The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz Sketchbook

This was a leftover freebie from 2008 that Jetpack Comics had in their selection of freebies this year.

Title: The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz Sketchbook
Date: 2008
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: L. Frank Baum, Eric Shanower, Scottie Young
Artist: Scottie Young
Editor: Arune Singh, Ralph Macchio

This freebie introduces Marvel's adaptation of L. Frank Baum's classic, a flagship title of Marvel's latest incarnation of the Classics Illustrated concept (called "Marvel Illustrated"... to distinguish the series from the rest of Marvel's offerings, which lack illustration, I suppose).

The opening introduction discusses the history of adaptations of Baum's work other media, particularly comics, and describes the background of the new Marvel adaptation. From there we get the concept art for Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Woodsman, the Scarecrow, the Good Witch of the North, the winged monkeys, and Toto, all with commentary by the artist.

The book finishes up with the first issue cover (and artist commentary), followed by three pages of completed art without the dialogue.

The illustration style is interesting, and it is clearly meant to evoke the original illustrations from Baum's first edition. The concept art samples do a nice job of showing the transition from early ideas to final concepts, with substantial changes made in most of the characters. The accompanying commentaries give some good insight into the design process, as well as the challenges involved in adapting a classic.

The three pages of finished art are gorgeous and tell the story nicely even without the dialogue in place. This series clearly has some impressive work in it, and this preview does a nice job of showing it off.

Rating: 8/10