the sole graphic novel
in Scholastic's She-Ra line
It’s been a year since the conclusion of DreamWorks and Netflix’s She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, the wonderful, and incredibly LGBTQ+ inclusive reboot of the ’80s He-Man spin-off overseen by N.D. Stevenson. The show has been rightly praised as the true successor to Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, as well as a better love story than the Star Wars sequel trilogy, but despite its accolades — including a GLAAD Media Award, a Daytime Emmy, and a Hugo Award nomination — it feels like the show’s owners already want you to forget about it.
That might seem ridiculous, like complaining Warner Bros. isn’t emphasizing Christopher Nolan’s similarly transcendent take on Batman anymore, but Mattel failed to capitalize on the show’s success when it was airing, producing a few figures that are only sold secondhand for very high prices now, while the upcoming He-Man revivals on Netflix seem to be getting the royal treatment. (Likewise, the official MOTU YouTube channel quickly rebranded as a place for clips from the original series after the reboot ended.)
The likely truth is that DreamWorks’ owner, NBCUniversal (Comcast), are distancing themselves from anything they produced with Netflix, to elevate their streaming service Peacock (and probably why they’re not involved in the new He-Man series). But enough about that: let’s imagine a world where the streaming wars aren’t a factor, and what the Princesses of Power tie-in books could explore or show if they were continued.
Rebuilding
Like Dark Horse’s “Avatar” series, a “She-Ra” continuation would focus on the main cast rebuilding a post-war Etheria: Adora may have promised her loved ones “one more Best Friends Squad road trip” to restore magic to the universe, but there’s so much else to resolve, from the countless Horde Prime clones who’ll need Hordak, Wrong Hordak, and Entrapta to help them adjust to life with free will; to the Fright Zone returning to the control of Scorpia’s people; and whether Catra is still leader of the Crimson Waste.
More importantly, it could be a good opportunity to explore what redemption means in practice, because while every villain (except Horde Prime) was redeemed, there must still be a lot of resentment about the pain and suffering the Horde caused — you can imagine one of the offscreen princesses being snide about the circumstances of Catra’s absolution, or Hordak’s abrasive personality making it harder to forgive him. It’d also be great to see Adora and Catra reflect on Shadow Weaver’s sacrifice, which Stevenson has characterized as “still kind of a selfish end.”
Couples’ Spotlight
Scorpia and Perfuma became very close during She-Ra‘s final season, so it’d be nice to see the spotlight fall on their relationship. As well as the mystery of where Scorpia’s exiled mothers are now, it’d be great to see Perfuma’s background explored as well: lead character designer Rae Geiger said she intended the character to be transgender, something that could be canonized — Perfuma is such a gentle, happy-go-lucky soul, her parents were probably very supportive even before discovering her connection to the Heart-Blossom.
Then there’s Mermista — ruler of the undersea kingdom Salineas, who can manipulate water — and Sea Hawk, a ridiculous pirate who sets his boats on fire. Together, they’re a perfectly awkward couple, so imagine how much funnier their love story could get if Sea Hawk’s ex — the one-eyed pirate Falcon — reentered their lives. One thing’s for sure: Mermista will get annoyed — a lot.
Bow’s Siblings
One of the few negative experiences in the She-Ra fandom came when Stevenson and their fellow crew members shared some doodles of Bow’s siblings (who were mentioned but never appeared on the show): one of them was portrayed as “Sow,” a wheat-chewing farmer that fans deemed a slavery era stereotype. Stevenson apologized for the unintentionally racist image, but the notion all of Bow’s siblings were identical boys with rhyming names was pretty bad too: Bow deserves a diverse family, whether they turn out to be older brothers, sisters, or non-binary siblings, and they don’t have to all be humans. (Also, they’re all meant to be historians like their dads, but some of them could’ve been lying like Bow had been.) Hopefully, an African-American writer/artist can devise a family reunion that ultimately provides a silver lining to this whole episode.
Continued belowFriends of Mara
Mara, the She-Ra a thousand years before Adora, would be an ideal protagonist for a prequel, given how vague many of the circumstances around her life are: for instance, Grayskull being the name of Mara’s squadron was something that Stevenson clarified online. It’d be great to meet more of her friends than Madame Razz, and experience just why she chose to save Etheria over her own people, who were likely defeated by Horde Prime because she chose to hide the planet — and its magic — in Despondos. Oh, and her steed was apparently a dragon, which would be a spectacular sight to say the least.
The He-Man Question
Speaking of Grayskull, while it was never shown in the reboot, Adora is the twin sister of Prince Adam, aka He-Man. Perhaps Adora finding her homeworld (Eternia) was a concept being saved for a feature-length follow-up, or maybe there were copyright issues: either way, it might be easier for her to reunite with her brother on paper, since publishers are more likely to team-up or gain the licenses for both than an animation company. The Princesses of Power universe’s version of Adam and his swole alter-ego is a fairly popular topic in fan art (here are even more examples), and with good reason: Adora might have found the best adoptive family, but it would be a relief for her biological one if they found out she was alive and well.
Epilogue
This weekend, Stevenson treated us to artwork of Scorpia’s first ball in her restored family seat, as mentioned in Adora’s vision of the future in the series finale:
That’d make for a fun one-shot, don’t you think? Be sure to tell us what else you might like to see in the comments, and which writers and artists — professional or amateur — should tackle an official “Princesses of Power” comic. Happy belated She-Ra Day folks, and may you continue to be strong and brave against the evil coming, and shadows all around.
