I really appreciated how the writers and artists utilized Baum’s original series and did not rely on the more well-known film version of the characters. The writers of the stories also understood many of the characters and lands in the 13-book series, including people like the Shaggy Man and Ozma.

It is amazing to see how true to the story that Shanower is in a comic format, and Young’s art is beautiful, personalized, and true to the imagination of how the characters are described. It is clear that the creative team is avid fans of L Frank Baum’s work.

This past week, I pulled another graphic novel from the shelf to read. I read the graphic novel version of James Patterson’s ‘Daniel X: Alien Hunter.’

The story was pretty standard and it struggled to make the protagonist relatable, but I did really enjoy the illustrations. It was a good balance of cartoon and superhero action established in a painted style.

I just read Volume 1 of The Autumnlands by Kurt Busiek and Benjamin Drew. I really enjoyed the talking animals’ setting and the world is established. There is some insinuation that the world is our own far-flung future and I like the story so much I went ahead and found Volume 2 online and purchased it.