Booklist Review

Author of many Oz-related books and comics, Shanower is a natural choice to adapt L. Frank Baum's classic into a graphic novel. Resisting the temptation to teach Toto and company some new tricks, Shanower instead offers a straight, and entirely rewarding, reworking of the 1900 original. Young's spellbinding artwork immediately erases from memory all traces of Judy Garland's adventure, establishing a unique visual style for Oz that neatly balances classic fantasy with a modern sensibility, dark and creepy and pastoral and wondrous all at once. Dorothy is feisty, vulnerable, and altogether adorable as she marches down the yellow brick road, only deviating from her single-minded mission to return to Kansas to help her newfound friends discover what they lack (in a particularly nice touch, the loopy Scarecrow gives off a charming zombie vibe with his repeated plea for brains, rather than a brain ). Readers might come away surprised at how layered the story really is, and glad to hear that more of Baum's Oz stories are in the works from this team.--Chipman, Ian Copyright 2009 Booklist