Oz Squad

In the early 1990s, the independent publisher Brave New Words reimagined L. Frank Baum's classic Land of Oz as a gritty, modern-day battleground in Oz Squad (1991–1992). This five-issue series, primarily written by Steven Ahlquist and illustrated by Andrew Murphy and Mike Sagara, follows a paramilitary team of Oz characters—including a gun-toting Dorothy and a cybernetic Tin Man—as they defend their realm against threats too dark for the original fairy tales. A notable early example of the "dark revisionist" trend in comics, Oz Squad stands out for its audacious, violent take on beloved icons, predating similar deconstructions of children's literature by several years.