Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Otis Frampton, oz

Otis Frampton Turns The Patchwork Girl Of Oz Into A Graphic Novel

Otis Frampton of Oddy Normal, is adapting The Patchwork Girl of Oz for Image Comics as part of their January 2025 solicits and solicitations.

Published Sat, 19 Oct 2024 08:42:08 -0500

by Rich Johnston

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Otis Frampton of Oddy Normal, is adapting The Patchwork Girl of Oz for Image Comics as part of their January 2025 solicits and solicitations.

THE PATCHWORK GIRL OF OZ #1
STORY / ART / COVER OTIS FRAMPTON
Return to the Land of Oz in this new comic book adaptation of L. FRANK BAUM's classic novel THE PATCHWORK GIRL OF OZ—perfect for fans of YOUNG & STRAHM's TWIG. OTIS FRAMPTON (ODDLY NORMAL) brings his unique style to the seventh book in this classic fantasy series. Join Ojo the Unlucky, Scraps the Patchwork Girl, and Bungle the Glass Cat on an amazing quest that takes them on a whirlwind journey from Munchkin Country to the Emerald City! January 22nd, $3.99

Otis Frampton says on the matter, "Anyone who has read ODDLY NORMAL knows that just from reading the first few pages. I have the main character of that series cite Baum's story on page four! And the "magical land" genre, of which THE WIZARD OF OZ was a seminal work, has always been a favorite of mine. His influence on my work is clear and powerful. I want to pay tribute to him and his work by bringing one of his stories to life. Ever since I was a young guy making comics I've wanted to draw an Oz adaptation. I considered doing one a number of times, but I eventually decided to go my own way and tell my own stories. And then, soon after starting ODDLY NORMAL, two amazing comic book adaptations of THE WIZARD OF OZ came out within a few years of each other and I felt like it would be a pointless effort to follow them with what would have surely been a sub-par take on the same material. But the desire to do an adaptation of something Oz-related has never gone away."

He also states that up until now, there has been no comic book adaptation of the book. "Marvel did an amazing run of Oz adaptations by writer Eric Shanower and artist Skottie Young. I love those books, and this project is in no way meant to step on their toes. But they stopped at Book 6, just as Baum himself did in an effort to end the series. So Book 7 (lucky number 7!) is ripe for the picking! And if I'm going to do a comic book adaptation of an Oz book, this one seems like the perfect choice… it was the first book that Baum wrote upon returning to the series after he thought it was finished and… it was one of Baum's favorite books… that Lyman Frank cited as one of the best books that he had written. That makes it a great choice for attempting to adapt and illustrate."

He also says "I won't be using narration text boxes. I'm not a fan of that device in my own work (unless it is used to share the thoughts of a character), so I'm eliminating it from the storytelling here. I prefer to let visuals and dialogue carry the load. Hopefully that will help set this apart from other attempts to adapt Baum's work. That makes some of the storytelling tricky, because so much of the book's story is revealed in text that feels like a narrator telling a story to a child. But I want the story to unfold without this narrative crutch, so I'm going to just have to figure out how to make it work!"

And to say this to longtime fans of the Oz series, "there will be some differences between the book and my comic adaptation. I say this not as a warning that I'm about to radically deviate from the book. I'm not! I wouldn't do an adaptation of something that I didn't love. But a book is not a comic, and in adapting a novel into a visual medium (especially a medium like comics where there are certain limitations), changes are necessary and inevitable. But know this… every change I make will be done to make the comic book version better, and to match my skills and sensibilities as an artist and storyteller. I'll keep the spirit of Baum's story and text at heart throughout the entire process. I expect that I'll need to justify some changes to hardcore Oz fans, but I'm ready to defend every choice I make."

After all "It's a very fun book featuring great new characters and a lot of beloved characters from previous books!
I started drawing characters from the book a few years ago as a fun design exercise, and when I finished the line-up, I knew I had to do the book. It was just a terrific cast of characters. The title character alone is reason enough to do the book, but the fact that beloved characters like Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Wizard make appearances is icing on the cake. And the story is a good one. Unlike some of the Oz books that feel like characters are simply wandering around the magical land and encountering strange people and things, this one is a quest story that, at its heart, is about one character trying desperately to save someone he loves. It's a story with a lot of heart, and that's important to me as a storyteller."

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