From the folks at Firetower Studios comes a brand new comic called Princeless!
In Princeless, we meet Adrienne. Adrienne lives in the mythical world of fairy tales and castles that we are all oh-so-familiar with, except for one little problem: she doesn’t want to be anyone’s token princess. While all of her other sisters and her are placed in the tallest of towers, she only dreams of breaking out on her own and becoming something more. She doesn’t want to be an autonomous bride to some macho prince capable of slaying her dragon. And so the story of Princeless begins, as Adrienne embarks on a quest to save her sisters.
Click behind the cut for my thoughts.
Overall, I enjoyed the story. I thought the writing was great and sharp. A character like Adrienne needs a certain amount of sass without becoming a stereotype of her own, and while she definitely is the embodiment of feminism (which can become slightly annoying to read on occasion), it’s not so overdone that it becomes unbearable. The problem I often find with a male writer writing a female character is that sometimes, in order to portray a certain depth and level to the character, they go over the top with how they portray their character. There is a difference between a strong female character and a female character who is intended to be strong but is instead an accidental stereotype, and Jeremy Whitley manages to walk that fine line fairly well.
You also can’t deny the fresh tongue of the book, as it is just as tongue-in-cheek and humorous as his previous work in Order of Dagonet. Whitley certainly has an original voice.
However, my main point of contention is in the artwork. This is Luis Franco’s first work with Whitley on Firetower, and it really doesn’t look good. To be quite honest, the art of the book is closer to what I would see on a high schooler’s deviantart page. A lot of the faces are uneven in scenes and the body’s are fairly poorly formed. On top of that, the way that shading and color is done digitally just does not translate well. A lot of it looks like it was filled in in MS Paint, and as much as I enjoy the writing, the art really detracts from my enjoyment of the comic.
Out of the two things I’ve read from Firetower, I put my money on Dagonet as the better comic. I like the writing of this book, but I really don’t enjoy the art at all.
Final Verdict: 6.8 – Browse
