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| Cover art by John Romita |
Happy Thanksgiving from the U.S. of A. from Ol' Groove to Groove-ophiles everywhere! Usually, the
Thanksgiving Feast here in Groove City consists of several classic comicbook dishes served up every few hours, but this year we're changing things up. Today's feast is a feast, indeed--72 pages of perhaps the greatest comicbook adaptation of one of the most beloved movies of all time, Marvel and DC's
The Marvelous Wizard of Oz (Fall 1975)!
Yeah, Ol' Groove said "Marvel and DC's
The Marvelous Wizard of Oz"! 'Tis true! Long before Marvel and DC co-published the first-ever inter-company superhero crossover between
Superman and
Spider-Man, they co-published this tabloid/treasury-sized adaptation of the MGM classic we all grew up with. How'd that happen? Well, according to an interview with writer/editor Roy Thomas in TwoMorrow's fabamundo
Back Issue #61 (
grab it now!), both Marvel and DC were on the verge of publishing their own separate
Wizard of Oz adaptations (inspired by the popularity of the
then-annual TV airings and the (then) upcoming
Mego WoO Toy Line). The powers that were decided to join forces on the publishing end, while Marvel did the heavy lifting creatively (perhaps that's why they were able to pull off the
"Marvelous" Wizard of Oz title?) with Roy Thomas writing, John Buscema penciling, and Tony DeZuniga and his tribe inking this mammoth, magnificent, mightily faithful adaptation (right down to the sorta sepia Kansas scenes) of L. Frank Baum's beloved creation.
Not only did Young Groove love it, but I later fell in love with it again as a father. In 1989, MGM released a special 50th anniversary edition of MGM's
Wizard of Oz on VHS (y'know, the tapes that came before the dvds and blu-rays). My daughter, Jessica-1, at the time a mere two-and-a-half years old adored that movie. She loved it so much and watched it so many times that she literally had it memorized. Now, Ol' Groove loves that flick, too, but sometimes Dad needed a break from it. So I pulled out my
WoO Treasury and shared it with my baby girl. She loved that mag so much she slept with it until it fell apart. So pitch-perfect was Roy and John's adaptation, that Jess had folks convinced she could read it! Y'see, she'd memorized the dialogue from the movie and would recite it as she looked at the pictures.
Yeah, Ol' Groove loves that flick and that comic. Here's your chance to either fall in love with it all lover again...or for the very first time. Enjoy it with your family if you can!
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