The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West has been a somewhat erratic title. I’ve followed it from the beginning, since my eye was caught by a tremendous Alisson Borges cover that remains the iconic image of the series. Setting The Wizard of Oz in the wild west was a pretty neat concept, with Dorothy Gale a quck-shooting traveler with ruby-handled revolvers and all, and it’s expanded its reach into subsequent stories of Oz, with the hard-bitten General Jinjur, the masked gunfighter Jack Pumpkinhead and the threat of the Wicked Witch of the North, named Mombi. Since the end of the first storyline, Gale hasn’t been seen at all.
Until now. Dirk Manning (Nightmare World, Tales of Mr. Rhee) steps in to pen a story that reveals Gale has become the first ever Witch of the East AND West, and she’s struggling with the new position, as the army of flying gorillas seems to be very difficult to control. Why is that? Well, Kingu, the gorilla leader, has a tale to tell about their history and how they came to be under the thrall of whomsoever wears the “golden cap.” Refusing the entreaty to become the army of the Wicked Witch, being an arrogant young ruler trying to prove himself by making an example of innocent people who turn out to be a mage named Gayelette, and who cursed them to be bound to the mystical crown. Now, there’s a quartet of apes that aren’t obeying Gale’s commands, as they’re Mombi’s soldiers, and they’ve got Jack and the Tin Sheriff cornered at Mombi’s old ranch.
Manning’s a proven storyteller, and it’s nice to have some confidence in this book again. It’s felt a bit blunt and unremarkable at times, but I still enjoyed the core concept enough to stick with it, and now we’re focusing on gorillas with wings, which is inherently fantastic. Also, Borges has returned to handle the art for this arc, and he brings some striking visuals to the proceedings as well, bringing a presence to this installment, which is mostly expository set-up. It may only be for a few issues, but I’m certain they’ll be issues I enjoy. Anything that invokes Gargoyles so strongly is aces in my book.
