The O.Z.

Somewhere over the rainbow, there is no rainbow — there’s a war zone. The O.Z. reimagines L. Frank Baum’s Emerald City as a ravaged Occupied Zone, and its heroine as a battle-hardened veteran of a different kind of conflict. When Dorothy Gale is plucked from the cornfields of Kansas and dropped into the otherworldly battlefield of Oz, she finds a land torn apart in the power vacuum left by her fabled grandmother’s messy regime change. The Wicked Witch’s death wasn’t a triumph; it was the opening shot of a brutal civil war.

Written by David Pepose and drawn by Ruben Rojas (with colors from Whitney Cogar and letters from DC Hopkins), The O.Z. was self-published and funded through a smash-hit Kickstarter in 2020. Its first issue won the 2021 Ringo Award for Best Single Issue, and the saga concluded with a giant-sized third issue crowdfunded in 2026. Pepose described the conceit as “what if The Hurt Locker took place in The Wizard of Oz” — and indeed, a disillusioned Dorothy must navigate bloody factions led by her grandmother’s former friends to bring peace to the Occupied Zone.

Perfect for fans of Mad Max: Fury Road, Fables, and The Old Guard — a post-apocalyptic fairy tale with real teeth.

Back The O.Z. on Kickstarter or grab it from David Pepose’s store.