Emeralds: Hearts In Oz

Oz Video Of The Month: Yellow Brick Road

2012-01-01T17:54:00.000-05:00

This was a trailer Monsterluv which was an amateur horror version of The Wizard Of Oz titled Yellow Brick Road. As far as any other info has shown, there hasn't been any further production of this since the original trailer from back in Dec. 2006.

Happy 2012! (FREE CALENDAR!)

2012-01-01T17:40:00.004-05:00

Happy New Year! Here's a free 2012 Emeralds calendar available for print out on 8 1/2 x 11 paper of Scraps and Scarecrow!

Santa Claus in Oz

2011-12-25T15:04:00.000-05:00

Alot of people aren't aware that Old St. Nick is a regular resident in the world of Oz. L. Frank Baum wrote one of the world's first full origin stories of him back in 1902 titled The Life And Adventures Of Santa Claus which covered Claus' entire life from infancy to his elder years. Claus is a child who is found and raised by the immortals in the Forest of Burzee, which is one of the countries in the Nonestica realm that lies across the Deadly Desert southwest of Oz. Burzee is also used in other Baum stories like Queen Zixi Of Ix. The land is ruled by Queen Zurline, who is possibly related to Lurline, the fairy queen who created the land of Oz. Another tie into the Oz stories is that the Nome King(here pronounced "Gnome")was one of the fairy folk who assisted Claus in his toy delivery business, although it's been suggested that its actual a different character altogether. Possibly "gnomes" are a completely seperate race than nomes in the Oz universe, which would make sense since nomes were a bunch of jerks that probably wouldn't really care about children. This book has been adapted several times, including a Rankin/Bass TV special, an anime series, and a made-for-video animated movie. There was a new animated film planned about a year ago, but no new updates has appeared as of now.

Following that, Baum did a short sequal, A Kidnapped Santa Claus, where a group of demons plan to stop Santa's plans to spread joy by kidnapping him. The fairies of Burzee fight the demons back to rescue Santa. This story has been adapted into a graphic novel, as well as probably slightly incluencing The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Prior to this though, Santa had his first crossover with the folks from Oz in the series of short stories Baum did for newspapers titled Queer Visitors From The Marvelous Land Of Oz(also sometimes retitled The Visitors From Oz). In this, Scarecrow, Tin Man, Saw-Horse, Jack Pumpkinhead, and Wogglebug are on a journey through America visiting Dorothy, and seeing the sights. They decide to get into the Christmas spirit by making small toy versions of themselves to give to the children of the world. They use the Gump to catch up to Santa on his sleigh and give him the toys to deliver, but loose a race between the Gump and Santa's reindeer.

The last official time we see Santa in the same continuty of Oz is during the fifth Oz book, The Road To Oz. Santa is one of the guests at Princess Ozma's birthday party. In fact he's given the place at the other end of Ozma at the huge table where all the Emerald City heroes and guests from other Baum novels make appearances, like Queen Zixi, and representatives from Merryland.

Christmas is possibly not celebrated as much on its own in Oz, at least as far as the original Baum stories. There is a Christmas episode of the Oz Kids animated TV series, plus a similar holiday called "Lurlinemas" is a mainstay in the Wicked books by Gregory Maguire which is basically Christmas but celebrating the fairy queen Lurline. Anyway, hope you have a great holiday season, whether in or out of Oz!

Happy Lurlinemas!

2011-12-22T05:22:00.001-05:00

Comic Review: Ozma Of Oz (Marvel Comics)

2011-12-21T08:29:00.001-05:00

Well, Marvel's treatment of the Oz books keeps getting better with their version of the third book, Ozma Of Oz, which was released as an 8-issue mini-series. Eric Shanower adapts it to comics, and Skottie Young has returned to masterfully handle the artwork.

We finally bring Dorothy back to the fold, who falls off a ship at sea with her chicken friend Billina, and wind up in the land of Ev. They free the steampunk robot Tik-Tok, then get imprisioned by the head-changing Princess Langwidere, the acting "head" of Ev. She's then rescued by Princess Ozma, and all her old friends from Oz. Ozma has travelled across the Deadly Desert to free the royal family of Ev from the wicked Nome King. When the heroes finally arrive at the nomes' underground dominion, the Nome King tricks most of them into becoming parts of his ornament collection, but they're saved by Billina's eggs which are like Kryptonite for nomes. After seizing the Nome King's magic belt, they restore the Ev royal family, go back to Oz, and eventually send Dorothy back to her Uncle Henry in Australia.

Not much was changed from the original version of the book as far as the story or content is concerned. There are some differences in the way the characters look and seem to act. Tik Tok has kind of a Mario Bros. mustache, although I miss his helmet, but he was certainly more livelier than normal and less mechanical. Princess Langwidere has a very Grecian look to her, as if she's out of a piece of renaissance art. Billina appears more onery than normal, and Hungry Tiger is like a large plushie. The nomes are especially creepy being short little hair guys with jagged teeth, and the Nome King is a very spooky as a shorter twisted version of Santa Claus with a bad haircut. We get to see more of Ozma(especially since she's the title character)who this comic illustrates well how new to the idea of being a ruler she is, as Ozma's determination to free the Ev royal family seems to cloud what better judgement she might have. Dorothy is slightly older with a shorter and lighter haircut, but not as curly as in the original book.

Marvel did a great job promoting this, and has kept it as one of their top-selling titles. There are alternate covers to Issue #1, and a hardcover collection. A paperback graphic novel will be released sometime in 2012, just around the time when Dorothy Of And The Wizard In The Land Of Oz finishes its print run.

Emeralds: Special Edition in print & digital!

2011-12-21T06:32:00.000-05:00

After a while, we now have a brand new Special Edition of Emeralds: Hearts In Oz in print. This is an expanded 36-page book in prestige format digest paperback at Lulu.com. We also have this same version for download at DriveThruComics.com. There will be printed comic editions available from Mini-Komix by the end of January. Please check them out now!

Oz Video Of The Month: Patchwork Girl Of Oz stage performance

2011-12-11T06:12:00.000-05:00

The Los Angeles Choreographers And Dancers is a creative group of performers that recently did another season of their dancing stage version of The Patchwork Girl Of Oz. This just played in L.A., and will be in N.Y. next month. The video shows work from their prior versions of this show, as well as some other performance.

Video Review: Tom And Jerry & The Wizard Of Oz

2011-12-11T05:38:00.005-05:00

Two of MGM's most enduring properties have been the Tom And Jerry cartoons, and the 1939 movie of The Wizard Of Oz. So it was possibly only a matter of time when it was decided to merge both of them in one production. Tom And Jerry And The Wizard Of Oz is a new title from Warner Home Video in their ongoing series of Tom And Jerry animated flicks that takes a cue from Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead where this story takes place in the context of the original movie story, but Tom and Jerry could've been seen as secondary characters who get taken along for the ride along, with a few of the other regular Tom And Jerry characters making cameos.

In this storyline Tom and Jerry are workers on the Gale farm(but not farm animals!), and promise Aunt Em to stop fighting to watch after Dorothy(apparently Toto isn't smart enough to do that!). But then, the twister carries them along with Dorothy and Toto to Oz, where Tom And Jerry are informed by a Munchkin mouse named Tuffy about Dorothy's arrival. The three of them head down the Yellow Brick Road, and get into a situation at a bridge similar to the Kalidah scene from the book. After getting hassled by some crows come, they across the Wicked Witch of the West(convincingly voiced Laraine Newman), who gets her wand broken for her troubles. After getting reunited with Dorothy and her three new friends, they go to the Emerald City. They get into the usual schpeel of touring the city while meeting the Wizard, and revieve their marching orders to go get the Witch's broom. Dorothy gets captured by the flying monkeys, so Tom and Jerry disguise themselves as Winkie guards to sneak in the Witch's castle. They discover Droopy working there as an instructor, and get chased all over the place only to find him wherever they hide at, but eventually find out the Witch's weakness to water. Tom, Jerry, and Tuffy then go through an exuberantly long routine to get a bucket of water, and then finally splash it on the Witch. They then return to the E.C. to reveal that the Wizard's a fake. He agrees to take Dorothy back home by balloon, although she misses her flight. Glinda shows up to give the deus ex machina of getting everyone back to Kansas.

I have to admit I did like this to an extent. They managed to make it a good balance between one of the numerous Tom And Jerry made-for-video animated movies and the original Wizard Of Oz. The film also gives the Oz regulars a good look, although I thought Dorothy might've looked a little too much like a Disney princess. It was directed by Spike Bradt who has done other Tom And Jerry features as well as some of the current Looney Tunes shows, and his appreciation for classic 50s-60s cartoons shows in this production. It's a good watch at least for a rental or whenever its on TV for regular Oz fans, although most modern day youngins might not totally appreciate it.

Oz Video Of The Month: Wizard Of Oz Cut-down

2011-11-06T02:46:00.002-05:00

Second Home Studios did this experimental production breakdown of the twister ride from Kansas to Oz in the theme of the original 1939 movie.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T17:11:00.002-04:00

All hail to the true Pumpkin King!

Grimm Fairy Tales goes to Oz

2011-10-09T07:01:00.002-04:00

Zenescope Entertainment has recently added Oz to their list of magical realms that their Grimm Fairy Tales comic series takes place in. This connects several fairy tales and childrens stories into one collected universe, although some of them exist in seperate realities. The comic primarily deals with Sela who gains the ability to travel to different fable lands, and tries to set things right in them, kinda like adult-Disney version of Quantum Leap. Sela has to deal with her evil genie sister Belinda who keeps screwing up fairy tales. Spinoff titles from this included several Wonderland series, Neverland, and an Arabian Nights comic featuring Sinbad.

A while ago, it was hinted that Oz was connected to this whole mishmash of fairy tales. Then, in issue #64 of the regular Grimm Fairy Tales comic, it was revealed that Oz was one of four other magical worlds created at the beginning of the universe, along with Wonderland and Neverland. They bring up a previous chapter featuring Thane, the "Warlord Of Oz"(no relation to that other comic!)who is an anthropomorphic version of the Cowardly Lion that teamed up with several other heroes from other worlds to stop the menace known as the Dream Eater that threatens to destroy all the fairy tale worlds.

The prequal comic of Grimm Fairy Tales: The Library shows a teenage Sela who gets trapped in a mystic library where the books in it open doors to the worlds they take place in. Sela accidently releases dinosaurs from one book, and then she is cornered by the Wicked Witch of the West and her flying monkeys. This is a 5-issue series that is more intended for all-ages, although it doesn't seem to bleed into the regular comic series much.

Oz Video Of The Month: HorrOz 1 & 2

2011-10-04T06:46:00.001-04:00

Sam Milazzo has put together two fanfilms that basically take several different Oz movies into horror movie trailers. HorrOz is done as an Alfred Hitchcock movie, and HorrOz II: Hall-Oz-een is supposed to be a Wes Craven sequal. Sam has also done several other Oz fan videos worth checking out.

Oz Video Of The Month: Out Of Oz trailer

2011-09-22T18:22:00.002-04:00

Sorry I'm a little late with this month's video. This just came out as an official trailer for the upcoming Out Of Oz book due this fall.

The Legend Of Oz: The Wicked West comic

2011-09-08T07:02:00.002-04:00

Big Dog Ink is going to release a new comic book series this Oct. titled The Legend Of Oz: The Wicked West. In this "weird west"(see Cowboys And Aliens!)story, Dorothy is a gunslinger in the mid-1800s Kansas who while riding on her horse Toto follows a golden brick road into a strange land of living scarecrows and other weird creatures. The comic is written by Tom Hutchinson, and drawn by Alisson Borges. There is a currently a preview comic available, with 50% of the proceeds will go towards tornado relief efforts, plus a limited edition 12 x 18 print.

Out Of Oz coming this fall

2011-08-24T06:12:00.003-04:00

Gregory Maquire is finally releasing the fourth and final part of The Wicked Years book series, Out Of Oz, and will be released by Harper Collins on Nov. 1. This story features Glinda under arrest by Emporer Shell, Brrr on the run, Elphaba's granddaughter Rain, an Emerald City/Munckinland war, and the triumphant return of Dorothy. It's hard to say how much this will keep in context with Land Of Oz and Ozma Of Oz, although we've already seen Tip and Mombi shown briefly in Son Of A Witch, but how this will play out in the Wicked universe is yet to be seen.

Ozma's Birthday

2011-08-21T08:28:00.001-04:00

Aug. 21 is officially Ozma's birthday. Not sure how old she is exactly, but she beats out Bilbo Baggins by at least a decade if you count her premiere in The Marvelous Land Of Oz in 1904.

Comic Review: Cinderella-Fables Are Forever(conclusion)

2011-08-13T07:51:00.001-04:00

Since I've already done some reviews of the Fables spinoff mini-series from Vertigo, Cinderella: Fables Are Forever, I'll be reviewing the conclusion to the comic which just finished up.

In this story, Cinderella is a secret agent for the Fables community, and she has been recently stalked by Dorothy, who was working for a rouge society of Fables in the "mundy" world. She's had a vendetta against Cinderella for decades, and finally decided to get her revenge on her. Using the Silver Slippers, Dorothy disguised herself as Cinderella's current love interest, Ivan Durak, and lures her across the Deadly Desert with the help of Bungle. Now, this is a little weird as its unknown where this Cinderella series fits into the regular Fables timeline, because Bungle is currently on the run with Bufkin and some other refugees trying to free Oz from the Nome King, who still rules it after the Advesary's defeat.

We learn about Dorothy's history after being cast out of Oz the first time and into the mundy world. She rejected being a part of the Fables community, and became a secret agent for the rouge Fables society. She was later on reunited with her old Oz travelling buddies after she was captured in the Jack Of Fables comic, but was freed with the other Fables there, and then ditched her friends to go and get the Silver Slippers out of the Deadly Desert that she lost at the end of the Wizard Of Oz. She ties up Cinderella, and plans on leaving her for dead in the middle of the Deadly Desert. Cindy manages to trick her into fighting, and makes off in the blimp Dorothy kidnapped her in. Dorothy uses the Slippers to teleport up into the blimp, but Cinderella defeats her, removes the slippers, and tosses Dorothy out into the Deadly Dessert. Whether Dorothy actually hit the Desert(which if you'd seen Return To Oz, you'd know would kill her)and died is unknown. This might lead into the upcoming storyline in the regular Fables comic, Inherit The Wind, which is set for Issue #108 which continues the adventures of Bufkin's revolution of Oz from the Nome King.

I personally liked this series, althought I was really disappointed with how they turned Dorothy into a cruel, vindictive sociopath. No real explanation was given to this change, or whether she was always like this in the context of the story. It'd be interesting to see this grown up Dorothy meet up with the still childlike Ozma who recently had a brief stint as the superhero, Super Witch. I loved the previous Cinderella mini-series, From Fabletown With Love, because it was a good sendup of spy movies, but this one was more of a "spygirl vs. spygirl" storyline. They could've had way more fun with this, and turned it into something where Dorothy and Cinderella had to team-up to fight a common enemy like the Wicked Stepmother or something. However, even as a mature readers comic it was more gratuitous and cliche than it needed to be. DC Comics will eventually release this 6-issue series in a trade paperback.

Wicked in Top 100 Sci-Fi/Fantasy

2011-08-12T17:56:00.001-04:00

Wicked was recently voted on NPR's as part of their Top 100 Science-Fiction/Fantasy Books list as voted by fans online. Wicked is ranked at #80, although the actual Wizard Of Oz book is listed at all, possible because its considered more of a children's book than a standard fantasy like Lord Of The Rings.

Oz Video Of The Month: Mellow Brick Road

2011-08-03T18:51:00.001-04:00

This catchy original music video to Pogo's Mellow Brick Road was the winner of a contest the creator was holding for artists to put together a music video to. The winner was Reed Gauthier. All the video entries can be seen here.

Book Review: Rainbow Connection

2011-07-24T07:01:00.023-04:00

Hi. Sorry it's been a while, but I've had some other reviews to finish up. I picked up this from the author at a con in TN. a few months back. Rainbow Connection is a new short novel from Blackwyrm Publishing. It was written by Ian Harac who has prominmently worked on RPGs like D&D and GURPS. This is an interesting piece for anyone whose a regular goer of fan conventions, or stories involving alternate realties.

Matt Anders is a part of a special agency that deals in contraband from parallel universes. Apparently, in this continuity, travel between other dimensions is slightly common, although not totally known to the general public, and there's an underground network that traffics illegal items from other worlds to the story's main Earth, referred usually to as "Prime". But instead of being something like death rays from some robot universe, its the selling of unsolicited media to the geek market, like the missing 4th Season of Star Trek. So, basically Matt is an FBI agent tracking down bootleg copies of the Star Wars prequals from a reality where they actually didn't suck. This usually has him frequenting sci-fi cons in search of unauthorized nerd exports.

Matt tracks down a possible smuggler at a convention, but discovers a dead Munchkin in the man's apartment. This leads to him getting help from an interdimensional smuggler named Bobbi. She manages to get him and herself to Oz as her hideout is hit by the fuzz. Once there, they end up running into mad Tik-Tok knockoffs, spurned Munchkins, and cybernetic flying monkeys. They then manage to find their way to a depression-era version of Kansas in yet another reality. Matt and Bobbi eventually return to Prime where they confront the true mastermind behind the trafficking from Oz.

This was a fairly good story, which for my opinion should've played more of an emphasis on its wormholes into other worlds instead of it being an Oz-themed book. Oz fans might be a little miffed that there are none of the original characters from the books in this story, although it presents a slightly fresh take on Oz from a modern day outsiders point of view. I'd probably suggest getting the E-book edition of this as opposed to spending the extra cost of the paperback. But definatley look it up.

Oz Video Of The Month: Land Of Oz TV special

2011-07-01T17:22:00.002-04:00

Sorry we took a month off, but we're back now with July's installment. This was a TV special that aired in 1981 of The Marvelous Land Of Oz performed by the Children's Theatre Company and School of Minneapolis which is still in business today. They are planning their own version of The Wizard Of Oz starting this Nov.

Comic Review: Oz/Wonderland Kids

2011-05-28T08:00:00.000-04:00

Buy Me Toys decided to open their crossover series of The Oz/Wonderland Chronicles to a wider audience by coming out this spring with an all-ages spinoff, Oz/Wonderland Kids. Written by Oz/Wonderland regular Ben Avery, and drawn by newcomer Alan Schell, this is supposed to be a 3-issue mini-series.

Taking place in a storyline seperate from the regular Oz/Wonderland comics, Dorothy is in Oz having a tea party with Lion, Scarecrow, and Tin Man. The White Rabbit appears and gets chased by Toto. Dorothy follows after them, and sees them passing through a mirror in the middle of the Yellow Brick Road. It leads her to Wonderland where she encounters a few of the natives like the Tweedles and card soldiers. The Wicked Witch of the West curious to as what happened to Dorothy, goes to Wonderland too, and befriends the Queen of Hearts. Dorothy later meets Alice for the first time at the Mad Hatter's shindig. Alice agrees to help Dorothy look for Toto, and they happened to bump right into him still chasing the White Rabbit. They then notice that the Witch and Queen are getting all chummy, which the Cheshire Cat manages to bust up. Dorothy finds the mirror again, and waves goodbye to Alice as she returns to Oz, however a mysterious hook-handed figure watches from the shadows...

This was a great comic for kids, considering the darker tone that the other Oz/Wonderland comics that BuyMeToys has done. Also included in the comic are some crosswords and mazes for kids, plus a coloring page of the original Oz/Wonderland Kids comic strip that appeared in Jack & Cat Tales. I'm unaware of what the future plans are for this series, but hopefully more are on the way. BuyMeToys has a habit of being a little late with their issues, so don't expect the next issue anytime real soon though.

Two TV performances of For Good

2011-05-23T19:04:00.000-04:00

There's 2 seperate performances of For Good on TV on May 24. There's Kristin Chenowerth(Wicked's original Glinda)will be singing it on Oprah at 4:00 PM. The other is on the season finale to Glee at 9:00 PM performed by the cast. BTW, here's a quick video the official Wicked You Tube channel posted of the original cast:

Further Fables stuff in Oz

2011-05-20T08:37:00.001-04:00

Vertigo is seriously increasing the amount of stuff they have going in Oz with their Fables titles. One is the regular Fables comic where Ozma has been put in charge of the Fables' community of magic users. She along with Pinnochio has assembled a group of protectors to defend against the powerful Mister Dark. Ozma is going under the handle "Super Witch", and now has powers of flight and optic-blasts for some reason. The Super Team story-arc will conclude in issue #106, and I could be wrong but it looks like they might be trying to start a romance between Ozma and Pinnochio in it. Issue #108 will also take us back to Oz with the flying monkey Bufkin.

Now, this is a little odd, because when last we left Bufkin, he had teamed up with Jack Pumpkinhead and Bungle to form a rebellion against the Nome King who had taken over the Emerald City. But, if you've been reading the Fables spinoff, Cinderella: Fables Are Forever, Bungle is working for Dorothy, who in this mini-series is a rival assassin. Bungle pulls Cinderella into the Deadly Desert where she and Dorothy are set to have one last roundup. How Bungle's appearance in this comic carries over to the regular Fables series is unknown.

Also, the Jack Of Fables ongoing series recently ended in Issue #50, which featured guest appearance by Tin Man and "Fiercely Lion" who take part in the final battle between the dragonfied original Jack Horner and his son, Jack Frost. Tin Man gets a rocket launcher coming out of his head, but gets beheaded by Jack Frost with a magic sword. However, he claims that he and Fiercely will meet again in Oz. This is akin to the notion that all Fables can be brough back to life if they are known enough by the Mundies who are the regular humans of Earth. So, Tin Man might show up again in a future issue of Fables.

Comic Review: Toto! The Wonderful Adventure (Part 3)

2011-05-14T09:24:00.001-04:00

Sorry that I've been late with getting this last part of the review done, but I had a few other projects coming up lately. Here, I'll be covering Volumes #4 and #5 of the Toto! manga. Oh, and yes, this is where the series ends, despite the fact that the story remains unconcluded.

Volume #4 has Damda revealing a cybernetic arm, and calling in the Nassau airfleet on Kenbi and Kakashi. But Dorothy has mastered a secret technique that helps send the enemies flying. She gets a jet broom, and is offically proclaimed Kakashi's WITCH partner. Kenbi reveals that the accessory they were looking for was a pair of special earrings stolen years ago by someone dressed like a rabbit. They let Damda go, and head off to Garrot Town to find the mysterious rabbit-masked thief. Once there, they run across the Wonder Family, a group of rebellious mobsters lead by the rambunctious Alice that want revenge against their rivals, the Rabbit Gang. It's reveled that their leader is Clock, Alice's long-lost brother who used the magical earrings with its special teleporting holepuncher abilities to take over the mafia families. Clock wastes most of Alice's gang, and takes Noil and Dorothy hostage.

Volume #5 has the suprise return of the Man Chicken Family and Tequilla who were coming to Alice's aid. They storm Clock's clocktower, and eventually rescue their friends. Alice manages to get a hold of the earrings and defeats Clock, but at the cost of his own life. Alice joins up with Kakashi and the other on their quest, which leads them to the kingdom of Rock Tic where they team up with Paisley and Red from WITCH to find another accessory. The king of this land is having a special talent contest, where the winning duo will recieve the accessory as the grand prize. Kakashi is reluctlantly paired with Kenbi, as each member of the cast is teamed up with another to come up with an act to win the competition. Dorothy gets help from the mysterious masked Mexican wrestler Chad, who is later shown to be Kakashi's father at the last minute, and makes his escape in a balloon. The story ends with Kakashi, Noil, Dorothy, Alice, and Kenbi continuing their journey.

Toto! was the basis for what creator Yu-Ko Osado used in his next manga series Tribal 12, which also deals with a magical land dominated by the existance of twelve magical items. This series is currently available as five seperate graphic novels from Del Rey Manga, but with the given trend to do "perfect collections" of manga in huge bible-sized books, but with the current rise of Oz-related media, its possible a collected edition of the entire series could happen.

Ding Dong: Bid Laden's Dead

2011-05-02T17:32:00.001-04:00

Given the circumstances, though you'd all dig this little remix by Klaus Nomi.

Oz Video Of The Month: Wiccan Of Oz

2011-05-01T17:38:00.000-04:00

Joseph Falabella was planning on doing a brand new musical titled The Wiccan Of Oz. It was first looking like a live-action project, and was then being pitched as an animated video with Sims. So far, there hasn't been anything specifically done of this in three years. But you can find this trailer as well as other material on Youtube.

Oz Video Of The Month: The Oz Witch Project

2011-04-04T17:20:00.000-04:00

The sketch comedy crew from hackcomic.com did this parody of The Blair Witch Project featuring the Dorothy & Co. as they search for the mysterious Wicked Witch of the West. Also available on VHS!

Dorothy Of Oz comic from IDW

2011-04-01T18:15:00.001-04:00

IDW Publishing is releasing a special edition of their upcoming comic series of Dorothy Of Oz based on the animated movie at this year's Megacon. This will be a mini-series that will act as a bridge between the original Wizard Of Oz story(movie?), and the upcoming film coming out later this year. IDW has also released the Little Adventures In Oz by Eric Shanower.

Dorothy Of Oz poster revealed

2011-03-23T18:02:00.001-04:00

Jordan von Netzer from CW3PR recently sent me this info on the first poster for the upcoming Dorothy Of Oz animated movie set for a 2012 theatrical release. In it, Dorothy goes back to Oz to discover that the magical land has been taken over by a new enemy, the mysterious Jester. The vocal cast includes SNL regulars Martin Short, Dan Akroyd, Jim Belushi, plus Kelsey Grammer and Patrick Stewart.

Mistakes In Film: The Wizard Of Oz

2011-03-20T04:52:00.000-04:00

Molossus Films recently did this as part of his Mistakes In Film online review series featuring the The Wizard Of Oz. (Warning: mature language!)

New Oz card game

2011-03-16T18:04:00.003-04:00

French game developer, Ystari Games, is planning on releasing a brand new card game based on Wizard Of Oz later this year which is intended to be learned in five minutes. It is being created by Emanuele Ornella.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...OZMA!!!

2011-03-07T08:32:00.001-05:00

Vertigo Comics has just released Issue #102 of Fables. This is the first of a 5-part story arc titled Super Team where the Fables community decides to form their own superhero group to fight outside threats like the menacing Mister Dark, their current nemesis still being held at bay by a forcefield. Based on Pinnochio's suggestion, Ozma(the head of the Fables magic-users)dons a superhero getup, and sets out to gather other Fables with "super-powers" to join their little team. Expect to see lots of X-Men, JLA, and Avengers jokes thrown in for upcoming issues.

Comic Review: Oz Primer

2011-03-06T08:52:00.001-05:00

Marvel Comics this week released this one-shot special, Oz Primer. It's a tie-in to the regular Wizard Of Oz comic book adaptations that Marvel is doing. They're currently in the middle of Ozma Of Oz, with plans to do Dorothy And The Wizard In Oz later this year.

Oz Primer features interviews with the series adapter Eric Shanower, artist Skottie Young, and colorist Jean-Francois Beaulieu. Also included is a foreword by Marvel Comics vice president David Gabriel, and an indepth look at the characters and locations within the Land of Oz. It's unknown whether this issue will be included in the upcoming Ozma Of Oz collected graphic novel, so you might wanna pick this up while its at your local comics shop.

Oz Video Of The Month: Elphaba's new look

2011-03-04T16:48:00.001-05:00

The latest British stage musical of Wizard Of Oz by Andew Lloyd Webber features a very different version of Elphaba than your used to seeing in Wicked.

Silver Slippers vs. Glass Slippers

2011-02-13T06:26:00.001-05:00

In the second mini-series of the Fables spinoff comic, Cinderella: Fables Are Forever, Fabletown's own resident former-princess turned secret agent, Cinderella, returns in an all new case. This time, she's confronted by non-other than her old espionage rival, Dorothy Gale!

Apparently, the two of them clashed back in Russia during the better dead than red days of the mid-80s, from which Cinderella barely survived. Now in modern day(which is supposed to be in unison with the current Fables timeline)Cinderella is visited by Ivan Durak(aka: "Ivan the Idiot"). He wants her to protect him from Dorothy, who is gunning for him under orders from the Russian shadow Fabletown. Now, Dorothy has some smaller Fable creatures working for her, including a slightly cracked Glass Cat.

Its hard to say how this completely fits in to the given Fables world for several reasons. One is that in the Jack Of Fables series, Dorothy had been imprisioned for several years in the Golden Boughs Retirement Village along with Tin Man, Scarecrow, and Lion. There, she appeared to be the stereotypical Dorothy most people know her as. So, whether she was faking her goodytwoshows attitude that whole time, and if she's a trained spy/assassin why she couldn't just bust out of there is unknown. Also, the appearance of Glass Cat with Dorothy on Earth seems to really contradict his very recent appearance in Fables issue #101 where its shown that he had been captured by the Nome King for a long time, and had just then escaped with Jack Pumpkinhead and Sawhorse. The three of them along with Buffin the former flying monkey were going to start a rebellion against the Nome King and free Oz from his rule. How this matches up with that storyline is also very confusing. Unless there is some kind of miscommunication going on between the seperate Fables titles(which is not uncommon in the comic biz), then there are some serious continuity issues involved in this. Still, its nice to see Dorothy finally taking a more active role in the Fablesverse.

Book Review: Shadow Demon Of Oz

2011-02-10T09:42:00.001-05:00

After Magician Of Oz, James Wallace II continues his trilogy of self-published Oz novels with Shadow Demon Of Oz. This once again deals with Jamie Diggs, Oscar Diggs' great-grandson, as he returns to Oz for a brand new adventure.

The story splits at first between Jamie's life in America, while at the same time in Oz as Dorothy encounters a strange new menace which has taken the soul away from a living boat she rides on to visit Scarecrow. The creature is called the Shadow Demon which just dropped in from a passing comet. It's really the disembodied spirit of the Wicked Witch of the East which had attached itself to this comet right after Dorothy's house smooshed her over a century ago. Jamie ends up coming to Oz via a transdimensional balloon ship piloted by Cap'n Bill, along with his friend Buddy who is in his magicians' club back in Indiana. Once in Oz, Jamie is made the official Royal Magician for Ozma, and proclaimed as Oz the Magnificent. He in turn presents Buddy to Ozma as a "gift of friendship", as Buddy has taken a serious shine to the Princess. Jamie is given control of the balloon as it used to belong to his predecessor, and head out on a trip to the Winkie River to investigate what happened to Dorothy's boat friend. After figuring out that some evil entity is loose in Oz, they head back to the Emerald City. The Shadow Demon reaches Mt. Munch, and begins to terrorize the Hyups who live there. James gets wind of this, and flies there with Buddy to confront it. After recieving a little help by Ozma teleporting Toto and Bungle to assist them, Jamie is able to defeat the Shadow Demon, mainly due to Bungle giving up one of his disposable nine lives. The spirits that the demon had consumed are set free, and the boat gets its life back. Jamie and Buddy are then sent from Mt. Munch back to Indiana by the magic balloon instead of to the Emerald City, but Jamie knows he'll return someday.

This book was in my opinion a better story than the original. The first one seemed to lack a some direction as far as what to do with the characters, as here they're given more motivation. Jamie wants to live up to his title, Buddy is glad to be along for the adventure but is trying to be worthy of being Ozma's friend, and Dorothy is given a lot more depth than normal with her concern for people(or boats)that she's just met. The story does take a little time to actually get the main characters all together, and it maybe puts more emphasis on Jamie's life in Indiana than was needed. But's a good follow-up, and the story continues in Family Of Oz.

Oz Video Of The Month: Wicked does Disney

2011-02-08T07:44:00.003-05:00

Disney animator Heidi Gilbert recently put together this original animatic based on the Wicked musical in an attempt to see about having it done as an animated movie.

Fables FINALLY returns to Oz

2011-01-29T06:28:00.002-05:00

After over 100 issues, Vertigo Comics is finally taking their Fables comic back to Oz. The series deals with several fairy tale and literary characters living in modern day America, some of which are from Oz. This includes Ozma who has become the resident head of the Fable community's magic-users, plus Dorothy and her normal trio occasionally being featured in the Jack Of Fables spinoff comic. In the recent issue #101, it picks up with former winged monkey Bufkin being sent to the land of Ev where he rescues Jack Pumpkinhead, Sawhorse, and Bungle from some of the Nome King's mechanical soldiers. The Nome King had been allied with the evil Advesary who had caused the Fables to leave their own worlds and take refuge on Earth, but he has now conquered Oz. So, Bufkin and his new cohorts plan a revolution. Regular comics creator of Oz titles, Eric Shanower, did the pencils for this issue too. An upcoming story arc from issue #102-#104 titled Super Team will have Ozma coming up with the strange idea of forming an actual superhero group out of some of the Fables citizens who have powers and abilities far beyond those of normal Fables. This includes Ozma donning a Supergirl-type outfit with the Oz symbol on it. The Jack Of Fables comic is going to conclude soon, so what we can expect to see out of Oz's regular "Gang of 4" in future issues remains to be seen. With them adopting a superhero motif in Fables, this might see a return of the Oz Squad.

Oz in Summer Wars

2011-01-21T07:53:00.003-05:00

A brand new anime movie currently being shown in select theatres throughout the country, Summer Wars is film dealing with a young couple in love, while at the same time trying to stop a deadly computer virus from creating global havoc on the online community called Oz. In this virtual world, people are shown as whatever their avatars are, like bunny-fighters or samurai catgirls, though how much of it is inspired by Wizard Of Oz is unknown. The film is set for release on DVD/Blu Ray through Funimation on Feb. 15, 2011.

Book Review: Paradox In Oz

2011-01-08T09:44:00.001-05:00

Edward Einhorn has written several Oz stories, including selections for Oz Story magazine. One of his boldest was Paradox In Oz, a time-traveling tale that for once brings Ozma in as the main character. and features some sparkling illustrations by Eric Shanower. Ringing a serious Dr. Who theme, this addresses the magic that keeps everyone in Oz perpetually young.

It starts out with Ozma being bombarded with complaints of everyone gradually showing signs of age. She goes to consult Glinda about it, who looks up in the Great Book. She discovers that the Aging Enchantment that was first cast on Oz when Ozma first took the throne was recently broken because of someone called the Man Who Lives Backwards. Glinda reveals that Ozma will at sometime in the future send her this man who is now a baby named Zoey. Zoey ages in reverse, so Ozma realizes she needs to go into the past to talk to him as an adult. In order to do this, she employs the help of a Parrot-Ox(a half-parrot/half-ox)named Tempus who has the ability to travel through time. He takes her back in time to meet her ancestor King Oz just before he was about to drink from the Forbidden Fountain that removes people's memories. However, this was an event that was supposed to happen because King Oz was originally a wicked king, and the fairy queen Lurline had enchanted Oz only after the King had lost his memory. Ozma returns to a point further in the future to find that the Aging Enchantment had never been cast, and that Oz was now ruled by an evil version of the Wizard. He has imprisioned an aging Glinda, but she and Ozma are rescued by a good version of Mombi. Ozma realizes she needs to go back and stop herself from skewing the timeline into this dark tangent. After returning to the past, she experiences numerous versions of herself trying to do the exact same thing. Ozma finally sets things right though with the timeline, and then proceeds on Tempus to Absurd City where the Man Who Lives Backwards is supposed to be. She finds him, and is suprised to find out that he is actually an alternate version of King Oz. Ozma manages to bring the information she needs from him back to the future to restart the Aging Enchantment.

This was a "thinking man's" Oz Story, at least in the factoring in of sci-fi elements with time travel and parallel universes. It can actually be a little bit of a headache if you haven't seen some of Star Trek or Back To The Future. Shanower's artwork is spectacular, especially the 2-page spread showing Ozma seeing all the multiple Ozes that are modeled after various Oz movies, cartoons, and other trade artwork. This storyline continues in Einhorn's other book, Living House Of Oz which features more of Tempus. The original print of Paradox In Oz was done through Hungry Tiger Press, but is currently out of print. It is still available used through Amazon and other dealers. A real great trip for Oz fans and sci-fi geeks!

Oz Video Of The Month: Unauthorized Magic In Oz

2011-01-02T16:34:00.001-05:00

This is from a live theatrical puppet show based on Edward Einhorn's books of Living House Of Oz and Paradox Of Oz

Happy X-Mas from Oz!

2010-12-23T06:52:00.002-05:00

Here's to having a great holiday season. Stay Emerald!

Video Review: The Life And Adventures Of Santa Claus (Rankin-Bass)

2010-12-22T07:06:00.002-05:00

In 1902, L. Frank Baum decided to put together one of the first comprehensive origin stories about Mr. Kringle with The Life And Adventures Of Santa Claus. This actually tied into the world of Oz, as most of the story takes place in or near the forest of Burzee which is located across the Deadly Desert/Shifting Sands from the southwestern point of Oz(or "southeastern" depending on what map you're using). Burzee was also the setting for other Baum stories such as Queen Xixi Of Ix and Nelebel's Fairyland, plus the Santa from this story appears in The Road To Oz, so there's a regular connection between this and Baum's library. The book spawned a short story sequal titled A Kidnapped Santa Claus which probably had more than a little influence on a certain Tim Burton movie. There has been more than one animated adaptation of the original book, including a one in 2000 by Mike Young, an anime TV series that ran in the mid-90s, and an upcoming fully CGI movie which was supposed to be out this year. Before them all though was the 1985 TV special by Rankin-Bass, who also created several other memorable Christmas specials including Frosty The Snowman and Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. This was a little strange considering they had already done a previous original narrative of Santa's history in Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town from 1970, but they thought they'd give another shot at a Baum title as they also produced Tales Of The Wizard Of Oz in the early 60s, as well its sequal special Return To Oz(no relation to Disney's one!). They put this together as their last holiday special one as they were diverting more attention toward doing TV series like their hit Thundercats.

The special opens up with a council of Immortals debating about whether or not to give an aging Santa Claus the Mantle of Immorality. The story then goes back about sixty years where a young baby is found by Ak, head of the Immortals and master of woods. He takes the child to be protected by the lioness Shiegra, but the wood nymph Necile accepts the role as his mother and names him Claus. Claus grows up in the forest learning how to communicate with the animals. When he reaches of age, Ak flies him around the world Superman-style to show him the world of mortals, and the cruelties of mankind. Claus decides to then move to Laughing Valley to be closer to humans, and takes Shiegra and the sound imp Tingler with him. Tingler speaks in nearly every concievable language and sound, but usually in strange synthesizer chords. Some of the fairies and wood nyphs help set up a house for Claus, where he eventually starts creating what he refers to as "toys" for the children in the village near him. This would be all nice, except that an evil tribe of monsterous Agwaws called dibs on the kids to influence them, so they use their invisibility powers to cause all kind of problems for Claus' toy delivery. Ak finally steps in and declares war against the Agwaws. So in a battle scene not totally rivaling Peter Jackson, the Immortals beat the Agwaws, and Claus continues his toy givaways. With help one of the Knooks(a fairy in charge of animals), Claus is allowed to use special flying reindeer once a year on Christmas Eve. As time goes on though, Claus nears the end of days, so the Immortals grant him eternal life so he can continue to do his work bringing joy to the world. Granted, it would've been a little more convenient if they could've turned him into a Highlander when he was a little younger, but anyway...

Unlike most of the other Rankin/Bass holiday TV specials, this one didn't have a beloved old guy doing the narration like Jimmy Durante. There's also only one music number in the entire special, which isn't all that memorable. However, this is a very faithful adaptation of the original story, and there is a real effort to bring in the mythology of Baum's fictional universe in its portrayal of magical beings and the mortal world surrounding them. The special was available on VHS, but is currently on DVD from Warner Bros as a double feature with Rankin/Bass' Nestor special.

Comic Review: Toto! The Wonderful Adventure (Part 2)

2010-12-17T06:46:00.001-05:00

I'll be covering Volume #2 & #3 for this review. BTW, I forgot to mention that this series is available from Del Rey. They currently have the entire run in five graphic novels.

Vol. #2 starts out with Kakashi and Dorothy being rescued by the now magically-transformed Toto who has turned into a large dragon-like beast. Toto then merges with Kakashi's left hand, and he now wears the dog bracelet of which Toto's can emerge from in his monster form. He can also eat anything inorganic and reproduce it again like a canon or shield(sorta like Eat-Man). Lt. Vio and is troops are totally overwhelmed by Kakashi's newfound powers, but the sinister Corporal Chopin arrives seemingly to give them backup. He instead uses his own special abilities to kill Vio for his failure. Chopin leaves since he didn't have order to get the collar, and Vio relays Kakashi what he knows about the collar. Its one of twelve accessories that each have their own power, and whichever country can gain the most of them will rule over the rest. Kakashi and Dorothy make their way to Dego City which is a central junction for railroads, althought the Nassau army is tearing down the trains to use for military salvage. Kakashi nearly gets in trouble with some officers, but is rescued Millicia, a local bar owner who claims he's her brother. They then meet Noil, a flaky officer who runs the scrapyard and is a struggling comedian/magician who suffers from stage fright. He takes Kakashi on as his apprentice since he thinks his dog-hand is a magic trick. The military eventually find out Kakashi has the collar, and capture Dorothy to lure him out. Things look bad until a small train engine busts out of Noil's shack.

Vol. 3 opens with the train being run by Noil, that he made it on his own in the scrapyard to one day skip town. He rescues Kakashi and Dorothy as they go down the line called the Yellow Brick Road. They travel through an area called the Witch Forest, and actually encounter a young witch flying in on a broom. She is Paisley, a "good witch", and part of an originization called World Institute of the Twelve Creators' Heritage(or "WITCH" for short)whose main purpose is to locate all the magical accessories. Then the Nassau army shows up with Chopin to collect the collar. Chopin himself has some special rings which are some the accessories(whether they count as seperate accessories or a single one isn't mentioned)which spring out as snakes that turn people to stone. Nassau defeats him, but Noil's train is destroyed by Red, another WITCH agent guarding Paisley. Our heroes head to the local WITCH headquarters where they discover that the one who unintentionally released the accessories out into the world in the first place was Kakashi's father, Nick Q. Kakashi realizes that in order to find his missing father, he must become an agent of WITCH and search for the remaining accessories. In order to join of WITCH, Dorothy must finish her martial arts training to be his partner. She goes to study under the karate master, Kenbi Sow. Kakashi later reveals that Kenbi secretly uses one of the mystical accessories, and team up with one his students to expose this. However, this student is really Major Damda with the Nassau army.

I like how the story is progressing so far. Yuko Osada's style develops as the series goes along. It seems like its one of those shonen titles like Dragonball which hinges on a quest for several magical items, although it doesn't appear they need to find all twelve of the accessories, because that would make for a much longer series.

Christmas In Oz video review

2010-12-11T19:34:00.001-05:00

Stumbled upon this review of the Oz Kids Christmas Special by PopArena. There's actually crossovers with a few other animated shows in it!

Book Review: How The Wizard Saved Oz

2010-12-11T08:10:00.004-05:00

Donald Abbott followed up his first prequal to the The Wizard Of Oz, How The Wizard Came To Oz, with this second book that also has ties to Land Of Oz and the original 1902 WOZ musical. How The Wizard Saved Oz carries on during the time after Oscar Diggs became established as "the Great and Powerful Oz", but before Dorothy shows up.

In the story, the Wizard takes off with the Queen of the Field Mice to find out what happened to her subjects that have gone missing. They go through the underground passage underneath the Emerald City which was originally the throne room of the former King Pastoria's, and then head through the lands of the Whozis and the Whatzis. The Wizard then happens across the strange pumpkin-shaped house of the witch Mombi, where he makes a hasty retreat after realizing her wicked intents. They finally make it to the city of Lanvendoria, and encounter a rather sizable Wogglebug. However, the Wizard becomes concerned when he spies the evil General Riskitt, who is the evil brother of Pastoria, and rival to the throne of Oz. Riskitt goes to see Mombi who has created a special machine powered by the field mice to give him all the magic in Oz. Mombi betrays him, and uses the machine for herself, but it backfires when the Wizard uses some growth powder to temporarily turn all the field mice larger. The magic returns, and Mombi flees to her cottage in the north(where she is keeping Tip). The mice go back to normal size, and the Mouse Queen helps the Wizard in a final battle with General Riskitt who falls down a crack in the Earth.

I thought this was a little more lighthearted story from the previous chapter Abbott did, although How The Wizard Came To Oz told a slighty better story. The main difference is that the first one skimmed alot through the Wizard's ascension in Oz, while as this one was more of a complete stand-alone story of the Wizard's early days. The book continues some great illustrations by Abbott done in the style of W.W. Denslow. General Riskitt is not shown in the regular Oz books, but was an original character from the first stage play created by Baum himself, although the idea of Riskitt being Pastoria's brother was done exclusively for this book. Check out this and other great Oz books at Books Of Wonder, along with more of Abbott's works.

Oz Video Of The Month: Sims In Oz

2010-12-01T08:03:00.001-05:00

Since Sims 3 recently came out, I though it would be fitting to showcase this 2-part short from Sims In Oz.

Book Review: How The Wizard Came To Oz

2010-11-29T07:42:00.001-05:00

David Abbott is a writer and illustrator who has worked on several Oz titles, including doing the artwork for the reprint of L. Frank Baum's original story of Dot And Tot In Merryland for which the original illustrations had been lost a century ago. Abbott has created several Oz books on his own of which have been printed by Books Of Wonder including: The Amber Flute Of Oz, Father Goose In Oz, and The Speckled Rose Of Oz. He even decided to do his own prequal to the original Wizard Of Oz, a few years before Gregory Maquire had started his Wicked series. Abbott started what was essentially a two-part prequal with How The Wizard Came To Oz.

The Wizard's secret origins are a little similar to most of what was referred to in Oz books. Oscar Diggs is a circus performer who learns various tricks of the trade, and one day takes the circus' balloon for a joyride, but ends up in Oz. He is confronted by the Wicked Witch of the West who runs the Winkie Country. She summons up her allies: the wolves, the bees, and the crow, but Oscar uses his ventriloquism skills to scare them all off. The Winkies proclaim him to be the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and the Witch heads east to seek help from her sister. The Witch of the East tells her sister of the magical Golden Cap which she can use to control the flying monkeys. The Wicked Witch eventually claims the cap, and forces the monkeys to drive the Wizard out of the west by balloon. After landing in the north of Oz, the Wizard manages to defeat a group of Kalidahs. The grateful citizens then help him begin constuction on the Emerald City, to which the Wizard uses the trick of the green spectacles to make it seem greener than it was. The Witches then join forces to launch attacks on the Emerald City. The East Witch employs the silver shoes' magic to create a yellow brick road straight to the city for her troops, as well as a giant spider(the one the Lion later fights). The Wizard manages to ward them off with more of his circus tricks, and saves the Emerald City...for now.

This book leads into the sequal(but still prequal)How The Wizard Saved Oz. It acts as a pretty good prelude for the Oz legacy, although it seems to skip through alot of the more specific details of the Wizard's early years. There's even some lead in to the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman's origins. Donald Abbott has some slightly impressive illustrations too as he modeled his work after W.W. Denslow. If you want to see a comprehensive and enjoyable view at the Young Oscar Diggs Chronicles, then give this one a look.

Happy Thanksgiving From Oz

2010-11-25T09:31:00.006-05:00

Hope you have a great holiday and get stuffed(just not with straw).

Comic Review: Toto! The Wonderful Adventure (Part 1)

2010-11-20T07:24:00.003-05:00

Another manga inspired by Oz to be brought over to the States was Toto! The Wonderful Adventure by Yu-Ko Osada. This came out in Japan in 2005 and ran for five volumes, although it was apparently the remake of a series Osada did back in 2002 simply titled Toto which ran for two volumes. There was a spinoff of somekind called Tribal 12 which followed for three volumes, although what its connection it is to this one is unknown other than it maybe takes place in the same fictional universe.

The story takes place in a standard shonen-styled manga story similar to ones like Rave Master and Fullmetal Alchemist where technology and magic are integrated together. Kakashi(which is Japanese for "scarecrow")is a rebellous youth who wishes to see the world that his deceased father told him about, so he stowsaway on a public blimp. This turns out bad as it gets hijacked by the Man Chicken Family, a group of bandits who look like their straight out of the Turks from Final Fantasy VII. Kakashi discovers a stray puppy on board with wearing a strange collar, and takes him in as his own friend. He is found out by the Man Chicken Family and their leader Teqilla who forces Kakashi to be their lackey on the blimp while they fly it to their hideout. The blimp gets attacked by the military, and Tequilla sacrifices the last parachute to Kakashi as he escapes with the puppy. They wake up battered in a field, and are very hungry. Luckily, they find a seemingly abandoned picnic basket which they immediatley empty, but are found out by its owner, a young girl named Dorothy. She first thinks that just the puppy ate her food, but takes a liking to him, and names him Toto. Kakashi pops up from behind a cornstalk, and gets into an argument with Dorothy who first confuses him for a scarecrow. However, the military shows up, and it turns out they're after Toto's collar. Kakashi, Dorothy, and Toto make off on a stolen motorcycle towards the city of Emerald where Dorothy's family lives. On the way, they stop at a farmhouse and are taken in by what seems like a kindly old man, but he's really the sinister Lt. Vio in disguise. He leaves Kakashi and Dorothy inside while the place is burns down, but Toto's collar transforms him into a giant creature due to the collar's magical powers.

I've liked how this series seems to be going so far, although some of the danger presented in this "Rated T" manga is very real with the heroes facing imminent death at every corner. This manga is one of several Oz titles that crosses over with Alice In Wonderland with characters from that book showing up in this storyline. I liked Yuko Osada's art style, and look forward to it progress in the future volumes.

Book Review: The Rundelstone Of Oz

2010-11-07T07:42:00.001-05:00

This, the final Oz novel to be written by Eloise McGraw, was published a year after her death in 2001. McGraw also wrote Merry Go Round Of Oz, the last of the official "Famous Forty" line of Oz books stemming from the orignal series by L. Frank Baum and Rudy Thompson, as well as The Forbidden Fountain Of Oz which wasn't counted as canon in the Famous Forty. The Rundelstone Of Oz was put together by her daughter, Lauren Lynn McGraw. This was illustrated Eric Shanower, and printed by his company of Hungry Tiger Press. The story is independent from any of Elioise McGraw's previous books, although it was first concieved as a segment from Forbidden Fountain.

It opens up with a group of living marionettes called Troopadours traveling around with their human leader, Maestroissimo Furioso, who tour Oz and entertain its citizens. They enter a small village in Gillikin, and after puting on a successful show, they all go missing, except for Poco. Poco takes up being the major domo for a local "witherd", the crafty Slyddwyn. He tells Poco that his friends left him, but Poco doesn't believe him, and he starts to search Slyddwyn's castle for clues on their wherabouts. Poco befriends the local orphan boy Rolly, and frequently encounter the very perturbed Shmodda who claims that Slyddwyn stole one of seven mystic rocks called the Rundelstones. With Rolly's help, Poco manages discovers that Slyddwyn had transformed his friends into various objects, which Poco believes he was able to do with the magic of the Rundelstone. Poco eventually discovers the stone, and restores his marrionette friends to their natural forms. Along with Shmodda, they finally confront Slyddwyn who locks himself in a special room magically sealed from the inside. However, Ozma, Dorothy, the Wizard, and Lion arrive to help them. They find that a stray dog is really Furioso changed by the Rundelstone, and is actually Rolly's father. All is restored as the Troopadours head out for more fun.

This was a pretty good story, one that was focused more on original characters in the land of Oz instead of the regular cast. Eloise McGraw told a compelling tale about an uncertain fellow looking for his lost commrades. Eric Shanower offers alot of great illustrations for this, and did a great job publishing it. This makes for a fine addition to anyone's Oz collection, but also stands alone a wonderful children's book.

Oz Video Of The Month: After Oz

2010-11-04T08:28:00.000-04:00

Percy Kiyabu created this original animated short featuring the Tin Man in his quest for love.

Ozma Of Oz in stores

2010-11-04T07:16:00.000-04:00

Marvel Comics has released its first of an 8-issue series of Ozma Of Oz. This is continuing its series of Oz books that its done adapted by Eric Shanower and drawn by Scottie Young. Issue #1 has a regular cover by Young, a variant one by Shanower, plus one by Adrian Alphona and Christina Straina. This will be a monthly series, with a collected novel set for next year.

Happy Wicked Day

2010-10-30T06:38:00.000-04:00

Wicked Day is Oct. 30. It celebrates the anniversary of the Wicked musical, but it also acts as a sponsor for several charities, including Bully Bust and enviromental agencies like Woodlawn Trust. Hope you follow its message of acceptence and trust.

Comic Review: The Marvelous Land Of Oz (Marvel Comics)

2010-10-29T08:46:00.001-04:00

Eric Shanower and Scottie Young recently completed their run on Marvel Comics' series of The Marvelous Land Of Oz which is an adaptation of the second Oz book. This acts as a direct sequal to the first series they did of The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz using the same style and artwork.

The book is pretty much a straight up retelling of the story, which thankfully didn't fall into the what I call DITLOOS, which is "Dorothy In The Land Of Oz Syndrome" where they do a version of Land Of Oz and for no explained reason add Dorothy into the mix. This is apparent in movies like Return To Oz and Journey Back To Oz. Although there seems to be some filling-in-the-blanks of some missing material from the book like more of General Jinjur's dealing with her troops, and Mombi's going to Jinjur for assistance. The treatment of how the characters behaved and moved with the story was also refreshing.

On the art itself, Scottie Young once again outdoes himself. He's brought the layouts and backgrounds of Oz to a much more livelier level, possibly to illustrate that the land is now a little happier since the Wicked Witches got offed. The characters designs for the new characters are fine too, although slightly different. Tip is a young redhead boy with freckles in a standard purple Gillikin outfit. Mombi is also in purple, and looks a little less evil than usual, like a disgruntled Mother Goose. Jack Pumpkinhead has slightly shorter legs and clothes. Jinjur is blonde here, when she's normally shown as a redhead. The Gump's head gives off the appearance of a dog-like creature instead of a moose. Plus, the Wogglebug is a four-legged well-dressed bug that could be easily mistaken for Jiminy Cricket. Ozma looks mostly the same, although she has her more common attire from the rest of the Oz books and not that shown at the end of Land Of Oz. Marvel released this as 8 issues, with 4 covers for issue #1 and 2 for issue #8. It was also recently collected in a single hardcover graphic novel with a cover gallery and character sketches. There will probably be a paperback edition sometime late next year similar to the one they did of WOZ. I'd extremely recommend getting the hardcover though for collector's value, and because its memories will last alot longer.

Emeralds Prints For Sale

2010-10-26T05:36:00.002-04:00

We're now offering these very cool 8.5 x 11 color prints of Emeralds characters for $2.00 each. Each one is laser printed on cardstock. These are available for a limited time though! Please indicate which one you want.

Oz Video Of The Month: For Good

2010-10-04T17:36:00.000-04:00

Since Wicked Day is this month, we're featuring this special performance of For Good by Soshana Bean and Megan Hilty that was done for TV a few years ago.

Emeralds 2011 calendars now in!

2010-10-02T09:07:00.003-04:00

We now have a brand new wall calendar for 2011. This is 8 x 11 and laminated at $2.00 each. Supplies are limited, so please order soon.

Comic Review: Gizmo

2010-09-23T08:17:00.000-04:00

An indy comic from the mid-80s was Gizmo by Michael Dooney, and was published by Mirage Studios, who not only printed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but Gizmo was in the same universe as the Turtles. The series went on for 6 issues, and had a team-up 2-part crossover with Fujitoid. The comic dealt with the hip android, Gizmo Sprocket, and his anthropomorphic dog buddy, Fluffy Brockleton, who travel the universe around in their intergalactic tractor trailer fitted with an A.I. named Soto.

Issue #5 of the series had Gizmo and Fluffy watching the original 1939 Wizard Of Oz while cruising in Soto. They accidently crash into a space bus carrying an all-girl rock band who closely resemble Josie and The Pussycats, and both ships crashland on an artificial planet which is still in its development stages(kinda like what the Magratheans did in Hitchhiker's Guide). The planet has now been terraformed in an Oz motif because Soto's playing of the movie somehow interfered with the planet's formational matrix. Gizmo takes on the roll of the Tin Man, Fluffy becomes the Lion, the Josie character is dressed like Dorothy, and the Valerie character is made-over like Scarecrow. They are attacked by the Alexandra character who is here the Wicked Witch and her army of flying mutant turtles. Its revealed that the two ships crashed into each other because "a wizard did it", but a sexy space agent(who is a dead ringer for Power Girl)fixes reality for them, and Gizmo and Co. go back to seeking out new life and new civilizations.

I recently came upon an old graphic novel collection of the original Gizmo comic book series, but still remembered it as a funny sci-fi comedy with shades of Heavy Metal. There's other tropes it spoofs as it goes along, like Gizmo runs across a retired Space Ghost. I'd very much recommend looking up at least this one issue, and the series as a whole for Futurama fans.

Marvel Comics Oz series now in paperback

2010-09-14T19:26:00.000-04:00

Marvel Comics has re-released its original mini-series of The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz in a collected paperback. The series was previously released in a hardcover graphic novel. This was adapted by Eric Shanower and drawn by Skottie Young. They've just recently completed The Marvelous Land Of Oz which is also scheduled for a collected book release. Their latest series of Ozma Of Oz will begin with issue #1 on Nov. 3, 2010.

Comic Review: Woe Is Oz

2010-09-13T07:31:00.001-04:00

This indy series has been in print beginning in 2009. Woe Is Oz is a new comic written by Ethan Tarshish and drawn by Kelley Brown(from Comic Volt). It is an ongoing title set as a somewhat modern day continuation of the original L. Frank Baum Oz books.

The story starts out with Lion looking over a wartorn landscape in Oz after some large battle. Shoot to three years earlier where Tik-Tok's creators Smith and Tinker(who somehow made it back from the moon and the water painting)come across General Jinjur leading Ozma's army. Cut again to Winkie Country a year before that where the Winkies are tired of their subjugation by Queen Ozma, who holds them responsible for the Wicked Witch of the West's rise to power. Considering this all happened a while before Ozma even assumed the throne, it seems more than a little suspect. But the Winkie couple, Umb and Ra, lead a revolution against the Munchkins who they've been forced to make up for their accused crimes. After murdering a few Munchkins, the Winkies take over the Tin Man's palace, and hold their former emporer captive. They make a deal with Smith and Tinker to create an army of clockwork soldiers, plus send one of Oz's apparently several "Crooked Magicians"(Pipt and Nikidik included)to form an alliance with the new Nome King, Guph. Go back a further year to Kansas where Dorothy finds Em cheating on Henry. Dorothy also begins to believe that her entire experience in Oz was just a delusion, and starts to take medication for it, although she keeps seeing images in a magic mirror Ozma gave her(shades of Return To Oz?)that they keep asking for her help from.

Woe Is Oz makes for a decent comic book, although it gets very dark and grim at points. For some reason, the concept of immortality in Oz is negated with Munchkin murders. Also, Ozma would more than likely not hold the Winkies accountable for the actions of the Wicked Witch of the West. If that's the case, then why didn't she punish the Munchkins for the Wicked Witch of the East? The story seems to be developing well, but my main problem with it is how it keeps skipping back and forth 3-5 years from the opening shot with the Lion. I'd say that the comic is not so much for Oz traditionialists, but for someone who was looking for a something alot more adult in an Oz story. The first two issues are currently out on the comic's webstore, and is also available for download on Itunes.

Book Review: A Refugee In Oz

2010-09-03T06:02:00.001-04:00

Kim McFarland recently came out with this followup to the Oz novels by L. Frank Baum. It's an original story, but actually features a different version of the Trollans from He-Man And The Master Of The Universe, who most 80s nostalgia fans would know as "Orko's people"(see Kim's Negapage for her love of Trollans). Although, there is no direct reference made to He-Man in it.

The story stars off in the middle of the Deadly Desert with a nomadic tribe called the Madou, who are short blue-skinned people with pointy ears that all wear long white robes. All the Madou can use basic magic, and have the ability to levitate. Their village gets attacked by the Nome army, and the Madou get captured by them, except for one young refugee named Koroko who goes to Oz looking for help to save his people. Koroko goes to the Tin Man as he's the Winkie Emporer, and brings Scarecrow and Dorothy along with him. Koroko flies them over the desert, which would if someone were to touch it would cause them to turn to dust. They spend the night at a small glass oasis Koroko makes with his magic, where he is suprised to learn about Oz ban on sorcery. They finally make it to the underground realm of the Nome Kingdom, and are shocked to discover that Ruggedo has been reinstated as the Nome King. His subordinate Kaliko was left in charge of the Nomes after Ruggedo was exiled in Tik-Tok Of Oz, but Ruggedo staged a coo with nomes still loyal to him. Ruggedo threatens to harm Scarecrow and Tin Man unless Dorothy hands over his old Magic Belt. He destroys Tin Man's heart, and causes Scarecrow to get completely burned. Thanks to a rescue by Billina and her chicken army, they manage to stop Ruggedo, and restore Kaliko to the throne, but leave with the freed Trollans sorrowful over the loss of their friend. The Trollans are given sanctuary in Oz by Ozma. Tin Man returns to his kingdom without any emotions because he believes he no longer has any feelings since his heart is gone, plus he mourns the death of Scarecrow. However, he managed to save a scrap of the Scarecrow's head, that Glinda and the Wizard are able to recreate the Scarecrow from, but minus his given brains. Scarecrow now believes he no longer has a mind, so Scraps tries to shake him and Tin Man out of their funk, despite the fact that they've been reunited. Under the advisement of the Wizard, Dorothy uses the Magic Belt to wish for Scarecrow and Tin Man to be restored their physical state prior to being assaulted by Ruggedo. Scraps is a little skeptical of the Wizard's motives since he let their friends believe got their thoughts or emotions due to the gifts he originally gave them. The Wizard concludes that it is sometimes more important for someone to have faith in something else in order to believe in themselves.

I personally really liked this book. It provided a nice charming adventure for the Oz crew, while at the same time providing a deeper look into the characters, even it is does take a dark turn halfway through the story. McFarland had this printed on her own through Lulu both for download and in paperback. It's designed by Marcus Mebes from the Oz book publishers at Pumpernickle Pickle Press, and features a great cover illustration by Lar DeSouza(of Looking For Group fame). McFarland also did the enchanting interior artwork(check out her Deviantart page!).

Oz Video Of The Month: Dark Oz fan trailer

2010-09-02T19:30:00.002-04:00

Dan Oles did this fake trailer for the possible Dark Oz film being planned based on the Oz/Dark Oz/Land Of Oz comic book series. He first did a trailer called Revenge Of Oz which was done with a similar audio track and footage(it was done for a series he was planning that you can see drawings for at Deviantart). Check out his You Tube page for more original fan trailers.

Witches Of Oz poster unveiled

2010-09-02T04:24:00.005-04:00

A new movie poster for the upcoming film, The Witches Of Oz, has been released. The movie by Leigh Scott is being produced by Blackthorn Industries, and is set for a 2011 release.

Happy B-Day, Ozma!

2010-08-20T18:37:00.000-04:00

Aug. 21 is officially the birthday of Oz's resident monarch. Her birthday was first revealed in the 5th Oz book, The Road To Oz, as Dorothy and her new friends headed to the Emerald City for her party. To celebrate, here's some fan music videos that came out last year...

Comic Review: Ozopolis

2010-08-14T20:26:00.002-04:00

A new comic that just came out recently was Ozopolis which is a continuation of the original Oz books. Being published by former Alias Enterprises partner, Forcewerks Productions, this first issue(which is supposedly the beginning of an ongoing series)is written by Kirk Kushin who also wrote B.A.B.E. Force and Super Teen-Topia, and illustrated by Gonzalo Martinez who also worked on Super Teen-Topia. It also features cool cover art by Sylwia Smerl.

Set sometime after the Baum books, Ozma recieves the Queen of the Field Mice as a guest who comes to her for help against some phantom wildcats that are rampaging her subjects. Ozma sends Tik-Tok, Sawhorse, and Bungle the Glass Cat to investigate because they are immune to the effects of the sleep-incuding poppies. They encounter the wildcats, which are revealed to be mechanical creatures(or "clockwork" as they say in Oz). Our heroes trail the cat-bots to a cave where they are suprised to see Mr. Tinker, one of the two creators who made Tik-Tok, and went missing years ago after making a ladder that went all the way to the moon and got stuck there. Tinker explains that he was brought back to Oz by unknown circumstances, and forced to create these clockwork cats under the order of a magical slate which issued out demands to him under the threat of destroying Ozma and her allies. The rescue mission succeeds, although it leaves Ozma and Dorothy wondering if there is connection to the evil slate and the one that the Good Witch of the North used to use. The comic ends with the revelation that the mastermind behind it is the enigmatic "Witch of Nowhere".

I personally liked this comic, as both an Oz fan and comics collector. It is a great all-ages title, and very family friendly. It follows the tradition of Dorothy being a blonde, although she and Ozma are apparently wearing more trendier fashions. Granted, it helps if you're a little more than familiar with the generic Oz stories to enjoy it. You can currently order this from the comic store, and some Ozopolis shirts from their store at Cafepress.

Emeralds magnets for sale

2010-08-12T06:42:00.001-04:00

We now have a set of 4 different magnets of the Emeralds characters. Each one is sized 2 x 2.5 inches with one of the original "Gang of 4" with their own personal motto. Each one is $1.00. When ordering, please indicate which one(s) you want. These are available only for a limited time, so order some now!

Oz Video Of The Month: Quentin Tarantino's Wizard Of Oz parody

2010-08-04T04:28:00.001-04:00

Funny Or Die recently did this original animated parody of what it would be like if Quentin Tarantino of Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction fame held auditions for a WOO remake.

What is the Oznibus?

2010-07-31T07:29:00.000-04:00

I've been asked by a few people recently about what the actual "Oznibus" is from our new Emeralds comic. This was essentially the name I gave for Glinda's Great Book Of Records from the Oz books. The GBOC was first officially introduced in The Scarecrow Of Oz(Book #9)and is a large book that tells whatever is going on in the world as its happening, sorta like having someone sending you an instant text message. It's also one of the items that Ugu the Shoemaker makes off with in Lost Princess Of Oz, which is usually why Glinda keeps it chained down. Its been speculated that the GBOC might be the inspiration for the Grimmerie from Wicked which was a slightly indecipherable spellbook. For Emeralds though, I had it that the Oznibus acts as an accumilation of knowledge and history since the dawn of time, with some insight on current happenings, and what possibilities they might lead to. This becomes a key device for the upcoming story arc we have planned for Issue #2.

Book Review: Wicked-The Grimmerie

2010-07-21T06:16:00.001-04:00

Meant to be a companion to the musical based on the original novel of Wicked by Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Grimmerie is a comprehensive behind-the-scenes view of the musical from the book to Broadway. It's titled The Grimmerie after the magical book from both the novel and musical that Elphaba(the Wicked Witch of the West)uses.

The book covers the timeline leading from the original Wizard Of Oz novel to Wicked, plus how it went from being a screenplay for a proposed movie(before the one they're planning on doing now)to instead a musical extravaganza. Also included is the history of the choosing of the staff and cast, the music by Stephan Schwartz, taking the show on the road, plus a breakdown of the music numbers and some of their lyrics. The best is the detail that goes into describing the characters and how the actors perform them, how the sets and costumes are designed, and a look at the entire story as a whole(warning: spoilers included!).

There's a really distinct feel given to this large hardcover. It's modeled to look slightly like the actual Grimmerie from the book on the outside, and the interior gives the impression of an ancient tome mixed in with a turn-of-the-century publication. There's some wonderful art by W.W. Denslow and John R. Neil from the original Oz books, along with great photograps from the show and its production. I'd recommend this as a collectors item or gift mainly for anyone who has already seen the musical. There are copies still available on Amazon, Barnes And Noble, and other book dealers.

Royal Historian Of Oz now out

2010-07-15T18:33:00.000-04:00

The first issue of Tommy Kovac's new comic series, The Royal Historian Of Oz is now out from Slave Labor Graphics. Issue #1 goes for only $1.00, and deals with an Oz writer in the mid-21st Century who finds away to the land of Oz via Dorothy's silver shoes. Check out this interview Kovac did with Comic Book Resources.

Comic Review: Avengers-Fairy Tales

2010-07-13T07:31:00.006-04:00

One of a long line of Fairy Tale mini-series that Marvel Comics has done, Avengers-Fairy Tales was a 4-issue series that for each issue had the "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" starring in a storybook or a piece of folklore. The last issue(#4)went with The Wizard Of Oz for its story.

Whirlwind attacks the Avengers' Mansion, and She-Hulk takes him head on, but gets knocked out by his wind powers. She ends up dreaming she's in Oz as Jennifer Walter(her non-Hulk self), and finds out her falling mansion killed the "witch" of the East, which it turns out to be female version of Quicksilver. The witch of the North(Agatha Harkness)give Jennifer the dead witch's shoes, which is helpful because they protect her from Scarlet Witch(the Wicked Witch of the West)from winking the Munchkins out of existance just like she did the mutants in Decimation. Jennifer heads for the Emerald City to get help from the Wizard. Along the way, she befriends the Scarecrow(Thor), Tin Man(Iron Man), and the Cowardly Lion(Captain America). Once at the the Emerald City, they find that the Wizard is Magneto, and Scarlet Witch is his daughter(someone's been reading Wicked!). He tells them to convince her to turn good, but in the end the Witch prooves too powerful for them. Jennifer finally morphs back into She-Hulk, and forces the Witch to restore her friends and the Munchkins. She-Hulk then wakes up and takes out Whirlwind with Wasp's help.

This issue was written by C.B. Cebulski and drawn by Ricardo Tercio, who also did some work on Spider Man-Fairy Tales. I'd recommend seeking out this pretty fair spin on WOO, although it would've been cooler to have Jennifer be She-Hulk as Dorothy through the whole thing.

Oz Video Of The Month: Dorothy Meets Alice play

2010-07-09T06:05:00.002-04:00

We're starting a new feature here where we'll showcase a certain video we find. The one for July is from deathnotedistaster of a youth theatre production of Dorothy Meets Alice(known here as "The Wizard Of Wonderland") where the cast of Wizard Of Oz meets up with the cast of Alice In Wonderland who are brought together by a young man who has to do a book report on them. The video is split up into 8 parts, and worth checking out in its entirety.

What's in store for Emeralds issue #2?

2010-07-07T09:14:00.001-04:00

Now that Issue #1 of Emeralds is finally out, we're working on Issue #2, which is scheduled for release early next year. The next chapter actually takes place several years after Issue #1. This might seem like a stretch of time in some ways, but as no one ages much in Oz, you won't see Dorothy looking like somebody's granny. In this of what is a 3-part story arc, all three of the new East, West, and North Witches have completed their training as witches. Glinda sets them and their friends on a quest to try and reactivate an ancient source of magic long thought extinguished in Oz. However, Glinda has a secret agenda of her own to keep, that will make the new Order of Witches question their mentor. All this while Ozma and Dorothy continue their newfound love. We're really looking to hearing input on this from the fans, so please leave us your comments. Thanx.

Book Review: The Undead World Of Oz

2010-07-05T06:22:00.001-04:00

In keeping with the recent trends of adding monsters to classic literature like Pride And Prejudice And Zombies, Ryan C. Thomas decided to add some of the walking dead to the original Wizard Of Oz novel in The Undead World Of Oz. This is published by Coscom Entertainment, which specializes in other zombiefied literature like Alice In Zombieland.

The book is essentially a retelling of Dorothy going to Oz, although once there, she finds out that the Wicked Witch of the West casted a spell that makes the dead Munchkins rise from their graves and eating the brains of the living. Dorothy gets a magic gun from a Munchkin with unlimited ammo that shoots out bullets which always hit their intended targets. Toto gets temporarily infected with the zombie virus too, but is conveniently cured by a transfusion by the only Munchkin who is apparently immune to zombie bites, but gets devoured by hungry zombies. The story goes with Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion joining her, although Dorothy accidently kills the Tin Man's zombified ex-girlfriend. They then get sent to the Wicked Witch, who ends up as a zombie buffet. However, her death doesn't stop the curse, so our heroes trek to Glinda for help. Her plan is to create a giant floating brain to lure all the zombies out. This leads into a large Army Of Darkness-type battle, where Dorothy emerges as "Buffy the Zombie Slayer". Also because of all her fighting the undead, her silver shoes turn ruby.

This rewritten adaptation is fair, although alot of it is just a direct copy of the original book. There's not much of a horror element to it, more just zombie gore and violence. Not even very fun in a Sean Of The Dead kind of way. Mainly check it out only if you're a total zombie junkie.

Video Review: The Wheeler Of Oz

2010-07-03T07:43:00.010-04:00

I recenlty got a hold of William Wall's original short film, The Wheeler Of Oz. This is a slightly original take on the characters of the Wheelers, who first appeared in the third Oz novel, Ozma Of Oz. Although they gained more popularity in the Disney movie, Return To Oz. This came into a little effect in the movie as Pons Maar, the head Wheeler from Return To Oz was consulted by Wall on how to create the look of the Wheeler. This movie was produced by Metro City Films, although it's referred to as Steam Powered Films.

Without giving away too much of the story, this is a prequal to the original Wizard Of Oz where a lone wheeler named Maliphet is outcasted by the other wheelers in the land of Ev for being kind-hearted. So, Maliphet decides to head to Oz across the Deadly Desert. He supposedly doesn't get killed from coming in touch with the desert(like one in Return To Oz did)possibly because the wheels on his hands and feet aren't organic. Anyway, once in Oz, he finds he is rejected by the citizens of the Emerald City too. The advent of a strange but inviting button labeled "Acceptance" takes the story in a somewhat tragic direction.

There's the appearance pf at least two recognizable Oz characters in this, plus a prominent one you'll recognize from their apparent lack of one eye. The movie is slighty on the same page as the Heartless movie with some heavy steampunk influence. There's even some regular steampunk costumers and performers as the Emerald City folk. The movie might be available for download later on, but you can currently get in on DVD from their store. It's a dark fairy tale, with a happy ending to it, that leads into a major part of Oz history.

Video Review: The Muppets' Wizard Of Oz

2010-06-29T07:43:00.004-04:00

After seeing nearly every other movie verion of Wizard Of Oz, I figured I might as well get around to doing the Muppets one too. Since Kermit and friends already knocked over A Christmas Carol and Treasure Island, it was probably going to be this or an Alice In Wonderland adaptation. Originally meant to be a made-for-TV movie, this was released on DVD as an extended feature with some material not used in the original broadcast, which included some rather mature stuff for an intended "family" film.

For this time around, Dorothy Gale(played by Ashanti)is a young waitress(did Tin Man steal this?)who wants to be a pop singer. After failing to get it to an audition for the Muppets, Dorothy heads back home to her trailer park, which gets swept off to Oz by a tornado. Once there, her pet prawn Toto(yep, prawn)has evolved into a larger talking prawn. The Munchkins are actually rats, although they're called Munchkins here, who are watched over by the Good Witch of the North(i.e. Miss Piggy). BTW, Piggy plays all the Witches in this. She sends Dorothy off to see the Wizard with her dead sisters' shoes. Along the way, Dorothy befriends Scarecrow(Kermit), Tin Man(Gonzo), and the Lion(Fozzie). They manage to get past the heckling Kalidahs(Statler and Waldorf), and the Poppyfield nightclub where the Electric Mayhem jam. After finally arriving at the Emerald City, each of our heroes go in to see the Wizard which takes on a different form for each one. The big Wiz tells them to get the Wicked Witch of the West's magic eye. The Witch has Piggy looking like Cher in biker gear, and uses her magic cap to command the flying monkeys(here a biker gang)to get Dorothy. Dorothy manages to push the Witch into a bathtub which was supposed to be filled with bottled water, but instead melts her. Dorothy and the others take the eye back to the Wizard, who is revealed to be a special effects expert from Hollywood and not really a wizard. He however makes it possible for Dorothy to be a celebrity in Oz, and gives the others their own hearts' desires. Dorothy realizes that she really wants to go back home though, so they head back to Munchkinland to get help from Glinda(also Piggy). She then uses her magic footwear to go back to Kansas, where the Muppets hire her on their Star Search ripoff show.

This was ultimately a decent movie, although it seemed to be a bit lacking in both style and substance from most Muppet productions. There was just too many pop culture parodies thrown in, like it was trying too much to be like Shrek. Plus, there was some stuff in this that was definately not for kids, like the phrase "bitchslap", or Kermit bringing up The Passion while being nailed up on the pole as a scarecrow. Ashanti wasn't bad as Dorothy, which apparently helped her later on to get in a recent production of The Wiz. I was mostly impressed though that the movie actually followed the original novel a little more than most adaptations did, like the East Witch being called Tattypoo which didn't even come up until the Ruth Thompson novels, as well as the West Witch only having one eye. I'd recommend this one at least as a rental or legal download.

Raimi & Downey on Disney's new "Wizard" origin

2010-06-26T13:44:00.001-04:00

Sam Raimi(Spider-Man, Evil Dead, Drag Me To Hell)has been confirmed for directing Disney's upcoming Oz, The Great And Powerful movie which will tell the origins of the actual Wizard of Oz on his journey from America to Oz and how he became the title character. Raimi has said that the movie will go over various elements of the Wizard's story from the L. Frank Baum books, to which he will add some of his own creativity to for the movie. Robert Downey Jr.(Iron Man, Sherlock Holmes)has stated that he's interested in playing the Wizard in the movie, although nothing solid at this time.

Book Review: The Bashful Baker Of Oz

2010-06-26T05:16:00.006-04:00

I recently looked this up on Lulu. It was written by Marcus Mebus from Pumpernickel Pickel Press, which prints original several Oz titles. This short book has some fine illustrations by Luciano Vecchio(although there's one picture with a way too thin Ozma), whose works include Oziana, as well as some other Oz titles for Buckethead Enterprises. The story for this is set in the regular Oz continuity, but centers around some original characters.

In it, the shy cook Maria lives in the city of Crafton where she feels unappreciated, even though everyone seems to love her bakeries. However, she is being courted by the mysterious Emerald City citizen Luka, even though no one in Crafton believes her. Maria decides to go to the Emerald City and find Luka. After hitching a ride on a polite cow, she makes her way to Ozma's palace to ask for help in locating Luka. Jellia Jamb uses Ozma's magic mirror and sees that the one known as Luka is at a boutique which is busy getting ready for a large ball. Jellia and Maria go to the shop where Luka is at, but its revealed that he's really a clothes designer named Derek who pretended to be this important person in order to woo Maria. After Ozma councils Derek on his actions, he confesses his love for Maria, and she gains new confidence in herself. The two of them eventually get married, and live happily ever after in Crafton.

This was a slightly refreshing change of pace involving some irregular but still original additions to the Oz cast, and makes for a decent read. You can order it online here for download and hardcover.

Gender Ninja Of Oz

2010-06-22T09:03:00.003-04:00

Emeralds artist Erin Ptah recently did an original Oz story titled The Gender Ninja Of Oz which shows Ozma transforming herself into Tip to see how Dorothy would react to it. You can also see some artwork for it at Erin's page at Deviantart.

Book Review: The Road To Oz (Little Golden Book)

2010-06-13T18:57:00.005-04:00

Random House recently came out with this Little Golden Book edition The Road To Oz, the fifth Oz book. It was adapted by Peter Archer, and illustrated by Harry McNaught. This is so far the only title in the Little Golden Book Line adapted from one of L. Frank Baum's Oz series, although its presented like a follow-up to the original Wizard Of Oz story.

In it, Dorothy is back in Kansas runs across the Shaggy Man. They then go to the strange fox-ruled land of Foxville and meet the Fox King who sends them on their way to Oz. They then encounter a slightly plainer version of the rainbow fairy Polychrome who joins them. Once they come to a river, Shaggy Man summons the interdimensional contractor Johnny Dooit to build them a boat to get across it. The party finally reaches Oz, and the regular gang celebrates Dorothy's return. Shaggy Man stayed in Oz, while Dorothy is sent back home in a magic bubble.

This was a pretty decent adaption of an Oz book, even though it was done over for kids. A few changes like the complete removal of Button Bright from the story as well as Ozma's birthday, plus the Lion wearing glasses, and Ozma appearing around the same as a Glinda. I'd definately recommend it as a children's book, and a pretty fair collectible for fans.

Oz film news

2010-06-13T06:01:00.002-04:00

Well, there's alot of upcoming Oz movie projects coming up. Warner Bros. is working on one titled Oz being produced by Temple Hill and written by Darren Lemke, plus another un-named darker film written by Josh Olsen that deals with Dorothy's granddaughter going to Oz to take on an evil force. The Dorothy Of Oz animated movie(set for 2012 release)has recently added Megan Hilty as the voice of China Princess, Hugh Dancy as Marshal Mallow of the Candy Country, Oliver Platt as the owl Wiser, and Patrick Stewart as Tugg the living tugboat. Disney is also looking over directors for its movie of Oz, The Great And Powerful which tells of the Wizard's origins and how he came to Oz. Adam Shankman and Sam Mendes were thought to be up for the job, although recently its been stated that Sam Raimi has been offered it.

Emeralds issue #1 finally in!

2010-06-04T06:21:00.002-04:00

Emeralds: Hearts In Oz issue #1 is now finally completed. It is written by Jer Alford and drawn by Erin Ptah. Emeralds is a comic book series continuation of the original Oz books created by L. Frank Baum. It has Dorothy as one of the new Order the Witches which was formed to protect Oz. She is also a Princess of Oz, underneath Ozma, the rightful heir to the throne. Much has happened with the regular characters, many of whom have evolved over the years. Their relationships with each other have also gone through changes too. Issue #1 is now available. We're planning 4 issues altogether, so please keep up the support!

Emeralds: Hearts In Oz issue #1=$4.00
(32 pages long)

Book Review: Visitors From Oz

2010-06-01T18:15:00.007-04:00

I was about halfway through reading this fine book for the first time, when I was shocked to hear that the author Martin Gardner had recently passed away. He was a mathmetictian and author, but most noted for his work on Alice In Wonderland titled The Annotated Alice. He was also a big fan of L. Frank Baum, to which he did a retrospective in his book The Wizard Of Oz And Who He Was. Gardner later wrote this book for the 100th anniversary of the original Wizard Of Oz.

Set in modern day(when it came out it was 1999), movie director Samuel Gold wants to do a film based on The Emerald City Of Oz, so of course he tries getting Dorothy to help make it. He manages to email Glinda(who apparently was set up with AOL)and arranges for her to come to America, although Glinda had Oz sealed away from the rest of the world at the end of The Emerald City Of Oz, so she arranges for Ku-Klip(Tin Man's old tinsmith)to create a Klein Bottle to bridge the gap between to Oz and Earth. A "Klein Bottle" is like an inter-dimensional Mobius strip. They find that they have to install the bottle in the town of Ballville in order to be able to make it to America, so Dorothy along with Scarecrow and Tin Man head out to Ballville with the bottle. Along the way, they discover a doorway leading to Wonderland(yes, that Wonderland)and decide to give it a look. Once there, they find out the inhabitants there aren't as mad as Lewis Carroll advertised. After they come back from there, they have a run in with a pushy giant, but manage to finally make it to New York which is where the Klein Bottle leads to. They befriend Samuel Gold, however soon learn that he is not the most loved movie producer in town. His rival, Buffalo Boggs, is planning his own sketchy production of Peter Pan, so he sends two goons to try and snuff out Dorothy and Co. After a few failed attempts, Dorothy uses the Water of Oblivion to erase the goons and Boggs' memories. So, Dorothy goes back to Oz, Gold makes his movie, and Martin Gardner breaks the fourth wall by being called in to write a book about the whole thing.

I'd say that this was a pretty good Oz story, at least taking into account the history of the original books, although its seems a little convenient that a portal to Wonderland is located in Oz. But its a nice use of the characters, and puting them in present day America. I'd very much recommend this for hardcore Ozians.

New Tin Woodman trailer

2010-05-28T19:18:00.000-04:00

Hash Inc. recently posted this new trailer for their completed CGI-animates version of Tin Woodman Of Oz.

Wizard Of Oz in 4-D

2010-05-26T04:29:00.001-04:00

Madame Tuessaunds in NewYork is going to have a special Wizard Of Oz exhibition called The Wizard Of Oz: 4-D Experience this summer to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the 1939 movie.

Wicked book review

2010-05-24T02:28:00.003-04:00

The crew from Spine Breakers recently did this review of the Wicked book by Gregory Maquire.

Emeralds Influences: Dorothy

2010-05-21T07:34:00.005-04:00

The concept of a young girl being taken from her own world and thrown into a realm of fantasy and adventure is hardly a new idea, least of all in anime. If its not magical girls coming to Earth from Heaven or somewhere, then its the reverse of having girls from modern day Earth being sent to someplace like Wonderland. Once they're there, they usually do quite alot of growing up by becoming more responsible, usually because they were the key figure in some epic struggle of good vs. evil. Alot of these characters were influential to me when I was shaping my version of Dorothy, who is kinda the original "girl lost in space and time". One of the main ones was Hitomi from Vision Of Escaflowne. Hitomi is a highschool girl with the power to see people's fortune with tarot cards, and sometimes gets visions that warn her of impending danger(kinda like Spider-Sense). She gets sent to the world of Gaea which is a missing moon from Earth, and helps the handsome young prince Van in his struggle to liberate Gaea from the ruthless Zaibach empire. Hitomi uses her clairvoyant abilities to help Van and his friends, while dueling with her feelings for Van and the handsome knight Allen. The TV series has alot in common with Oz, including an enigmatic wizard/ruler, a lion man, and a young maiden who was unknowingly transformed into a boy. There was a movie remake too titled Escaflowne that remade Hitomi into a suicidal girl who comes to terms with her existence after her trip ot Gaea, where she's seen as a goddess.Another one worth mentioning(and that most Americans are familiar with)is Kagome from Inu-Yasha. Kagome is the modern day reincarnation of a priestess from fuedal Japan, of which she ends up going back to the past via a time-travelling well that only works for her, and meets up with a half-demon dogboy. On her frequent trips to the past, Kagome becomes psychically aware of the magical energies alive during this time, particularly from the ancient Shikon Jewel. This series went on for over 100 episodes, and was recently brought back under the new title, Inu-Yasha: The Final Act, which concludes the story. A final contender is Hikaru from Magic Knight Rayearth who is one of three girls who are transported to the world of Cephiro, and have to become the Magic Knights in order to save the Princess Emeraude from a supposedly evil priest. Along the way, Hitomi with her friends Umi and Fuu mature as characters, and become great friends despite never knowing each other before. Once their original journey ends(without giving away any spoilers!), Hikari and Co. get sent back to Tokyo, but return for the second season where they protect Cephiro from a new threat. This is a little where I came up with the idea of Dorothy, Trot, and Betsy Bobbin becoming witches to protect Oz. There is a darker OVA remake of this anime titled simply Rayearth about a slightly older Hikaru trying to stop the forces of Cephiro from invading Earth. I could name a few other anime characters similar to Dorothy, like Chihiro from Spirited Away, but these particular three really made a big influence in my ideas for Dorothy.

Video Review: Heartless-The Story Of The Tin Man

2010-05-14T07:42:00.005-04:00

Whitestone Motion Pictures has completed their independent movie of Heartless-The Story Of The Tin Man. This short film deals with the origins of the Tin Woodman, or as he's original known, Nick Chopper.

In the movie he's simply called the woodsman. He is courting a maiden(who is revealed to be Nimmee Amee in The Tin Woodman Of Oz), and plans to marry her. The maiden's mother wants her daughter to marry a man of wealth, so she makes a deal with the Wicked Witch of the East to stop their affair. The Witch puts a curse on the axe to cut into its user. When the woodsman injures his arm, he has a master craftsmen(Ku-Klip)fit him with a new metallic arm. The woodsman eventually looses his other arm, his legs, and then his head. But when the axe finally cuts into his chest, his heart is destroyed, and the craftsman then gives him a psuedo-heart. Even though from this point, the Tin Man begins to nothing but continue chopping down trees for the house he was originally planning on building for himself and the maiden. However, he completely forgets his reasons for doing so, and ultimately rejects the maiden who pours her heart out to him. The Tin Man then rusts after getting caught out in the rain, but is released years later by Dorothy and the Scarecrow.

The movie is very well put together, and is delivered as a tragic fairy tale. A serious effort was made to make this seem like a steampunk-inspired production, with a fine set of actors and haunting soundtrack. The movie is currently available for download, with plans to put it in DVD too. The soundtrack is also available for download.

Emeralds ID tags now available

2010-05-11T05:22:00.001-04:00

We now have a limited edition line of Emeralds ID tags in. Each one is sized 3x4 inches in plastic with a clip and features one of the original "Gang of 4" with their own personal motto. Each one is $2.00. When ordering, please indicate which one(s) you want. These are available only for a short time, so get yours now!

Book Review: Lost In Oz-Rise Of The Dark Wizard

2010-05-06T07:32:00.010-04:00

The second in the Lost In Oz trilogy by Joshua Dudley takes place a few months after the original book left off.

Joshua and his other Oz tourist group are now in the Mifkets Asylum, along with Alice from Wonderland(shades of American McGee's Alice?). Tamara, Tommy, and Laura manage to get back to Oz along with Dorothy via her magic slippers. Once there, they learn that about a century has passed, and Oz has been dominated by a new evil overlord called the Dark Wizard. They ally themselves with a group of fairies lead by the mischevious Pina, who are really working for the Dark Wizard, which Dorothy discovers, but the pixies use some amnesia magic on her to make her forget. Meanwhile, to double his chances of total victory the Dark Wizard has resurrected Bastinda(the Wicked Witch of the West), and plans to find the Great Book of Records to rewrite all the great disasters of Oz into one killstroke. But he also needs to acquire the Candle of Truth in order to do this. Back on Earth, Joshua befriends Wogglebug who was sent to him by Ozma and the remaining Ozians from the original timeline. He warps back to Oz with Toto, and is introduced to Oz's heroes, including Glinda, Tattypoo, Tik-Tok, a resewn Scraps, and the new Good Witch of the West. Tamara and the others are surrounded by the Nome King and his troops, where Tamara learns that she can use dark sorcery to ward off the nome army. Bastinda summons the Jabberwocky from Wonderland to collect Dorothy and Tommy, leaving Laura behind and seemingly dead. Tamara follows them, only to learn that the Dark Wizard is really her father from Earth, who convinces her to use her newfound powers for the side of evil. Ozma informs Joshua that the Dark Wizard plans to kill both him and Tamara so he can gain both of their powers. Joshua leaves to confront Tamara about this, who transports them to the Dark Wizard. Bastinda in the meantime gets the magic slippers from Dorothy, which end up to turning her into ashes. Tamara them reveals that she was only faking being evil to learn the Dark Wizard's plan, and they manage to use the Candle of Truth to send them back to Earth just before they first arrived in Oz. Alive and well, things seem okay, but a whole bunch of tornados show up like they did at the beginning of the first book.

This book had a little more of an original adventure than the first one, and not just an alternate walkthrough of The Wizard Of Oz. Although there's a few things that were left out, like how realms like Wonderland are connected, plus the regular characters(both original and from Oz)don't seem to have room to develop very much. It's like we're introduced to Gloma(the new Witch of the West)but given no backstory on her, plus one of the original four characters from the first book just gets killed off because she didn't have much anything else to do in the story. Anyway, if the first volume peaked your interest, then you'll probably dig this one too. This leads into the upcoming third and final book, Temple Of The Deadly Desert. Plans are also in the works to do a Lost In Oz comic series too.

Book Review: Lost In Oz

2010-04-26T06:10:00.007-04:00

So let's say that somehow you ended up going back in time and screwed up history(like in Back To The Future: Part II). That's more or less the premise for Lost In Oz, a trilogy by Joshua Dudley. While having no relation to the Lost In Oz TV pilot by David Hayter, or the original movie idea by Tim Burton, this book was concieved as an original idea, but still catering to fans of the original Oz book series.

First set in modern day, Joshua(named after the author), his twin sister Tamara, along with their schoolfriends Tommy and Laura are suprised to find themselves hurled to Oz. Once there, they run into Dorothy who has just befriended Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion. They are all on their way to see the Wizard, so Jousha and his crew have not only travelled to another realm, but gone back in time to when Dorothy first arrived in Oz in 1899. Plus, their initlal encounter with her has caused a whole new timeline to occur. Joshua and Tamara have an arguement, which causes the two girls to go stalking after Dorothy so they can find a way home, while Joshua and Tommy get left behind. Joshua can keep up with them though because his copy of the actual Wizard Of Oz book is now narrating what is going in Oz similar to Glinda's Great Book of Records. After encountering some flesh-eating merfolk(in Oz?), Joshua and Tommy meet Jack Pumpkinhead who was apparently sent back in time from some point of the original timeline that still exists, and tells Joshua he is part of some cryptic prophecy. Tamara and Laura get kidnapped by Bastinda, the Wicked Witch of the West, who Joshua and Tommy find out has been fronting as the actual Wizard as well. They learn of the girls' abduction and head out to the Witch's castle, only to run into another time-displaced character, Scraps, who is unfortunately torn apart by the flying monkeys. They are also captured while trying to save the girls, where Joshua meets Oscar Diggs(the actual Wizard). He reveals to Joshua that Bastinda was his wife from America who came to Oz with him, and she gained magical powers along with her sister to become the Wicked Witches. This isn't even more shocking as the fact that Joshua is their son, who was sent to America as a child, and his "sister" Tamara with her family were enchanted to thinking he was her twin. Oscar then just disitegragtes, leaving Joshua to reconsider Jack's prophecy. Tamara frees Joshua after Dorothy melts Bastinda. The foursome then decide to just tail Dorothy and her friends to Glinda's palace and try to catch a ride home from her when she "clicks her heels three times". However, they end up in their time about two years after they first left and have been presumed missing. They end up getting admitted into a asylum, where they meet a young girl named Alice chasing a rabbit. Now in case your wondering, yes this is the Alice from Wonderland, which crosses-over in the next volume of the series, Rise Of The Dark Wizard.

The second book is now out, with the third one, Temple Of The Deadly Desert, due out early next year. Currently, there are copies for sale through most regular sellers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It's also available on Lulu along with a Special Edition available only for download. The book itself is in a regular paperback edition as well as a deluxe paperback.

I am Iron Man, the Great and Powerful!

2010-04-22T06:47:00.006-04:00

According to First Showing, Robert Downey Jr. might star in an upcoming Sam Mendes movie titled Oz The Great And Powerful. Mendes was originally going to do the next James Bond film, although that's been put on hiatus because of MGM's financial problems. This new project was first slated under the title Brick which was written by Mitchell Kapner who did The Whole Nine Yards, and is being produced by Joe Roth. Downey has been offered the role of the Wizard, which in this movie is supposed to be a prequal to the original Wizard Of Oz story that tells of the title character's life prior to coming to Oz and how he became the "man behind the curtain".

Behind-the-scenes of Heartless

2010-04-19T08:07:00.002-04:00

Whitestone Motion Pictures recently posted this behind-the-scenes footage from their upcoming movie, Heartless, based on the Tin Woodman's origin.

They also posted some info on the movie sountrack, and you can download a track from it here.

Limited edition Dorothy/Ozma posters!

2010-04-17T04:43:00.014-04:00

Hi. We recently came up with some Emeralds promo posters for a convention appearance. We're now offering these Dorothy/Ozma prints for a limited time for $3.00 each. They are 8 X 10 and laminated. You can order them directly through Paypal.

The Oz Film Manufacturing Company trilogy

2010-04-10T08:59:00.011-04:00

During the mid-1910s, L. Frank Baum took it upon himself to make independent live-action silent movies based on his Oz books. He set up the Oz Film Manufacturing Company in California. Three movies that were made back then have survived today.

The first one was The Patchwork Girl Of Oz which was based on the book of the same name. It only skewes a little from the original story by making Jinjur an antogonist in it, plus creating characters like Dr. Pipt's daughter Jesseva and her fiance Danx. Two other original characters who actually appear in a few of the other OFMC movies are the mule Mewel, and the strange creature called the Zoop who resembles a monkey mixed with a Chinese dragon. Following this was The Magic Cloak Of Oz which was inspired by Baum's novel, Queen Zizi Of Ix. It has was no direct connection to Oz, even though the country of Ix that it takes place in borders Oz. The only regular Oz character in it is the Woozy returning from the last movie, along with Mewel and Zoop. The last one was His Majesty, The Scarecrow Of Oz, which later became the basis for Baum's book, The Scarecrow Of Oz. It originally combined elements of Wizard Of Oz and Land Of Oz. It introduces Button Bright as an original character, plus Dorothy's first appearance in the OFMC trilogy, but this time she's profiled as being a girl from Kansas who is enslaved to the witch Mombi(how she got to Oz is never explained). Tin Man plays a significant part in the story too. The movie was originally retitled The New Wizard Of Oz in order to attract a larger audience.

On their own, these films manage to capture alot of the whimsy of the Ozbooks that alot of other movies haven't. There's several versions of these films on DVD, usually along with the 1925 The Wizard Of Oz movie. One is Wizard Of Oz: The Lost L. Frank Baum Versions, The Wizard Of Oz Collection, and The World Of Oz. I'd highly recommend that you check these out sometime, either DVD or online.

Wicked: Year 4

2010-04-10T06:22:00.001-04:00

According to recent reports, Gregory Maguire is currently working on the 4th installment of the Wicked Years series. This originally started in 1995 with Wicked, followed by Son Of A Witch, and A Lion Amoung Men. The working title for the next book will be Out Of Oz, which will apparently start with the character of Glinda under house arrest by the Emporer Apostle(aka: the Wicked Witch's younger brother). The book is planned for an Oct. 2010 release.

Stitchpunks in Oz

2010-04-07T09:12:00.005-04:00

Since the movie 9 came out, there's been a surge of the term "stitchpunk". This basically refers to any kind of sewn-together creation brought to life by some means. The actual word comes mainly from the Stitchpunk characters from 9 who are small robots with a body made of fabric resembling gloves, sacks, and other materials. Other examples would be the original stitch-monster Frankenstein, Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands, plus Sally and Oogie Boogie from Nightmare Before Christmas. It could be argued that living doll characters like Raggedy Ann or Chucky from Child's Toy could also count.

In the case of Oz, the accounting of characters like Jack Pumpkinhead and Sawhorse who were inanimate objects brought to life is slightly along the lines of stitchpunk, but mainly Scarecrow and Scraps the Patchwork Girl are Oz's resident "stitchies".

Scarecrow was an ordinary scarecrow who was somehow given life, even though he didn't have a brain. In some versions of the story, it turned out his essense was really the displaced spirit of either a dead farmer or the ruler of an underground kingdom, while in some others he was animated magically by Dorothy's will. Scraps on the other hand was created by Dr. Pipt using the Powder of Life(which was also used for Jack Pumpkinhead and Sawhorse), and meant to be a servant for his wife, but some added brains by Ojo made her alot more independent. While its been hinted that both Scarecrow and Scraps are a little sweet on each other, its nice to think that these two might get together and raise a future generation of stitchpunks someday.

Voice actors wanted for Oz fan film

2010-04-02T18:24:00.000-04:00

Wicked12396 is holding auditions for voice actors in their upcoming original Sim movie of Oz which will apparently incoroporate some aspects of Wicked too.