Fairy Tale Spotlight: Eric Shanower, Author of Oz

I'm not going to go over every thing this man has done for Oz. It's a list that is far too long. I just want you to understand that this man probably did more for the Oz franchise than Baum did in his lifetime. Eric Shanower had his hand in a lot of things within the comic industry. He was both a writer and an illustrator. But the thing he will always be known best for was his contributions to Oz.

I first learned about this guy when I bought the graphic novels for the first six books by Baum. It was done in a very startling style which was not how he used to draw his characters, but it was good and interesting. I later found out that he had written a few books and illustrated a bunch of them for other writers. His style back then was more traditional but crisper for a more modern audience.

As I was going through the books of the canon, I began to really love his art style, and I will probably consider him the best of all the artists who have illustrated the Oz books. But when he finally took over the pen and began writing them, my mind was officially blown. He took the world of Oz so seriously!

But you need to understand that he did not simply turn Oz into a hard-edged adult book. He actually paid special care to make sure that the Oz canon was treated with respect for what it had always been. A lot of writers do that but try not to deal with the problems of Baum's strange world full of surprisingly explicit horrors. Eric dove straight into those horrors for what they truly were. Oz was still Oz... but we were not mincing words about it anymore.

Eric's ability to see Oz for what it was and simply be honest about it was what made his books so fascinating. People who read Oz think about these things but we never really get much release for them in the books. It was good to finally get that release. We all knew it was happening after all.

Eric Shanower is probably the best thing to ever happen to Oz in both literature and art. He breathed new life into it and is probably responsible for it staying alive to this day. I dare say that he was born on this planet for this sole purpose.

Thank you, Eric, for everything you've done!

This blog was written on November 17, 2023.

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