Re-Reading the Oz Books

[The Baron]

We start with The Wizard  of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, first published on May 7, 1900.

1. The illustrations are by W.W. Denslow, who depicts Dorothy as a young girl (maybe around eight) with dark hair
2. Baum's "Kansas" is very bleak.  From what I've read, it's more like the Dakota that Baum knew than the actual Kansas.
3. Re-reading this book, you realize just how much the 1939 mpvie simply made up.  Emlira Gulch, Professor Marvel, Zeke, Hunk and Hickory are not present in the book, In the book, Dorothy doesn't run away, she misses getting into  the storm cellar because she was chasing Toto, who was hiding under the bed.
4. The witch who sends Dorothy to the Emerald City is not Glinda, but instead  is the Good Witch of the North, who is not named here. There is no appearance by the Wicked Witch of the West in this part of the story.
5. We get the first mention of Oz being surrounded by an impassable desert.
6. The magic footwear are Silver Shoes and not Ruby Slippers. Dorothy puts them on because her old shoes were worn out, and not at the Witch's suggestion.
7. We learn that the land  is divided between the Munchkins in the east, the Winkies  in the west, the Quadlings in the south, and the people of the north, who  aren't named here.  Initially, only the area around the Emerald City is called "the Land of Oz", after the Wizard. the Munchkins' national color is blue.
8. No explanation is given as to how the Scarecrow comes to be alive. He reveaals that he was created only the day before yesterday.
9. The Tin Woodman's origin is wild. He was a mormal  man who wanted to marry a girl  he was into. The girl's guardian objected, and paid off a witch to enchant his axe so  that every time he used it,  it would cut off a body part, which he would have replced with a tin prosthesis,   Eventually his entire body was replaced, and he lost interest in the girl because he no longer had a heart.  Two questions here: "How did he survive all this?" and "Why did he keep using the axe after the second or maybe third time that it happened?"
10. Lots of animals get killed in this book.  The Tin Woodman kills a beetle, the  Lion offers to  kill a deer for Dorothy  to eat, and they kill some monsters called "Kalidahs"   It is established that all animals  are intelligent - well, I'm not sure about insects. Anyway, the whole issue of whether killing an intelligent animal onstitutes murder, or what - or is it "who" - carnivores eat is kind of skirted around. Toto cannot speak in Oz, I giess because he's not a local pup.
11. In the book, the  poppy field has nothing to  do with the Wicked Witch, and Glinda doesn't  save them.  The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman carry Dorothy and Toto out of the field.  The Woodman coincidentally kills a wildcat that was chasing the Queen of the Field Mice.  In gratitude, she has a few thousand  of her subjects help the boys haul the Lion to safety.
12. Everyone  in the Emerald City must wear green glasses, ostensibly to  protect them from glare, but actually to cover up the fact that most of the city is, in reality, white. I'm reasonably certain that this is never mentioned again.
13. Dorothy and her associates visit the Wizard individually, and not as a group.  He appears to Dorothy as a Big Giant Head, to the Scarerow as a beautiful winged woman, to the Tin Woodman as a Horrific Beast and to thr Lion as a Fireball.
14. Chickens and storks also exist  in Oz
15. The Tin Woodman slaughters a pack of wolves sent by the Witch with his axe.  The Scarecrow slaughters a murder of crows by twisting their necks with his bare hands. Bet crows are scared of him, now! the Woodman kills a swarn of bees, and the  Lion frightens off some spearmen. Can't kill off humans, I guess.
16. The illustration of the Wicked Witch of the West looks nothing like Margaret Hamilton's depiction.  She looks more like if the Sea Hag had a cousin who liked to cosplay as obscure anime characters.
17. The Witch using a Magi Cap to ccontrol the Winged Monkeys, because the Monkey King's grandfather p*ssed off a princess. The monkeys capture Dorothy, Toto and the Lion after battering the Scarecrow and te Woodman.
18. The Winkies' color  is yellow.
19. The Witch is afraid of the dark.
20. Dorothy throws a bucket  of water at the Witch after the Witch stole one of her shoes.  The Winkies retrieve and repair the Scarecrow and the Woodman.  Doorthy takes the Golden Cap.  There's nothing about needing the Witch's broomstick.
21. The Wizard claims that he commissioned the building of the Emerald City.  His illustration depicts him as a dumpy little bald guy.
22. The Wizard gives the Scarerow a "brain" made of bran, pins and needles, the Woodman a silk heart stuffed with sawdust, and the Lion a drink of Liquid Courage. (I've had a taste or two of that over they years, m'self.)
23. After the Wizad's departure, our heroes decide to go see Glinda, instead of Glinda coming to them, as in the movie.
24. They meet the Fighting Trees on this trip, as well as a city full of people made  of fine china, and the Hammer-Heads,  a race of cheerfully hostile headbutters who  are armless but not  'armless.  
25. The Lion becomes King of the Forest a giant spider that's been terrorizing the animals. He does this by courageously waiting until it's asleep and tearing its head off before it could defend itself.  (Hey, it's all very well to be brave, but there's no need to be stupid about it.)
26. The Quadling national color is red.
27. glinda reveals that she will use the Monkeyd to return the Scsrecrow to rule the Emerald City, the Woodman to rule the Winkies and the Lion to rule the Animals, after  which she will set them free.  I can see why people do conspiracy theories about this story, since it ends with the Witches dead, the Wizard gone, and people that Glinda can easily control in charge of the Emerald City and Winkieland. I bet that if Dorothy had wanted to stay and become the Kanzlerin of Munchkinland, Glinda would've lived with that. I also bet that the Witch of the North keeps a very low profile.
28. Glinda explains how Dorothy can use the Silver Shoes to  get home.  It does not involve saying "There's no place like home."  The shoes are lost during Dorothy's return home.
29. Dorothy's homecoming is anticlimactic.  Uncle Henry has a new farmhouse. Guess he had good insurance.
30. Oz is a real place and not just a dream in the book.

Overall: Some weird, wild stuff in here.  If all you know is the movie, you should definitely give this book a read, sometime.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I collected "Wizard of Oz" replica editions for a time back in the '90s from the Bud Plant catalogue. but I never came near to completing the collection. My Emerald City of Oz is printed with green-flecked metalic ink, just as the original edition had been. I read the first one twice (once to my niblings) and a few of the others. I also have a massive single-edition version of all of the books. Also included in my collection is a full-page version of Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz Sunday comic strips from Sunday Press (subtitled "The Fairy Tale by L. Frank Baum - The Pictures by Walt McDougall - The Complete Comic Strip Saga 1904-1905 Featuring The Comics of W.W. Denslow." Whew! And yes, the comic strip is actually written by Baum, not an adaptation.

[The Baron]

Interesting. I never knew there was a comic strip.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Some of them are traditional Sunday pages in the style of Windsor McCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland, but most of them are illustrated prose short stories, with the text centered in the middle surrounded by drawings. (The pages are quite large.) The collection also comes with an uncut set of replica trading cards from the era.

[The Baron]

Next up is The Land of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, first published July 5, 1904.

1. The illustrations are by John R.Neill, whose style is a bit less cartoonish than Denslow's.
2. We  leanr that the people  of the North country are called Gillikins.
3. Our protagomist is Tip - short for  "Tippetarius" - who lives with Mombi, a low-level evil sorceress.
4. Tip hates Mombi and decidesto frighten her by  carving a "Jack-Lantern" (sic) and placing it on top of a human-sized wooden figure that he put some old clothes and placed where Mombi  would see iton her way back from running errands. He names it "Jack Pimpkinhead".
5. Mombi is amused rather than frightened and decides to test the newly-acquired Powder of  Life by bringing Jack to life. Jack is presented as kind of a moron who is constantly worried about his head spoiling. She decides to punish Tip by turning him into a marble statue.  I don't 100% blame her, Tip is kind of an obnoxious little punk. She tells Tip of her plan, so he steals the Powder of Life nad runs away with Jack, which Mombi  might perhaps have foreseen.
6. We learn that the Gillikin color is purple.
7. We learn that horses are  known in Oz, as Tip brings a saw-horse to life, which he and Jack use as a mount.
8. Jack and the Saw-Horse get separated from Tip, and make it to the Emerald City before him.
9. To my surprise, the business with having to wear spectacles in the Emerald city sets a mention here after all.
10. Jack is brought in to see the Scarecrow, where they do the timeworn "We need a translator even though we speak the same language" gag.  (Maybe it wasn't so timeworn 120 years ago?)
11. The Royal Maid's name is given as "Jellia Jamb".
12. tip falls in with General Jinjur, who leading anall-gril  Army  of Revolt (armed with knitting needles() against the Scarecrow.. Jimjur's motivations seem to be a combination of feminism and greed.
13. The Soldiers With The Green Whiskers (who I think was in the last book, too) is the entire army  of Oz.  Like his spiritual descendant Barney Fife, he doesn't keep any bullets in his gun.
14. The girls easily conquer the City, and men are forced into the horrors of cooking and doing housework.
15. The Soldier and Tip  find the Scarecrow and Jack and warn them.  The Scarecrow suggests that they escape to the Tin Woodman, who is now the Emperor  of the Winkies. Tip, Jack and the Scarecrow make a run for it on the Saw-Horse, leaving the Soldier behind. This worhty is understandably unhappy with this plan.  The three friends escape, but Jack's head falls off, and Tip has to fetch it.
16. The Tin Woodman's name  is given as "Nick Chopper". He has recently had himself nickel-plated.
17. Nick sets out with our heroes to reconquer the Emerald City.  Jimjur calls in Mombi to stop them.  Mombi  casts illusions, which our heroes overcome with help from their old friend, the Queen of the Field Mice.  The Scarecrow requests the loan of a few of her subjects, whih he secrets about his person.
18. Along the way, they encounter H.M. ("Highly Magnified") Woggle-Bug, T.E. ("Thoroughly Educated"), an insect who lived in a schoolhouse until the teacher cught him and placed him under a magnifiying glass, and then two girls fell out  of a window and the Bug escaped while he was magnified. In other words, it's another Patented Insane Oz Origin Story. He comes across ss a bit of a self-importnat academic, but he does have one saving grace - like all right-thinking people, he enjoys making atrocious puns.
19. They are easily captured when they reach the Emerald City, and Junjur threatens to return Tip to Mombi  and destroy the others in horrible ways.  These books are darker thnan I remembered.
20. Jinjur threatens to make the Woggle-Bug into Hungarian goulash, which means that the  people  of Oz know of the existence of Hungary.  Where Oz exists in relation to the  mundane world is never made clear.  If these books were coming  out now, it would just be in another dimension, but I'm not sure if they had that concept 120 years ago.
21. The scarecorw releases the field mice, and the women all flee in terror because it's 1904.  Our heroes  barricade themselves  in the palace, and plot their escape.
22. We learn that the former king fo the Emerald City was named "Pastoria". Wait, I thought that the Wizard commissioned the building  of the City, didn't he?  Well, maybe he was lying.  Lucky he didn't re-name the place "Wizardgrad", I suppose.
23. Our heroes assemble a flying creature using two sofas, a broom, some palm fronds, some ropes and the stuffed and mounted head of a deer-like animal called a Gump  They animate it using the Powder of  Life. They use it to fly to see Glinda.
24. glinda has no interest in restoring the Scarecrow, but it intent  on fighting King Pastoria's rgithful hier, his daguther Ozma. Glinda really is emerging as the éminence grise of Oz, determining who rules what and where.
25. It is noted that the Wizard usured Pastoria, which again doesn't jibe with the Wizard's story. We are not told of Pastoria's fate, but it probably wasn't a happy one.  The Wizard's claim to be a "good man" is becoming increasingly suspect.
26. We get the first mention of Glinda's Great Book, which contains all  of the information that could be obtained by Glinda's spies. Glinda is verging  on "sinister", at this point. 
27. Glinda determines that Mombi had something to  do with Ozma's disappearance, and marches onnthe Emerald City with her all-girl army. 
28. Mombi flees, and leads Glinda  on a merry chase (Mombi comes across as a little brighter than Glinda, here), but Glinda eventually catches her and threatens to kill Mombi if she doesn't tell her what happened to Ozma. Glinda tells the Woodman that she's only bluffing, but I'm not so sure.
29. Glinda has a pearl that turns black if someone lies to her.
30. Mombi  reveals that the Wizard bribed her to hide the infant Ozma, and that Tip is Ozma.
31. Tip does not want to become a girl.  The Tin Woodman reassure him: "It don't hurt to be a girl, I'm told".  Really? Who told him that? When did that come up in conversation?
32. Glinda isn't particularly concerned about Tip's feelings and compels Mombi tomturn Tip back into Ozma. Ozma is drawn to look like a sx year-old with long, blonde hair.
33. They easily overthrow Jinjur, and the women are delighted not to have to eat their husbands' cooking anymore. This cracks me up becaiuse the best cook that I ever knew personally was a married man.
34. The Woggle-Bug is made Public Educator, whatever that means.
35. At its own request, the Gump is disassembled and its head  -  which is still alive - is remounted on a wall. One does get the impression that  it resented being brought back to life.  Is the rest of it no longer alive?  I don't get how this magical  reanimation stuff works.
36. The Scarecrow goes to live with the Tin Woodman and become his Royal Treasurer.  (There was an earlier scene where his straw was stolen by some jackdaws and replaced with some paper money they fund in the jackdaws' nest.)

Overall:  Another interesting story with lots of Baumian Weirdness. The only sotry I know of wher ethe Boy Hero ends up becoming a Fairy Prncess.

 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

You have inspired me to check which Oz books I actually own. (It's not as many as I thought.) First up is The Wonderful Land of Oz, a BOMC "three-fer" edition of the first three books in the series (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz). I have three replica editions: The Emerald City of Oz (#6), The Patchwork Girl of Oz (#7) and Tik-Tok of Oz (#9). In addition, I have The Complete Stories of Oz softcover, which includes all 15. Do you plan to read all of them?

[The Baron]

That's the  plan, plus maybe a few non-Baum books as well.

[The Baron]

Next is Ozma of Oz,by L. Frank Baum, first published on July 30, 1907.

1. Illustrations are by Neill, here.
2. My copy contains a map of Oz from 1979, which seems to contain many things that aren't in Baum's books. It's nicely-done, though.
3. I'm reasonably certain that this book iis thefirst one to mention that Dorothy's family name  is  "Gale".
4. Dorothy and Uncle Henry are sailing to Australia to visit relatives  Henry is unwell, and hopes to recover There. The Gales must be doing better than I thought to be able to afford a trip to Australia.
5. An illustration shows Dorothy as blonde, and maybe and maybe a little  oldr than Denslow depicted her as being.
6. Dorothy and a yellow hen are swept overboard in a storm. The hen discovers that she can talk.  She gives her name as "Bill", but Dorothy insists on re-naming her "Billina", because girls can't be called "Bill".
7. They reach land and find a gold key buried near the seashore.
8. So, Dorothy has ended up in a fairyland, again.To my mind, either people are getting drawn into fairylands all the time or it's a heck of a coincidence that she has gotten drawn int these places twice.
9. They find trees witn dinner-pails and lunch-boxes growing on them, which seems useful.
10. They meet people called"Wheelers", who  have wheeles instead of hands and feet, which makes me wonder how they dress themselves.
11. Dorothy and Billina find a door which can be opened by the key Dorothy found.
12. Behind the door, they find  Tik-Tok, a copper mechanical man with three wind-up keys - one for his thinkng, one for his speaking, and  one for his walking/action. He tells them that he used to belong to the King of Ev, who sold his wife and children to the Nome King in return for  long life, and then drowned himself in remorse. I'd forgotten that there was a suicide in this book.
13. Our heroes meet Princess Langwidere, who  has several heads that she swaps on and off. She imprisons Dorothy since she will not trade heads with her.
14. From her cell, Dorothy sees Ozma and company, wwho have crossed the Deadly Desert.  They are on a mission to resuce the Evian royals. Ozma easily persuades Lamgwidere to free Dorothy.
15. We met the Cowardly Lion's new pal, the hungry Tiger, whoo would like to eat fat babies except that his comscience won't let him. Yeah, OK, Frank.
16. The Tin Woodman's "Army of Oz" has twenty-six officers and one private.
17. The Nome King's name is "Roquat of the Rocks". He has transofmromed his Evian prisoners into ornaments.
18. The Ozian strikeforce must pass a giant mechanical man with a hammer, which makes for an interesting border guard.
19. Roquat comes across as a  genial @$$hole. He knows Clement Moore's A Visit from Saint Nicholas.
20. Roquat offers them a chance  to free the Evians.  If they can guess which ornaments are Evians, they and the  onex they giess correctly can go free. If they get all their guesses wrong, they will become ornaments themselves.
21. Ozma, the Tin Woodman and the entire Army  of Oz guess wrong. It's late, so Roquat decides to call it a night.
22. Billina overhears the Nome King conveniently explaining how he's disguised everyone.
23. Dorothy gets one guess right.
24. We learn that eggs are toxic to Nomes.
25. The Scarecrow fails his guesses.
26. Billina frees everyone except the Tin Woodman, who gets freed later in a side-story that I'm too lazy to explain here.
27. The Nome King's belt doesn't work on wood.
28. The Scarecrow disables Roquat and stal his magic belt.
29. They return the Evians home, and the Ozites, Dorothy, Billina and Tik-Tok return to Oz.
30. There's a King of the Munchkins now, but no mentions of who  he is.
31. On the way to the Emerald City, they meet Jinjur, who is married to a dairy famer. Jinjur's husband is nursing a black eyeBecause he didn't do as Jinjur told him to. I'd forgotten that there was domestic violence in this book.
32. Ozma promotes the private, whose name is  Omby Amby..
33. Ozma has a magic  picture, that shows whatever scenes the viewer wishes to see.  Dorothy sees Uncle Henry, who is in Sydney, Australia, all unhappy. Dorothy arranges to have Ozma use th magic belt to send her to him. 
34. Dorothy and Ozma set up a system whereby Ozma will use the magic picture  every Saturday  morning, and Dorothy will give a special signal if she's in trouble.
35. Tik-Tok and Billina remain in  Oz.

Overall:Another interesting story. Ozma's in the title, Butshe's not really the central figure in the story.

[The Baron]

Next up is Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, by L. Frank Baum, first published June 18, 1908.

1. The illustrations are by Neill, again.
2. In Baum's introuction, he wishes that he might be allowed to tell stories other than Oz stories.  I susect that he was in a similar position to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was in relation to Sherlock Holmes.
3. We open with Dorothy and her new kitten, Eureka, in California, somewhere near San Francisco. She is joining Uncle Henry, who is visiting Uncle Bill Hugson, who is married to  Em's sister. She is met at the station by her second cousin, Zebediah, known as "Zeb", and Jim the Cart-Horse.
4. There is an earthquake - which would have been very topical at the time - and they are swallowed up by a crack in the Earth, cart and all. Jim and Eureka can suddenly speak. Jim and Eureka are both kind of obnoxious, which makes me wonder if they were intended to illustrate the idea that some folks just aren't cut out for visits to fairylands.
5. They float gently down into an underground glass city with six "suns".  Baum play with the idea that gravity would be different underground.
6. Jim used to pull a cab in Chicago.
7. They are in the City of Mangaboos, who  are vegetable people, sort of  like articulate versions of the Thing from Another World. They are accused of causing the erthquake damamge, abd are soon joined by the Wizard, who out ballooning again..  When Zeb ask who hen is, Dorothy replies, "It's the wonderful Wizard  of Oz?. Hven't you heard of him?"  Why would she expxec that he had?
8. The are brought before Gwig  th Sorcerer, whom the Wizard cuts in half with a sword.
9. The Wizard works for Bailum & Barney's Great Consolidated Shows. He has nine tiny piglets concealed about his person, all of whom can now speak. They are from the island of Teenty-Weent, where everything is small.
10. They are driven  out  of the city into te Black Pit, which turns out to be a tunnel. They end up in the Valley of Voe, where all the people and animals are invisible because  they all eat the dama-fruit. Some locals give them lunch and suggest they got to the Pyramid Mountain.
11. They make it to the mountain after narrowly escaping invisible bears. They climb up  stairs inside the mountain.
12. They meet an old man with long braided hair and whiskers who claims to make flutters for flags and rustles for gowns. They decide that he is crazy and  leave. Nomword on what he eats living alone up there.
13. They arrive  in the land  of living wooden Gargoyles.They are taken prisoner, but escape using detachable wings stolen from their captors.
14. Then they arrive in the Den of the Dragonettes, juvenile dragoms who  are descended  from the Green Dragon of Atlantis.  They leave in a hurry before the Dragonettes' mother comes home.
15. They find themselves trapped just below the surface. Dorothy tells them that Ozma checs on her every day at 4:00, instead of  just Saturdays.  They are soon in  the Emerald City. "Couldn't you wish me some place safer than Oz?", asks Zeb.  That's a point.  Since Dorothy was taken to Oz first, couldn't she have had Ozma just send Zeb and Jim back to California? The Wizard is welcomed bakc to Oz.
16. Horses are said to be unknown in Oz, but Ozma/Tip knew about them two books ago.
17. Ozma and the Wixard discuss the history  of Oz. The Wizard was norn in Omaga. and his father was a politician.  His name is Oscar Zoroaster, Phadrig, Henkle, Emmannuel Amboise Figgs, which he shrtened to "O.Z.", because his full initials spell out "O.Z.P.I.N.H.E.A.D."
18. He left home as a youmh man and became a circus ventriloquist and balloonist.When he got to oz, there were four countries, each ruled by a eitch. He had the Emerald City built and declared himself the ruler of all Oz. Then Dorothy arrived, and he ended up getting home and joining a circus again.
19. Ozma explains that years before the Wizard arrived, Oz was ruled   by mommarchs who were always named either "Oz" or "Ozma", which means  "great and good". (Wait, wasn't her father's name "Pastoria?") One day, four Wicked Witches launched a coup. Ozma's grandfather was imprisoned by Mombi, who  became the Wicked Witch of the North.  Eventually, Glinda and the Good Witch of the North overthrew Mombi and the Wicked Witch of the South. However, Mombi  remained at large and kept  Ozma's grandather, father and then Ozma herself prisonder., eventually turning  Ozma into the boy Tip, who later escaped and regained the throne. This is a majr revision of the history given in The Land of Oz, amaking the Wizard into a much more sympathetic character.
20. Ozma makes him the official Wizard  of Oz.
21. The Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Woggle-Bug arrive.
22. Jim has become arrogant, and when he meets the Saw-Horse, the Cowardly Lion and the hungy tiger, he haughtily threatens the tiger's skull with his hoof, to which the Tiger replies, "Some day I will let you try to crush in my skull, and afterward, you will know more about tigers than you do now."
23. The Gump's head speaks to  Dorothy.
24. Oz's national anthem is "The Oz Spangled Banner". OK, Frank.
25. Jim gets into  a race with the Saw-Horse and loses badly.  He lashed out at the Saw-Horse and is  knocked down by the Lion and the Tiger. Ozma names the Saw-Horse the Prince of Horses.
26. The Wiard gifts Ozma one of the piglets, It goes missing, and Eureka is accused of its murder with a potential death penalty.  Earlier,  the palace staff, not  knowing what horses eat, offered Jim some roast quail.  If all anmals are sentieent, when is it OK to eat animals and when is it not? Were the quail condemend criminals, or did they die of old age?
27. A trial is arranged, with Ozma as judge, the Tin Woodman is defender, the Woggle-Bug is accuser, and the jurors are the Lion, Tiger, Jim, Billina, the Wizard, Tik-Tok, the Saw-Horse and Zeb.
28. The Wizard assumed Eureka's guilt, and  plots to save her by subsitutim another piglet. Eureka wrecks his reveal herself, and admits that she intended to  eat the piglet, but that i fell into a vase, where  it was soon found.
29. The book ends with Dorothy going back tto Kanss and Zeb and Jim going back to California.

Overall: Anther OK book, but I wasn't wild about Zeb, Jim and Eureka as characters.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

In Baum's introuction, he wishes that he might be allowed to tell stories other than Oz stories.

In 2016 IDW published The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus with illustrations by Eric Shanower, which I bought looking fr something a little more traditional than, say, the Rankin & Bass one. It was okay, but the fantasy elements were too pronounced for my taste. I guess the best version I've seen is Klaus by Grant Morrison and artist Dan Mora.

[The Baron]

I've got a copy  of the novel around here somewhere.  I may dig  it up when I've finished the others.