So, later this year, I'll be announcing the publication of The Borderlands of Oz. Friday, May 27, Weekly Oz Update: Oz, The Great and Powerful. A lot of news this week Read the announcement here. Read more about her coveted role in the film here. There have been whispers that this character will be based on L. Read about that here.
Reilly was previously considered for this role until he turned down the offer to join the cast of another film. So, currently, the confirmed cast consists of: The production company is waiting on the MPAA's rating for the film trailer and then it will be available for viewing online ONLY for those who are members of the Facebook group. There is an official Facebook fan page for the film now, but the group is more exclusive. The trailer link will be password protected, and only group members will have access to it.
The new website is expected to launch along with the trailer and the soundtrack. Posted by Angelo Thomas at 3: Despite the DVDs, CDs, and custom action figures and digital stuff, I think it's safe to say my Oz collection mainly consists of books. Now, there are many ways to get books, buy them new, buy them used, or swap. And book swapping has gotten much easier with websites like PaperbackSwap.
There are a number of Oz-related books available on sites like this. My friend also tried another swapping site, but after sending out a large number of books and having his own requests refused, he wanted help using his credits so he could close his account. When I heard the Winkie Convention would have a swap meet this year, I decided to help my friend out by getting some of these books so he could use his credits, and I could bring some Oz books to people who would really want them.
Well, today, my friend can close his account, because I got the last of the books I requested. One of the reasons why my friend and I were dissatisfied with that site which you'll notice we aren't linking to , some users would send the wrong book. Now, usually, you're supposed to list your book by ISBN, which would prevent such mishaps, except that not all members do it, and sometimes multiple editions of a book share the same ISBN. This site was quite notorious for users who weren't even looking at the ISBN. Want to see what they sent me instead?
Posted by Jay at 9: Collecting Oz , Eric Shanower , reviews. While it's largely apocryphal Oz stories in which this plot device is overused, there is precedent for it in the Famous Forty. He ruled over a well-organized but unhappy populace inhabiting a series of caverns within the mountain, many of whom worked as silver miners. Wutz invented a transportation system much like a roller coaster to access different parts of the mountain.
Wutz's own powers are largely based on quicksilver bubbles that he blows from a silver pipe, but he has other magic as well, including his stupefying powder. He also employed secret agents known as M-Men to infiltrate various areas of Oz and steal more magic for him. By means of a cheap plot device, Handy Mandy inadvertently breaks Ruggedo's enchantment, and he teams up with Wutz to conquer the land.
Like many villains who have formed uneasy alliances, however, the two monarchs end up quarreling, giving Mandy the opportunity to save the Emerald City with the Silver Hammer. Himself the Elf turns both of the plotters into cacti, a form which Ruggedo escapes in several apocryphal stories [1], but I don't know of any tales that restore Wutz.
I have an idea for a plot in which a group of rebellious Nomes who are trying to bring back Ruggedo accidentally disenchant Wutz instead, but I haven't gotten much farther along than that. Ruth Plumly Thompson gives a fair amount of description for her villain. The wizard is a tall and regal man with thick silver hair and piercing violet eyes, who wears a tight-fitting purple suit with a jeweled belt and sword. His mood can switch from calmly pleasant to ragingly angry in no time at all.
He's a tyrannical ruler, punishing people who disobey him by trapping them in flowerpots. He also treats his agents quite poorly, hoping that it will keep them competing with each other for his favor. It's been proposed that Neill's drawings of Wutz are based on a young John Barrymore. After Himself turns the wizard-king into a cactus, Ozma makes some adjustments to the Silver Mountain itself. She moves the cliff dwellings of the inhabitants to the outside of the mountain, which hopefully is a welcome change, but I wouldn't be too sure.
After all, their whole lifestyle is based around living inside the mountain. Besides, since when does Ozma have the power to turn a mountain inside out, Magic Belt or no Magic Belt? The ruler of Oz also appoints Wutz's long-suffering assistant Nifflepok as the new King of the Silver Mountain, even though there's no indication that he's done anything to prove himself deserving of this position. Thompson was obviously in a hurry to finish her story something I can certainly understand and left some loose ends. Deadly Desert puts a bit of a twist on this by having Ruggedo become a walking cactus for a little while.
Posted by Nathan at 9: I decided to run with that idea. For extra picture clarity, I sharpened it and used auto level to decrease the amount of gray colors in the video. Then, using the duotone filter, I tinted each set of scenes in a different country, based on the colorings used for the illustrations in the original edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Kansas is sepia, the Munchkin Country is blue, the Emerald City is green, and the domain of the Witch is yellow.
Instead of just slapping a random music track on it, I used music from incompetech.
- OZ: The Complete Wizard of Oz Collection by L. Frank Baum!
- Search This Blog?
- We Think We Think: Captions to the Cartoons We Live, Volume One?
- Oz. The Marvelous Land of Oz;
- Love & Fury, a Medieval Masquerade?
- Parallel Histories of Oz.
I'm not sure I'm entirely happy with this, so this will be my YouTube version. I may do further alterations in the coloring and music and put it on a DVD. Posted by Jay at 3: Not only did she dread her drying well of ideas for Oz stories, but all her ideas to further publicize the Oz series were getting turned down. She believed that merchandising would be a good avenue to pursue. So, what to do in her next Oz story? And that is what her lead characters set out to do!
The story opens in Regalia, where King Randy is tired of his councilors telling him he should marry, when who should arrive but his good old friend, Kabumpo? The two decide to run off to visit Jinnicky in Ev. They head through the troublesome Gaper's Gulch and brave the heads of Headland before they are blown across the Deadly Desert by a storm. Both seem to be made of some silver-like metal. Thun jumped on a thunder bolt, carrying them to earth. Planetty reveals, in her own talk, that in order to not freeze into statues, she and Thun must return to their vanadium springs.
Randy and Kabumpo feel sure that Jinnicky can either send them home or find a vanadium substitute. The four travelers find a secluded country called Boxwood, where the people wear boxes like armor all the time. That is, if they are people. Neill's illustrations suggest they might not be shaped the same way normal humans are. Boxes of many things grow on trees, but when Chillywalla, the leader of the country, sees that his guests are not interested in boxes but the contents, he throws a fit and they must quickly leave Boxwood.
The travelers continue to Jinnicky's palace, becoming fast friends along the way. But when they reach the palace, they discover that Jinnicky's peaceful home has been overthrown by his former trusted servant Gludwig. He has stolen magic tools and made the servants or slaves? Thompson calls them slaves, and they are, regrettably, black, but they are paid and have homes do as he commands.
Jinnicky himself is in the bottom of the ocean. Randy and his friends burst in, intending to turn Gludwig into a statue with Planetty's staff, but he makes them fall into a cellar, just after Planetty hurled her staff. They find Ginger, Jinnicky's servant of his magic dinner bell, in the cellar, but time runs out for Planetty and Thun, and they stiffen into statues. Deciding there's nothing for it but to find Jinnicky, they suddenly find themselves being whisked through the air, for Jinnicky has been recovered by a fisherman, who doesn't have the best of intentions at all.
Informing him of what happened, they all head straight back, finding that Gludwig has been transforming many of the servants into statues. When Randy and the others attempt to sneak up on Gludwig in bed, he is ready for them and hurls Planetty's staff at Randy. However, it turns away from Randy and hits Gludwig, petrifying the villain. It turns out Randy had picked up Jinnicky's weapon turning elixir in the cellar and that protected him.
Jinnicky works hard to restore Planetty and Thun, and finally gravely announces that he has failed to totally restore them. Instead, he managed to transform Planetty into a normal girl and Thun into a regular talking horse he spoke only by breathing out smoke letters before , meaning they have no further need of vanadium springs, and can stay on Earth. And through their adventures, Planetty and Randy have fallen in love and decide to marry, meaning that Randy wound up finding a wife after all.
And there ends one of the most rollicking adventures Thompson penned. The Silver Princess in Oz is a lot of fun. While she still has little stops and a somewhat loose plot, the story is a lot of fun. However, the revelation of Jinnicky's servants or slaves has served to disturb some Oz fans. Is the affable old Red Jinn of Ev a slave owner with stereotypical black slaves?
While they seem to enjoy working for Jinnicky, the matter of the servants is still a bit unsettling. Even more disturbing to me is the number of petrification victims in the story who we are not told of their restorations. Planetty's staff's powers are first revealed in Boxwood, when she is forced to petrify some attacking inhabitants we can argue that as they wore boxes, maybe their boxes were petrified, and not the people inside.
The more disturbing transformations occur after they reach Jinnicky's home. Some of Gludwig's army, who seem to be only following orders, are petrified, and we are later told Jinnicky has them set up as reminders against treachery. But this occurs before he manages to find a way to un-petrify Planetty and Thun. Gludwig, owning the staff, uses it to petrify Jinnicky's favorite dog and a dozen servants. We can only assume these innocent victims were restored by the same means used to restore the heroine, but Thompson does not mention it.
When the reader decides that Jinnicky will eventually restore all the petrified people, The Silver Princess of Oz is one of Thompson's better stories, with a dashing young king, a beautiful otherworldly princess, a noble steed, and our old favorites Jinnicky and Kabumpo. But still, Thompson was not getting along well with Mr. O'Donnell, and she was about to reach her breaking point. Posted by Jay at 1: Saturday, May 21, Site update. I upgraded to Firefox 4! What does you upgrading your browser have to do with anything? I tried going to my site, http: No text, no images, just green!
A friend confirmed that Google Chrome had the same problem. That's not looking forward Fortunately, one page displayed properly because I'd had an expert web designer correct a flowing text issue I was having with my HTML templates. You're losing us with all this fancy web talk!
I also took this time to change the "Ozzy reference material" link to a link to the Wiki, which was created to replace it anyways. SO, sorry that it took me awhile to correct it, but the site is now working with the latest web browsers. Friday, May 20, Weekly Oz Update. Posted by Angelo Thomas at 2: Mandy, Merry Maiden of Mount Mern. Posted by Nathan at 1: Thursday, May 19, Handy Mandy in Oz. Another year, another Oz book.
Thompson was beginning to run out of ideas and she knew it.
Product description
The thing is, Handy Mandy wasn't exactly original to this story. A different multi-handed maiden had been the subject of the poem "Handy Mandy: Mandy cares for her goats on Mount Mern, where all people are seven handed. Mandy has an iron hand, a wooden hand, a leather hand, two rubber hands, and two white hands. While caring for her goats one day, a geyser erupts and sends her high into the air.
Three guesses where she lands! To be specific, she lands in Keretaria, a little kingdom in the Munchkin Country. She quickly becomes friends with Nox, the Royal Ox. I swear I didn't give him that title. Nox tells Mandy about the current situation of Keretaria: Mandy discovers that Nox's horns unscrew and finds two silver balls inside: Mandy and Nox leave Keretaria, and make their way to the Silver Mountain, braving a river Mandy not knowing how to swim and traveling through Turn Town.
It turns out that Ox's other horn is a "horn of plenty," which will grant wishes for things. They are attacked by Hook Noses, but the horn helps them out with some molasses. Mandy finds a door behind a waterfall. While it's locked, she tries knocking. When none of her hands seem to make a difference, she uses a silver hammer she dug up in Keretaria.
It summons an elf, who opens it for them, and they find themselves in Silver Mountain, ruled by the Wizard of Wutz, who plans to take over Oz. He throws Nox and Mandy in prison, then heads to the Emerald City where he steals a jug that used to be a Nome.
OZ: The Complete Wizard of Oz Collection (The Oz Books: FLT Classics Series)
Mandy and Nox are led to Kerry by a silver ball, and they find him in a state of suspended animation in a bubble, which Mandy pops with her hand, reviving him. Conquering the Emerald City would be an easy task if Ruggedo and Wutz didn't argue, and Mandy catches up with them quickly, and has Himself take them away. There's a little confusion when Mandy is found with the Magic Belt in her hands, but eventually, all is settled. Ruggedo and Wutz have been transformed into cacti, Wutz's spies have become moles, Kerry regains his throne, and Mandy visits in the Emerald City for a couple weeks before returning home to Mount Mern.
But after a month, she uses a gift from the Wizard of Oz—a wishing pill—to bring herself and her flock to Keretaria. Overall, Handy Mandy in Oz is a lot of fun. Thompson uses some fine word play, and there's great witty dialogue. The story's one big shortfall is that instead of actually facing their troubles, Mandy and Nox just about always have some magic tool to get them out of trouble quickly. Mandy herself is Thompson's first real grotesque protagonist, and is quite headstrong and brave, definitely a character that could be developed further.
However, neither she nor Keretaria appear in the Famous Forty again. Posted by Jay at 8: Tuesday, May 17, Ozama Care. Ozamaland shows up in Captain Salt in Oz , but it also had a brief mention in the earlier Pirates in Oz as well. The latter book has Captain Salt mentioning that he had wanted to explore Ozamaland, but ended up having to deal with a mutinous crew instead. In Captain Salt , he finally reaches it, but not until near the end of the story.
It's located on the long continent of Tarara adjacent to the continent of Boomdeeay, perhaps? Tarara is divided into two countries, Ozamaland on the east and Amaland on the west. Jul 22, Emilie rated it liked it. Okay, so I think I liked the first book better than this one.
The art felt a bit rushed at times and I don't think I'll continue with this, especially since there are no libraries in Stockholm with this series and it is quite expensive. I'll just read the actual books and be happy with that. I must say that two things that I though about when I read the book got extremely apparant in the graphic novel and can no longer be ignored: It is not as magical a story wh Hm It is not as magical a story when every whimsical thing the characters say and do is met with a frown and yelling.
I loved him and his "thoroughly educated-ness" and his puns. Yet he was forbidden to make puns and everytime he did everyone became so angry. He was so happy at the beginning but as the story went on, the life kinda got sucked out of him. Also, the saw-horse was the cutest thing ever. Everytime he was present in a drawing, I started to smile! Feb 25, zaCk S rated it really liked it Shelves: Jul 07, Naomi rated it really liked it. I think it will be a creative way to introduce kids to the dynamic book.
Not being a graphic arts fan, I found it creative, but I wasn't taken away with it as some of the reviewers were. On that note, I will say that I enjoyed this one more than the first in series. Oct 07, Nickcole rated it really liked it. The art was fantastic and the forwarding letter was again and good part on letting you know why the author loves Oz so much. Feb 26, Erica McGillivray rated it really liked it Shelves: Story remains true to original book, but it means it has the same mixed messages about gender and gender identity. Dec 28, Chasity rated it it was amazing Shelves: This was delightful and silly and absurd graphic novel with great art and great characters.
My favorite character was Pumpkinhead with his constant fear of his own mortality. Was such an odd group of characters ever assembled as a tin man with the warmest heart, a scarecrow with valuable brains, a woggle-bug who is highly magnified and thoroughly educated, a living saw horse, a pumpkin head, and a young boy on the run from an evil witch who wants to turn him into a marble statue for her garden? I don't think so but it makes for great fun. There's also a great twist at the end of the story that I didn't see coming and I always award points to a book for catching me by surprise.
It's a good twist, trust me. Some of the female characters are portrayed as quite silly which is discussed better in the foreword of the book than I could possibly do here and it's worth noting that there are strong female characters as well particularly Glinda the Good and her army.
Join the International Wizard of Oz Club
Highly recommended for some light-hearted reading. Apr 05, Michael rated it really liked it Shelves: If Marvel didn't publish this, I honestly wouldn't read a single thing from their current output. This series, however, is superb. Marvelous isn't as good as the original, through no fault of Shanower or Young. The story's just a little vague at times: Scarecrow's overthrown, flees to Tin Woodman for aid, they return and can't reconquer Emerald City with only one more ally, even if he does have an axe? Shanower delivers a strong script , effectively pacing all the adventures, and the Skottie Young's designs and layouts capture the whimsy and fun of Oz.
I'm looking forward to Ozma! May 23, David rated it really liked it Shelves: The illustrations and colouring are enchanting and the dialogue, based on Baum's distinct style, makes this a delightful read. It is the second in this series of trade publications that I have read and they make for a neat package on the comics bookshelf. Highly recommend for anyone who enjoys comic adaptations of much-loved novels.
Sep 21, Stephanie rated it really liked it. Oct 05, Michael Brown rated it did not like it. Got too tied up in dumb word play to keep the narrative going strongly throughout. Definitely leaned a bit too hard into the source text. May 06, Jessica rated it it was amazing Shelves: The artwork is amazing as always, and considering my two favourite characters are the Scarecrow and Jack Pumpkinhead, I think I actually like this one more than the Wizard of Oz. Dec 04, Megan ReadingRover rated it really liked it Shelves: Storyline is as expected with a bit of sarcasm and humor and even a bit of feminist revolution.
Always love Oz retellings. Oct 20, Ahdom rated it it was amazing Shelves: Another great adaptation of the the Oz books. I love the design and the look. This is faithful storytelling with stylish artwork!
Oz: Ozma of Oz
Oct 06, Vincent Desjardins rated it really liked it Shelves: As a child I read all fourteen of L. Frank Baum's Oz books. My hours spent with those books are some of my happiest childhood memories. Part of the delight I took in reading those books were in the wonderful illustrations by W.
Denslow in the first volume and John R. Neil in the rest of the series. These new graphic novel editions from Marvel comics are wonderfully adapted by Eric Shanower. He's managed to retain much of Baum's original dialogue and he's done a great job of capturing the flavo As a child I read all fourteen of L.
He's managed to retain much of Baum's original dialogue and he's done a great job of capturing the flavor of the original stories. My problem with these books is the artistic interpretations of Skottie Young. Overall, Young is an amazing designer, his backgrounds and compositions are beautiful, but when it comes to the character designs, in my opinion, he was not the ideal choice for this task. For example, when a character opens its mouth, it appears as if you're staring into the grand canyon, the mouth becomes this large gaping hole. When a character is shouting, the size of the mouth becomes so exaggerated that it appears to take up more than half the face.
I find it really unappealing. An even bigger problem I have is Young's design for the Scarecrow. I'll put it plainly - I hate it. The Scarecrow's mouth, which we are told more than once is painted on, looks, in Young's version like it is stitched on. And the way the jagged stitching has been drawn, it makes the scarecrow look like he has a mouth that has been sewn shut.
The overall effect is really kind of frightening. I also don't like the Scarecrow's eyes. Yes, according to the description, one eye was supposed to have been painted slightly larger than the other, but Young has exaggerated the difference to such a great degree, that it looks like the Scarecrow has a giant hole on one side of his head.
And because Young has not given the Scarecrow any indication of a nose, I felt at times that the Scarecrow barely had anything that registered as a recognizable face. I wish that my budget was such that I could afford the hardcover editions of these books. Aside from some of the character designs, there is a lot that is really beautiful in these books. The coloring by Jean-Francois Beaulieu is sumptuous and beautifully captures the various moods of the story.
Unfortunately, the paperback versions of these books, for some inexplicable reason, are reduced in size to a measly 6 x 9 inches. This size reduction causes much of the coloring to become dark and muddy, not to mention the loss of detail in the line work. There are several frames throughout both this book and its predecessor "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," where I literally could not tell what was going on in the frame. I don't know who at Marvel decided to make the paperback versions smaller than the hardcover, but it was an unwise choice. I have glanced through the larger sized hardcover editions and the difference is striking.
Even with my reservations about the art, I do recommend these books, hopefully they'll introduce a whole new audience to the rest of Baum's Oz books. And, if like me, you don't have time to re-read the originals, these are the next best thing. If you have the money, I'd recommend you invest in the hardcover editions.
But, if like me, you can't afford the hardcover price, be prepared to read these smaller paperbacks under a bright light so you can make out the detail and see through the darkened colors. Apr 19, Daniel A.
Oz. The Marvelous Land of Oz by Eric Shanower
Oz enthusiasts and comics enthusiasts. As much as I enjoyed Oz: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , the first of L. I found it lacking by no means because of Shanower and Young's adaptation. Shanower remain ever the expert on all things both Oz and comics, and combined with Young's whimsical, evocative, fun art, no team could adapt an Oz novel quite as well as they. Dawn rated it it was amazing Feb 11, Jessica rated it really liked it Jan 11, Brooke Tolsch rated it liked it Nov 06, Damarys Gil rated it liked it Mar 27, Ian rated it it was amazing Jul 31, Pat rated it really liked it Jul 31, Elesha marked it as to-read Dec 24, Yolanda Bacon marked it as to-read Mar 10, Tina Dicarlo marked it as to-read Mar 16, Megan Meloche marked it as to-read Mar 27, Mylee added it Mar 29, Jorge Gabriel marked it as to-read Apr 02, Heather marked it as to-read Apr 05, Dolores marked it as to-read Apr 05, Randell Gresham marked it as to-read Apr 23, Jessica added it Apr 23, Abigail marked it as to-read Apr 28, Katie marked it as to-read May 01, Nicole added it May 14, Matt marked it as to-read May 30, Alyssa marked it as to-read Jun 24, Sara marked it as to-read Jul 25, Chris Shedlick is currently reading it Aug 11, Lisa added it Sep 07, Josie Salguero marked it as to-read Oct 01, Stephanie marked it as to-read Oct 07, Gwen added it Oct 21,