The Courageous Princess

I honestly can’t remember back far enough to think of a time Hollywood created an animated movie that could rise to the same level of innovation, human heart and soul, and overall greatness of a Miyazaki movie. There are some great examples, just don’t expect me to wrack my brain and pull those examples up since it’s been too long between since they’ve been made and the writing of this review.
So, with that said, maybe Hollywood should pay attention to the works of a certain Mr. Rod Espinosa… again… and take a look at his work, The Courageous Princess (his Eisner Award Nominated title that has all the feel good qualities of a Miyazaki classic, with Mr. Espinosa’s own unique genius shining through from book to book).
Actually this will all be one review despite the fact it’s a three volume set because, well, it’s a thin three volume set. I was surprised the books were prestige format comics, I thought they’d be graphic novels ala Neotopia. Well, whatever, by now you can find the collected version of this title (all three of these volumes in one graphic novel format) so you’re covered in case you want to add this to your collection (which you should, yes, you should do that).
Split into three books, The Courageous Princess, CP : The Quest For Home and CP : The Kingdom of Leptia the story focuses on young Princess Mabelrose (and her journey to get back to her home after being abducted, but more on that in a sec.)
Once upon a time there was the Land of the Hundred Kingdoms.
Kingdoms of averageness, King’s Quest averageness, Guild Wars or World of Warcraft averageness, Elder Scrolls averageness (whoo! A Kingdom where Patrick Stewart resides!), and Kingdoms of fairy tale mystical quality live side by side in this many lands. Here, in a small kingdom of King’s Quest quality named New Tinsley (quick show of hands, who thinks there’s actually a great “How I Met Your Mother” King’s Quest style story here about how Mabelrose’s parents hooked up in this kingdom?) with a beloved King & Queen. This happy couple was beloved by their people, were kind and just rulers, lived modestly is a mid sized castle overlooking one of the major villages (and once hosted an entire season of the hit PBS TV Show “This Old Castle”), and yet… they wanted a child to complete their happiness.
Well, after time (and things which I can only talk about in the adult site I work for) they were blessed with the birth of a beautiful baby girl. After much wrangling and discussion over the child’s name (Mabel for Ma Belle, the queen’s beloved mom or Rose because of the young baby’s rosy cheeks) they decided on Mabelrose for her name.
The Princss grew up quickly, and became quite the inquisitive and curious child. She soon began to learn about growing things, sewing, and the state of the other Hundred Kingdoms (through stories of fanciful flight of fairy tale whimsy and heroic deeds of said kingdoms). She also was taken throughout the kingdom by her parents, and taught generosity (or perhaps it was always in her nature to be kind and generous) as she watched her parents work hard for their people (something certain leaders of the present day world need to learn for themselves).
She was never an obnoxious stuck up Princess (like that now rather deceased Princess from Neotopia, who died at the end of the first volume) and she made friends easily (and was thus easy to get along with). Overall she was a great Princess and everyone loved her… maybe that is why a certain greedy dragon one day came to steal her away.
It was in the aftermath of a particularly trying social event in a neighboring land that she was abducted by the Princess collecting dragon (only one Princess at a time as most other Princesses who were not Mabelrose were high maintenance property), and spirited off to his fortress far far away in a distant land.
Despite the charm of the dragon it soon became apart that it was a dragon of the stalker boyfriend mentality (why yes, apparently even dragons can be stalker boyfriends even if they tend to stalk the opposite sex that is not their own species). She was bathed daily by the dragon’s invisible servants, dressed as the dragon wanted her dressed (because as dragons goes she was really and truly the size of a Barbie doll in comparison to the dragon… hmm… dragon has some personal issues if it’s still collecting “dolls” -- too bad it ate Dr. Phil when he came by the castle for a princess intervention), and basically commanded how she would live in his castle. Of course eventually she got to wanting to return home and eventually found a way to escape.
The dragon, being the stalker boyfriend type, naturally went in pursuit of her, and it is during her escape that she met her traveling companion for the rest of the book (the talking porcupine named Spikey).
As Volume 2 starts we see Mabelrose’s dad on a King’s Quest style journey across the kingdoms to find his daughter, reporting back home as to progress as he went along. Apparently nobody figured out the dragon angle (or the dragon was not well known) as the father seems to search with only spotty clues to her whereabouts. In the meantime Mabelrose, with her new companion Spiky, are still on the run from the dragon (which will be a constant threat throughout the book).
While on the run the two begin to bond as pals, but that is soon threatened when a particularly harrowing escape from the dragon’s chief hunter (a particularly nasty wolf under the dragon’s control) puts Mabelrose into danger (requiring the help of a kindly family, part of a community of people in the village of Munken). With their help the Princess is saved and she is once again put on the road home. And, as a side note, to add to the good feeling ometer, they then proceed to wipe out an entire army of the dragon’s own trolls who came seeking the Princess! Entirely self defense! Who told those trolls to bring their siege machines and attempt to reinact the Battle for Helm’s Deep!
At the end the Princess saves the life of a talking warthog… oh, look! It’s Pumbaa!
(This works out as this kind act comes back to help her in the third volume).
And finally in the third volume Mabelrose and Spiky are helped by a community of talking animal/people only to realize that they are the ones who need help as they are under the cruel rule of an evil tiger-man whose relative is the rightful ruler of the land. He has the Princess captured and forced to serve him in the rightful king’s palace, all the while planning to give Mabelrose back to the dragon that has been pursuing her. Somehow, however, she has to manage to set herself free and free the kingdom she’s in from under the tyrannical rule of this evil “king”, as well as stop the pursuing dragon once and for all. The series ends with an epic finale, and… well, like The Crying Game’s ads of long past we cannot reveal the secrets of the ending of The Courageous Princess though I can tell you one thing… yes, Mabelrose is a girl. She’s not a guy in drag.
If Senior Miyazaki (or his new Director son who just did Tales of the Earthsea) happen to be looking for the next great movie idea? You can’t go wrong here. Once again Rod Espinosa proves his mettle in this, one of his more classic works, which has that beautiful wondrous air of creativity, innovation and beauty that we haven’t seen much of outside of the works of Miyazaki himself. Beautifully drawn, splendidly written, and lovely from beginning to end, the title is truly worthy of it’s Eisner Nominated status… why it didn’t WIN I’ll never understand, but whatever.
The Courageous Princess is a joy, one you should have in your collection without a shadow of a doubt. Be you a fan of Espinosa’s work, a fan of great storytelling, or just a fan of Antarctic Press and it’s creative pool of talents, you’ll find many good reasons to go out and buy that collected volume version of this story.
Now if only Espinosa would go back to the drawing board and pen the sequel!
You left the story unfinished, man! Finish it!!
Courageous Princess gets 5 Golden Spiky Awards out of 5.