Graphic Novel Review – The Marvelous Land of Oz (Marvel’s Oz Comics, Book 2) by Eric Shanower, L. Frank Baum, Skottie Young (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: All Ages
Genre: Graphic Novel/Fantasy
Length: 200 pages
Publisher: Marvel
Release Date: September 29, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-0785140283
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book Marvel’s Oz Comics series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars
This is the second TP graphic novel in Marvel’s Oz Comics series. While I didn’t enjoy this book quite as much as the first one, it was still a very good read and the illustration is amazing.
This story follows the second book in Frank Baum’s Oz series. We mainly follow a young boy, Tip, as he flees from the old witch Mombi to the Emerald City with his creation Jack Pumpkinhead and the Sawhorse. The Emerald City is under an attack from the all girl army lead by Jinjur. The Scarecrow doesn’t know what to do against the army and ends up fleeing, with Tip in tow, to first the Tin Woodsman’s kingdom and then to Glinda.
I read the Oz books with my mom when I was growing up. I only got 5-6 books into the series and it was a long time ago, so I only very vaguely remember the story from this book on. However, this was very well done. It’s an excellent rendition of it and includes most of the story, focusing mainly on the interesting parts and downplaying some of the parts that got a bit long in the book.
The illustration is amazing, I really love the style and it’s very easy to follow. The pictures are very colorful and character expressions are very well done and at times hilarious.
I really enjoyed the story, I just didn’t enjoy it quite as much because I didn’t remember the characters as well as I had in the first installment. I also missed reading about Dorothy. This 2nd installment is not as action packed as the first one either.
Overall a beautiful and amazing retelling of the second book in Baum’s Oz series. I really enjoyed it and absolutely loved the illustration. I will definitely keep reading this series. This series is highly recommended to all fantasy graphic novel fans. In fact it’s great to read with your kids too and might hold their attention a bit better than the original books.
This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
