Writers – Stuart Kerr, Ralph Griffith
Artist – Bill Bryan, Daniel Preece
Inker – David Hutchinson
Letters – Daniel Preece

The special dedicated to the Scarecrow opens up with a recap of what happened to Amber Ombi in the events of the zero issue of the ongoing series, illustrated by Bill Bryan. After that, artist Daniel Preece picks up the pen and draws the rest of the book and it all begins with Wogglebug who is heading to the Emerald City in the hopes of advising Ozma on the Nome King, for who better to do so? Wogglebug is a very learned creature, having read many a tome on many a subject and he knows that his advice will be welcomed once he is there to give it. As it is though, he is stopped along the way by none other than the Scarecrow, a newly mind-controlled and evil Scarecrow, though Wogglebug has no knowledge of this. Observing this from close by is Amber Ombi who sees that the confrontation between the two is going south and that Scarecrow is about to make short work of Wogglebug, the latter completely unaware of the fact. So it is that Amber Ombi intervenes and the two attempt an escape. This is the second special issue in a line of bi-weekly specials that were released alongside the main Oz book and though it might feature the Scarecrow within its pages, it is just as much a spotlight for Wogglebug and Amber Ombi as it is for the villain. Written by ongoing scribes Stuart Kerr and Ralph Griffith, the book is a nice little aside to the main series and it gives readers a little more history on the events that took place before Mary, Kevin and Peter arrived in Oz. One interesting little bit that the creative team leaves the book off on is the fact that Scarecrow’s new palace used to be the Wogglebug College, the Institution of Higher Learning and Intellectual Pursuit of which H.M. Wogglebug. T.E. was both Professor and President. As readers may already know from making their way through the main title, Scarecrow is no longer evil but Wogglebug and the Freedom Fighters have no way of knowing that just yet. What will be potentially exciting to see is if Wogglebug and Scarecrow battle it out before realizing that things are different, or if the former simply does not care, only that he needs to get a few things off his chest so to speak. All in all, this was a fun issue and continues to showcase things as they were after the Nome King’s arrival but before the current day events.

4 out of 5