I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: LOW-“War on War” (from WILCOvered, UNCUT Magazine November 2019).

The November 2019 issue of UNCUT magazine had a cover story about Wilco.  It included a 17 track CD of bands covering Wilco (called WILcovered or WILCOvered).  I really enjoyed this collection and knew most of the artists on it already, so I’m going through the songs one at a time.

This is a slow, spacey, trippy cover with gently echoing synth, big echoing drums and a processed echoing voice.  I really like the original of this song and I find this cover to be a little too slow for my liking.

However, the overall sound of the song is very cool, especially the chaotic ending.

[READ: February 2, 2020] Princeless, Vol. 3

This book said Book 3 on the label but it seemed like it was starting form the very beginning.  It wasn’t until after I finished it that I read that this is in fact book 3 but it is a kind of spin off of sorts.  The main character of this story, Raven Xingtao, is actually not the main character of the series.  I did wonder why the two other characters on the cover, Adrienne and Bedelia, are not really introduced here–they are introduced in the first two books, obviously.

So this story starts with a story.  We learn of Ming Two-Tails the fiercest pirate to ride the sea. Her ship was called The Just Wind because she and her crew were so silent sailors thought it was just wind they heard.

The man who is telling the story ends with “And that’s what you’ll be like someday, my little Raven.”

Turns out Ming was Raven’s great-grandmother and Raven was so inspired that even as a little girl she was ready to fight.  She asked her dad to show her how to use a bow.  Her dad smiled and said she will not be a helpless princess.

Cut to the next scene and Raven is in a tower.  She had been there 90 days with no one looking for her.  Until a pink dragon flown by Adrienne Ashe and Bedelia Smith flies in.  They ask if Raven needs help. She does. So Adrienne lands and looks for a fight.

The Prince tells Adrienne she should not be wearing armor, she should be polishing her husband’s armor.  When she knocks him down (almost immediately) he says he would never surrender to a woman.

The ensuing fight leaves all of the men surrendering.  Once Raven reveals that she is the Black Arrow, Bedelia is just smitten with her (the dwarves love you!).

The four go for a meal, but while eating Raven sees some men from her brothers’ ship.  A brawl ensues, which the trio win handily–with some help from Bedelia’s large hammer–the Smith Smash.

Then we learn why Raven was in the tower–her brothers convinced their father that a girl should not take over–that she was a delicate princess and should be locked in a tower. She has sworn revenge against her terrible brothers.  I loved the start of this story!

I didn’t love issue 2 as much.  Adrienne and Raven fight each other because of jealously (at least not over a boy).  Raven manages to charm Adrienne’s dragon very easily.  She even manages to take it while Bedelia and Adrienne are sleeping.  She intends to destroy her brothers.  But Adrienne has caught on (literally) and they battle on the back of the dragon flinging insults at each other.  This chapter was a little too cat-fight for my liking.  But it does resolve with them being better friends, so perhaps the ugliness is worth it.

They both prove to be formidable fighters and when Adrienne falls off in to the water, Raven dives in to save her.  This forms a bond between the two and soon enough they are going after her father’s old ship which is now helmed by Mad Morel.  Having a crazy captain helps them because he is convinced that he is invincible and that can fire all the cannons at once–bad idea!

There’s some excellent swashbuckling and brawling aboard the ship.  The illustrators do an excellent job of showing the fighting clearly, which I appreciate. The only bummer part is that Bedelia is not with them–she’s pretty awesome.  But there is a flash over to her sleeping and as she wakes up we see that she now has sideburns a big mustache!

As the story ends Adrienne and Raven become honorary sisters (Raven never had a sister and Adrienne’s sisters are horrible).

I honestly don’t know if we’ll ever see Raven in the rest of the series, which is about Adrienne.  Raven does have her own spin off series which I’m looking forward to.

I loved the artwork which had a kind of Disney feel but a more rugged and less adorable style–it’s almost like they suck you in with their Dinseyisms and then win you over with the feminism. These characters are a hoot too.  Whitley has written some really enjoyable dialogue (except for the scene above that I didn’t like).   I’m really looking forward to reading more about them–starting from the beginning, of course.

The one weird thing about this book was that there were ads throughout the publication. As if it were an actual comic book.  The ads were mostly for other Action Lab comics (I’d like to read Fight Like a Girl), but there was also an ad for toys at the now defunct Toys R Us.  The really confusing part is that most comics collections show the cover of the issue as the start of the next chapter.  So, having a different book advertised made me think that there were several chapters called Fight Like a Girl until I figured out what was going on.

Just weird is all.  Certainly not enough to keep me from reading more.