Freed from captivity in a tower by Princess Adrienne and her sidekick Bedelia, the pirate princess Raven Xingtao, “The Black Arrow” convinces her rescuers to join with her to win back a ship from one of the brothers who betrayed her. Having won the battle and evicted the ship’s crew the victors part company. Now it’s up to Raven to find a new crew for her liberated ship. Her first recruit is the pickpocket nicknamed “Sunshine,” that steals her purse. The pursuit of this miscreant leads Raven to the tavern of an old acquaintance and an opportunity to do some recruiting. Following a raucous barroom brawl several of the victorious female fighters join Raven’s crew. Her next recruits are a pacifist navigator who was a former captive of Raven’s father and a young woman accused of being a witch due to her interest in chemistry and explosives. ( )

I was super excited about this. I am in utter love with the main Princeless series, and loved Raven from Volume 3. Hey, she's a kick-ass pirate princess of Asian descent. Hell yes.

It looks like Raven: the Pirate Princess is for an older audience than the main Princeless title. The artwork reads older, for one, and the violence is more... it seems silly to say violent, but it's true. It's depicted as actual violence instead of something silly. You sometimes see blood, even.

Also, the jokes are much more nuanced and subtle. And many of them are extremely meta. I mean, there's a "Not All Men" joke that made me fistpunch the air. And a cameo appearance by some of the most famous contemporary women in comics today (hey, G. Willow Wilson! And Kelly Sue! and Marjorie Liu!). In fact, the entire volume seemed to be a tongue-in-cheek nod to some of the things that women have faced in geekdom in the quest for more diversity, representation, and inclusivity.

I loved that Raven continued what started in Princeless, and introduces readers to strong women of all walks of life, backgrounds, and appearance. It's diversity without hitting you over the head with it, which is awesome. Also, the subtle way Whitley handles the reveal that Raven isn't heterosexual is wonderful. It's not a big deal, there isn't a giant OMG reveal, but it's just handled naturally, as a progression of the story. This is how you handle diversity - it's not a big deal to have non-white and non-straight characters in the story because it's not a big deal in real life.

I'm so looking forward to the the next story arc. This is everything right in graphic novels today. ( )

Oh, I am ALL on board with this Princeless off-shoot.

That's Kelly Sue DeConnick on the guild's board (or whoever they are), right?

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Panels Read Harder: Comic featuring one or more teenage protagonist(s). ( )

4,5🌟

I!! MISSED!! RAVEN!! SO!! MUCH!!

Raven is out to get back at her brothers who manipulated their father to get her locked up in a tower as it is done to 'land princesses'. There's only one thing she lacks to do so — the crew.

And the crew she gets. With many complications on the way, of course, but how else a pirate gets their crew, right? And what a crew it is. I love the main five. We have: A Muscles & D&D Girl, A Blow Shit Up Girl, A Really Fast & Jumpy Dancer, A Girl Who Knows Of Stars And Compasses, and our rightful Pirate Queen — Raven.

I like how the setting of Princeless is so different from our days but it still manages to call out many, many current issues and makes it sound so natural.

Also, t h a t ATLA reference!!! ( )

Raven, aka Black Arrow, from her story in the Princeless main graphic novel, has a ship now, but no crew (and no dragon, aww). Oh, and she's hungry.

First she bumps into Sunshine (who's half elf?) That helps her find Cookie, one of the guys that was on her father's ship once upon a time, and from there she slowly puts together a crew with an old friend and some new ones too.

I love how Whitely let himself take the whole TPB (4 issues I think) to create this crew, because that meant that even before they all got on the ship, the main five characters, Raven, Jayla (Cookie's daughter), Ximera (Raven's former best friend), Katie (first mate and muscle), and Sunshine (a dancer and interested in figuring out Raven) already seem like such rich characters, and their relationships quite interesting. And of course there's some cool subtext between Sunshine and Raven, and between Ximena and Raven (and maybe some between Ximena and Katie, although I may be reading too much into that one).

Who am I kidding, there's sparks between almost every single person on that boat. I guess we'll see where everyone sorts in the next book. ( )