Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art in Manhattan, Kansas

Oz Gallery Talk

December 3, 2009

On December 3, 2009, Kansas State University faculty members Anne Phillips and Roger Adams will give a presentation on the exhibition “Recreating Oz in Comics” at the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art at 4:30 p.m.

Phillips, Associate Professor and Associate Head of the K-State English Department and Adams, Rare Books Librarian Special Collections at Hale Library, will give a tour along with providing formal and informal insight into the exhibition “Recreating Oz in Comics.”

Adams and Phillips will focus on the way that different illustrators have envisioned “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” written by L. Frank Baum. They will trace the history of Oz illustrations from William Wallace Denslow’s original illustrations (1900) to the work of more contemporary artists such as Barry Moser (1985) and Lisbeth Zwerger (1996), as well as Eric Shanower and Skottie Young, who have collaborated on the words and illustrations for Marvel Comics’ recent graphic novel version.

“We hope that audience members will learn more about Baum’s novel as well as the many different ways in which it has been re-envisioned,” said Phillips.

“Recreating Oz in Comics” features the work of artist, writer, and Oz historian Eric Shanower and Marvel Comics artist Skottie Young. Among Shanower’s Oz-related works are Adventures in Oz (1986-92), a series of five graphic novels; The Giant Garden of Oz (1993), an illustrated children’s novel; and a collection of short stories, The Salt Sorcerer of Oz and Other Stories (2003). Comic book artist and illustrator Young works exclusively for Marvel Comics.

In late 2008 Marvel released the first issue of Shanower’s and Young’s adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s classic, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, as part of the Marvel Illustrated line, a series of classic works of literature adapted to comic form

In addition to Shanower’s and Young’s work, “Recreating Oz in Comics” includes selections of Oz-related comic books and graphic novels from the L. Frank Baum Collection in the Morse Department of Special Collections K-State Libraries. The exhibition is on view now until January 31.