Pyramid Pick
The Zorceror of Zo
Written by Chad Underkoffler, with additional material by Andrew Byers and Scott Kane
Art by Fred Hicks, Greg Holkan, & Scott Kane
Edited by Eric A. Burns
Published by Atomic Sock Monkey Press
104-page PDF, $15 (One Book Shelf)
202-page digest-size softcover (print on demand), $30, includes PDF (Indie Press Revolution or One Book Shelf)I grew up with fairy tales. My mother read me to sleep with a story most every night until I was eight, and long before that I was devouring them on my own. Not long after that, I was allowed a library card and carried on further. I was particularly fond of the Oz books, with their simple plots, vivid settings, and recurring and evolving characters. I even had the privilege of (carefully!) handling and reading some of my grandmother's hardcover Oz volumes. I don't know if anyone grows up like this any more, in the age of the graphic novel, the iPod, and the game console, and it's difficult to decide what to make of the recent wave of fairy tale-themed games (Grimm, Deliria, Faery's Tale, and others. With The Zantabulous Zorceror of Zo (that's how the cover reads, in plain tribute to Baum et al), auteur Chad Underkoffler tells us exactly what to make of his game and goes on to tell us how and why it came to be. It's a fine game, but it's an even better story.
Let's lay these cards out for all to see right now: I like Chad, I've enjoyed his work, I've liked . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: February 2, 2007
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