arnoldmoyoyo

Check it out: Princeless: Raven The Pirate Princess

(Also the goodreads reviews)

I zoomed through this in a day but stopped midway through Book 2 because I didn't have access to the next six volumes (boo!). As far as I know, it's a spin off from the 'Princeless' series, which I've never read, but I don't think reading it is a prerequisite.

Selling point for me? Pirate lesbian. I mean, in all fairness, I am a simple human. You say girl pirate, I go. You say lesbian pirate, I run. I barely needed to read anything else about it before I leapt onto it (though the revenge plotline was equally appealing).

Raven Xingtao is on a quest for revenge against her brothers who conspired to have her locked up in a tower to steal her inheritance, and she gathers an all female crew to tag along. It gets a little violent at times, and a little meta whenever someone makes a joke about the patriarchy or a comment about feminism. The latter two can come off a little heavy handed, but it was a fun ride nonetheless.

More selling points for me? Ximena, Raven's long-lost friend and first crush, a nonviolent cartographer who goes onboard more reluctantly than the rest. There's a turbulent history between them that makes for some nail-bitingly good anticipation. There's also half elf dancer, Sunshine (who also has a lil' something going on with Raven), tall buff blonde Katie, stubborn-as-nails inventor Jayla, alongside many others. It's a group of all personalities and abilities, but they're tossed together without making a fuss about the 'diversity' aspect, always a great sign. I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of Book 2, if only to find out how it ends. More comics like this please and thank you.

(On the cover from left to right: Ximena, Katie, Raven, Jayla, Sunshine)