Comic Info
Comic Name: Road to Oz
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Eric Shanower
Artist: Skottie Young
# of Issues: 6
Release Date: 2013
Road to Oz #4
Reprints Road to Oz #1-6 (November 2012-May 2013) Dorothy meets a man called the Shaggy Man who wants to know the location of Butterfield, Kansas but find herself, Toto, and the Shaggy Man lost on another adventure. Picking up the puzzling child Button-Bright and finding the lost daughter of the Rainbow Polychrome, Dorothy and her friends find themselves in a land populated by talking foxes, human donkeys, and Scoodlers who can remove their heads. Their journey through the land leads to the transformation of Button-Bright and Shaggy Man and the hopes that they can reach the Land of Oz safely before Ozma’s big birthday celebration.
Adapted by Eric Shanower and illustrated by Skottie Young, Road to Oz is the Marvel illustrated version of Frank L. Baum’s 1909 Oz story. The original title was The Road to Oz but the “The” was drop for this adaptation. The story is the fifth in the series and follows the adaptation of Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz.
The fifth series in this line and the fifth novel in the collection features a classic Oz story. The story does have classic Baum problems, which are no fault of the writer Eric Shanower who has written Oz adaptations for years. Shanower does a great job telling the story of The Road to Oz and the presentation of Baum’s writing is faithful (complete with his pun word play which is one of the most identifiable styles of Baum).
Road to Oz #5
The series is a fun one in that it contains a lot of Baum’s non-Oz characters (many believe it was too boost the sales of Baum’s other books). Included at the party (which is pretty much the entire Road to Oz #6) is Santa Claus (from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus), John Dough and Chick the Cherub (from John Dough and the Cherub), Queen Dolly of Merryland (from Dot and Tot of Merryland) and Queen Zizi of Ix (from Queen Zixi of Ix), and Baum also threw in tons of Oz past favorites including Ev Royal Family (from Ozma of Oz) and the Braided Man of Pyramid Mountain (from Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz).
The series continues to hinge on Skottie Young’s art stylings. I love his weird and fun version of Oz. In particular to me in this volume is the return of Toto who he portrays as a Scottish terrier (the movie version of Toto was Cairn terrier)…I’m a sucker for Scotties so I have to say Toto it is great to see Toto back from the Wizard of Oz.
The Oz series by Marvel is a pretty brave endeavor. In a world of edgier children’s books, the Oz series is a bit of a throwback…nothing bad happens in Oz and you can even feel by reading the story that nothing will. The book lags a bit with the fox and donkey parts, and it is probably better read as a collection. Road to Oz is followed by The Emerald City of Oz.
