Comic Review: The Wizard Of Oz (Stone Arch Books)

Stone Arch Books recently released a line of classic fiction in colored graphic novels, all of which seem to be done in anime-style. One of which was an abbreviated version of The Wizard Of Oz. It was adapted by Martin Powell whose written for Marvel, DC, and Disney, and illustrated by Jorge Break whose work includes the Mexican edition of the manga series Captain Tsubasa, and his own original comic of Meteorix 5.9. The book itself is pretty much a faithful adaptation of the original story, although it skips through it pretty fast like it was just some kind of half-hour TV special. They barely even show the Wicked Witch of the West in it, who in this is a cyclops instead of a woman with a patch over one eye. Break's artwork is quite nice though, even including the classical blonde Dorothy, and having Scarecrow seem like a large Raggedy Andy doll. There is an inexpensive paperback of it and a slightly pricier hardcover edition. Worth looking into at least for the decent artwork, and it might be nice for young comic book fans who would like a Cliff Notes version of the book.