Queer Visitors From the Marvelous Land of Oz [Hardcover]

L. Frank Baum (Author), Peter Maresca (Editor), Walt McDougall (Illustrator), W.W. Denslow (Illustrator), John R. Neill (Illustrator), Eric Shanower (Foreword), Robert Baum (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 22, 2009

The Complete Comic Book Saga 1904-1905.
This presents a long-hidden treasure from the Land of Oz. In 1904 Baum, wrote a story specifically for the Sunday color comic sections. These pages, illustrated by comic pioneer McDougall, ran for 36 weeks and feature some of the most innovative comic strip layouts of the era. In addition, the book features all 13 episodes of a second 1904-05 Oz Sunday feature, Scarecrow and Tinman, by famed Oz illustrator Denslow. This sumptuous volume also includes never reprinted Denslow comics from 1901-03, such as Billy Bounce (the first superhero of the comics) as well as beautiful comic features from McDougall and Oz illustrator John R. Neill. A high-quality production, full of rarely seen comic gems in their original size and colors.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 72 pages
• Publisher: Sunday Press; First edition (June 22, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0976888564
• ISBN-13: 978-0976888567
• Product Dimensions: 18.6 x 16.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #600,151 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding volume and an important one as well, January 7, 2010

By 

Edmund Zebrowski (Schaumburg IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Queer Visitors From the Marvelous Land of Oz (Hardcover)

For those of you that have never heard of this sunday comic a little background. Back in 1904 to promote his newly published sequel to his best selling Wonderful Wizard of Oz L Frank Baum partnered up with comic artist Walt McDougall for a weekly strip featuring the then nationally famous Scarecrow and Tin Woodman together with newly introduced Jack Pumpkinhead and The Wogglebug. The idea was that these 'queer visitors' would leave oz and have mad cap times in the USA. The strip ran a respectable 34 weeks but was no where the hit that Baum had hoped for. The stories are cute and fun. Baum has written better as well as worse tales but these are a nice bunch. The text for these tales has sort of been out and about since the 1960s when a few of them were collected and edited down for a book of the same title. Then in the the late 90s' They were for the most part collected in a book illustrated by Eric Sanower under the title of The Third Book of Oz. Then they were issued again complete and unedited in a book issued by Hungry Tiger Press back in about 2005 called simply Visitors From Oz. This was the best version of the text that we had until now. Here we have an extraordinary volume that gives these little gems the treatment they deserve. Sunday Press has gone back and did a reproduction of the full run of the strip. For the first time since 1904-05 will we be able to see these tales how they were originally presented. The book is HUGE clocking in at about 18x22 inches closed so that when opened it just covers you lap in all it's colorful ozzy goodness. If that weren't enough they gave us a reprinting of the ad artwork, and added in comics by original oz artist W.W. Denslow and Jon R Neil. Truly a great piece to have in any Oz collection.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Here they come!, January 12, 2011

By 

Johnny Heering "trivia buff" (Bethel, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Queer Visitors From the Marvelous Land of Oz (Hardcover)

This book reprints Sunday newspaper comic strips written by Frank Baum and strring his Oz characters. The comics were produced to promote the second Oz book, The Marvelous Land of Oz, and ran from September 1904 to February 1905. The artist was Walt McDougall. This is not Baum's best work, but it is still quite enjoyable. But that's not all! The book also reprints a rival Oz Sunday strip written and illustrated by W.W. Denslow, who was the illustrator of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This strip ran from December 1904 to March 1905. These strips are also enjoyable. And best of all, all strips are printed in the huge size that they were originally seen in over 100 years ago.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic and beautiful, February 24, 2010

By 

Philip Ford "Philip Ford" (Lubbock, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Queer Visitors From the Marvelous Land of Oz (Hardcover)

I received this book for my last birthday and it blew me away. The marvelous cartoons by McDougall and Denslow are glowing with colors. They bring back an era when electricity, motor cars, and slapstick comedy were all great novelties. McDougall's marvelous work is a series of caricatures and gibson like girls. In contrast to McDougall, Denslows cartoons are full of color and funny characters like Billy Bounce who seems to almost be an early super-hero. When both artists show Dorothy, she is obviously based on Dorothy from the 1902 play as she has a strong resemblance to Anna Laughlin, who was the first actress to play Dorothy on stage. Both Baum and Denslow have wonderful Christmas episodes which features Santa Claus but Denslow's story is interesting as the Tin Woodman is dressed as Santa Claus. In a sense Denslow is the better artist than McDougall as McDougalls pictures rely on Caricatures and stereotypes of nearly every race[if we are to be fair, while McDougall's African Americans are like White faces minstrel shows, all the other characters except the OZ characters are also stereotypes of one form or another. Denslow does feature some other racial stereotypes but they look kinder and not as rude looking. The Native Americans in one comic are not too over drawn and look like gentle people. However Mr. Baum's Stories are still the better tales. The visit to Santa Claus stands out as a funny tale as our friends from OZ find they cannot outcreate Santa Claus and they can't beat him in a race. Another great thing about the book is the extensive Histories about Baum, Denslow, and the history of OZ in Comics keeps you turning the pages for more. It is a great work and for me a great birthday surprize