Moebius 1938 - 2012

French edition of ELSEWHERE PRINCE

The comics world has suffered another important loss with the death of French cartoonist Jean Giraud - better known to most Americans as Moebius. Best known in the United States for his Western series Blueberry, Arzach, The Airtight Garage, and work on such films as Alien, Tron, Willow, and The Fifth Element. You can learn a bit more about his long and fascinating career by clicking here.

In the late 1980s Eric Shanower worked with Moebius on a six-issue comics series called The Elsewhere Prince, published in the US by Epic/Marvel. It was published simultaneously in France by Les Humanoides. Moebius had written the plot/storyline, the dialogue was written by Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier, and Eric drew it.

In 1989 Eric and I went to Europe for the first time and while we were in France we took the opportunity to visit Moebius in his apartment in Paris. It was a very pleasant afternoon.

Eric Shanower and Moebius (1989)

I have a small association with Moebius myself. When I was editing Oz-story I had the nerve to ask him for a cover drawing. He supplied a pen-and ink drawing of a young man gazing at a huge gemstone. It was suggested that it could be an emerald (as in the Emerald City), and I knew at once that this would give me the Ozzy Moebius cover I had wanted. Moebius was not free to paint the sketch so the task fell on me - making the cover of Oz-story No. 3 a Moebius/Maxine collaboration.

So long, Jean.

White Edition Wednesday - GLINDA

Last week we broke the spell of The Magic of Oz, so this week we must learn a new magical lesson from Glinda of Oz. But before we do I wanted to mention how happy I am that "White Edition Wednesday" has turned out to be so popular! Many of you probably expect this to be the last installment as we've now covered all fourteen Baum Oz books, but I have two more WEW blog-posts to write. So don't go away.

Now on to Glinda. The front cover is based on John R. Neill's original cover label from 1920. The most significant change is in Glinda's gown. In addition to making it a very appropriate red, Dick redrew the collar, adding a scalloped edge, shoulders, and a string of pearls. I think Dick Martin's new coloring has greatly improved the image. I like the light blue background better than the orange. Dick has given Dorothy a new green plaid for her dress, which successfully makes her look a lot more modern.

The exotic bird on the spine is from the first edition spine - though the bird also appears in the chapter heading on page 149. The back cover is a new drawing cobbled together by Dick Martin using several characters from the left half of the original pictorial endpapers of the first edition.

Endpapers from the first edition of GLINDA OF OZ

One thing I certainly never realized until I began writing this blog series was that Dick Martin used a number of drawings from Kabumpo in Oz to fill out the fore-matter of Glinda - such as this Ozzy drawing of Glinda and her reading matter from Glinda's "Famous Oz Books" ad, which Dick pulled from page 109 of the first edition of Kabumpo.

This time Dick has preserved the original ownership leaf. But on the verso, Dick has used a small scrap of illustration from the floral border-design of the endpapers of the first edition of The Emerald City of Oz. Dick has created a new (but very appropriate) frontispiece showing Glinda looking at her Book of Records, an illustration Dick has pulled from page 110 of Kabumpo in Oz. 

The Glinda of Oz copyright page really shows Dick Martin's attention to detail. He went to the trouble to re-letter the "All rights reserved" line  - a very subtle but handsome improvement. Dick also removed the "made in U. S. A." line and a few lines from the bottom of Glinda's gown.

Following the copyright page and dedication page, Dick has added an illustration of Princess Dorothy which he cut from the "white edition" of The Tin Woodman of Oz.

 

Dick has created a new illustration at the end of the book on page 280, using the right half of the original 1920 endpapers as source material. Dick has eliminated the Scarecrow and drawn a new background. He also neatly copies Neill's Glinda of Oz calligraphy for the words "The End."

That may be the end of the "white edition" of Glinda of Oz, but there is a bit more to show. The back cover image was reproduced as one of the three very handsome OZCO posters from 1967 - the other two being the back covers from Wizard and Ozma.

1967 OZCO Poster

This isn't the end of "White Edition Wednesday," because it isn't the end of the "white edition" story. I'll say no more today. You'll just have to check back next week and see where we go from here!

The Perhappsy Chaps - 3

Here we go, and now you'll see

Some Perhappsy Chaps 

In Episode three!

The latest installment of Ruth Plumly Thompson's The Perhappsy Chaps - ever so wonderfully illustrated by Arthur Henderson.

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

Nice Package!

Today I got a nice big surprise package in the mail - a box of Ozzy goodness from Japan! It contained a copy of the Japanese program book for the film version of The Wiz, two little picture books of The Wizard of Oz and Ozma of Oz, a theatre magazine with a double-page spread of the Hello Kitty Wizard of Oz musical, and a little tablet of Hello Kitty Wizard of Oz notepaper!

Eric Gjovaag, over at The Wonderful Blog of Oz, suggested to a friend of his that I might be a happy recipient of the Japanese Wiz program -  but I hadn't expected such a neat little treasure bag! Thanks, Eric, and thanks, Michael!

I'm especially pleased with the Hello Kitty stuff - I really want a copy of the Hello Kitty Wizard of Oz DVD from Japan. Anyone? Pretty please?

The sender of this little Ozzy treasure trove has a blog -  My Two Yen Worth - which is much worth checking out. There are several Oz-related blog posts on it, too.

Domo arigato, Jones-San!

Hello Kitty WIZARD OF OZ notepaper!

White Edition Wednesday - MAGIC

Now that The Tin Woodman of Oz is known to be in good working order I think today we shall try to learn a bit about the "white edition" of The Magic of Oz.

The front cover art is quite similar to John R. Neill's original (at right). Dick Martin has modified the "Oz" and other lettering, and added some plant growth behind Dorothy and the Wizard, as well as making more of the magical smoke emanating from the golden bowl on the tripod.

The spine illustration of Loo the Unicorn is loosely based on the drawing of Loo from the chapter heading on page 87, but for the most part this is a wholly new Dick Martin drawing. The back cover, showing the two Li-Mon-Eags, is based on one of Neill's color-plates from the 1919 first edition of Magic. This drawing has been completely redrawn by Martin, which is especially evident in the wings. In many ways I prefer Martin's more vibrant color scheme.

Now, let's open the covers and take a look at the interior of the book.

The "Famous Oz Books" ad (above) is sort of interesting. Dick has cobbled it together using two different portions of the original Tin Woodman of Oz endpapers (seen below).

For a change Dick Martin has retained the original ownership leaf (showing Jack Pumpkinhead), and this is followed by a double page spread showing the original Magic of Oz endpapers from the first edition.

Endpapers from the first edition of THE MAGIC OF OZ

Dick has swapped out the usual Reilly and Lee "lamp" device on the title page with a small lion head borrowed from W. W. Denslow's Cowardly Lion entwined Oz logo from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. After the List of Chapters, Dick has added a nice drawing of the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman from the first edition of Glinda of Oz.

One final added detail is the little vignette of the Woozy rolling a hoop after the synopses of the Oz books at the end of the book.

This is taken from the original endpapers of the first edition of Ruth Plumly Thompson's The Giant Horse of Oz (1928).

Endpapers from THE GIANT HORSE OF OZ

In addition to his fondness for Oz and Baum, Dick Martin also had a fondness for playing cards and magic tricks. So what better way to end this Magic of Oz blog than with a trick photo (from the early 1960s) showing three Dick Martins playing a magical game of cards with each other.

Courtesy of The International Wizard of Oz Club.

Also, at Oz scholar Michael Riley's suggestion, I have added another paragraph to last week's blog on The Tin Woodman of Oz to talk about the Dale Ulrey version. You can revisit that blog by clicking here.

Next week we will journey to the magical Island on Skeezer Lake with Glinda of Oz. 

The Perhappsy Chaps - 2

Well, it's Sunday, so it's time for another installment of Ruth Plumly Thompson's The Perhappsy Chaps - ever so wonderfully illustrated by Arthur Henderson. Here we go!

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

Dorothy of Oz - Comics Preview

I thought you might like another sneak-peek at one of Eric Shanower's covers for the Dorothy of Oz prequel comic book series coming this spring from IDW Comics. Here's a link back to an earlier preview, too. Enjoy!

And for all of you in the Bay Area - Eric has a booth at Image Expo in Oakland, California, today and tomorrow (February 25-26, 2012).  He'll be at Booth #49 all weekend with lots of cool books to sell - both Oz and Age of Bronze - click here for details.