A comic book adaptation of the original novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum. Written by Eric Shanower and illustrated by Skottie Young.

The story follows an orphaned 12 year old girl named Dorothy. She lives in a farmhouse “in the midst of the great Kansas prairies” with her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em. On one stormy day the farmhouse, with Dorothy in it, is caught up in a cyclone and carried far away to the mysterious land of Oz. In order to return to Kansas, Dorothy must travel to the Emerald City and ask the great Wizard of Oz to help her. And so begins her journey.

If you are only familiar with the story from The Wizard of Oz movie, then you’ll find this to be quite different. I never personally read the original but it’s said that this is a faithful adaptation of it.

The writing was a bit simplistic, even repetitive at times. It felt as though I was forcing myself to read through each page. In all fairness, though, the original is in fact a children’s novel. Despite this, I think it’s still a good enough read for young teens/adults (I’m 22 myself).

The art is what really got my attention. At first glance I fell in love. Every single scene is remarkably beautiful. If this book had no words at all, you could still enjoy seeing the pages come to life as the story progressed through each panel.

All of the characters are drawn so lovingly and with much detail. I defy anyone to look at Dorothy in this book and not have your heart melt for her.

“Dorothy is the soul of this story and if I couldn’t convince you to love her within two seconds of seeing her on the page, then I should take another job.” – Skottie Young

I hope in the near future the collaborative team of Shanower and Young work on other projects. I would love to see them adapt Alice in Wonderland (or Fantastic Mr. Fox) with the same art style that this book has.

Head on over to Amazon and buy the hard cover edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Or visit your local comic book shop.

My only gripe is with the hard cover edition. It has the usual dust jacket thing glued onto it. It makes it feel a little cheap. I wish the art had been printed on the actual cover. I’ve always hated those plastic dust sleeves but maybe that’s just me. The book is still worth the money.