Issues 1-10 of 'Oz Squad', plus on 'Special'

Brave New Worlds, Patchwork Press, Millennium, 1992-1996

Written by Steven Ahlquist

Pencils by Andrew C. Murphy and Terry Loh

Inks by Ande J. Parks and Dan Schaefer

Oz Squad is a comic book updating of L. Frank Baum's Land of Oz series. Its premise is that Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion are now part of 'Gale Force', a Mission: Impossible type organization working to protect Oz from all manner of bizarre threats. Created and written by Steve Ahlquist, the series is complex and clever, playing with the mythology that Baum had created in the original children's books and updating it for a more adult audience.

Oz Squad first issue featured Tik-Tok's 'internal clockwork morality spring' breaking during a visit to Earth, causing him to become insane and violent. Later issues featured an assault on Rebecca Eastwitch's hideout at Castle Munchausen and a series of time travel adventures in which the Scarecrow met Leonardo da Vinci and Joan of Arc, Dorothy found herself in the American Old West and Nick met himself while still a human. The series ended with Dorothy Gale revealing that she is pregnant to Princess Ozma.

The original series ran for ten issues from 1991-1996. The first four issues were illustrated by Andrew Murphy, Inking by Dan Schaefer, and published by Brave New Words, which also later reprinted the first two issues with alternative covers. Millennium Publications then produced a 48-page Oz Squad Special. Finally, Ahlquist and some friends created Patchwork Press to carry on publishing the book. Terry Loh drew the last six issues, and Mike Sagara illustrated a Little Oz Squad special.

The series provoked a strong negative response from many fans of Baum's Oz. Pittsburg State University English professor Steven J. Teller reviewed it for The Baum Bugle and considered it worthless and disgusting.

When the series was reprinted, the Bugle was much kinder to it, and referred to Teller's review, suggesting that with the Oz books so recently having fallen into the public domain, there was little else like it, but post-Wicked, it seems groundbreaking and not nearly as outrageous as it did at the time.