55. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Eric Shanower

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Eric Shanower. Art by Skottie Young. Adapted from the novel by L. Frank Baum (Canada) - (US)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Book One


Pages: 216
Ages: 10+
Finished: Mar. 4, 2011
First Published: Sep. 22, 2010
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Genre: children, fantasy
Rating: 5/5


First sentence:

Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies...
with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer...
and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife.

Acquired: Received a copy through Inter-Library Loan.

Reason for Reading: Well, a bit of a story. This first came to my attention when it was nominated for the Cybils '09 Graphic Novel Award. The publisher did not send review copies and none of us judges were able to obtain copies. This year The Marvelous Land of Oz was nominated for a Cybils '10 Award and again the same thing happened so I decided to try my luck with putting an Inter-library Loan in for the this first one again. And well, I've just now received it and been able to read it.

This is a fantastic rendition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz! The story is true to the original and will surprise many folks whose only exposure to the story is from the old Judy Garland movie. All the wonderful characters they meet on their journey are here: the Queen of the field mice, the people made out of China, the Kalidahs, and the rest and then we have the *silver* shoes, the enchanted cap that calls the flying monkeys to do the bearers bidding, the true, gruesome story of how the tinman became tin, along with all the killing. My, there really is a lot of killing in this story. Everything that makes the book such a wonderful story has been included no matter how small. Now some parts have been skimmed over, while others got the full treatment which is only to be expected but I'm very pleased at how true this adaptation is.

The artwork is splendid. I'm not familiar with Young's work before this but he has captured the true essence of the characters in his drawings and brought them to life. Dorothy is pure farm girl, cute but doesn't take any guff. The scarecrow is perfect. He is quite a self-involved fellow when it comes down it and he's got the look of a rather dim-witted know-it-all farmer. The Tinman is my favourite! He has been represented as an actual man made out of tin. His human face complete with mustache leaves no forgetting that he once was a human being. Then there is the Cowardly lion who will probably find favour with many readers; he is a great, big, round puffball who carries himself with pride. None of Young's illustrations have taken elements from either Denslow or the movie versions, giving completely new and wonderful representations of these very well-know characters. A must read for Oz fans!