Thursday, April 19, 2012

The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West

Okay, there are now three issues out of this new take on Oz. Dorothy is a cowgirl who goes by "Gale" with a black horse named Toto and ruby spurs and guns she's picked up in this western wasteland known as Oz.

Gale is helped out by a tough old man who's nicknamed "Tin Man," and she helps free a timid lion from a saloon. She also meets an enigmatic native-American-looking girl who seems to be made of straw somehow.

Traveling to the big city to see the Wizard isn't easy, with many obstacles winking and nodding to Baum's original story, and we get Kalidahs and a surprise reference to The Patchwork Girl of Oz. It also doesn't help Gale that she's being tracked by a Wicked Witch.

A big complaint I've had with comics lately is too little story per issue, and it's felt keenly in the first two issues. The story has many nice set pieces, but the actual plot makes little development until issue three, the current, which finally kicks into gear and moves along at a rapid-fire pace.

I'll stick around for the remaining three issues. This take on Oz is unique and enjoyable, and the artwork is lovely. There's also a lot of variant covers for each issue, and they've confirmed that there will be a trade paperback for those who'd rather not collect individual issues or for the completist. And it seems that they'll put some extra content in there as well.

Well, let's see how this goes. We've got another lovely time with Oz comics with Marvel's series, the Dorothy of Oz prequel series, and this one, too.

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