Now updated to include Fleischer and the Wonderful Wizard of Oz strips 1-3.
In recent years there have been a number of efforts to take existing novels that have fallen into the public domain and rewrite them, usually to include elements of the supernatural. One in particular that comes to mind is Pride, Prejudice and Zombies, which retains as much of the original as possible, but twists things around with various additions. That was certainly the inspiration for Fleischer and the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
What initially struck me was the idea of looking at the first Oz novel written by L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which also inspired the classic 1939 musical. A number of years ago I had created a spoofy superhero by the name of Fleischer, which was in essence my own little love letter to Superman, a character I've loved throughout my life. So the thought occurred to me to combine the two. As a result, the lead character of Dorothy Gale was removed from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and in her place went Fleischer, with my, naturally having to rewrite sections of the novel to allow him to fit in.
As I worked on that novel, I thought it would be cool to have some illustrations, so spoke to artist Matias Festa about it. What he started turrning in was so good, that from there the idea became to do a webcomic version as well that would hopefully help sell the novel down the road and build an audience for the subject.
While the movie is off limits — obviously still under Warner Bros. copyright — the novel has many similarities to the film, but there are even more differences. For starters, there's not a song or dance routine to be found anywhere. But you'll find many of the characters there, including the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, Cowardly Lion, the Wicked Witch, Flying Monkeys, and so on. The whole idea is just to have some fun. and I hope you enjoy it.
What follows are Parts 1 through 3 of the strip.
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