It’s getting to the point where we might need a spreadsheet to keep track of all the iterations of “Wicked.”

First there was the 1995 novel by gay writer Gregory Maguire (and its subsequent sequels). Then Stephen Schwartz’s Tony-winning 2003 Broadway musical, its popular cast recording, and multiple touring companies. In 2024, the first installment of the two-part film version hit theaters and earned a couple of technical Oscars (out of its 10 nominations). 

The second part, “Wicked: For Good,” will be in cinemas in November 2025. In the interim, we have “Wicked: The Graphic Novel, Part 1” (William Morrow, 2025), a graphic novel based on Maguire’s work, “adapted and illustrated by Scott Hampton.” Hampton, known for illustrating “iconic properties” including “Sandman,” “Black Widow,” and “Batman,” to name a few, vividly brings these characters to life on the page with his artistic touch.

In March 2025, queer and masked country artist Orville Peck teamed up with Australian children’s music group The Wiggles on the song “Friends of Dorothy.” The infectious tune is a reference to Dorothy The Dinosaur, a secondary character in The Wiggles’ universe. But you only need to be a member of Mensa to know that with the presence of Peck, “friend of Dorothy” takes on an expanded meaning. There must be something in the atmosphere, because in April, the children’s book “Are You a Friend of Dorothy?” (Simon & Schuster, 2025), written by Kyle Lukoff and illustrated by Levi Hastings, is hitting bookstore shelves. Subtitled “The True Story of an Imaginary Woman and the Real People She Helped,” the book traces the history of the phrase, linking it to two Dorothys – Gale from “The Wizard of Oz” and Parker from the Algonquin Round Table – and its use in queer social settings of the past.

Gay writer and illustrator Brian Selznick, whose 2007 breakthrough children’s novel “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” was adapted into the Oscar-winning 2011 Martin Scorsese film “Hugo,” returns with his first Y/A novel, “Run Away With Me” (Scholastic, 2025). Featuring more than 100 pages of Selznick’s trademark black and white illustrations, the novel is set in Rome, from June through August 1986. It is the story of 16-year-old Danny, who has accompanied his book preservationist mother to Italy and falls in love for the first time. The object of his affection is the mysterious Angelo, an expert on everything that Rome has to offer visitors, and who makes sure that Danny has the most memorable time of his life while he is in “The City of Love.”