Princeless, Vol. 6: Make Yourself Part 2

Princeless (Collected Editions) #6

by Jeremy Whitley, Brett Grunig (artist), Emily Martin (artist)

Mothers, Daughters, Dwarves, and Dragons collide in the epic conclusion to "Princeless: Make Yourself." Return to the snow covered mountains of The Rim for the epic conclusion of "Make Yourself," the biggest arc of Princeless yet! Will Bedelia's reunion with her mom be any of what she hoped for or will she leave just as bitter as she came? And when an epic dragon attack threatens Adrienne's quest to save the twins and the safety of the whole Dwarven village, the Dragon Slayers will jump into action. But there's one catch: the dangerous dragon is Sparky's mom!

Genres: Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Comics, Middle Grade, Graphic Novels Comics, Young Adult, Adventure

128 pages, Paperback

First published December 5, 2017

About the author

Jeremy Whitley is the son of two teachers and the husband of a third.

Born in La Mesa, CA, Jeremy went to high school in Lenoir, NC and college at The University of North Carolina. He graduated with a Bachelors in English, and a minor in Creative Writing.

Jeremy lives in Durham, North Carolina with his wife Alicia and his two daughters Zuri and Amara.

Jeremy is the writer/creator of the comic series Princeless, Raven the Pirate Princess, School for Extraterrestrial Girls, and The Dog Knight. He is also the writer of the acclaimed Marvel series "The Unstoppable Wasp". His other works include extensive work for Marvel, the "Sea of Thieves" comics, and over sixty issues of My Little Pony comics.

Awards and Nominations:
3 time Glyph Winner
5 time Glyph Nominee
2 time Eisner Nominee
2 time Cyblis Nominee
2 time Bloomer Nominee
1 time Most Likely to Succeed Winner

Reviews

[E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Huh, that turned out much gayer than I expected. I'm always here for enemies to lovers!

Also, there was some interesting family drama and mother-daughter relationships here. Sister-sister relationships as well but that's given in this series.

I like how each sister happens to be powerful in a different way. It really shows that you don't have to give up parts of yourself to be able to fight for yourself and the power is within you.

It sucks that this volume has only 3 issues though.

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[laura (bookies & cookies) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Could these stop publishing these so far apart? K thankssssss

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars because the main story was short and the side short, while good, the art work didn't quite match what the characters looked like in the main story.

I really like the sisters working together though. I loved that.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay I'm still mad that there were only three issues of the actual story arc in here (that much time between volumes for three issues??) and I was bitter that there was some dumb side story to fill the space but i really loved it because it is about gay warrior dwarf moms who take their kid out for her first time hunting and it was really really cute

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another great edition to the series, though it felt very short compared to previous volumes. I feel like the overall arc could have been shortened a bit to allow for the entirety of it to be in one volume.

A few other random things:

○ I loved the inclusion of a casual adult F/F couple (who have a kid!!)
○ Also loved Bedelia's relationship with her mother (who abandoned her when she was younger) - it's lovely to see parent/child relationships being explored in kids comics in a Fantasy title (where parents are often not present)
○ I'm kind of "meh" on the art if I'm honest, but there is a great energy to it

There's no release date for volume 7 (noooo!) but I can't wait to start the next arc.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the storyline, though a bit short. The shift in artists for 4: Wives is unbelievably distracting and I know I lost some of the story just from trying to figure out who these characters are.

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adrienne Ashe tries to rescue two of her sisters from their twin towers while her friend Bedelia Smith works out some mommy and dragon issues. Fun and funny adventures ensue.

The final chapter of the book is a one shot drawn by a different artist, and it is very jarring to see a couple of short, solid dwarves suddenly stretch out and lose mass in the new style, looking more like elves than dwarves. Fortunately, the story is good, featuring two mothers helping their daughter through her first hunt.


FOR REFERENCE:

Contains material originally published in single magazine form as Princeless Make Yourself Part 2 #1-3, and Princeless: Hunting Day #1 (a one-shot, sometimes referenced as Princeless Make Yourself Part 2 #4).

Contents: 1. Mothers -- 2. Daughters -- 3. Sisters -- 4. Wives (Hunting Day)

[Kendra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I AM SO WORRIED.
I loved her twin sisters!!!
Also I love Sparky's mom so much <3 I love all the mom feels in these books so much.
I AM SO WORRIED.

[Ryan Mishap · Rating 4 out of 5]

Managing to keep a series engaging, funny, and with emotional depth is no easy task but Princeless succeeds admirably. I just read three this morning and can't wait to get more!

Who is this Black Knight?

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The bonus story at the end was adorable and my favorite. This felt like a transition volume, setting up the next story arc. Love the strong women as always.

[Dev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really this was a decent volume but I still don't understand why they split up the story they way they did instead of just having it all together. I read the first part of this [volume 5] almost TWO YEARS AGO and then I guess I got distracted by Raven the Pirate Princess and didn't realize that the main series was still ongoing as well. So my lower rating is really just me saying 'I messed up and don't exactly remember how this whole thing started but it was super cute as always even though I was a bit confused'.

[Miss Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only half of this was the continuation of the story. The other half is a (presumably) unrelated story in the same world.

while I genuinely enjoyed both stories, I was left a little unsatisfied because of the length of the primary narrative.

still a good addition to a great series.

[Greyson | Use Your Words]

Princeless Series Ratings:
Princeless, Vol. 1: ★★★★★
Princeless, Vol. 2: Get Over Yourself: ★★★★★
Princeless, Vol. 3: The Pirate Princess: TBR
Princeless, Vol. 4: Be Yourself: TBR
Princeless, Vol. 5: Make Yourself: TBR
Princeless, Vol. 6: Make Yourself Part 2: TBR
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[Maggie Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seriously, comic publishers, think about what serves the story best when you are creating a trade. Make Yourself really should have been released as one volume, particularly given the attention span and memory of the age group this book is aimed at and how long it takes for the trades to come out.

Beyond the format, the story finishes off our tale of dragons, lost mothers, and twin sisters in need of rescue. There's some sweet moments, but the whole thing would have been more impactful if I actually remembered the details of part 1 in full! Still dislike the newest artist. Her stuff has great energy, but it feels busy and chaotic on the page to me. Really appreciated the casual queer inclusion. Normalisation of queer families in kid lit is always a plus to me!

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't expect to have any of these books below 4 stars, but issue #6 (the last one in here) seemed incredibly out of place. The story was left hanging at the end of #5 and #6 had nothing to do with that story. They also changed artists for that issue, which is always distracting, but I also didn't love the art. The stories are still lovely, but the last one was completely irrelevant, unless it ties into the next somehow, in which case I will revise my rating.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The weakest in this series so far. It didn't help that it was only half a story, but it felt more like marching through a series of plot checkpoints rather than an adventure. Hope the next one has more of the old spirit.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first three issues in this volume were really good. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Andrea and Antonia and all the mother/daughter storylines were pretty awesome.

But then, when I got to the last issue/chapter, the abrupt change in artist had me grasping for who-in-the-hell were these characters not too mention that the story had absolutely nothing to do with the other three chapters. It should have been delineated as a special edition/chapter and not lead readers to believe they are getting more of Princeless than they really are.
I am very glad that the advertisements were completely absent in this volume. But I still felt cheated with 50 pages of (1) a story that was extraneous/bonus {with artwork that didn’t even meld with the rest of the book} and (2) sketches & drawings from the creation process {something I usually don’t mind pouring over but, having already felt short-changed by the previous chapter, I felt like it was page filler not interesting artwork}.

**UPDATE** Author responded to my (untagged) Tweeted review of this volume. He said “Honestly, our main story was too long to be one volume, so we split it, but then had room for a bonus story.” Ok. I’ll grant that – but the publisher should have then clearly identified the last story as a bonus.

Almost gave this one two stars.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the Monster Farm high in the mountains, Bedelia and Sparky have an emotionally charged interactions with their mothers, and Princess Adrienne continues her quest to rescue her sisters imprisoned in towers. This time it’s the twins Andrea and Antonia who have been spending their tower time studying. And what they have learned aids Adrienne escape the bounty hunters chasing her and her companion Benna. The twins rescue their rescuer. Then it’s quality family time in the hot springs. In a new story line two moms take their daughter on a hunt.

It’s another delightful patriarchal challenging adventure from author Whitley, and the pens, inks, colors, and computer programs of his artistic collaborators including sketches and a bit of the script annotated with sketches by the illustrator.

[Ang · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this volume, Adrienne finally ends up reaching her twin sisters Andrea and Antonia and Bedelia ends up confronting her mother. Sparky also gets to be reunited with her mother.

I've enjoyed reading each new installment of the series. And we're getting closer to figuring out who the Black Knight really is. I still think the Black Knight is Adrienne's mother, Queen Ashe. I will be very surprised if it isn't.

I just love the female empowerment and LGBTQUIA+ love this series has. The dwarven women are confident and empower one another. There's open acceptance of same sex marriage and parentage. This is just a great series.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do continue to enjoy these, but the movement of the narrative is uneven. I was actually pretty annoyed that an entire issue was devoted to a standalone spin-off story that has no bearing on the main storyline while there are still huge pieces of the narrative left hanging. We got nothing about the prince's thread in this volume.

And while I did enjoy the section about the twins, once again I felt like there wasn't enough time given to develop their change. They've been utterly vain and selfish but now that someone suggested they do something different, they ... will?

I'm just afraid there won't be enough time to resolve things well.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not my favorite Princeless, but I still liked it's storyline and themes. I'm not sure if they changed the artist or this volume, but it wasn't such a huge drop in quality and I was still able to focus on the story without finding the art distracting. The final issue was defiantly a cute one that I really enjoyed. I feel like the story didn't focus on Adrienne as much as previous issues, but I still enjoyed the other characters story lines.

[Akilah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved all the stuff with Adrienne and the twins, and I loved learning more about Sparky. (Sparky! My heart!)

I would have rather seen more of Adrienne's brother than the weird dwarf story at the end about characters I didn't care about. It felt very backdoor pilot-y and out of place, so pulled focus from the main story. Like, sure, it's cute to find out about the different kingdoms, but also, I don't care. So there's that.

3.5 stars, rounding up

[Keshia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was good and the cliffhanger is intriguing, because I thought no one has heard the black knight talk and yet, Bedelia says, "Just like you said." So she must know who the black knight is, which I have my suspicions of who it is. Gave this e stars partly because part 1 has a whole storyline with the Prince and part 2 just doesn't give any updates on that.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

And the shenanigans continue herein with Bedelia visiting farm run by her estranged mother. Adrian runs afoul of bounty hunters and Devin is rescued himself. And those twins! They should stay in their towers! I read this for my 2018 Reading Challenge.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure I loved the last story about the hunt. Nice to see a story about side characters, though.

Bedelia deals with her mom and saves the day when Sparky's mom goes crazy.

Adrienne "rescues" her twin sisters who are VERY into competition with each other.

[Liesl · Rating 4 out of 5]

The usual feminist twist on traditional fairytales which I've come to expect from the Princeless comics. There is a standard model to how each issue's plot plays out, sure, but there's enough twists and turns to keep things interesting and Adrienne remains an engaging heroine.

[Anoush · Rating 4 out of 5]

In which Bedelia is reunited with her mother...for better or worse. An aged dragon attacks. And Bedelia decides she has to stay back...apparently (from the last panel) on the advice of the black knight!

[Amanda [Novel Addiction] · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still good, but I just think it's lost some of it's magic.

[holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this house we love and respect dwarf moms, but for the most part I found this volume just. Alright.

[Kate Mester · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wish the art didn't change for coda chapter, liked the style there less. Some of the writing is getting lazy but the central ideas are still sound.