Oz Annual Patchwork Girl

Oz Annual Patchwork Girl

Zenescope Entertainment 2021

Written by Jenna Lyn Wright

Illustrated by Alessio Mariani, Eman Casallos & Dario Tallarico

Coloured by Jorge Cortes, Michael Bartolo & Maxflan Araujo

Lettered by Taylor Esposito of Ghost Glyph Studios

Dorothy was once a young farm girl from Kansas, but it has been many years since she has been that person and even longer since she has returned to Earth. Now, residing as the queen of Oz, ruler of the Emerald City, she and her people have gone through their hardships but she has been there to protect them.

But when a magical tornado rips through a prison, bringing one of most evil of creatures to ever walk among in Oz, to a small town in our world, Dorothy and her friends must set out to protect a place she once called home. And what she will find will change the very fabric of her identity.

Oz is making something of a comeback what with Hercules Payne having had his adventure and now having a place there. I like it as its been far too long since we’ve had the pleasure to see Dorothy and her friends. The opening here is fantastic and it’s nice to se that Dorothy is questioning herself and what she’s going as Queen. Leave it to Bartleby to be the voice of reason and point out, essentially, that if she wasn’t capable of being Queen she wouldn’t have been chosen. Besides if you don’t question the work that you are doing than chances are you aren’t doing that good of a job.

I am really enjoying the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceedingly well. The character development that we see is fantastic thanks to the dialogue, the character interaction as well as they act and react to the situations and circumstances that they encounter.

I am enjoying how we see this being structured and how the layers within the story emerge and strengthen from beginning to end. These layers contain the bits with some amazing characterisation, the introduction of a new character as well as reminding readers of both of Dorothy’s homes. What this does is add extra depth and complexity to the story in some amazing ways. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow ass well as how it moves the story forward is achieved exceedingly well.

I like the interiors here and how we see this typical comic book style work. The linework is fantastic and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail work is extraordinary to see. The creativity and imagination that we see is phenomenal and it starts with meeting the Patchwork Girl in the Ojo prison. With the stone and her visage it just brings horror to life in such a beautiful way and really makes her someone you don’t ever want to run into. The way we see backgrounds utilised enhance the moments as well as provide some great depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a very talented eye for storytelling.

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I really enjoyed this though I was hoping we’d see Dorothy’s family still living in the old house. That would’ve been a great family reunion and considering how time passes differently in the merry old land of Oz and the Earthly realm is never completely clear. Regardless, what we get to see is a min-reunion of sorts as the three, Dorothy, Bartleby and Thorne travel to Earth to deal with the Patchwork Girl. This was fun and interesting and it’s always nice to see the introduction of a new, dangerous and powerful villainess.