Dorothy and friends face more challenges on their way to Oz. This issue includes the dangers of falling asleep in a magical poppy field.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz #3
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Eric Shanower
Artist: Skottie Young
Colorist: Jean-Francois Beaulieu
Letterer: Jeff Eckleberry
Summary: The journey of Dorothy, Toto, the Tin Woodman, The Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion along the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City of Oz continues peacefully until they encounter the Kalidahs! These fierce creatures with heads of tigers, bodies of bears and sharp claws launch a ferocious attack against the quintet! It will take every resource they can muster for the ragtag bunch to survive this deadly encounter.
Review: Even though Dorothy and the Lion are driven into uncontrollable slumber by the field of poppies, readers will not find any part of issue #3 snooze-inducing. This issue shows the friends facing uncertain doom over and over again keeping interest of readers of all ages.
By this point it should become evident that the characteristics the individuals believe they are lacking are actually part of them already; but that isn’t something they’ll notice for a while and so they continue onward to see the powerful Oz so that they may be granted their wishes. So if this is a series you are sharing with a young reader you’ll have plenty of opportunity to highlight some valuable lessons. The Lion shows how important it is to protect those you love; the Woodsman proves that he is always resourceful by gathering wood to build a raft; the Scarecrow is selfless when he tells his friends to continue without him so that they may reach safe shores; Dorothy continues to illustrate her loyalty and friendship by not losing hope and using her brains to bargain with a heron to save the Scarecrow; and there are the little mice who don’t let their stature keep them from achieving great feats of strength.
One point of caution for the younger readers comes at the moment when the friends are crossing the field of poppies. A wildcat is seen chasing the Queen of Mice and the Tins Woodsman comes to her rescue by slaughtering the cat. The imagery is not as gruesome as what’s probably going to go through your mind but there is a panel showing the cat’s hind end and the onomatopoeia “THUK.”
May 4th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Can’t wait for the trade, w00t!
May 6th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
I was very surprised by the “THUK” myself.
May 12th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
To today’s sensabilities, the THUK and the killing of the wildcat may been brutal, but in Baum’s day (1900) the Fairytales were VERY violent
as this was the pre-Disney sugar coating, and Baum intended the Wizard of Oz to be fun and devoid of the violence kid’s saw in other tales at the time. His later Oz books were much less violent, owing to Ozma being very much a pacifist.