Rinkitink In OZ!

Rinkitink in OZ is an odd addition to the OZ canon. The story involves a small island which is invaded and the population taken into slavery. The only folks available to save them all is a young prince spared by chance and an overweight visiting monarch of questionable character along with his talking goat. Now that I've actually written that sentence, maybe this oddball is an OZ book after all. The book began life as a non-OZ project developed soon after the success of the first OZ titles around the same time that Baum was writing classic fairy tale stuff like The Enchanted Island of Yew and Queen Zixi of Ix. But the grind to keep putting out OZ material in 1916 was such that Baum reached back to his unpublished effort and added bits to it to make it an OZ book. 

The story begins on Pingaree where a good king by the name of Kittikut is trying to maintain things on the small island of Pingaree. He dreads an invasion from the islands of Regos and Coregos and this proves to be a valid fear. Before that invasion though he and his court are visited by a portly monarch named King Rinkitink and his talking goat named Bilbil. This stout fellow is a blowhard and a gourmand. After the devastating attack Rinkitink ends up in a well and the young Prince Inga is safe because he was good distance from the savagery. These two set out to save the people, Rinkitink reluctantly. Prince Inga is aided by three magic pearls, the first of which gives him strength, the second which gives him protection, and the third which gives him wisdom. But soon after getting to where his parents and people are imprisoned, he loses the shoes. He eventually gets them back when a peasant girl finds them. He and Rinkitink then have to travel to the kingdom of the Gnomes where they discover that the Gnome King is holding his parents. The Gnome King is the first OZ character to appear in the book and later on page 190 out of 222, Dorothy and the Wizard travel to the Gnome kingdom to help. And as it turns out Bilbil has a secret as well. 

This is an OZ book by the narrowest of margins. It seems that Baum did little aside from having the Gnomes, and later Dorothy and gang arrive as a garden variety deus ex machina to save the day. We get the usual roll call of names of other OZ folks at the end. It's getting crowded in OZ, I think. I was put in mind of the Avengers who after a few decades seemed to have a roster of dozens. Rinkitink in OZ is an okay read, but it has little to do with OZ. 

Next up is an actual book about OZ titled The Lost Princess of OZ. But before that I think we need to take a look at some of Baum's other OZ-adjacent titles. 

Rip Off

lunius!

I didn't know that I shared a birthday with the late great Neal Adams. He, like myself, was born on D-Day or as it was known before the end of WWII, June the Sixth. I've been celebrating the great artist all year and I'll be doing it again this month in spectacular fashion. I want to go back a decade in the Dojo's history and re-present one of my more enjoyable projects, a detailed reading of the classic Green Lantern and Green Arrow comics by Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams. These "relevant" comics really did change the comic book world and are well worth remembering. I'm really looking forward to this read. 

I will return to my weekend readings of the OZ books by L. Frank Baum. I've been enjoying these by and large and look forward to a summer wrapping up the series, at least those written by Baum himself. Also look for a bevy of Baum's OZ-adjacent titles to get a nod. 

I will also try to get in a few more weekend readings of The Adventure of the Phantom novels from Avon Books, reprinted in recent years by Hermes Press. These have proven to be quite exciting. 

In addition, Dojo will feature some Superman, the Son of Krypton. Expect a look at classic Adams work on the Man of Steel as well as some later stuff he did for DC's most important hero. 

I will do the monthly look at Atlas-Seaboard of course, share a spirited collecting project I'm having fun with, bring a long-awaited manhunt to an end, and bring out a very special post for the birthday that I share with one of comic's greatest Neal Adams. (Actually, it has nothing to do with him, but I love saying that.) 

June is usually a delightful month. I hope it is here at the Dojo for one and all. 

Rip Off

Aprilis!

What's the Joker laughing at? Well, if I know him, he's not only guffawing at the situation he's got the Batman in symbolically on this outstanding Neal Adams cover, but he also giggling about all the gloom and mayhem ahead this month at the Dojo. But we'll get to that. The first day of April is the time for jokes and pranks and an ideal time to take note of Batman's worst best baddie -- The Joker!

The Joker was created by Jerry Robinson way back in the Golden Age and battled Batman countless times through the decades. But I kick off the month later today with perhaps the Joker's most odious prank in all that time, as related in Alan Moore's and Brian Bolland's The Killing Joke. After that, I want to take a gander at the Joker's brief but rather fun comic book series from the late 70's. So, it's a day full of Joker. Be sure to check back in later. 

Who would've imagined we'd be dealing with Nazis again? I have lived my life comfortable that, save for a handful of nutjobs, the Nazis were relegated to the ash heap of history and to nostalgic comic books where the likes of Captain America and the Human Torch could bash on them with glee. But they're back. I am going to spend a few days this month looking Hitler and his gang and their loathsome ideas in some classic science fiction that speculates about what might've happened if things had gone differently so long ago.

I've been indulging in some other dystopian classics as well. The fragile nature of our present-day society is showcased most effectively in these modern myths that present dark reflections of what we might become when the bad guys win. God knows, our society sucks enough when the good guys win. 

But it's not all gloom and doom. Expect more reviews from the Deep Woods as I wrap up my readings of Charlton's The Phantom. This time we get not only more of Pat Boyette, but a host of other talents including the great Don Newton. 

We head back to Astro City to enjoy the latest MetroBook from Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson, Alex Ross, among others. 

And we make another whimsical journey to the land of OZ, where we'll check in on our favorite characters in all of their naive childlike glory. 

But shifting gears back to less rosy possibilities, another strange world is that of Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth. This dark future has humanity all but squashed with a madhouse array of animals are ascendant. This was Jack Kirby's most successful work in terms of sales during his third tenure with DC. And it always surprises me when I read it. 

And I want to pay respects to Neal Adams again by looking at the one and only Batman, one of the greatest DC creations. The refinements to the character wrought by Adams helped the character survive the onslaught of camp brought on by the successful TV show and even thrive. I'm especially eager to revisit the introduction of Ra's al Ghul the Demon and his enticing daughter Talia. 

And who knows what else might come lurching into view as the month rolls along. So, it's a little gloomy this month, but there are a few rays of sunshine to warm a comic book fan's heart this spring. 

Check back later today for The Killing Joke. 

Rip Off

The Emerald City Of OZ!

After a few novels which were largely structured as whimsical travelogues we get something of a proper plot in The Emeral City of OZ. Dorothy Gale does not abandon her Auntie Em and Uncle Henry this time, but rather goes to OZ with the express mission to help them. It seems that the combination of age and bad luck have threatened the farm and soon they expect to be homeless. So, Dorothy goes to OZ to see if she and her family can move to that resplendent address. Ozma agrees and soon Uncle Henry and Auntie Em are whisked to OZ where we are reintroduced yet again to the wonders of this fairly land through their eyes. 

Meanwhile Roquet the Red the Gnome King plots to regain his magic belt, lost to Dorothy several novels back, and so schemes to have his vast forces construct a tunnel to OZ beneath the forbidding desert which separates these two magic territories. He puts his top heel named Guph in charge of the project, and then Guph proceeds to gather allies from other bizarre creatures before the drive toward OZ begins. He travels to the lands of the creepy Whimsies, the creepier Growlywogs, and the even creepier  still Phanfasms. There is much treachery plotted among these groups as they scheme to plunder OZ. They are a baleful group indeed. 

But then the story seems to abruptly turn a third of the way in as Dorothy, Auntie Em, Uncle Henry, the Wizard, and others trot off for a tour of some of the surrounding areas of OZ. They meet up with a cavalcade of strange beings including the Cuttenclips (a paper doll people), the Fuddlecumjigs (a puzzle piece people), the Rigamaroles (an endlessly chattering people), and the Flutterbudgets (a tribe of hypochondriacs). At one point Dorothy and Toto get separated from the rest and has a little excursion her own where she encounters the cutlery people of Untensia, the cake and pastry people of Bunbury, and the civilized bunnies of Bunnybury. (She has to shrink to enter that last one and is escorted by a white rabbit. Sounds a tad familiar.) 

Finally, when they get to the land of the Winkies and meet up with Nick Chopper the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow we return to the main story of the Gnome invasion and the party sets out to return to OZ to confront a seemingly unbeatable enemy, alongside Queen Ozma. 

While I have praise for Baum's inventiveness, it seems a tad strained in this book as he seems to be just going around his house animating the things he sees there with a little help from a certain Mr. Dodgson. Maybe that approach was a source of joy for his readers, but I can't shake the feeling he was intending to sell OZ paper dolls and OZ jigsaw puzzles and OZ pastries to his eager audience. This book marks the end of the second phase of Baum's OZ series, where he was intentionally creating a sequel every year. He seems to have wanted this book to be a finale for the adventures in OZ. But alas it was not to be. 

Baum was busy adapting the OZ story to other media such as the stage and silent movies. He'd be back to writing novels about other fantastical lands, but several years later he'd return with some short tales from the land of OZ collected in Little Wizard Stories of OZ. More on that next time.

Rip Off

The Road To OZ!

The Road to OZ by L. Frank Baum was published in 1909 and is the darkest of the OZ books to date. With great artwork b John R. Neil this is the fourth trip Dorothy makes to the fairy land of OZ and for her at least it's getting to be rather normal. She's so accustomed to odd happenings that she doesn't think twice about travelling alongside a stranger known only to her and us as "The Shaggy Man". Kudos to the charitable minded Miss Gale, but this is the epitome of "Stranger Danger". But perhaps things were that much different over a century ago when it came to children wandering the byways of the United States. It doesn't help that this "Shaggy Man" purports to have a "Love Magnet" which makes people like him. There are spoilers galore below. 

Accompanied by Toto, who it should be pointed out was cautious about this new character, Dorothy heads down the road and before you know it the party is of course lost, finding themselves in a strange territory where they must choose one of seven routes. That choice leads them to Button Bright, a naive young boy and later to Polychrome, the daughter of the Rainbow. This gang of five enters a hamlet run by foxes where Button Bright gets a new head, that of a fox. Later the Shaggy Man gets the head of a donkey when the group enters a town filled with those critters. 

Then they chance upon a chap called a "Musicker" who is a fellow who makes music all the time with his bodily functions. Sounds nastier than it is. After that they encounter a gang of weird cannibals who want to make soup of them and try to capture them by throwing their own heads at them. Our heroes escape narrowly. They come to a vast desert which separates OZ from the rest of the lands and soon enough have a ship to sail across it thanks to a magic chap named Johnny DooIt who builds at a furious pace. Across the desert they come to the Truth Pond and these magic waters return both Button Bright and the Shaggy Man to their original forms. 

Soon enough they find themselves firmly in OZ and begin to meet old friends and allies such as Tik-Tok, Billina, Nick Chopper, the Scarecrow and others. The gang go to the Emerald City where Ozma informs Dorothy she's been following their adventures and she like them to stay to celebrate her birthday. What follows is a long celebration with an array of characters from past OZ books as well as other books Baum had written such as The Adventures of Santa Claus and John Dough and the Cherub. It's assumed that Baum might've included these characters from less popular books of his to cross promote with the wildly popular OZ books. Eventually the Wizard comes up with durable bubbles which whisk everyone home save for Dorothy who goes once again via Ozma's magic belt. 

This was a strange book. It began with an edge but soon enough tumbled into the same pattern as the previous OZ book, becoming a mere travelogue. Baum introduces characters at a very rapid pace and tight situations get resolved in most cases before anything resembling tension can develop. There's not much plot save that Dorothy gets lost, finds a bunch of new creatures as friends and meets old friends then goes home. Hopefully Baum changes it up some as the series continues. 

Rip Off

Martii!

This is going to be a full and varied month at the Dojo. As you can tell the Silver Surfer will be making his presence known, but you'll have to wait until the end of the month for my full review of Norrin Radd's earliest misadventures. I haven't read a new Surfer story in ages, but back in the heyday he was one of Marvel's richest characters. 

The ongoing look at the adventures of the Ghost Who Walks will also continue. I am reviewing his Charlton comics appearances as well as the Avon novel series. Both were reprinted by Hermes Press some years ago and have been languishing waiting for me to get to them. I am enjoying it mightily. 

Likewise, my ongoing reading of the OZ novels by Frank L. Baum. I will assert here and now that the books are not what I was expecting. I've read raves about these American classics all my life and I'm beginning to get a sense of what everyone is on about. 

I'm going to squeeze in at least one trip to Astro City this month as well. These books have been fantastic to read again, making so much more sense than reading them periodically. There is a richness in the world imagined by Busiek and Anderson and Ross which is greater than the sum of its many well-crafted parts. 

Crime will rear its ugly head as well here as we take a spin down the Road to Perdition, the amazing graphic novel by Max Allan Collins. There are more than a few twists and turns in that odyssey for the characters and the readers as well. 

Neal Adams was arguably the most influential artist of his generation or for that matter a few generations since his influence as a mentor and the studio Continuity Associates was a breeding ground for many younger pros. He created some of the most iconic comics in my reading experience and I'd like to take a look at some of those over the course of this year. This month the focus is on Deadman. 

And I want to spend a little time with the Abominable Snowman. Admittedly I want to do that from the comfort and relative safety of my easy chair in my warm and comfy home, but nonetheless the legend of the ABSM as he's designated is as alluring as any in the modern world. 

All this and perhaps even more this month at the Dojo. Take a moment or two and drop by amigos. 

Rip Off