More and more attention is being placed on how female characters are portrayed in fiction these days, which has sparked a good deal of debate and interpretation. Princess Princess is New Zealand artist Strangelykatie’s hat tossed inside the ring, an example of a story that embraces feminine qualities as sources of strength. In other words, it’s one of the girlier comics I’ve seen in a while, so if that sort of thing turns you off, there’s not much else I can say to you in this review. It’s Lisa Frank on a sugar high with Aqua’s Barbie Girl blaring in the background girly. Hell, I dare say it’s ever girlier than My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
Ok, maybe that’s not saying a lot.
The eponymous princesses are Sadie, a somewhat chubby and kind hearted princess who, after some initial reluctance, is willing to allow her and her pet dragon Oliver to be rescued by Princess Amira and her steed Celeste and to go on random adventures. This doesn’t sit well with her wicked sister Claire, who relies on Sadie’s low self esteem in order to hold onto power. Her plan is gradually thwarted as after the two meet up with the bumbling Prince Vladric, Sadie comes into her own while Amira goes on a heroine’s journey of self discovery.
At 44 pages, Princess is hardly a long runner, and in fact it’s more or less a progressive storybook that coincidentally is just free online. All of the characters slide firmly within specific alt-fantasy tropes (reluctance to take the throne, not wanting to be betrothed, taking back a kingdom, inept prince etc). I think the one thing it does do differently is ram them all into one basket while adding an ambiguously gay spin. So I’m not sure if it’s breaking a ton of ground- we’ve seen princesses take charge in tons of games, cartoons and in films like Shrek- but it’s a fun, kid friendly little comic and a nice addition to that particular trend.
Strangelykatie also has a few other short stories available, and while I won’t spoil them I will say they are quite thought provoking, and definitely leave an impact despite their lack of length. Her art style is somewhat reminiscent of Hayao Miyazaki’s earlier character designs, with some good layouts and decent anime style expressions. I can happily recommend all of them, so hurry up and click here to check out her work- before we all wind up as collateral damage.
