Review: ‘The Patchwork Girl Of Oz’ #4 Truly Begins

Writer/illustrator/letterer/colorist Otis Frampton arguably does much better with drawing the characters emoting in this issue. Yet, it is unclear to this reviewer if the patchwork girl sometimes looking sinister is a thing from the original novel because of not reading it (The Patchwork Girl of Oz by author Lyman Frank Baum [1913]). Though the question of whether or not the titular character is a villain does add suspense for those without prior knowledge. It is worth mentioning that there are some montages in this issue that feel like they would work in animation. These specific moments might even possibly function as musical numbers in a theoretical animation. When it comes to the dialogue some of it really could have an update that makes select characters more sympathetic. Nevertheless, a lot of it arguably still works well for current day readers.

As far as plot progression goes it feels like this and the last three issues would work better with some more condensing of the narrative. As it is this feels like a story that both young and old readers who are low in patience may not like enough to continue with.

The coloring is by Otis Frampton, colorist Tracy Bailey and color flattener Kate Frampton. There is seemingly nothing new about their work to speak of. However, there are elements of the coloring that can still see review. For example, the vibrant hues of the color spectrum seem to be in the majority. Although whenever the glass cat is prominent in a panel these dominant hues seem slightly darker in comparison. Yet, this is a debatable aspect dependent on perspective. As far as application goes it appears that Bailey and the two Framptons do skillful work.

The cover design is of a high quality that mostly seems to be coming from the textures, colors and sense of depth. While the design itself is slightly unique because of innocent sense of wonder on the Patchwork Girl’s face.

The Patchwork Girl Of Oz #4 comes out from Image Comics on April 30th.