Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Another Castle, Comics, entertainment

Two Opposing Reviews Of Another Castle #1 – But Only One Of Them Raps

This is one review of Another Castle #1 by Andrew Wheeler and Paulina Ganucheau, that launched from Oni Press. It raps…

And this is another from Bleeding Cool contributor Cameron Williams. Rapless…

Another Castle deserves a participation ribbon. Like a young child scoring a goal against their own team, the comic fails completely, but remains adorable for trying. Written by Andrew Wheeler, with art by Paulina Ganucheau, the comic sets out be revolutionary and ends up merely filling another space on the children's rack.

Set in the medieval Kingdom of Beldora, Another Castle is the story of a bored princess seeking adventure. The story opens with Princess Misty's handmaids excitedly speculating on when Prince Pete is going to propose to her. Ignoring them, she suddenly kills a Shadeling disguised as a bird.

From there, it escalates to her deciding that she's going to take her family's magical sword, Leveler, and go march by herself into the Kingdom of Grimoire to kill its ruler, the evil Lord Badlug. It's not clear if she actually intends to attempt this, or if she's just acting out, but either way, she drags Leveler off into the forest, and nobody around her makes a reasonable effort to stop her. Not surprisingly, this eventually results in her getting captured by Lord Badlug.

Along the way, she yells at anyone and everyone who tries to tell her what to do. From telling her father that there's no reason she can't go hunt down an evil immortal ruler by herself, to getting angry at Prince Pete for trying to help her when goblins attack. It's never clear if she's meant to be a skilled warrior, or a petulant child. Neither the art nor writing provides any insight into the extent of her abilities. At best, it becomes clear that anytime someone says she can't accomplish something, she does. But in between these moments, she shows poor judgement and a complete unwillingness to listen to any advice from wiser counsel. In short, she's a white male comic book writer.

The writing throughout the comic moves the story forward in chaotic short bursts. The story is left without a good emotional flow. Princess Misty's demeanour and outlook fluctuate wildly from panel to panel, to the extent that it hinders the reader's ability to relate to her; she rarely maintains an emotion long enough for the reader to adjust to it. When brought to Lord Badlug after being captured, she goes from looking broken and despondent, to smugly threatening him in the span of a conversation.

Similarly, the dialogue is only remarkable for its lack of coherence. Every other character feels like a cheap stereotype, existing solely to provide a foil for Princess Misty's intended feminist outlook. Most of the conversations read like these characters have never met her before, treating her outlook and attitude like a silly dalliance to be overcome.

Characters like the King comment on her behaviour in the least confrontational way possible. In spite of it her marriage being used to cement an alliance with another kingdom, he doesn't seem the slightest bit concerned when she ignores him completely and leaves on her quest. When she's not around, characters like the King's advisor are left to making "too soon" jokes to the King about his possibly dead daughter.

Paulina Ganucheau's art is colourful and engaging. Using varied panel layouts and a wide variety of angles, the art feels full of life, capturing both motion and the passage of time. The two instances of art extending beyond the edge of the panel are among the best panels in the comic. In one case, it captures the swiftness of the Princess's action to kill a Shadeling, and the other, imparts a sense of importance and size to her magical sword.

Unfortunately, where the art fails is at establishing a tone. Initially, Princess Misty's world feels fun and playful. It feels natural the ease with which she takes control early in the story. That's why it's disappointing that as her story gets darker, the art doesn't change enough to match. Art that works for her casually jumping out a window to show her prowess, is a poor fit when discussing other characters burning to death, or the choice of her mother's suicide. It lacks emotional nuance and does the story a tremendous disservice.

Similarly, the visual emotion of the characters lacks depth. The cartoonish reactions of the characters may appeal to younger readers, but it can pull older readers out of the story. In conjunction with the disjointed writing, it becomes a point of frustration, blocking immersion and limiting appeal.

In terms of production values, the lettering by Jenny Vy Trans is amateurish. Using incredibly large word balloons and questionable spacing choices, it stands out for its poor choices. The large text is certainly a good choice for children, but that still doesn't explain the extended white space constantly and unnecessarily surrounding the dialogue. Because of the white space, the text ends up in narrow columns, often with only one or two words on a line. It's not a good use of space and it blocks a lot more art than it should.

Another Castle feels like it was written for reviewers. Princess Misty is meant to be a feminist take on the captured princess trope, but the comic never lives up to its goals. Being headstrong and insistent isn't the same thing as being feminist, and throughout the comic, she mistreats almost everyone around her. While the final twist has her deciding that she can save both Beldora and Grimoire, it's not enough to make her a likeable character.

Other comics, like Princeless, have done a far better job of creating stories in this space. Another Castle is not a great princess comic, because it's not a great comic. The best recommendation that can be made is that it may be a good fit for children who've run out of better stories to read. A child who reads this comic won't be worse off, but it's not going be the first step towards a lifelong love of comics either. It's the direct-to-video sequel to a better comic which was never written. The parts are all there, but it would be better to pretend that it never existed.

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