
Valynn says that the existence of the apples were once well known, but she had to cast a spell transporting the castle, herself and the tree into limbo after a magician named Bortag tried to steal some of the apples. One apple is silver and holds the power of Valynn's existence. The apples are golden and have the power to break any enchantment. The tree has been growing since the creation of Oz and Valynn reveals that if the apples are picked or if the tree died, all the enchantment would disappear from Oz. Exploring the castle, they find a woman named Valynn, who has been tasked with guarding an enchanted apple tree.

The Enchanted Apples of Oz, The Ice King of Oz, The Blue Witch of Oz and others were released during a period of seven years and established Shanower as one of comics most unique talents.

Frank Baum s magical world of Oz, Shanower began a series of Oz graphic novels that were published by First Comics and Dark Horse.

Having already lettered issues of Warp and Starslayer for First Comics and issues of The Barren Earth for DC, Shanower made his comics-art debut penciling, inking and lettering a 16-page story called Found and Lost in DC s New Talent Showcase #13.

A professional cartoonist and writer, Eric Shanower studied at the esteemed Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art before launching a career in comics.
