Sis Sez Sunday - 31

Sis is really up a tree in this week's Sis Sez! But it sure seems to me that tree climbing is better exercise than those boring squats the other girls are doing. Go figure!

This installment of Marge and Ruth Plumly Thompson's SIS SEZ page first appeared in King Comics, No. 32, in November 1938. If you love Marge's Little Lulu you're sure to get a kick out of Sis!

Please note that if you click on the image it will expand to a full-size version which will make it much easier to read! All of the other blog images will similarly enlarge.

There's No Place Like Nome

I thought you might like a sneak-peek at the cover for Ozma of Oz No. 5, coming soon from Eric Shanower and Skottie Young.

I think Skottie's nomes are great! They look cute and malevolent at the same time - a perfect combination for Baum's Nomes. I also love that they seem like first cousins of the Lorax.

Remember that you can order signed copies of both The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and The Marvelous Land of Oz  at our on-line store. It's easy! In the "Special Instructions" box simply let us know that you'd like your books signed and if you'd like them personalized to someone in particular.

I'll say NOME more!

Eric Goes to the Opera

Many of you know that I am a big opera fan and that Turandot is one of my favorites. A quick count shows I own eleven different Turandots on CD, a couple on LP, and several videos. Turandot was also my thesis project at Yale when I got my MFA. I am also working in the make-up department on San Diego Opera's current production of Turandot, which opens tomorrow night. In any case, you can see, I'm rather a Turandot fan.

So I find it very neat (if slightly weird) to write a blog post about my partner Eric Shanower's Turandot sketches! Here's what happened: San Diego Opera's outreach department reached out to the local comic book artist community. Eric and other comics creators were invited to the first dress-rehearsal of Turandot and asked to sketch, make art, be inspired by what they saw and heard.

The result is posted on Aria Serious? which is San Diego Opera's blog. There are a lot of cool sketches and a short interview with Eric, too. Go check it out!

I don't know how many tickets are still available - Turandot is a popular opera - but if you're in San Diego (or the vicinity), I'd suggest checking it out. It's an ideal opera for beginners, too: good story, lovely tonal music, lots to look at, a hit aria you'll recognize, and much more. Click here to go to San Diego Opera's main website.

FABLES 101 - Monkey See, Monkey Do!

For all my readers that love both Oz and comics, a special treat hit comic stores yesterday -  issue No. 101 of the much-loved Vertigo series Fables. 

This issue of Fables begins a new Oz-related storyline. And what better way to begin an Oz storyline than to have Eric Shanower draw it! The issue begins with Bufkin (the former Winged Monkey) and Frankie and the Magic Mirror trapped in the Business Office, all suitably presented in office-like sepia tones. Soon Bufkin is climbing into a technicolor adventure - where, before long, he finds himself in the Land of Ev, almost home to Oz.

Bufkin joins up with Jack Pumpkinhead, the Sawhorse, and the Glass Cat, and the fun begins. But I'll say no more. Go get a copy!

You might want to check out this blog post from last month, too, where we showed the cover and one of Shanower's penciled panels.

Don't Write in Your Books!

This week Jared Davis's Royal Blog of Oz reviewed Ruth Plumly Thompson's 1934 Oz book, Speedy in Oz. I agree with his appraisal - the book is one of Thompson's better Oz books, and it was supposedly her own favorite.

About fifteen years ago two Oz friends, David and Douglas Greene, decided to sell their very substantial Baum and Oz collection. Many of their Thompson Oz books had been personally inscribed, and I knew I wanted one. As you've probably surmised by now, I chose to focus my limited financial resources on their copy of Speedy in Oz.

Besides just wanting an inscribed copy of one of my RPT favorites, I also chose this copy because it was in virtually like-new condition and in dustjacket. I was also greatly pleased that this book had been signed to "David" Greene, and not to his twin brother, Douglas. This way I can kinda sorta pretend it was signed to me (since I'm named David).

Thompson wrote a rhyming inscription: "When it comes to good reading, adventures, and fun, the kingdom of Oz, Dave, is second to none! Cheeriest wishes from all the Oz folk and Ruth Plumly Thompson."

Thompson also scribbled a bit on the ownership page. After the printed This Book Belongs to she has written in David Greene! She then drew three little stick-figure sketches of a man all excited in Dave's behalf. I bet you didn't know RPT ever drew any sequential art!

Sis Sez Sunday - 30

Well, Sis has a new "do" this week - and Bill seems a little speechless! Personally, If i were him I wouldn't be so judgmental about hairstyles...

This installment of Marge and Ruth Plumly Thompson's SIS SEZ page first appeared in King Comics, No. 31, in October 1938. If you love Marge's Little Lulu you're sure to get a kick out of Sis!

Please note that if you click on the image it will expand to a full-size version which will make it much easier to read! All of the other blog images will similarly enlarge.

Size Matters

I got a question in the Comments field of yesterday's post, asking what size the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman sculpts were. A picture is supposed to be worth a thousand words, so here's a picture of the two. I hope it will give a proper sense of scale - as well as letting you see the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman side-by-side. As usual, you can click on the image to enlarge it.Click on either this Scarecrow link or this Tin Woodman link to reread the original blogs.

Scarecrow or Bust!

A couple weeks ago I showed you a little prototype Tin Woodman bust based on Eric Shanower's Oz character designs.Today you can check out the companion sculpt of the Scarecrow. As I mentioned on the Tin Woodman post, these two collector's busts never got beyond the prototype stage.

---

Our sale of the week features all three of our Wonderland of Oz titles at 20% off! Hungry Tiger Press has been restoring this long-lost comic strip and we currently have three volumes available: The Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz, and The Emerald City of Oz. Click on any of the titles to take a look!

Classics and Comics

Here's a heads up to all of our Age of Bronze and Eric Shanower fans! Oxford University Press has just released Classics and Comics, a critical study of the way the comics medium has dealt with classical texts and mythologies. Of special interest to our readers is a 12 page comics-essay written and drawn by Eric Shanower.

Here's a bit more from Oxford's website:

"Since at least 1939, when daily-strip caveman Alley Oop time-traveled to the Trojan War, comics have been drawing on material from Greek and Roman myth, literature and history. At times the connection is cosmetic - as perhaps with Wonder Woman's Amazonian heritage - and at times it is almost irrelevant - as with Hercules' starfaring adventures in the 1982 Marvel miniseries. But all of these make implicit or explicit claims about the place of classics in modern literary culture.

"Classics and Comics is the first book to explore the engagement of classics with the epitome of modern popular literature, the comic book. The volume collects sixteen articles, all specially commissioned for this volume, that look at how classical content is deployed in comics and reconfigured for a modern audience. It opens with a detailed historical introduction surveying the role of classical material in comics since the 1930s. Subsequent chapters cover a broad range of topics, including the incorporation of modern theories of myth into the creation and interpretation of comic books, the appropriation of characters from classical literature and myth, and the reconfiguration of motif into a modern literary medium. Among the well-known comics considered in the collection are Frank Miller's 300 and Sin City, DC Comics' Wonder Woman, Jack Kirby's The Eternals, Neil Gaiman's Sandman, and examples of Japanese manga. The volume also includes an original 12-page "comics-essay," drawn and written by Eisner Award-winning Eric Shanower, creator of the graphic novel series Age of Bronze."

Below you can see a sample page from Eric's comics-essay. It's really great! As you can see, it's a sort of drawn-documentary on the creation of Age of Bronze and it's narrated by a cartoon version of Eric Shanower himself!  I highly recommend the book - please note that it is available in both hardcover and paperback. The hardcover is ridiculously expensive! The paperback on Amazon is a bargain! 

Sis Sez Sunday - 29

Gosh, I wish I had Sis's Medical Plan!

This installment of Marge and Ruth Plumly Thompson's SIS SEZ page first appeared in King Comics, No. 30, in September 1938. If you love Marge's Little Lulu you're sure to get a kick out of Sis!

Please note that if you click on the image it will expand to a full-size version which will make it much easier to read! All of the other blog images will similarly enlarge.

---

Our sale of the week features all three of our Wonderland of Oz titles at 20% off! Hungry Tiger Press has been restoring this long-lost comic strip and we currently have three volumes available: The Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz, and The Emerald City of Oz. Click on any of the titles to take a look!

Emerald City Post Office

Many Oz tchotchke collectors have a fondness for the dozens and dozens of Wizard of Oz ornaments and memorabilia that have been issued by Hallmark Cards. But perhaps one of the earliest is this little-known set of Emerald City stationery.

It seems like few Oz collectors are even aware of it, and I have yet to see it turn up on eBay or an Oz club auction. But in any case, here it is in today's blog. I think it's very attractive!

I love the illustration. While the image is clearly inspired by the MGM Emerald City, it was not an MGM licensing deal, but a Hallmark produced original. The artwork on the folder is signed "R. Hass." There is no copyright date on the set, but I believe I got it around 1979 after hearing about it from long-time Oz Club secretary Fred Meyer. I immediately sat down with the yellow pages and called every Hallmark store in Albuquerque (where I grew up), asking if they had a set - only one store did, and they had only one set.

Inside the handsome folder (shown above) were envelopes in two different shades of green and sixteen pieces of printed Emerald City writing paper (shown below).

The downside of e-mail is we don't see much Ozzy stationery anymore. But then again, I obviously didn't use my set for writing letters! Go figure!

---

Our sale of the week features all three of our Wonderland of Oz titles at 20% off! Hungry Tiger Press has been restoring this long-lost comic strip and we currently have three volumes available: The Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz, and The Emerald City of Oz. Click on any of the titles to take a look!

Tik-Tok Does Havana

With all the excitement swirling around Eric Shanower's and Skottie Young's wonderful adaptation of Ozma of Oz from Marvel Comics, I thought I'd take a minute to share another comics adaptation of Ozma of Oz from eighty years earlier!

This of course is The Wonderland of Oz, the comic strip by Walt Spouse, which adapted Baum's Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz, Emerald City of Oz, Patchwork Girl of Oz, and Tik-Tok of Oz in the early 1930s.

Shown at right is a sample of the rare Spanish version of Wonderland published in Cuba in 1932. The Cubans printed it with minimal color. In the US, the strip was black and white and ran in daily newspapers, four panels per strip.

Spouse also didn't use word balloons, instead printing large blocks of text below each panel. As always, you can click on any image to enlarge it.

Hungry Tiger Press has been restoring this long-lost comic strip and we currently have three volumes available: The Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz, and The Emerald City of Oz. Click on any of the titles to take a look!

This week only, we are offering all three Wonderland of Oz titles at 20% off! It's a great chance to discover the very first comics adaptation of the Oz books!

And for our Hungry Tiger Press reissue, Eric Shanower has prepared a new script - based on Baum's original text - that uses traditional word balloons.

Both Land and Ozma also include short appendices featuring samples of the strip as it originally ran in the newspapers and also as it appeared in its collection in the strip-reprint book The Funnies. I'll give you a few more cool peeks into the Wonderland of Oz later in the week!

Click here to visit our on-line store!

Cats and Dogs

I have always liked W. W. Denslow's illustrations. Even when I was little, I found his work very appealing. He had a uniqueness of vision and a vitality that is very engaging. Over the years I have built up a decent collection of Denslow material, including several original drawings.

A few years ago I was offered an original drawing from Denslow's 1903 picture book The House that Jack Built. I snapped it up. The drawing shows the cat, that caught the rat, that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built; as well as the dog, that chased the cat, that caught the rat, that ate the malt ... etc.

In the book (at right) the illustration is printed in color. You will see several modifications in the printed illustration: the line work of the dog is printed in gray, and the square box Denlsow drew has been rendered as a simple orange shape with no outline. In the original (above) you can see the little corner mark Denslow used to indicate where the text should be placed. 

The cat from this illustration was reused on the cover of Denslow's Picture Book Treasury, published in 1990 by Aracde, an imprint of Little Brown and Co. (see below)

So here ends the blog, about the art, that showed the dog, that chased the cat, that caught the rat, that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built!

Sis Sez Sunday - 28

If the shoe fits ... well, Sis has some thoughts on that!

This installment of Marge and Ruth Plumly Thompson's SIS SEZ page first appeared in King Comics, No. 30, in September 1938. If you love Marge's Little Lulu you're sure to get a kick out of Sis!

Please note that if you click on the image it will expand to a full-size version which will make it much easier to read! All of the other blog images will similarly enlarge.

Old-Style Fairyland Too Remote, Says "Oz" Man

Today's blog features a fascinating interview with L. Frank Baum from an unidentified San Francisco newspaper in 1913. The original article contains a number of errors. Baum refers to Maxfield Parrish illustrating Father Goose when in fact Parrish illustrated Baum's Mother Goose in Prose. The producer of the 1903 Wizard of Oz musical should be Fred Hamlin, not Frank Hamlin. Baum's colorful exaggerations have been left to stand on their own. Enjoy!

 L. Frank Baum, the man who invented the word “Oz” and all the lovely images that go with it, didn't seem at all worried at noon today over the fact that his brand new musical extravaganza, The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, was to have its first performance tonight.

Baum sat in the office of the Cort Theater and gossiped about fairyland.

“I’ve written twenty-six books of fairy tales now,” he said, "and I suppose I'll write Oz stories until I die. The children won't let me write anything else; I tried another sort of fairyland once, but I got thousands of letters from children who said they wanted Oz and lots of it and nothing else."

Baum is entirely disrespectful toward the old style fairyland.

"I invented a fairyland that was a new sort of fairyland," said this modernized Hans Andersen. "The old-time winged fairies are all right, you know, but they're just a little beyond the children.

“I brought to life a whole lot of people that I hadn't any business to bring to life; but the children understood them. They could get on good terms with the clockwork man that wound up with a key; and the result is that, besides being about the only fairy tale writer in America today, I have sold more books than any other living writer. I am very close to the four million mark."

Baum's white vest, tall figure and good tailoring don't serve at all to smother the dry personality which he learned many years ago in Aberdeen, South Dakota. You can see the fairy tale writer in the extraordinarily mild pair of blue eyes which look straight at the person addressed.

THOSE FOUR "TADS.”

“Twenty years ago I was running a weekly paper in Aberdeen." said he. "I used to go out and rustle up my own ads and set 'em up, and when the tramp printer would desert me I would take a fling at the type case, and then I would go out and deliver the papers to my advertisers on a Saturday afternoon so I could collect enough money for a ham sandwich and a cup of coffee.

"And I had four little 'tads' and a big fireplace. We all used to lie on the floor around that fireplace, and I’d tell the 'tads' stories.

"One night my wife, who was sitting near sewing, said: 'Why don't you write some of those stories down? You might make some extra money by sending them to children’s papers.’ And extra money looked awfully large just then. "I wrote a book and sent it to a Boston publisher. A long time afterward I got a letter: 'My dear sir: After long consideration we have decided that we cannot bring out your book. You treat fairyland in too familiar a manner.’

“I let the book lie for a full year before I got over that. Then I picked it up and sent it to the Century Company. I hadn't any business to send anything there, but I did. Three days later I received a telegram: 'Book accepted.’ It sold like wildfire—selling yet."

OLD KING COLE.

The first book Maxfield Parrish ever illustrated was my Father Goose which I wrote next. You know that famous picture of 'Old King Cole’ of Parrish's? That was taken from my Father Goose and this was the book where he first showed those spires and distant castles which are characteristic of his work.

Ten years ago I was persuaded by Frank Hamlin to turn some of my stories into a play, and I wrote The Wizard of Oz, a musical extravaganza. This play isn't anything like the one I'm giving tonight, except that both are musical extravaganzas based on the Baum books. I wrote this last one at the request of Oliver Morosco. Now you know how much of a dramatist I am.

“I write one book a year: at times I have done a little more, but I find it is just that much more brain fag, and one a year just fits children's birthdays and Christmas presents. And one or two of my very best books are tucked away unpublished in safe deposit vaults, so as to give my family something to go on when I die. The children will take care of them."

Ozma and the Royal Historian

We've had very comical Wednesdays recently as two fine Oz comic books hit the stands! First up is Marvel's Ozma of Oz #3 from Skottie Young and Eric Shanower, which went on sale yesterday. It's a genuine treat as we get to see this Oz book favorite come to new life.

The issue begins with Tik-tok subduing the Wheelers and the short journey to the Palace of Ev. Skottie's ultra-zaftig Princess Langwidere, sitting in her mirrored hall, playing her mandolin, is especially cool! The images immediately made me think of Disney's Return to Oz, but it is straight out of Baum's text. The hundreds of framed round mirrors on walls, ceiling, and floor are great! This issue ends with the arrival of Princess Ozma and company on the magic carpet. Click here for a preview

Also out recently was Tommy Kovac's and Andy Hirsch's Royal Historian of Oz #3 from SLG. You'll be getting a full blog on this series in the next week or so - and writer Tommy Kovac will be a guest of honor at this year's Winkie Con! Here's a link to order directly from the publisher.

Remember, the best way to keep cool Oz comics coming out is to buy them and let your local comic store know you want them!

---

 Our Sale of the Week continues with The Living House of Oz  being offered at 25% off the cover price. Also, illustrator Eric Shanower will be happy to autograph any copy sold this week. You can request such in the "Special Instructions" field during check out. 

It's Alive! It's Alive!

One of the favorite books I've published is Edward Einhorn's The Living House of Oz. It's a very traditional Oz book in its way: it prominently features traditional Oz characters like Ozma and Glinda, we visit a small kingdom existing around a single theme, and both the adventure and whimsy quotients are high. But it is unusual in certain ways, too.

The main character is Buddy, a thirteen year old boy. Unlike most Oz book protagonists, Buddy is not from America and is not an orphan. He lives with his mother in a typical Oz house - typical in every way except that the house - and everything in it - is alive. But Buddy behaves like a real kid, with some growing pains and a family that's not perfect. One of the main themes of the story is a debate over whether Ozma's rule forbidding anyone except herself, the Wizard, and Glinda from practicing magic is fair. If you lived in Oz and could work magic, would you like to be forbidden from practicing your craft?

In the course of the book we revisit several Baumian places and peoples. This is one of the things I like best about the book. It adds a verisimilitude to the Ozian universe. In many Oz books - especially Thompson's- once we've visited an odd little town or village, we know we'll never hear of it again. It might as well have vanished once the adventurers have continued on their way. In Living House we encounter the former Flatheads, Reera the Red, the three Adepts, the Phanfasms, Tollydiggle the Jailor, and much more. We meet them again not just as Baum last showed them to us, but with a full recognition that life has continued on with these people in the last eighty or so years. Einhorn presents them as real people in a real Oz.

There are some serious issues discussed in the book, moral and social responsibility, good versus evil, ugly versus beautiful. But none of this is slathered on with a trowel. It's all perfectly balanced by the pervasive humor and exciting action. The Living House of Oz is still a book for kids - and kids at heart.

Eric Shanower provides beautiful illustrations. One of my favorite is the full-color endpaper design (below) showing all the inhabitants of the Living House whooping it up!

So come on, if you've never read it, give the book a try! To help things along in these tough times The Living House of Oz is being offered at 25% off the cover price for the next week.Also, illustrator Eric Shanower will be happy to autograph any copy sold this week. You can request such in the "Special Instructions" field during check out.

Take me to The Living House of Oz!

Illustrations © copyright 2005 by Eric Shanower.

Toy Tin Woodman Time

A number of years ago a nice company considered issuing collectible resin statuettes of Eric Shanower's versions of the Oz characters. A splendid idea, IMHO!

They were going to begin with the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman, the company got as far as having sculpts made, and even ran off a few plaster casts for exhibiting at trade shows and toy conventions. Then the project was abandoned.

The sculpts were great! They really did capture the essence of Eric Shanower's versions of the two characters. There was some debate over whether the finished statuettes should look like stone or be fully painted - the base was to be emerald green as I recall.

The next two characters were going to be Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion, and then the set might start to branch out with Princesss Ozma, Tik-Tok, Jack Pumpkinhead and the Patchwork Girl, etc.

Personally, my opinion was that starting with the main four characters was partially what killed the project. The point in licensing Eric Shanower's versions was to do sculpts of Baum's Oz, not the movie-loving general public's Oz. It seemed like the company loved the idea of presenting the "real" Oz characters - but then they tried to market them to the general public who mainly knew the film. The Scarecrow and Tin Woodman might have worked ok for that, but the next two scheduled were going to be a tough sell. The Cowardly Lion would just be a lion with a bow, and Dorothy a non-descript girl with short blonde hair.

I suggested they focus on the fantasy/sci-fi and comics market instead of the gift-shop trade they were looking at. I also suggested they might start with Princess Ozma in the first release - to clearly show where the series was going. But the project was abandoned and that's that.

But they do look great sitting on a book shelf!


 

Sis Sez Sunday - 27

Go West, Young Sis, Go West!

Yep, Sis is visiting a Dude Ranch! Yippee-ki-yay! Ride 'em, Sis, Ride 'em!

This installment of Marge and Ruth Plumly Thompson's SIS SEZ page first appeared in King Comics, No. 28, in July 1938. If you love Marge's Little Lulu you're sure to get a kick out of Sis!

Please note that if you click on the image it will expand to a full-size version which will make it much easier to read! All of the other blog images will similarly enlarge.