Broken Frontier

Illusive Arts re-imagines The Wizard of Oz for the 21st century, complete with a very 21st technique.

No longer singing about a rainbow, this "new" Dorothy Gale is now a rebellious teenager, with a piercing and a dyed red streak in her hair. She’s still trying to get away from everything and everybody though. Unhappy with life, with her controlling aunt, and completely bored with Kansas, this Dorothy Gale gets in her car and just starts driving. The problem for her is that a tornado doesn’t know the difference between a car and a bicycle, and suddenly our heroine finds herself and her world upside down. Awakening in a place that she doesn’t recognize, Dorothy immediately starts to wonder if getting away was such a good idea. At least she’s going to have some semblance of a team traveling with her, because it wouldn’t be a real trip to Oz without the usual cast of characters.

There must be something rewarding about updating old stories. It allows you to show respect and love for a story that has been a big creative influence as well as showing everyone else the timelessness of the story. It allows for more modern looks at old themes, and the updating to a new setting may even bring out some new themes that reflect more updated ideologies. Illusive Arts’ Dorothy is by no means perfect, but this is still one hell of not just an update, but a great story as well.

(Now, before I go any further I must make a confession. [Like most of America] I am most familiar with the Judy Garland musical rather than the original book by L. Frank Baum. Therefore any comparisons I make here are to that, just in case anyone knows the book and wants to correct me. Although I could easily argue that the movie is the real reason this story is so beloved by all.)

In updating this book to today, Mark Masterson knew that he had to properly "modernize" his protagonist and characters. He struggles at first with Dorothy’s dialogue but quickly captures her voice and the book takes off from there. He takes great strides to update origins and motivation for his characters so by the time Dorothy gets on her quest we know exactly who she is and what’s bothering her. Sometimes it seems like he goes a little too far. In the original movie, each of the people Dorothy encountered in Oz was simply an allegory for a real life compatriot. In this telling we don’t even see these people in the real world before she runs away so there is no comparison to be made. Instead, we are presented with an in depth origin for the Scarecrow that is much darker than just being some guy that needs a brain (although he still needs one). Whereas the old story was a journey of self exploration, what happens now is that the Scarecrow’s story becomes simply one of revenge. This doesn’t mean it can’t be done effectively, but it does change a lot of the thematic elements of the tale. Another odd switch in characterization is that Toto does not travel with Dorothy to Oz. In fact, in the real world, Toto doesn’t even exist, he suddenly shows up at Dorothy’s side in Oz. It’s hard to question his purpose this early in the tale but that’s another piece that Masterson must now explain because of a change. Finally, Masterson comes awful close to stalling at times in this book. That seems like an odd complaint in a book with such great dialogue and a good amount of action and may be a result of the story being so familiar, but one would think Dorothy should be further along in her journey by the end of volume 1.

But the real eye catcher of this book is the artwork. It would be absolutely incorrect to say that the characters here were lifelike. Because they actually are real people, so much so that a Catie Fisher is credited with "starring as Dorothy." I have little to no knowledge of how this book was put together, but it looks very cool. The art team does a marvelous job of taking mostly real world pictures and crafting a tale the way they do. The storytelling is always clear and paced incredibly well. All the images are properly manipulated to get their desired effect and best of all; the actors completely come through with every necessary emotion. There are a couple of instances where they attempt to try new things with the panel design, but as inventive as they are, it’s almost unwelcome and unnecessary. The action scenes also leave a bit to be desired as the stationary nature of the images is heightened, but never enough to bother the reader.

Despite some small problems and some questionable changes, Illusive Arts’ Dorothy is still an incredibly impressive book. Well written and exceptionally designed, this book is absolutely worth reading.

More information about Illusive Arts and Dorothy, including ordering information, can be found at www.dorothyofoz.com.