steampunk vibe to it. But wow, is their geneaology all off! Dorothy, as often happens in these kinds of retellings becomes a witch. But it turns out that's because she's the baby sister of the wicked witches! So somehow, Glinda is her aunt, and the Wizard and Mombi are her grandparents??? Yeah, this is definitely a reimagining.

The Latest Oz Reading

Yeah, I'm still catching up on what I've read recently. This is the comic book edition!

• Oz Annual: Patchwork Girl from Zenoscope sees Queen Dorothy having to deal with the dangerous criminal Patch and her bug companion escaping not only Ojo prison, but Oz! The tornado they summon to destroy the prison also transports her to Kansas, where she uses her powers to turn people into lifeless rag dolls to go on a spree. To step her, Dorothy's heading home! Yeah, like most of Zenoscope's Oz books, this is a weirdly warped mirror of the "real" Oz, but at least they seem to be digging into the books for inspiration now. Patch is truly creepy, and Dorothy has to make some hard choices to deal with events. And we get some nice flashbacks to her time in Kansas before she went to Oz.
• The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West #21, after a successful Kickstarter campaign, continues the story of the Wild West version of Oz now that Queen Ozma has been restored to the throne. One of her first decrees is that Gale must turn over the enchanted guns, which does not go over well at all. Oh, and then there's the looming threat of the Nome King to worry about as well.
• Tribute: L. Frank Baum is a comic book autobiography of—well, you can probably guess from the title. Because of the low page count, this is necessarily brief and doesn't cover much of his life in depth. But they do touch on just about everything he did in his life, not just The Wizard of Oz. It's mild and harmless, but also needs to be taken with a grain or two of salt.
• Cthulu Invades Oz, another Kickstarter success, is just what it says on the cover. What's intriguing about this is that it starts off with Dorothy in Kansas, convincing Cthulu to invade Oz so as to distract it from our plane of reality! It only gets worse from there, as we see the results of the Old Ones taking over Oz in a series of short stories, spread out over several months. The magicians and wizards do their best to keep them at bay, but Cthulu finds allies in Oz as well. The final result is surprising, but then Dorothy comes and presents Cthulu with some surprising options of what to do next. I'll just drop the name of the follow-up book, revealed on the final page: Cthulu Invades Wonderland.

The Latest Oz Reading

And at last, I've come to my next cycle of Oz reading, just in time for the holidays. And oh, this is going to be an interesting run!

• Father Goose's Year Book by L. Frank Baum. Yeah, finding this was a fluke. It's neither a particularly common book to find, nor a terribly desirable one. But I was idly surfing one day, did a search for it, and found one at an extremely attractive price. So I snatched it up. As a Baum book, this is great to have. As the last gasp of his Father Goose franchise, however, it's no great shakes. Illustrator Walter J. tries, but he's no W. W. Denslow. And this time around, Baum's poetry is a little more wry and topical, reflecting what's happening each month, so they're aimed more at older readers than those in the original Father Goose: His Book. Of course this is book is 113 years old, so a lot of the poems have not aged well, reflecting both old cultural references and outdated attitudes. Still, this is nice to have in my collection, especially considering how few Oz fans probably have it in their own.
• The O. Z. #1 by David Pepose and Ruben Rojas, with Whitney Cogar and DC Hopkins. From one of the oldest items in my collection to the most recent! I was part of the highly successful Kickstarter campaign to get this new comic book off the ground, and so I was certainly happy to see it turn up (still looking for you, The Red Queen of Oz). I was a little skeptical about another "war in Oz" project, but this has some new takes on the trope that gives it a new look. Dorothy Gale is an Iraq veteran and the adopted namesake granddaughter of the Dorothy Gale who first went to Oz. Naturally, she's dealing with PTSD, and a tornado picking up her SUV and taking it to a wartorn Oz doesn't help. Fortunately she lands amongst the rebels, including the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion, fighting against Emperor Scarecrow. They know how to get Dorothy home, but on the way to the wizards who can help her, Dorothy realizes that these people are losing and needs an experienced leader to help them, so she decides to stay in Oz and help them. This comic hit home the big thing a lot of these post-modern Oz adaptations neglect: A strong central protagonist. Having this version of Dorothy at the center just hits home how much a part of The Wizard og Oz Dorothy is in that story. Giving this Dorothy some background and strife makes her a rounder, more sympathetic character, and gives the story a sharper focus.

There should be a lot more of these Oz reading updates in the next few weeks. I'm interested to see what all I have myself!

The Latest Oz Reading

Well, that cropped up more quickly than I intended! Our last comics order included Sky Island by Amy Chu and Janet K. Lee, the follow-up to Sea Sirens which I just wrote about the other day. Rather than wait for my Oz reading to come around again to read it, I thought I'd just read it next. It's the start of summer vacation, and Trot is looking forward to surfing a lot. But she and Cap'n Bill get an urgent message from King Anko: It seems Merla's been kidnapped! Caught in a fishing net, the Sirens need someone on the surface who can help them find her. Clia comes along, however (and boy does she have a hard time dealing with legs at first), and Anko is available ab back-up. A mysterious symbol leads them to Sky Island, a forgotten old amusement park on an island west of Catalina. They enlist the aid of Rosalie, the daughter of the park's developer (Trot's grandfather knows her), and they sneak in. Rosalie's family lost the island in a shady land grab, and the new owner has rebuilt the park for himself. In his private aquarium, Trot and Clia find Merla, who doesn't want to leave! She feels disrespected by the Sirens, and has been made Queen of the aquarium. But when the owner, eccentric billionaire Claude Buluru turns up, he shows his true colors and tries to kill Trot and Clia, turning Merla against him. Cap'n Bill escapes and summons Anko, who puts an end to Buluru's operations. It turns out Buluru forged the deed to the island, and he never owned it to begin with, so Rosalie takes over and decides to reopen Sky Island as an amusement park again.

Well, this was certainly fun, but this is even less like Baum's Sky Island than Sea Sirens was like The Sea Fairies. Yeah, we get a few characters with the same names, but that's about it! No magic umbrella, no pinks vs. blues tensions, nothing like that. Nevertheless, this is a fun read, and it has some great character development and gorgeous art. And the location of this book's Sky Island is probably meant to invoke the location of the first Sky Island—the one Trot, Cap'n Bill, and Button-bright first wanted to go to in the book that they didn't know the name of.

So now Chu and Lee have taken on Trot and Cap'n Bill's first two adventures. Will there be more? And if so, will they look to the Oz books, especially The Scarecrow of Oz and The Magic of Oz for inspiration? I think, however, they should just go their own direction, and give this Trot and Cap'n Bill their own, original adventures that aren't necessarily based on anything by L. Frank Baum.

The Latest Oz Reading

Yup, here are the last few Oz and Oz-adjacent books I've read recently:

• I have so many books, some I haven't read for decades, that some time ago I decided to reread some of them. This time around it was Zim Greenleaf in Oz by Melody Grandy, the third and final volume in the Seven Blue Mountains of Oz trilogy. Zim has been the star of this series, so it's about time one of the books was named for him. If you haven't already met him, Zim is a biologist-wizard in the Munchkin country, and at the end of the last book he was officially named the Wizard of the Munchkin Country. Unlike the other two books, this one has less of a single plot, and is a series of adventures that Zim has in his new capacity. The largest has to do with Zim's fear of giants as he helps a small kingdom come to terms with its past history and reunite the royal family. Zim also has a misadventure where he is fractured into thirty-one smaller aspects of himself, each embodying one of his emotions or innate traits. He also has encounters with black druids and Tititi-Hoochoo before the book ends with Zim making a major life decision for himself and others, but he ends up happy and contented in the end. I've said this before, but I want to reiterate it once again: I think the Seven Blue Mountains books do an amazing job of world building. They make Oz feel so much more like a real live place than just about any other Oz book I have ever read, and that includes L. Frank Baum and the other Royal Historians. True, this is very clearly Oz, as Grandy is building on the very firm base that Baum created, but she does such an excellent job of taking those ideas, building on them logically, and making the reader see and think of Oz much more deeply. And Zim Greenleaf is a wonderful character. By following him over several decades, we get a lot better idea of what he's like, how he thinks and feels, than we ever could in a book covering a much shorter amount of time. So now I'm kind of sad it's all over, until I reread these books again in the retirement home or something.
• If you know much about L. Frank Baum, you probably know that his mother-in-law was the noted suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage. Angelica Shirley Carpenter is an Oz fan and noted biographer for younger readers, so when she learned about Matilda, she set out to tell the story. The result is Born Criminal: Matilda Joslyn Gage,Radical Suffragist. It is not the only biography of Gage, but it's the only one I've read, since I know the author, and it seems to cover all the bases. The style is aimed at a younger audience, but I don't think most readers are going to mistake this for some of Carpenter's other books you might find in elementary school libraries, as it is very thorough and has endnotes and a lot more words than pictures. In other words, most people would think this was written for adults. Matilda herself is a fascinating character, and her rise within the women's suffrage movement and her relationships with others of the movement, notably Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, are intriguing. Although there's not a lot of Oz in this book, Matilda Gage is a very important figure in the creation of Oz, and this book really brings her to life.
• With Yellow Brick War, I am now three-fourths of the way through Danielle Paige's Dorothy Must Die saga, and it is proving to be one wild ride. The battle to unseat Dorothy as dictator of Oz moves to Kansas, as Amy has to deal with being back home, dealing with her mother and her high school again (and wow, a lot has changed since she left), and whether or not she wants to be in the position she's been thrust into. Plus, there are her feelings towards Nox, which get even more complicated when he takes on a new role. Once Amy finds the silver slippers, the action moves back to Oz, where it is very clear that she has to kill Dorothy. But with all of Dorothy's new powers, that is not going to be an easy task at all. This should be one of the books that sags a bit, since it's leading up to the big finale, so not too much can happen. But this barrels right along, with all kinds of action, and there are also all kinds of Easter eggs for fans of the original Oz books. What keeps this book fresh is that not only is Amy changing, but so are all of those around her, and that causes all kinds of relationships to change, many in quite surprising ways. I'm looking forward to reading the final volume, The End of Oz, soon.
• And finally, a successful Kickstarter campaign paid off with "Sundown", a special edition of The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West. Yes, one of my favorite Oz comics, an Old West retelling of the Oz books, is back, and my, it still looks good. This story is pretty much Glinda battling Mombi, but lots of other characters get to shine. In the end, one of the most beloved characters in the series makes her Legends of Oz debut, and writer Tom Hutchison has found a very clever way, actually using a location in the books, to deal with the final disenchantment needed instead of relying on Mombi. I hope this becomes more readily available to those who weren't involved in the Kickstarter campaign, and also that this is a sign that more books are coming.

That's probably going to be my last big Oz read for some time, but I do have at least one more recent acquisition that I may read soon. And who knows what may come in the comics order each month?

The Latest Oz Reading

Another dive into my now-I've-read-it pile!

• A pleasant surprise in one of our recent comic orders was The Silver Spurs of Oz by Erica Schultz and Omar Lozano. This was a surprise because neither Laura nor I could even recall seeing it or ordering it. But hey, it's Oz! At first glance, it looks like this graphic novel might have been lovingly inspired (which is a kinder way of saying "ripped off") from the comic The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West, but this is a nicely different kettle of fish blazing its own trail. In this case, Oz is a Western-themed circus, and Dorothy is going to try out as a trick rider and lasso artist with her horse, Toto. Along the way, she meets up with Crow Sorre, Tinny Woods, and Leo Raion, who are also trying out. But she also runs into Strega West, who also does trick riding, with archery, on her horse Monkey, and Strega does not take well to Dorothy. But Dorothy knows she's going to do well because she's wearing her lucky silver spurs! When they go missing, however, Dorothy's not so sure she wants to try out. This is a fun little book, part of a series retelling classic stories (Alice, Secret Agent of Wonderland looks particularly fun), and they do a nice job translating the original book (yes, the book—although the red boots Dorothy wears are probably an homage to MGM's version of her footwear) into a kid-friendly tale. Everything comes out all right in the end, and there are some fun little Easter eggs scattered throughout (Strega West's last line is especially fun).
• The other Oz-ish item that came in that comics order (one that we did expect) is Sea Sirens: A Trot & Cap'n Bill Adventure by Amy Chu and Janet K. Lee. This book has been talked about a lot in Oz circles lately, and opinions are split. It is clearly inspired by Baum's The Sea Fairies in that characters named Trot and Cap'n Bill meet up with some mermaids and are invited to visit them under the sea after magically transformed to survive underwater. What sets this apart is that Trot is a Vietnamese-American surfer girl in modern day California, and Cap'n Bill is her cat. Trot's grandfather watches over them during the day, but he's suffering the early stages of dementia and doesn't always know who anyone is or what he's doing. Once Trot and Cap'n Bill go underwater, it plays out much like the first part of the book, with everyone going on a grand tour. With no villain the equivalent of Zog in this story, there really isn't a lot of peril, but the characters are great and the art is lovely. It's not going to make Baum fans forget the original, but if it introduces today's reader to him, that's big!
• My Eloise Jarvis McGraw rereading continues wih her only non-fiction work, Techniques of Writing Fiction. This is from 1959, so it's before Merry Go Round in Oz, but she was already a well-established writer. She has all kinds of very practical advice for anyone trying to write fiction, in any genre, and I could just hear her saying a lot of it. Much of her advice probably wouldn't apply today—the market for short stories is probably very different, and I don't think anyone needs to worry about typing up a carbon copy before mailing the manuscript to the publisher—but the actual writing advice is spot on. We also get a little insight into her own life, and she talks about some of her earlier works, which means I'm now more familiar with them thanks to my rereading them (although apparently Pharaoh came out first, but that's her next book I plan to read). She even drops a mention of the Oz books. It's a tough book to track down (I remember all kinds of issues finding one, and then I was sent the wrong book!), but Eloise's fans will get a kick out of it.
• And finally, for today, a book I picked up when I went to see Wicked last year, Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz from Godspell to Wicked by Carol de Giere. This is the updated second edition, so there's a lot about what came after Wicked debuted, and some other projects he's been involved with as well. But this goes way back, to Schwartz's early days and how he got into the field of composing musical theater. It has some biographical elements, but the bulk is devoted to his shows, both the successes and the ones that didn't do so well—although many of the latter are finding new life in community theaters and other local productions. Because Wicked is so recent, it is better documented, and takes up about half the book. This is an essential book for Wicked fans, theater fans, and those seeking insight into the creative process.

The pile is getting considerably shorter! One more entry tomorrow should take care of things.

The Latest Oz Reading

I managed to knock a few more books out of my Oz to-read pile this summer, but circumstances have prevented me from writing about them until now. So, here are a few more:

• Two Terrific Tales of Oz by Greg Hunter. Technically, this is a reread, since I got the original edition way back in the '80s. This is a much nicer reprint, however, and so now this is one of the very few books outside of the Famous Forty for which I have two different versions. It's a flip book, with each story printed so that it starts at the front, no matter which cover you are looking at and holding the spine on the left. First, in "Unc Nunkie and the White King of Oz", Unc, Ojo, and Victor Columbia Edison go off on an adventure to save the legendary White King. Turn the book over, and you have "Betsy Bobbin of Oz", where Betsy is granted a birthday wish of being reunited with her childhood doll, Pearl. Of course, this being Oz, Pearl comes to life, and she and Betsy are off having an adventure involving some malevolent silkworms. Both stories are brief, but charming and very Ozzy, and it's good to have them back in print in this quality edition.
• I learned one big truth while reading Friends of Dorothy: Why Gay Boys and Gay Men Love The Wizard of Oz by Dee Michel: I should be gay! Everything about gay boys and gay men described in this book suits me to the proverbial T—with one huge exception, and that is I am attracted only to women. Nope, not even a glimmer towards men at all. (Well, okay, maybe one brief glimmer when Pierce Brosnan was wearing a tank top in an episode of Remington Steele, but it was very brief and never went anywhere.) I know Dee, and I know he's been working on this for a very long time, as he presented his initial ideas at the Oz Centennial convention way back in 2000. Eighteen years later, after much research and changes (or at least refinements) in attitude, this book is the result. It goes all over the place, delving into surveys of gay Oz fans and their experiences (a similar survey for straight Oz fans may have made for some enlightening contrasts, but I totally understand why he didn't do that), the history of Oz usage in the gay movement, and myths about Oz and gay culture (Judy Garland's funeral probably was not the spark that started the Stonewall Riots, just to give an example) are all explored in this book. It certainly threw some interesting light on Oz fandom, which I've been a part of for over forty years now, as well as insight into being a gay man that I doubt I could have gotten in any other way.
• Josie O'Gorman and the Meddlesome Major by "Edith van Dyne". I hope many Oz fans know that Edith van Dyne was a pseudonym for L. Frank Baum, and he wrote the Aunt Jane's Nieces books and most of the Mary Louise books. One of his sons may have written one of the Mary Louise books late in Baum's life, when his health started to falter, and then, like the Oz books, Reilly and Lee decided to carry on the series after Baum's death with another writer. Emma Speed Sampson continued the series and transitioned it into a Josie O'Gorman series, since she really was the star of the series anyway. This was the final book, and had a relatively low print run as a result, so "Edith van Dyne" have had a tough time finding this one, and when they do, the prices can be quite high. So when I saw a relatively affordable copy, I jumped on it. The cover is in pretty bad shape, and the frontispiece is now detached, but the text is clean and sound, so it made for a great reading copy. Josie is away from her home grounds of Dorfield (so we see none of Mary Louise or their friends), having been asked to investigate the disappearance of merchandise from a department store in a nearby city. The store's own detective (the titular Meddlesome Major) is ineffective, so Josie goes in undercover as a sales clerk. She settles in, makes friends, does her job well, and eventually stumbles onto a shoplifting ring which she singlehandedly stops. In the process, however, the major gets it into his head that Josie is the thief, and his efforts to prove it and stop her adds all kinds of comical obstacles. In the end, Josie not only solves the case, she has a new job and a new base of operations, and it looks like she's on her awn at last, no longer tied to Dorfield. Sadly, however, this is the last book ever written by "Edith van Dyne", and so we may never see what else Josie gets up to.
• And finally for tonight, Fables, Volume 13: The Great Fables Crossover by Bill Willingham. Yes, this is the next reprint volume of the Fables comic book, and in this case, it also includes issues of its spinoff title, Jack of Fables, as Jack has returned to the Farm to help deal with a villain who wants to rewrite history—literally! There isn't a lot of Oz content in this book, except a few appearances by Bufkin and the witch who is later to be revealed to be Ozma. I'm almost caught up to where I started reading the series as comic books, but I'm enjoying this so much beyond the Oz content that I'm thinking about also collecting Jack of Fables and maybe some other related collections.

Today's Oz Comic

It's very obvious from today's Savage Chickens that Oz isn't located anywhere near Florida or any other humid regions.

Oz Comics Roundup

A few items about recent Oz comics:

• First, The Wozenderlands pop up again in Issue #11 of the current run of the Shazam! comic book. It appears that both the Red Queen and the Wicked Witch of the West are now members of the reconstituted Monster Society of Evil! So yeah, let's see where this is heading!
• In political cartooning, George Danby in the Bangor Daily News in Maine had this to say the other day about President Trump's handling of the current COVID-19 crisis.
• And in today's comics, today's edition of Bound and Gagged sees the Tin Woodman ordering something quite logical and sensible at his local watering hole. (Don't worry, it's not water!)

The Latest Oz Reading

A lot of stuff going on in my life has prevented me from getting a lot of reading done. I am so close to my next cycle of Oz reading, but everything else going on is making it a challenge to get there. But I am keeping up on reading the comic books that come through our door, and much to my surprise Oz popped up! When I picked up Shazam! #9, I thought, hey, is the the Scarecrow behind the Big Red Cheese's right shoulder? A Neill-esque Scarecrow, no less? Sure enough, this issue has a trip to Oz—sort of. The current storyline is about how Billy, Mary, and their siblings are stuck in a number of lands branching off from the Rock of Eternity. Here, they end up in The Wozenderlands, a mash-up between Oz and Wonderland. (Alice and Dorothy brought them together during a crisis to protect them from the Monsterlands.) The Scarecrow and the Munchkins take the Shazams to see Dorothy, but Billy has to deal with some family issues first, and we don't see a resolution to this part of the storyline, nor do we meet Dorothy. Meanwhile, Sivana and Mr. Mind have found the Rock of Eternity, and the issue concludes with the line, "Next: The War of the Magiclands". So I suspect we'll see more of this version of Oz in the next issue.

One of the oldest comic books I own is one from the '40s featuring Captian Marvel, Jr., encountering a bunch of Oz characters. And these were contemporary Oz characters, as they all came from the books penned by John R. Neill. So the current version going to Oz may not be quite as astonishing or unprecedented as one might think. And The Wozenderlands definitely fits into what the writers are creating here. Needless to say, I am really looking forward to how this plays out, and seeing some other Oz characters turn up.

The Latest Oz Comic Books

It's been a very quiet time for Oz comic books of late (that may change soon—but more on that as it happens!), but I do have two that I've acquired recently, and so I'd better tell you about them.

• Zenescope recently wrapped up its Oz: Heart of Magic series with issue number 5. After sacrificing herself in the last issue, Dorothy's friends rally around her and give of their own life forces to revive Dorothy and give her back her proper form. A few days later, Dorothy and all her allies confront the Wizard and his armies, resulting in a huge battle just outside the Emerald City. Through the course of events, Glinda manages to take the Gem of Zamora and release Ozma, who can now put Oz to right and return everyone to where they need to be. But before he perishes, the Wizard says that what's coming is so much worse. Oh, dear, I think they're setting up another series!
• I also bought Bettie Page: Unbound #6, but only for the cover, which seems entirely appropriate for a comic book about Bettie Page. Sure enough, no Oz content to the book, just a cover homage (and only one cover at that).

Today's Oz Comic Project to Back

I'm sure many of you are familiar with my posts about the comic book Legend of Oz: The Wicked West, and how much I enjoyed it. It's a retelling of the Oz saga set in a Wild West version of Oz. Dorothy is a gunslinger wearing ruby spurs, Toto is her horse, the Scarecrow is a life-sized living kachina, and so forth. After (roughly) retelling the story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the series went on to introduce characters and situations from the later Oz books while telling its own stories based solidly in the writings of L. Frank Baum. The series stopped at issue 18, and reprints started coming out from Aspen Comics when it acquired the original publisher, Big Dog, Ink. Well, creator Tom Hutchison appears to have gotten the rights to do new issues, because he's bringing it back! He has a Kickstarter campaign going right now to bring the series back with a forty page special called Sundown. After only one day, the book is nearly fully funded, but there's always those stretch goals. And you'll be getting a pretty sweet comic book. This is one of the most affordable Kickstarter campaigns I have seen, with all kinds of options to get the book, and various extras, for under $40. I hope you will join me in backing this project.

The Latest Oz Reading

I know, I know, I said int was going to be a while before I had another of these. But that was before the comics order came! There were a few Oz items in it, so I guess I'd better summarize them here.

• Grimm Fairy Tales #30. This is Zenescope's flagship title, and the Ozzy cover caught my eye, and I found out part of the storyline took place in their version of Oz. Unfortunately for me, this was not the first issue of their Oz storyline, and I may have to go back and get a few more issues (plus stay on top of things until it leaves Oz again). I gather that Skye, the title's main protagonist, captured some Munchkins in the previous issue, and accompanies them to their village, where she meets up with their sage. The sage helps Skye decode the writing on a shield from Camelot, and so Skye is off on a journey to find other magic items and the ingredients needed for a spell. Not much actually happening, but Skye does get to learn more about Oz and pick up some allies.
• Oz: Heart of Magic #5. Dorothy's quest to regain her true form and save Oz continues. She and her allies manage to infiltrate the Nome Kingdom and find Glinda and Adastra, awakening them. But in the Emerald City, Bartleby, the Scarecrow, finds out that the usurper's plans have nearly come to fruition, and they reveal themselves to be the Mad Wizard and Ann Soforth, exiled empress of Oogaboo! And what's worse is they hold Ozma in their power. Good thing there's only one issue left of this miniseries.
• Cheshire Crossing by Andy Weir and Sarah Andersen. Way back when, before he became a bestselling, award-winning science fiction writer, Andy Weir wrote fanfic, and even created crossover comic books. One of those featured Dorothy Gale, Alice Liddell, and Wendy Darling meeting up and having adventures in each other's worlds. Weir would be the first to tell you, however, that his art was not terribly good. So when it came time to collect this adventure into one book, he wisely decided to find someone to draw proper illustrations for it. Sarah Andersen fits the bill very nicely, and this collection is the result. Not a lot has changed about the actual story, which eventually sees the Wicked Witch of the West and Captain Hook allying themselves to take over various realms, and the three girls and their friends stopping them. They make clever uses of their various abilities and magic talismans, and it all comes to a satisfying ending, while still leaving the door open for further adventures (yes, please). I'm glad this story has finally been properly published, and in such an attractive form, too.

And that's it for now! I have no idea if I'll have another entry in this series soon, but Oz books just keep popping up at this house all the time!

Today's Oz Comic

Oh, this is an especially Ozzy one today! The beloved library comic Unshelved is now in perpetual reruns, as the creators have ended it, but today's book club is sure to look really familiar.

The Latest Oz Reading

It has taken me longer than anticipated to finish off these summaries of my latest Oz reading, but here they are!

• The Wicked Will Rise, volume 2 of the Dorothy Must Die series by Danielle Paige. Having failed to assassinate the dictator of Oz, evil Dorothy, Kansas teenager Amy Gumm finds herself separated from the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked. She has to deal with her growing magic powers on her own, but receives guidance from the Queen of the Winged Monkeys and the land of the Rainbows. And she'll need their help, because she still needs to collect the Scarecrow's brain and the Lion's courage if she's ever going to stand a chance of defeating Dorothy. I'll be honest, I can't take this series too seriously, just because it's so different. But I am enjoying it nevertheless because Paige is so good at creating realistic characters and putting them in difficult situations. Amy keeps bouncing from one situation to another, and she doesn't always handle things well. I'm interested in seeing where this series is going to go, because it sure isn't predictable.
• The Magic Scroll of Oz by Ray Kelley. Dorothy, having finally grown up and tiring of the urban life, is living a quiet, agrarian life on Jack Pumpkinhead's farm and distancing herself from the Emerald City. But when a scroll is stolen that can rewrite history, Glinda asks Dorothy to recover it and prevent disaster. Kelley really knows his Oz books, as one can guess from the premise alone. His Dorothy may not be what a lot of people expect, but her portrayal makes sense within the context of the story. Other than a grown-up Dorothy, this is a traditional Oz book in that there are lots of little side trips that ultimately don't come into the main story, but they are still fun, and show that Dorothy hasn't lost a step in the ensuing decades. The identity and motivation of the thief are surprising, but come out of an L. Frank Baum classic, so it all wraps up very neatly.
• The Complete Annotated Oz Squad, Volume 1 by Steve Alhquist, Andrew Murphy, and Mike Sagara. This collects the 1990s Oz Squad comic series, including two specials. The basic premise is that Dorothy, Toto, and their friends from the original novel are now secret agents, moving between the Emerald City and our world to protect them from each other (but primarily Oz from us). I don't recall this from my initial reading of these books when they first came out, but the notes make it clear that during World War II, the Nazis found a way to Oz and tried to use its magic to conquer both worlds. They were driven back, of course, but it was a wake-up call for Oz as to just how far Earthlings will go to exploit them. These issues originally came out from four different publishers, and it shows. The first half is a hard-hitting, gritty version of the characters, which includes Tik-Tok going on an expletive-filled killing spree in Kansas when his thought works run down, and Dorothy becoming John F. Kennedy's lover. The second half, however, is a little gentler, with some time-travel exploits that see the Scarecrow befriending Leonardo da Vinci, among other shenanigans. This is not for Oz traditionalists, but fans of Oz comics will appreciate having this. (I've seen listings for a volume 2, but I don't know what it could possibly contain, as the entire series is in this book—complete with unresolved cliffhanger ending, I'm afraid. But volume 2 also seems to be well out of print, if it ever existed at all.)
• Bucketheads in Oz by a whole bunch of authors. By coincidence, this picks up after the events of Tippetarius in Oz, which I had read only weeks earlier. Anyway, a bunch of new Oz characters are out to find Zim Greenleaf, because they think he is their best bet for rescuing a woman who is trapped in a ring. Through the course of events, they meet up with Boq' have to deal with Mombi, and find a potion that can grant wishes—but only once. Yes, of course Zim saves the day, but the journey getting there is a lot of fun.
• And finally, I decided not to make the same mistake I made last year, and so I started reading this year's OzCon International program book before the convention even ended! This was the usual mix of writings tying into this year's convention (celebrating The Magic of Oz on its centennial), but it seems to be a little thinner than usual, sadly. Besides a couple of essays on the book itself and a picture gallery, there is one on the animal society in the Forest of Gugu; how Oz has fostered friendship for at least one fan; the influence of Theosophy on the writings of L. Frank Baum; and the surprising Oz connections to the 1906 musical review Mam'zelle Champagne.

And that is all for now. But I'll get on a big Oz kick again at some point before long, and I'll tell you what I'm reading then, too.

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!

Today's Oz Comics

We have one definitely Ozzy and one marginally Ozzy comic today, plus a new collection published as a book!

• Today in Pop Culture Shock Therapy, that long-awaited MGM-Disney crossover that movie fans in the late 1930s probably never knew they wanted. But probably not in this way!
• Meanwhile, over in The Wizard of Id, three witches are out flying on their brooms when something Ozzy happens to them. This is the one I'm not strictly sure is an Oz comic, but it's close enough for me, and I'm including it here.
• And finally, the collected edition of Cheshire Crossing is now available. This is a story about Dorothy Gale, Alice Liddell (of Wonderland fame), and Wendy Darling (from Peter Pan) all meeting up and having adventures. It's been available as a web comic for some time now, but this is its first publication as a book. It seems Cheshire Crossing creator Andy Weir (yes, that Andy Weir) was never satisfied with the art, so this version is newly illustrated by Sarah Anderson. It's only the original four issues of the webcomic, there's nothing new, but apparently it also hints that there could be more if this sells well, so I urge Oz fans everywhere to get it, if they are so inclined.

The Latest Oz Comic Book

I'd heard word that Zenescope was getting ready to issue more of their, um, slightly more unorthodox version of Oz in the not-too-distant future. Sure enough, a little birdie told me that the Grimm Universe Presents 2019 one-shot anthology would have some Oz content. So when I was at Emerald City Comic Con a couple of weeks ago, I made a beeline for Zenescope's booth to snag a copy. Sure enough, "Oz: On the Run" sees Dorothy and Toto running through the Valley of Voe, chased by Jinjur and her amazon warriors. (Hey, I told you this version is unorthodox!) The big mystery is, why is Dorothy blue? It seems that the Wizard has enchanted her or swapped her body or something, and issued orders for the blue girl and her associates to be killed. Fortunately, Dorothy was able to lure Jinjur far enough away from the Wizard's influence to finally convince the general of Dorothy's true identity, and enlist her aid in finding Glinda to stop the Wizard's plans. It's all set-up for the new series, Oz: Heart of Magic.

Towards the end of their last series, the Zenescope version of Oz started dipping into the rest of the books, and even in this short story (it's only eight pages) they are showing that that will continue. In Voe, the dama fruit becomes a plot point, and Jinjur's allies in hunting down Dorothy are the Foxes of Foxville. So while I'm not a big fan of Zenescope's take on Oz, I am looking forward to seeing what elements they will be including in this new series.