Tag: Ruben Rojas

Smash Pages Q&A | David Pepose on wrapping up ‘The O.Z.’

With the third and final Kickstarter for the self-published series now live, the writer reflects on finishing a story he’s been carrying since the early days of COVID.

David Pepose has been carrying The O.Z. to its conclusion for awhile. He finished writing the series during the early days of COVID, and has spent the time since making sure everything was in place to deliver the finale right.

Now the third and final issue, created by Pepose, artist Ruben Rojas, colorist Whitney Cogar and letterer DC Hopkins, is up on Kickstarter, having launched earlier this morning.

The third and final issue is a 44-page conclusion to the story of Dorothy Gale’s granddaughter, an Iraq war veteran dropped into a war-torn Oz. We talked about sticking the landing, what’s ahead for Space Ghost and Speed Racer, and why diapers don’t come cheap.

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Smash Pages Q&A: David Pepose enters ‘The O.Z.’

The writer of ‘Spencer & Locke’ and ‘Going to the Chapel’ discusses his latest project, which is now up on Kickstarter.

Most online comic fans probably first knew David Pepose as a reviewer for the comic site Newsarama, where he contributed to, and eventually took over, their Best Shots review column. He recently left that position to pursue a growing career as a comics writer, having written two Spencer & Locke miniseries and the excellent Going to the Chapel miniseries, all with publisher Action Lab.

For his latest project, Pepose is taking a new path, as he branches out into crowdfunding and self-publishing. Much like he did with Spencer & Locke, Pepose is taking a beloved, iconic property — in this case, The Wizard of Oz — and remixing it with another genre. The O.Z. stands for Occupied Zone, and features the granddaughter of Dorothy Gale, a war veteran, entering the war-torn land of Oz. Pepose is joined by artist Ruben Rojas, colorist Whitney Cogar and letterer DC Hopkins on the project.

The O.Z. Kickstarter is now live. I spoke with Pepose about his first crowdfunding project, L. Frank Baum and more.

Continue reading “Smash Pages Q&A: David Pepose enters ‘The O.Z.’”