Comic Review: Princeless vol.2: Get Over Yourself by Jeremy Whitley and Emily C. Martin

Princeless Book Two: Get Over Yourself by Jeremy Whitley

Self-rescuing princess Adrienne continues her adventures with companions Bedelia, the half dwarf blacksmith and Sparky the dragon. Unable to rescue her youngest sister, Adrienne goes after the beautiful Angelica instead, only to find that Angelica may not want to be rescued. Meanwhile, their father has found the most deadly and unique bounty hunters in the land and tasks them with finding the knight whom he believes killed Adrienne.

As promised in our interview, this volume of Princeless is less preachy than the previous one. Where volume one struck out at the comic industry and sexism and prejudice as a whole, this one tones down that commentary a bit to focus on Adrienne’s adventures. It also takes an interesting turn with Adrienne discovering that her book learning and headstrong confidence has not prepared her for the world. She’s confronted with the fact that she might not be aware of everything she ought to be, and that just because she believes strongly in something, does not mean everyone else does.

Emily C. Martin takes over the artistic reigns on Princeless and does a great job at making everything just as bright and fun as the first volume.

I read this to my daughters, aged seven and five, who loved the first volume and laughed out loud with this one, too. The mysterious Black Knight plucked at their curiosity and the showdown with the various characters were exciting and funny. They especially liked the sisterly hugs that came with Angelica and Adrienne’s resolution and are eager to read more after that creepy cliffhanger ending! Our only complaint was that there was not enough Sparky!

4 of 5 stars

Princeless and Beyond: An Interview with Jeremy Whitley

We've read Princeless Volume 1: Save Yourself almost every day since I picked it up at the beginning of the month, so when I told my daughters that I'd be interviewing the creator, Jeremy Whitley, they demanded participation. Izzy (4) was eager to learn about Jeremy's daughter and proudly show off her hair, which is "poofy" just like Princess Adrienne's. Ivy (7) cut right to the chase and asked Jeremy why he wrote Princeless.

"I wanted to write a book about a girl that was strong, smart and independent - like I want my daughter to be when she grows up."

Sixteen year old Princess Adrienne Ashe is definitely all that and more. As a princess locked in a dragon-guarded tower, she decides to take her fate into her own hands and save herself rather than wait for some prince to do it for her. Having a strong female person of colour as the main protagonist is certainly a refreshing change, but I hadn't expected Princeless to cover so many other issues common to the comic book industry, such as sexism and gender stereotyping. These problems were presented in a way that my girls could easily understand and discuss with me, which is exactly what Jeremy was aiming for. "I wanted to put it out there to get adults and kids talking."  The pervasive sexism and, to a slightly lesser extent, racism are issues that have always troubled Jeremy since he began collecting comics. He felt these were significant issues that Adrienne needed to talk about within the context of the story. Some critics complained that the commentary was inappropriate for a younger audience but Jeremy argues that kids can handle a lot more than we give them credit for. Obviously the Eisner Awards agreed, nominating Princeless in the Best Publication for Kids category. Issue #3, the one featuring the call to armor regarding sexism in the industry was nominated in the Best Single Issue category. Not that Jeremy intends for Princeless to be preachy. He promises that volume two of the series, illustrated by Emily C. Martin and available now, will lay off the commentary to allow more focus on the action, characters and story. Well, mostly, he says, sheepishly pointing out the parody cover of issue #2.

Jeremy has a lot in store for us with Princess Adrienne as she and her friends, Bedilia the blacksmith and Sparky the dragon continue their quest to rescue other princesses.  It's an all girls adventure that passes the Bechdel Test, even if he hadn't purposely put together this female cast with the test in mind. "I didn't want to create a book about girls with only one girl who may fall into the trap of still having to be rescued." He cites the current incarnation of Wonder Woman as an example of this problem. Wonder Woman is mainly surrounded by males who's focus is moving the plot forward instead of the female lead.

Illustrations by Emily C. Martin
Colours by Soojin Paek

On Free Comic Book Day (May 4, 2013), we'll meet Asian princess Raven Xingtao in a Princeless story called "Girls Who Fight Boys," along side Jamal Igle’s Molly Danger. Like the other princesses, Raven is trapped in a tower awaiting rescue. Her tower is guarded by one of the knights hired to hunt for Adrienne's "killer" who has no interest in fighting girls. While there are similarities in their plight, Raven offers a different perspective that will give Adrienne something to think about. "Adrienne doesn't have a feel for the fact that not everyone wants what she does," which tends to be an issue for headstrong people, Jeremy points out.

Jeremy hopes to do a story arc featuring Raven and Adrienne, but in the mean time, we'll be seeing a lot more of Adrienne's sisters in the main story, as well as in Tales of the Family Ashe.  This one-shot will show "what makes them tick and give them a chance to shine."  It will also give some insight into the young King Ashe. Turns out he wasn't always so curmudgeonly.

While Princeless is very much about breaking the gender stereotype for girls, it also touches on the problems boys have to deal with. Volume 1 features a short story on Prince Charm school and Adrienne happens to have a twin brother named Devin who is constantly reminded of his unkingly ways by his father.

"Devin is a smart kid with a lot of talent, it’s just not a talent his father is at all interested in. Devin is a poet, a designer, a thinker, a creator, and an excellent speaker. All of these would be excellent qualities for a king to have, but his father is interested in having someone that he knows can ride into battle and lead his troops." [X]

Devin does not feature in Tales of the Family Ashe, but hopefully we will see much more of him some time in the future. Perhaps even in a Princeless cartoon...?

Jeremy recently put out feelers about the possibility of putting together a Kickstarter for a Princeless animated pilot. He would love to see this happen, not for the sake of vanity, but for the same reason he created the comic in the first place. Unfortunately, research and chatting with those who have gone through the process indicate that putting together a Kickstarter is a full time job that requires a "good chef to handle so many ingredients," which puts the prospect a lot further into the future than Jeremy would like it to be.

Art by Jason Strutz
from The Order of Dagonet

Not that Jeremy doesn't have a million other things to work on! His advise to those who want to create comics is to just do it; "make the comics you want to read." That's exactly what Jeremy has been doing, using his creative writing degree from the University of North Carolina and script writing courses, taking advantage of the many creator owned opportunities that companies like Action Lab Comics are providing. When he saw a painting of Titania by Jason Strutz and presented the artist with a script he'd been working on, The Order of Dagonet was born. Issues #1-3 are available now, but the fun little comic about modern day knights summoned to defend Britain from magical creatures is on hold for the moment due to quiet sales, but Jeremy and Jason have more up their sleeve.

Skip concept art by Jason Strutz

Jeremy and Jason are also working on Skip. A 6ish issue work in progress, they are hoping to find a publisher interested in a super hero story about an administrative assistant to an industrialist "Lex Luthor-type character who unintentionally finds himself on the wrong side of the super heroes and takes it personally." His assistant cares about him and is caught in between, recognizing that her boss isn't necessarily an evil guy. Top off her troubles with her sudden development of uncontrollable time travel powers...

Jeremy explains that he has always been fascinated by Lex Luthor and the two personas that have been presented over the years. There's the Gene Hackman version "who is a crazy smart guy that does things sometimes for profit, sometimes just to be evil." Then there is the Lex Luthor best portrayed in the animated series, voiced by Clancy Brown where he "may be evil, but is mainly a genius who doesn't take well to guidance. He's a self-made man who is irritated by the concept and existence of Superman."

A Bibliosanctum exclusive! Cover concept
for Snow Illustrated by Jessi Sheron

Jeremy's worked with Action Lab Comics on an NFL Rush book and GlobWorld and is working with artist Jessi Sheron on a dark fantasy children's book tentatively titled Snow. The main character is a normal young girl who wakes up to find everyone in her house gone and mythical, magical creatures have taken over. Her sister is some how significant to these creatures and the girl goes on a quest to find her.

It's a pity that Jeremy hasn't been approached by either of the "big two" publishers in the industry -- yet. He is a huge Storm fan and would love to write a book where she features far more prominently than she current does. (We're pretty big fans of Storm at The BiblioSanctum so excuse me while I put together a politely worded proposal to Marvel...)

And then there's a secret script that he's been passionately writing for some time that has yet to see the light of day...

Be sure to visit Jeremy's Tumblr or follow him on Twitter,
 where he's always happy to chat.

Princeless Book One: Save Yourself by Jeremy Whitley

Princeless Book One: Save Yourself by Jeremy Whitley

Princeless follows the quest of Princess Adrienne to free herself and her sisters from their fate of waiting for a prince to save them from their towers. From the beginning Adrienne has rebelled against the idea of princesses being passively saved by princes, asking her mother, "Who has the kind of grudge against this beautiful princess that they would lock her in a tower?"

Adrienne decides, after finding a sword after another failed rescue attempt by a prince (one who didn't even know the definition of fair, at that), that she is going to save herself. She doesn't need a prince to save her--no princess does. She decides that not only will she save herself, but her sisters as well.

This is a cute story, for sure, but it's so much more than that. Adrienne questions a world where women are expected to be second class citizen. They're not expected to rule or hold jobs that traditionally are for men (such as Bedelia secretly smithing in her father's place). They're expected to wait for their prince and depend on men to take care of them. A very touching moment came at the end when Adrienne's mother confides in the prince that she's treated her own daughter like currency rather than the child she loved. She's been groomed to behave this way.

But this story doesn't just point out the pressures that females are expected to adhere to. The male perspective is shown through the prince, Wilcome, who tried to save Adrienne. There's a brief look at how he went to Prince Charming school when he really just wanted be a kid. He was ripped away from that to become a Prince Charming and shown how prince's act--only to find out that being a prince was harder than it was made out to be, especially when he still felt like a kid. He says no one comes to save a prince when he's locked up.

Adrienne's brother Devin presents another view. His father pretty much says that Devin isn't fit to rule his kingdom because he's soft. He expects one of his daughters to marry a strong prince who will take over. He laughs away any talk of one of his daughters ruling because that isn't their place. Devin isn't good at sword fighting, preferring poetry to fighting. And he's never allowed to forget how much of an heir he's not by his father. And I appreciate this balance being added to the story.

Yes, this is a story about gender binary, but it's not preachy. It's a cute story whose moral simply is girls can be strong and boys don't always have to tough, that boys and girls aren't boxed in by their gender. This is exactly the kind of story I want to read to my daughter. I love comics, but it's often hard to find something age appropriate. And if it is age appropriate, it's very hard to find one where the lead is a female character of color.

I posted a couple of the panels on Tumblr where I had a brief exchange with the author who expressed excitement that I was reading this with a friend and because I wanted to share it with my daughter. I mentioned that she was one-part princess and one-part tomboy, and I see my daughter in this story. I did a Google search on him after that and read an interview where he said he wrote this comic for the exact same reasons that I expressed in my post (he wrote it for his daughter when she gets older). I can't wait to read more of this story.

Final Verdict: