Marvel Comics
Eric Shanower, writer
Skottie Young, artist
This is the fourth limited series Marvel has produced adapted from the original Oz series of children's books by L. Frank Baum. They've all been by this same creative team, lending continuity of art and appearance for the recurring characters. Shanower is well known for doing other Oz-related works, all quite faithful to the original novels.
In a nutshell, if you've only seen the late 1930s Judy Garland movie (not to knock that classic film), you don't know the entire story of the first book as Dorothy visits many strange lands within Oz besides the Emerald City and the Wicked Witch of the West's castle. But then there is a whole series of books describing Dorothy's various return visits to Oz, meeting even more fantastic creatures, as well as checking in on the Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman and the Lion.
In this series, for instance, Dorothy has been visiting relatives out in California with her Uncle Henry when an earthquake opens up a hole the poor girl falls into. She falls for what seems like a long time along with her kitten, Eureka, a cousin, Zeb, and Zeb's horse, Jim. When they finally come to land, quite safely as it happens, they find themselves in the land of the Mangaboos. Shortly, as the title might have already indicated, the Wizard shows up, having floated into another earthquake-produced hole in his famous hot-air balloon. The small party continues to journey through a number of other strange lands as they try to make their way back to the surface of the earth.
These stories are quite entertaining for an adult, but they are equally appropriate for children, not always the case with some comics these days. Check them out!
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