The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Plus Oz Art

Marvel’s adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ is blessed with a perfectly suited Artist in Skottie Young, who takes the familiar characters and makes them his own with some truly inspired designs. The art fits the tone of the story perfectly, and I couldn’t imagine any other Artist doing a better job. Marvel’s hardcover presentation is beautifully done, with a complete cover gallery, a few background pieces by Eric Shanower (who wrote the adaptation), and an extensive sketch gallery by Young. So why just two stars…? The story just didn’t engage me at all. It may just be the familiarity which we all have with THE WIZARD OF OZ, but there were enough things here that were new to me to make me think that the fault may lie elsewhere. Baum’s story was written for children, and having not read the source material, I can only say that the adaptation seemed too childish, episodic, and formless for my tastes, and left me feeling bored much of the time. I’d recommend it for parents who read to their children- The kids will love it!- or for fans of Skottie Young’s art and OZ in general. Marginally interested people, like me, may not find much here to make it worth a purchase.
Rating: 2 / 5

one thing for mr. skottie young, and a couple for the colorist –

1. gotta pour through your copy text, or at least the book your art’s based off of, before you even start designing the characters, much less coloring the panels! i noticed that the scarecrow has sewn-on ear shapes in your design, but the copy says that he has them painted on. also, the copy says his eyes are blue – there’s no blue on your design! and i’m only a few pages through the book so far. and at the very beginning of the book, the wicked witch of the east ‘dries up in the sun’ after the house falls her, as the copy says, but her body’s in shade the whole time, according to your representations. a bit sloppy!

but, i still give it a 4 out of 5, despite these unfortunate distractions (hope i don’t find more as i continue to read!) the drawing, compositioning, values and color are fantastic! a true inspiration with every panel!

one more bit – the texture isn’t so much of a texture as it is some screened brush strokes, which most of the time works fine. they get a bit distracting here, though – mostly because of their thin, stroky nature – because they had such a similar stroke weight as the photoshop color, the eye gets a little confused at times as to where the lighting and the atmospheric effects end and the texturing begins!
Rating: 4 / 5

L. Frank Baum would have been happy to see his story retold in such a brilliant way. The bits of story I had forgotten thanks to the film were happily reintroduced with Skottie Young’s illustrations bringing the tale to life before my eyes. Just seeing the rolly polly cowardly lion roar and the pot-bellied scarecrow stumble about made this book a worthwhile addition to my library.
Rating: 5 / 5