The Oz/Wonderland Chronicles is a comic-book adaptation of, and extrapolation upon, the Oz stories of L. Frank Baum, blended with Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and other classic works of children's literature. The limited series of comics was created by Ben Avery (story) and Casey Heying (story and art), and published by Buy Me Toys.com in four Issues (#0 through #3) from 2005 to 2008. A sequel series, titled The Oz/Wonderland Chronicles: Jack & Cat, is currently ongoing with a 2nd sequel series called The Oz/Wonderland Chronicles: Prelude to Evil.
The plot of the comic centers on Dorothy and Alice, who are college roommates in Chicago. Both young women have forgotten their earlier experiences in Oz and Wonderland respectively — though circumstances soon force them to re-acquaint themselves with those fantasy lands. They encounter a coterie of allies — Jack Pumpkinhead, the Scarecrow, and Ozma, plus the Cheshire Cat and Humpty Dumpty — to help them confront the villains — the Mad Hatter and Jabberwocky, plus Ruggedo, General Guph, and a new Wicked Witch.
Alice and Dorothy also have three other roommates, Susie, Polly, and Dee. Susie is Susan Pevensie of C.S. Lewis's Narnia books. Also, Polly may be Polly Plummer or a reference to the character who appears in the books The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle. Dee is Wendy Darling from J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan.
The art of the comic draws strongly on the work of John R. Neill and John Tenniel, though it is also influenced by the popular movies: the Wicked Witch has green skin, as in the 1939 MGM film of The Wizard of Oz, and the Cheshire Cat has pink and purple stripes, as in the Walt Disney Pictures 1951 animated version of Carroll's book.
The authors of the comic have a good familiarity with Baum's original works, and include many of the subsidiary characters — Uncle Henry and Aunt Em, Captain Fyter, Quox, and the Orks, among others.
The comics feature multiple variant covers by several artists, including Boris Vallejo and Joe Susko.
The Oz/Wonderland Chronicles should not be confused with The Oz/Wonderland War, an earlier comic with a similar concept. Also a similar mash-up will be in an upcoming graphic novel called The Red Queen of Oz.
Published collections:
- Book One (April 26, 2011) : Collects Issues #0-4
- Book Two (May 22, 2012) : Collects The Jack & Cat Special and Jack & Cat Tales #1-3
- Prelude (February 26, 2013): Collects Oz/Wonderland Chronicles: Prelude to Evil #1-3