Oz, y'all

I'm probably the exact demographic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz adaptation is made for. Eric Shanower used the real book, not the movie or the other movie or the other book or the stage play or the stage play with lots of wigs, to break Dorothy's story down into the simple, lovely, fascinating tale we grew up with (if we were lucky). I read one review that complained about the weird changes he made to the story and I wanted to punch that guy in the throat. They were not ruby slippers, people!

(Side note: I love Wicked, book and show, like a thing that is loved, but this series is its own kind of beauty. I can have two loves at once, don't judge me.)

But the real thing, the thing that does it for me, is Skottie Young. I don't know this man but based on his art alone I would marry him in a heartbeat. (Just kidding, JC. I would only live in sin with him for a while and then go back to you when his art was no longer my first love.) (Just kidding. I would never get tired of his art.)

I can't describe the drawings except that they make me feel... and I just stared at the blinking cursor after that word for thirty seconds before realizing I couldn't think of a word. Dorothy's big shiny head and wee squinched face, the rough scrabbly edges of everything, little Toto's feet, the Scarecrow's wild face, the Tin Man's mustache, the Lion's mane, every detail makes me want to turn myself into a big flat drawing and go live in that world. Even if I had to live in Kansas.

Um, so kind of I love this book? It feels a little weird having narration boxes where normally there would just be text, or where the art would stand alone, but JC assures me that's not unusual in old-style comics. Either way, I feel like I'm watching the novel come to life, and not in the lame Judy Garland way. Plus she was on drugs. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But I do like it when Dorothy's just a farm kid in a weird place, not a cute young thing flouncing about.

- RD