The Wizard of Oz universe has always had a special meaning for gay guys, that much is obvious even for someone like me who didn’t grew up in a country where it’s part of the national psyche. A number of reinterpretations have been created (I quite liked Geoff Ryman’s Was, for example) throughout the decades, and now we get another one in the form of a new comics mini-series, written by Brian Andersen and drawn by Neftali Centeno.
Scott John is a boy on the bad edge of despair who finds a hunky witch appearing in his bedroom, only to declare him the new champion of Oz, the “Friend of Dorothy”. The fact that the witch appears to Scott as a good-looking, shirtless young man instead of a woman should make it clear to readers that Scott won’t be called a Friend of Dorothy for only one reason.
Brian Andersen has crafted a story that very nicely balances streaks of wonder and humor (Scott gets a pet/familiar with dog Dodo—not Toto—, who behaves like an army sergeant) with darker themes and imagery, such as the grotesque scarecrows which immediately attack Scott, as well the reasons for Scott being so down at the beginning of the story (I’ll let you discover them for yourself, but I’ll just say that they’re introduced in a low-key, non-melodramatic way which I appreciated very much).
Neftali Centeno’s solid art and Falecia Woods’ rich colors bring Andersen’s ideas to the page in a way that’s completely different from the aesthetics of Andersen’s other series, So Super Duper. It seems to me that Andersen wanted to stretch a different creative muscle from the ones he uses on his superhero series, and I already think he succeeded.
I don’t know how much the writer and the artists will be able to cram into only 2 more issues to tell the story of Scott and this version of Oz, but I trust them to make it an entertaining and engaging ride.
This comic can be bought from Brian Andersen’s site, where you can also find a preview.
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