We're Not in Kansas Anymore! "Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz" Comics by L. Frank Baum and Walt McDougall, with W.W. Denslow

    PALO ALTO, CA, July 10, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- "Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz " is a collection of rarely-seen Oz features from the newspaper comic sections of 1904 and 1905, restored and reprinted in their original broadsheet size. The book will have its official launch on July 10th at the annual Winkie Convention presented by The International Wizard of Oz Club, held at the Asilomar Center in Pacifc Grove, CA. Contributors Robert Baum (L. Frank Baum's great-grandson), Eric Shanower, David Maxine, Kathleen Krull, and editor Peter Maresca will be in attendance at the conference. Other contributors to the book include Oz scholar Michael Patrick Hearn and comics historian Alfredo Castelli.

In 1904, L. Frank Baum, as a promotion for the upcoming sequel to his tremendously successful "Wizard of Oz," wrote a story specifically for the Sunday color comics section: "Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz," illustrated by comics pioneer Walt McDougall. This feature ran for 26 weeks and starred the characters from OZ as visitors in the strange land of the USA.

The Sunday Press volume also features all 14 episodes of a second 1904-05 Oz Sunday feature, "Scarecrow and the Tinman," by famed "Wizard of Oz" illustrator W.W. Denslow. Also included are never-reprinted Denslow comics from 1901-03, such as Billy Bounce (the first superhero of the comics) as well as comic features from McDougall and Oz illustrator John R. Neill.

Sunday Press Books is a specialty publisher restoring and reprinting classic American comic strips in their original size and colors. The first Sunday Press volume, "Little Nemo in Slumberland, So Many Splendid Sundays" (2005) became the most highly praised book of its kind. Queer Visitors is the fifth Sunday Press collection. More information available at www.sundaypressbooks.com, or email us: [email protected]
Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz
72 pages, 16 x 18 inches, color, $75
ISBN - 09768885-6-4
EAN - 978-0-9768885-6-7

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