Wonderful People of Oz

Today I'm showing the newspaper page which was a preview to the Queer Visitors From the Marvelous Land of Oz comic series. This was published on August 28th, 1904, a week before the comics began. Quick summaries of the various characters are presented, to familiarize the readers and prepare them for the stories ahead. Illustrations by John R. Neill from The Marvelous Land of Oz were used, even though the comic page characters would be drawn by Walt McDougall.

The story summary given is interesting, as it seems to imply that the comic adventures take place during the time of the character's escape from the Emerald City in the Gump. Of course, this doesn't make sense in terms of story continuity, as Tip is not included in the comic pages. I don't know if this page was written by Baum - I suppose it may be. References are made to the stage show of The Wizard of Oz, and the siege of the Emerald City is compared to the Russians at Port Arthur!