The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

I was finally able to sit and read the recent Marvel Comics adaptation of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I only became aware of this by accident, and while I was excited to see a new graphic version of one of my all-time favorite books, I was a little annoyed that it became so popular so quickly. Not because I don't like the idea of lots of people digging Oz, but because it drove up the price of the individual issues to the point where I couldn't buy the entire series (8 issues, I think) for less than $75. I just had to wait for the hardcover to come out.

I see why it became so popular. I think it has less to do with the very faithful adaptation of the book than it does with Skottie Young's art. It's very good--I think the character designs are really interesting--but it's also very hip. The Hot Topic crowd--the crowd that was nowhere in the theater the nine times I went to see The Nightmare Before Christmas in 1993 or in 1994 when I went to see Ed Wood the one weekend it was actually out, but now loves dark and weird shit unconditionally--eats this stuff up, and if I were more cynical I might surmise that the book was specifically designed to appeal to that specific group. Is that a bad thing if it's true? I don't think so. I think it's nice that the world of Baum may be opened up to an audience that might not have spent the time tracking down the book.

It sounds like I have mixed feelings about this comic book, but that's not actually true. I like that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, with its timeless story and its faithfully earnest dialog has been visually reimagined for a new audience. It gets boring to see artwork that's so faithful to John R. Neill's illustrations that there seems to be no imagination involved. These fairy tale characters are timeless, and if they can survive Todd McFarlane's awful bondage-heavy "dark" action figure versions, they can survive anything.

The art actually reminds me a bit of the anime series The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from the eighties, which I've been catching every once in a while on local reruns. Interesting. I wonder if that's an influence on Young or not.

The adaptation is written by Eric Shanower, creator of Age of Bronze (one of my all time faves) and an old hand when it comes to telling stories of the land of Oz. His adaptation is pretty much straight out of Baum; so much so that I thought some of the dialog was a little too earnest and repetitive for its own good. It's played straight, and if I have one criticism, it's that the danger and the wonder and the weirdness aren't played up enough. The whole thing sort of happens at one tone instead of making the emergencies (like the Poppy Field and the giant spider-beast and the Kalidahs) seem dire and the wonder (like the Emerald City or a cloud of flying monkeys or Glinda's castle) seem amazing. I can't really describe it, I guess, but I think most adaptations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz move along too quickly without really taking the time to get into what makes this place so wonderful.

So while I enjoyed this book, I think it could've been much more than it is. But for what it is, I'm glad to have seen it. Can't wait for the next one--I see Shanower and Young have already started putting out The Marvelous Land of Oz, which means Jack Pumpkinhead, which is something to look forward to.