It’s been awhile since I read the Wizard of Oz, but I knew the film and the novel were different. Reading this hardcover I didn’t realise how different it was, and I would bold/underline ‘different’ many times. Does the average person know that the characters getting their items (heart, brain, courage) is practically the midway point? We still got a ton of story to go through with this! Reviewing the story in this is basically reviewing the novel so let’s go to the elephant in the room: Scotty Young.

Oh my god how beautiful does this book looks? I’ve seen Young do covers for Marvel for awhile now and those are amazing to look at. Just imagine Iron Man: Armor Wars #2 cover and times it by ten. By my scale that’s how gorgeous this entire hardcover is.

Don’t be afraid by Young’s somewhat sketchy style; it totally fits for this story. Dorothy looks like a kid (instead of Julie Garland) and she is adorable from page one. The designs for the creatures are exact from the original text and I love the munkins in this. Apparently they also have a heirarchy like in real life. The models for Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Lion are also rememorible; taking away what I always thought of them from the film. Extra attention should be paid to the greatest mustache on a comic character ever; Tin Man’s. That mustache could cut someone; seriously it’s made of sharp tin!

I love the colors in this book, I think if the colors weren’t as bright and cheerful as they were then this wouldn’t look as good. So extra consideration should go to colorist Jean-Francois Beaulieu for the amazing work he did. Pay close attention to the scenes where the gang is at Emerald City. Look at the green used in this! There seriously is a shine and reflection of green all through out the panels. That double page spread showing the city is something I want resized and put on my wall. Those pages more then anything else show why this book is great to look at.

When it comes to critiquing art I know I am not the best at it. Not an art major so I apologize if I am not the best when it comes to it. But you have to believe me when I say that this is the best looking graphic novel you’ll ever see. Skottie Young provides the essence of the text but still adds his own style to make it memorible. You add in some great colors by Beaulieu and this is a very colorful and bright comic. If your a fan of the Wizard of Oz or just love incredible artwork in your comics then you definitely can’t go wrong with this.