Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!
01-31-2013, 01:04 AM
Has anyone else read the comic book series, Damsels, produced by Dynamite? It features a fairytale world where the major princesses are actually imposters in disguise, who are leading the different fairy tale kingdoms to war in a humans vs. magical creatures conflict. The real princesses (and others) have been rendered amnesiac by a spell, and are cursed so that everyone they meet mistreats them and distrusts them.
Most of the story follows Rapa, a homeless girl with red dreadlocks who is actually the real Rapunzel. She encounters the Little Mermaid (who seems to be able to shift from mostly human form, with gills and fish teeth and odd patterns of scales, to mermaid form) who tells Rapa about the enchantment on them, though they are soon separated. Rapa goes on to seek out the other ensorcelled Princesses, while the Little Mermaid follows the imposters as they travel across the land, hoping to get close to the prince from the Sleeping Beauty story (who apparently is also the prince from the Little Mermaid story, who married Sleeping Beauty, causing the Little Mermaid to fall into despair), though at least at the present, things don't end happily for the Little Mermaid (she uses the knife the Sea Witch gave her after the Prince rejects her, stabbing him and disappearing into the woods).
There seems to be some connection with the Twelve Dancing Princesses, Sleeping Beauty has been cured of her curse by true love (interestingly, that true love belongs to Red Riding Hood, not the Prince), the Beast seems to be the only one of the fairytale princes who can tell the difference between the imposters and the real princesses (and has either returned to beastly form or never turned back before Belle was replaced), a variation on the Fisherman and the Djinni, and a froglike humanoid hero, and several appearances and plots by Oberon of the Fairies. It is well worth checking out, especially since groups of mermaids have appeared several more times besides the Little Mermaid herself.
Most of the story follows Rapa, a homeless girl with red dreadlocks who is actually the real Rapunzel. She encounters the Little Mermaid (who seems to be able to shift from mostly human form, with gills and fish teeth and odd patterns of scales, to mermaid form) who tells Rapa about the enchantment on them, though they are soon separated. Rapa goes on to seek out the other ensorcelled Princesses, while the Little Mermaid follows the imposters as they travel across the land, hoping to get close to the prince from the Sleeping Beauty story (who apparently is also the prince from the Little Mermaid story, who married Sleeping Beauty, causing the Little Mermaid to fall into despair), though at least at the present, things don't end happily for the Little Mermaid (she uses the knife the Sea Witch gave her after the Prince rejects her, stabbing him and disappearing into the woods).
There seems to be some connection with the Twelve Dancing Princesses, Sleeping Beauty has been cured of her curse by true love (interestingly, that true love belongs to Red Riding Hood, not the Prince), the Beast seems to be the only one of the fairytale princes who can tell the difference between the imposters and the real princesses (and has either returned to beastly form or never turned back before Belle was replaced), a variation on the Fisherman and the Djinni, and a froglike humanoid hero, and several appearances and plots by Oberon of the Fairies. It is well worth checking out, especially since groups of mermaids have appeared several more times besides the Little Mermaid herself.