Review: The O.Z. #1
- WRITER
- David Pepose
- Artist
- Ruben Rojas
- Letterer
- DC Hopkins
- Cover Artist
- Maan House, Ruben Rojas, Anna Wieszczyk, Kenneth Wagnon, Rio Burton, Whitney Cogar
- Price
- 10.00
- Colorist
- Whitney Cogar
While Frank L. Baum's The Wizard of Oz has thrilled readers of all ages for over a century, a distinction that has only skyrocketed since the 1939 film adaptation starring Judy Garland as protagonist Dorothy Gale. The classic fantasy story is reimagined as a nightmarish war zone in the new original graphic novel The O.Z. Vol. 1, by David Pepose and Ruben Rojas. Crowdfunded through Kickstarter this past August, the comic book is the first in a line that brings the latest generation of Gale women back to Oz that has unrecognizably transformed into a deliberately paced adventure while teasing a more explosive battle to come.
The O.Z. opens with Dorothy caring for her grandmother, the original protagonist of Baum's novel. While the elderly Dorothy has begun to decline to dementia, her granddaughter is recovering from post-traumatic stress disorder after fighting in Iraq while serving in the military. As the younger Dorothy endures a particularly dark episode in her personal struggle, she finds herself whisked up in a cyclone just like her grandmother before her decades ago. However, Oz is very much a far cry from the wonderful world that the first Dorothy and Toto had traversed all those years ago but is overrun by fiendish monsters in service of a familiar face that has taken on a tyrannical role over the land in the power void left by the Wicked Witch of the West and the Wizard of Emerald City.
Pepose makes it pretty clear from the jump that despite the original source material inspiration, this is going to be a dark, mature tale and he explores that grimmer subject matter early. That said, Pepose is also aware this is a story full of literal flying monkeys, animate scarecrows, and tin men; this is a war story but it's one firmly rooted in a fantasy world even if those yellow brick roads and emerald cities are a bit bombed out. Once the story really gets going and Dorothy acclimates to her strange surroundings, there is a lot of fun to be had but, the most unfortunate thing about this opening volume is that it stops just as the going gets really good. Leaving readers wanting more certainly isn't the worst thing in the world but the volume does come to an abrupt close.
Up and coming artist Ruben Rojas is joined by colorist Whitney Cogar to bring both Kansas and a vision of Oz gone wrong to life. Just like the scripting, the visuals take on a whole new energy when the action sequences kick in and once the characters get to Oz, the action comes in fast and furious. When the art team gets to design the fantastical figures that populate Oz, the artwork is at its finest. Cogar is drawing from a darker color palette, this is a world shrouded and descended into the shadows of war, making the flourishes of unearthly color really stand out.
The O.Z. is one of those tales that really does leave its readers wanting to see just how far the war-torn rabbit hole goes, to mix metaphors. Engrossing and emotional even before the new generation's Dorothy Gale finds herself in Oz, Pepose and Rojas know how to hook their audience as they find ways to breathe new life into the familiar story and setting. Hopefully, the wait won't be too long on a follow-up as there is plenty of creative mileage to explore in the dark, violent reimagining of Oz and its characters that the creative team has introduced.