Boom! Studios 2017
Written & Created by Delilah S. Dawson
Illustrated by Ashley A. Woods
Lettered by Jim Campbell
When King Mancastle and his mighty vassals ride off on crusade, the women left behind are not at all put out—that's a lot less armor polishing for them to do. Of course, when the men get themselves eaten by a dragon and leave a curse that attracts monsters to the castle...well, the women take umbrage with that. Now the blacksmith’s wife Merinor is King, Princess Aeve is the Captain, and the only remaining (and least capable) knight Sir Riddick is tasked with teaching the ladies of the castle how to fight, defend, build, and do all manner of noisy things the men had been doing while the women assumed they were just drunk.
To be honest I wasn’t quite sure I was going to like this however reading the first issue I realised that what Delilah has here could be gold. The king and his men are off presumably finding a Prince for his daughter to marry. She’s been locked up in the tower to keep her a virgin since she was twelve years old. With no playmates or friends allowed to visit and just books and her telescope to keep her company so yeah already i’m thinking this is going to be different. Even if she opens up with this singing like some Disney Princess would, though you have to read the words to really understand that it isn’t.
At first I thought this would be girly and cute but I’m here to tell you that it really isn’t. While the women are more than capable of living without men and the rules they had it isn’t preaching feminism or anything like that. Don’t be fooled though because of the excellent, and I do mean excellent characterisation this is not a kids book. We see how these women are strong, intelligent and more than capable of taking care of themselves all the while we see that they are learning to be who they are. Finding themselves without men might be the best thing to happen to them so they can finally discover who they were meant to be. It’s interesting in that whole self discovery amidst a terrible tragedy kind of way.
I like the interiors here. Even though they are kind of all-ages in nature don’t let that fool you. We see a lot of great use of page layouts through angles, perspective and backgrounds in play. I like that the women here can be portrayed as strong and beautiful without being trashy or under dressed. It’s really very cute and strong at the same time and that Ashley can do this is really quite something to see.
This will surprise you in how well the complexity and simplicity of the story. There are moments you just find yourself wanting to bust out laughing that are well balanced with the reality of the situation. So these women find themselves in a new reality, a world without men and have to face the consequences of why there are no men. Cleaning up after them if you will as they have to fortify and defend themselves against the oncoming onslaught of threats.
Fun, interesting and nothing at all like you'd expect this one you should take a chance on it will surprise you.