- The truly dreadful-looking "OzF5" -- featuring "Master of Wing Chun Kung Fu Scarecrow, a kilt-wearing Celtic-Warrior King of the Beasts Lion and an axe wielding Tin Man War Machine" (I kid you not: this is all from the ad copy), plus Dorothy in spandex with a BFG, from Alias;
- "Oz: The Manga", which looks fairly faithful to the original, from Antarctic; and
- "Dorothy Gale: Journey to Oz", which I'm not sure about -- I suspect it's reasonably true to the story, but with a fairly dark tone overlaid -- from Classics Illustrated Jr.
Is it simply familiarity? Certainly my generation grew up on Oz as a cultural staple, and it may well be a deeper part of our era's mythology than I had previously considered. Perhaps the tone of the story gives more room for exploration than many -- its blend of innocence with the occasional dark undertone leaves lots of opportunities. In many cases, the contrast of Kansas vs. Oz is clearly key to the appeal: the story is fundamentally escapist in a way that appeals to much of the comic-reader mindset.
Opinions? I don't really have an agenda here, I was just struck by how frequently this story gets adapted to comics, in a thousand different ways...