Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders Vol. 1

Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders #1

by Jordie Bellaire, Koi Carreon (Illustrator), Sarah Davidson (Colorist)

An updated YA take on the classic 90s animated hit, encouraging the magic of female friendship and perfect for fans of fantasy adventures!

Join Gwenevere, the princess of Avalon and wielder of the Sun Stone, and her friends, Fallon and Tamara, on a quest to keep Avalon safe as enchanted Jewel Riders. While the girls remain friends, things are not as they once were. Gwenevere—once the leader of the Jewel Riders—has had to take a step back from being a Jewel Rider in order to step into a new role as the future queen.

When Merlin begins acting oddly, it's a sign that evil Wild Magic has returned to the kingdom—and so has a foe the Jewel Riders thought they'd once vanquished. With her kingdom, friends, and magic on the line, Gwenevere must choose between the life she loves and knows as a Jewel Rider and her newfound duties. Come join our circle of friends on an enchanted, new adventure for Young Adult readers!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Comics, Young Adult, Feminism, High Fantasy

120 pages, Paperback

First published May 28, 2024

About the author

Jordie Bellaire is an American comic book colorist and writter who lives in Ireland and works for DC, Marvel, Valiant, and Image comic book publishers. She has colored Pretty Deadly, The Manhattan Projects, Moon Knight, The Vision, Magneto, Nowhere Men, Hawkeye, Batman, among other titles. As a writer, her most famous works are Redlands and the reboot of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
Bellaire is credited with starting the "Comics are for everybody" initiative to make the comic book community more inclusive and compassionate.

Reviews

[Lisa Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seemed too good to be true when I learned that a Jewel Riders graphic novel was coming out nearly 30 years after the show ended. Though I thought the wait would seem endless, I was holding this magical book in my hands before I knew it. Featuring brand-new artwork and new stories about some of my favorite characters, this book is an absolute dream come true. This show means the world to me. It was the first series to spark my lifelong love of animated princesses, and it was my first introduction to the Magical Girl genre. I thought I was the only one who still remembered it until two of my friends founded the Jewel Riders Archive and allowed the show's small circle of faithful followers to celebrate the 25th anniversary and our happy memories of growing up with such a beautiful and magical world. Now that world can be shared with a new audience thanks to a collaboration between 41 Entertainment and Maverick, a division of Mad Cave Studios, in the first volume of a brand new graphic novel series that continues the adventures of Princess Gwenevere, Tamara, and Fallon.

I was incredibly pleased with the new art style that Koi Carreon provides for the novel. The cover art showcases the bright and glittery nature of the show with a few modern updates that remain true to the essence of the characters' designs. While most modern-day reboots strive for darker and grittier versions that risk losing what made the original content so appealing, this story is grounded in the same version of Avalon that I grew up with. The colors inside the book are slightly duller than the ones on the cover, particularly Gwen's hair, but it didn't take a long time to get used to once I became engrossed in the new story from Jordie Bellaire. The novel is written for a YA audience, which is perfect for people who grew up with the show as well as teenagers and young adults who are being introduced to it for the first time. Although the plot gets a tad darker than the cartoon, its primary appeal is to people who prefer noblebright fantasy stories like the original show.

The graphic novel picks up right where the series left off with the Jewel Riders having saved Avalon and are ready to move on to the next phase of their lives. Gwenevere is in a rocky engagement with Drake, which follows her flighty relationship with him in the show, and must face her responsibilities as Avalon's future queen. Fallon becomes the new leader of the Pack, and Tamara gets closer to Merlin as he grooms her to become his protégé. The true heart of the novel, however, derives from the backstory, when Gwenevere's mother and aunt were training to become Jewel Riders a generation earlier. Most of the angst and intrigue takes place on the queen's behalf, which was an excellent choice because her story was something that the show always hinted at but never quite delved into. This makes it all the more perplexing that the graphic novel gets her name wrong. Instead of Queen Anya, she is referred to only as Adrianna with no explanation for such a change. We now have yet another instance of a character from this franchise having two names, the first being Gwenevere herself, who was known as Starla in European countries, something that the graphic novel makes a cheeky nod to.

Despite the misnomer of a major character, the graphic novel does a great job of staying true to the essence of the world and its characters. The Jewel Riders remain in character, and Queen Anya/Adrianna and King Jared reveal some darker sides of their personalities. I was pleased to see cameos of some of my favorite characters from the episode "The Faery Princess." Lauren Hitzhusen, the editor of the graphic novel, revealed in an interview that she was a huge fan of the show as a kid, which may account for how true it stayed to its source material. The big villain reveal at the end hardly came as a surprise considering how much of the art style followed the show's more popular first season. However, the way the villain returned is a fascinating character study that will hopefully be continued in a future volume. Considering how obscure this series still is, I do not want to get my hopes up in case the first volume doesn't sell enough copies for a sequel. If you are a fan of the Jewel Riders franchise, I implore you to purchase a copy or Amazon or splurge on the silver foil-covered limited edition directly from Mad Cave Studios' website to ensure the series has a long and successful run.

The Jewel Riders graphic novel is a dream come true for fans of the original series. With its vibrant artwork, engaging storyline, and faithful adaptation of the beloved characters, it's a must-read for both old and new fans alike. While it may have some minor flaws, the graphic novel stays true to the essence of the show and its noblebright fantasy world. As a fan of the series, I implore you to support this new iteration by purchasing a copy, ensuring the continuation of this enchanting story. Let's ride again with Princess Gwenevere, Tamara, and Fallon, and relive the magic of Avalon!

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure if it is my inexperience with reading Western comics (I mostly read manga) or the pacing of this graphic novel.

I was unfortunately confused most of the time, as the story seems to jump all over the place. While I was reading it, I kept going, "Wait, what?" The story seems to take place well after the 90s cartoon ends, and I admittedly haven't seen it in decades. So I'm not sure if that's a factor.

That being said, I did get a couple of chuckles out of it at some of the things in the background and some whitty banter. The art in it is beautiful, so that's why it's sticking at a 3.5 for me.

[Leslie Carnahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVED the Princess Gwenevere cartoon when I was younger. It was a hidden gem (pun intended) that not very many people really remember. Seeing this/reading this really brought me back. You can tell the folks who made this really love the property as well. And what a cool spin on the characters! I could TOTALLY see this getting a new animated show in this art style with this story line. Very fun! I really hope another book is on the horizon. :)

[Skela Gravens · Rating 2 out of 5]

MAN!! I'm not sure what I was really expecting cos this is an old as hell cartoon franchise but whoah was I excited to see more Jewel Riders?? Heck yeah I was! I religiously watched this show as a kid!! I love magical girls and enchanted critters so much still.

Though this comic attempts to follow along after the show had ended it's really oddly paced. Merlin's weird (but not in the fun kooky lil wizard way) The dweasils are just kinda there?? Were they the mantis things Drake fights??? I'm just so lost man. THERES AN EVIL DEER!?!? The whole kingdom is plunged into darkness at some point and it's all really glazed over real quick with no room to actually feel it.

The jewel riders are only fighting together at the beginning with the Faeries where the comic does actually feel like the old show. I did enjoy the backstory between the queen and Kale at least.

Also hello are Sunstar, Moondance and Shadowsong not characters on their own? Are talking magical horses not cool anymore? They felt so left behind and left out of the story, same with Tamara's babies.

I really enjoyed the crisp art and nice colours a lot. The expressive emotions of the characters were great overall! I think Kale just looks amazing especially! Archie's a little cutie still. The Pack all look cool - not entirely sure on Drakes design. But dang what happened to the cool armour the horses wore and why are they SO GLOOMY LOOKING (look I'm hung up on their designs) The concepts really show how watered down everyone has become. Also what did they do to Merlin??

Overall I think the fairytale sort of charm and whimsy of the show seems to be missing and while I felt it when the characters are having fun together, it wasn't there long enough. Not sure if this is because it's aimed at young adults and the cartoon wasn't but man I wasn't feeling it.

I'm still all for more Jewel Riders tho, just let 'em have fun!!

[Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm going with a 3.

I adored the cartoon growing up, but maybe it's because it's been so long it just didn't quite seem the same to me? It seemed to jump around a lot and I kept forgetting what was all going on. The art was very pretty and I liked seeing all the characters again though!

[Artemis Crescent · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just... what is this?

Really, what is this? What is it supposed to be? What was it trying to achieve? How did it become so bafflingly, badly written? Is it a sequel comic series, a reboot, or both? Because it will confuse the everloving heck out of both newcomers and people who have seen the original nineties cartoon. It's a nightmarish mess even in its own right.

How did a 2024 "update" to a nostalgic cartoon end up so... terrible? As mostly obscure and forgotten as the original show was, it deserves far better treatment than this. Anything does! Even Dynamite's 'Rainbow Brite Volume 01' is better written and more accessible than this!

'Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders Vol. 1' is like a sequel to a five season TV show that nobody saw, that got edited, condensed, skipped over, and basically bashed and cut to pieces by executive meddling, in a decades-long development hell. This results in an unfocused, ADD-riddled, unmitigated disaster where too much happens in too short a time, with little breathing room and chance to absorb anything, and you can't get emotionally invested in what's going on, nor in the characters and their rushed, barely existent and later forgotten relationships with each other. The needed expository dialogue is either nonexistent, too little, too much, random, or jumbled and confusing. A ridiculous number of details, ideas and actions are added in, that are made to seem important when they are introduced... are then dropped entirely, or they are hurriedly tacked on after a long absence with little fanfare and importance. It's like reading the world's worst treasure hunt and puzzle - try to guess what detail in the story, what "plot point", and what passes for "character development", is important. Spoiler: almost nothing is important by the end. There is no point. Nothing matters. What a waste of time.

I mean for crying out loud, an apocalypse happens off-page in the middle of the book, with no buildup, no explanation, and in the end it is taken care of just as easily, the book not bothering to explain how the !&*$*! things turned back to normal so quickly, like nothing happened!

It is here where, hopefully for further context and understanding, I will mention my own history with the 'Princess Gwenevere' nineties cartoon. In the UK where I live it is called 'Princess Starla and the Jewel Riders' for some bizarre reason (why make even less of a connection to the Avalon legend?). I barely remembered it from when I was a very young kid, and I think I only saw a few episodes. Recently I watched its two seasons on YouTube, and it is... not good. I mean, it is harmless, and there are infinitely worse cartoons out there (like another nineties toy commercial, 'Sky Dancers', *shudders*), but it feels far too much like a leftover production to sell toys from the eighties, when in the nineties the standards for what is deemed children's entertainment had reached a much higher bar. Heck, some eighties cartoons are in fact funnier, more self-aware and engaging than 'Princess Gwenevere'. I can recall only a few funny, and human, moments and lines of dialogue, where effort seemed to be put in.

Still, I would rather watch the show over and over again than reread its too-little-too-much-too-late comic sequel that doesn't try to ease you into things.

As I stated at the beginning, 'Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders Vol. 1' will confuse readers who have not heard of or seen the near-thirty-year-old cartoon, and readers who have. It references events, arcs and developments for characters that did not happen in the show. How many years have passed in-universe since that ended? There are characters who are wildly, um, out of character and have seem to have gone through a dark arc, like Merlin, and characters who are given no development and hardly any page time, like poor Fallon (the only POC Jewel Rider (besides Josh, remember him?) is treated like a reluctant, begrudged afterthought yet again! And I thought this was a modern update!). Too much time is spent on Tamara and stupid Drake, and not enough focus is given to Gwenevere herself, when she's supposed to be the protagonist. Where is her heartfelt bond with her steed Sunstar, who also suddenly has no character? Why do we almost never see the Jewel Riders together in action? The cover lies! What was up with the monster attack on the fairies at the beginning? That isn't mentioned again. What the flipping heck is Tamara's cape attack? What happened to Tamara's baby animal friends? Why do Kale's dweasels only appear in two pages near the end and are discarded nonentities, and not comic relief? Where's Morgana? Did anyone working on this comic even see the cartoon before they made it, and put it to publishing?

It's all incredibly weird, and not in a good way. The incompetence on display is astounding.

Okay, to be fair, I will list the positives I could find:

The comic does make an attempt to expand on the lore of the cartoon. Not very well, and very haphazardly and spottily, mind you, but there is at least an attempt.

One focus and direction I did like, and that didn't drop the ball as far as a consistent planning and development goes, is the establishment of the relationship between Queen Adrianna and Lady Kale. It actually shows a relationship between the sisters, and their past, and how Kale may have become evil (no surprise that it's Merlin's fault), and Adrianna's depression and the depths of her grief at losing her beloved sister to the dark side. It's quite nice and refreshing to see, when originally there was literally nothing between the sisters. I think they only shared a single line of dialogue in the entire show, and very briefly. I mean come on, one sister is the queen of Avalon and the mother of the protagonist, and the other sister is the main villain and the aunt of said protagonist! The drama is right there! How could it have been ignored?! Give us something! The comic, on the other hand, does give us something, in terms of a tragic sisterly bond, and it is perhaps the only part in it where I felt a little emotional investment, and curiosity as to how it would go moving forward.

Additionally, it seems that Adrianna is now the queen's official, proper name, and is not Guinevere or Anya. And Merlin may be a sketchy, judgemental, faithless, not even secretly power hungry and diabolical, mean, irrelevant old duffer who caused Kale's desperation for validation and subsequent turn to power and evil to begin with, but let's try to be fair again: she's named after cabbage. Anyone would become a villain for that alone.

Tamara is an okay character, and the stronger written and most likeable out of anyone, unfortunately taking the development and spotlight away from Gwenevere.

Archie, Merlin's owl, has some funny dialogue; he is funny in a different way to how he is in the cartoon. He is less goofy and cowardly, and more sombre, stoic and sarcastic.

The artwork is colourful, bold, crisp, sharp, nice and manga-esque, without looking too much like an outdated gimmick.

Well, that's it. My lamentably negative review of 'Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders Vol. 1'. It is a shame because I adore all things Magical GirlsTM, and I want to give each of them a chance. I expect better from the genre nowadays, and from modern takes, reboots and retoolings of magical girl/girl power franchises - western and eastern, from the eighties, nineties and the 2000s. I mean, look at 'She-Ra and the Princesses of Power' and the IDW 'Jem and the Holograms' comics - the standards for "girls' shows" now are high and mighty. They are respectable, respected and taken seriously, and written well and passionately. These are examples of "updates", reintroductions and reinventions that came from people who are clearly fans of the original source material, and who saw the potential for expansion, for deeper lore, for heartfelt, clever and twisty writing. For more.

Whilst 'Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders Vol. 1' is potential wasted, and butchered. Something this messy, condensed, chopped up and put together using Pritt Stick actually has the gall to end on sequel bait. How a second volume could come to be after so much went horribly wrong here, I hate to imagine. I certainly won't be reading it.

I so wanted to like 'Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders Vol. 1'. It had so much, ahem, riding on it, to be so much better than its source material. But sadly it fumbled and flopped. The cheap, silly and shallow animated series is more entertaining and easier to follow in comparison. It has its brief, little moments; its glimmers, and shining signs of charm, like its many in-show magic jewels. The comic has no charm whatsoever. It's just sad and depressing. I don't know what happened behind the scenes that made it turn out the way it did, but it happened, and this is the catastrophic final product.

Yet another reboot is in order, I'd say. In comic form, or in animation.

Creators, for next time: be sure to make a careful, thoughtful, slow building plan, progression, and effort, please.

Final Score: 1/5

EDIT: For another version of 'Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders' that is worth your investment, read 'Avalon: Web of Magic', which was inspired by the cartoon.

[Danielle Booey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was beyond excited to find this graphic novel. I loved the 90s cartoon it is based on. The art in this book is fantastic and perfectly encapsulates the fun and over the top colorful ridiculous of the cartoon. Unfortunately, the art is let down by the writing. Not even the plot, but the writing itself. It’s hard to tell what characters know or don’t know and there is not nearly enough background about the ending of Gwenevere as a Jewel Rider and Fallon becoming the leader of the wolf pack.

Also Merlin pushing for Tamara to become Queen?? Everyone just seems remarkably out of character. I kept thinking I was missing pages cause something would happen and then the next page it would be like what? Kale’s back? How did that happen??

Would only recommend for fans of the original series and hopefully a second volume will better explain what is happening in Avalon.

[Whitney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story was disjointed. Probably would make a better long form Children’s TV show. Lot of unexplained lore and concepts. Not even sure what a “Jewel Rider” is other than kind of like Sailor Moon on a horse? This just wasn’t very flushed out. It easily could’ve been twice as long.

Artwork is nice, though.
2.5 rounded up

Edit: I stand corrected. It WAS a Children’s TV show in the 90s (aka when I was a child). I’ve never heard of it. I’m guessing it’s getting a reboot 😂

[Jena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up cuz I watched the orignal comic as a kid. The pacing is so off that I thought despite this being volume 1 I had picked up a series midway through. Once I accepted I WASN'T missing anything and that I would just have no idea who anyone was and what was happening, it was cute with a nice art style, magical girl moments of course, and some cute humor.

[annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

as someone who watched the first 6-7 episodes on a dvd and nothing else i loved this a lot! the art is really pretty and reminds me of manhwas. i wasn't confused by any of the events or thought there were spoilers even though this book takes place after the events of the show.

[Devinne W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Will reread after watching the original show)

[Joana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders (or Starla and the Jewel Riders) is the first show I remember really loving, as someone whose life has been shaped by the stories I've loved, it felt right to go back to the start when I learned that this comic existed!!!
I don't remember much about this show, I may have been four last time I watched it, but this feels a bit older!!! I really like how the comic is talking growing up and becoming an adult and the girls having to find their roles in society, and then Gwenevere struggling with being pushed into marriage...
I also really like how the book approaches the older generation, with being focused with her parents and Merlin, and the relationships in there... and then I LOVE the book coming back to the love between sisters, that leading the plot as well!!!
This was such a fun and sweet comic, and I really appreciated the themes, which I wasn't sure I could expect from something I've loved as a toddler!!!

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

New graphic novel based on a 90s cartoon that's something of a cult classic. I have extremely vague memories of this show, which was not to my benefit while reading. This isn't a reboot, it's a continuation. As such, I think it'll work best for readers who have more clear memories of the show, or have seen it more recently. It took me awhile to get into this book, because it just throws the reader in and assumes you have all the background knowledge. It also feels a little cheesy in the beginning, in that Saturday morning cartoon kind of way. But as the story picks up steam, I started to enjoy it. It may not be the strongest plot, but there's a decent hook to it. The volume ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, and I think it's enough to bring me back.

[B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun trip on the nostalgia train. Parts were familiar, parts weren't, but I'm pretty sure I have this show mixed up with 2-3 others in my head.