Comic Review: Molly Danger/Princeless FCBD Special
Posted By Joe Grunenwald on May 6, 2013
Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, Jamal Igle’s creator-owned series Molly Danger made its debut as part of Action Lab’s Free Comic Book Day offering this year. The 11-page story was joined by a 12-page Princeless story by the series’ regular creative team of Jeremy Whitley and Emily C. Martin. Together the stories shatter female character stereotypes, and have a damn good time doing it.
Igle said on his Kickstarter for the project that part of his reasoning for doing Molly Danger was “the lack of female heroes who weren’t an offshoot of a male hero or weren’t sexually exploitive.” In Molly Danger, Igle has created a character who is neither of those things. Danger is smart, determined, and genuinely good. She’s dressed ridiculously, but in a pre-teen ‘I dressed myself so that I’m comfortable’ way, as opposed to the ‘these clothes are barely holding on to me and I basically look naked’ way that a lot of female comic book costumes look. Igle already proved with his run on Supergirl that he could draw a teen girl without oversexualizing her, and he puts that skill to good use here.
The story itself is light and entertaining. An unnamed city is under attack by the supervillain Medula and his giant robot, and Molly has to stop him. There’s nothing earth-shattering about the plot – it’s comfortable, well-trodden ground. The tone of the story is almost relaxing in its familiarity, and Igle’s tone is playful and fun. Molly can’t fly, so she has to be dropped into the area, which basically amounts to her throwing herself out of ships and helicopters, uncontrolled. It’d be scary if she wasn’t clearly having a lot of fun doing it – a product of the big smile that Igle, along with inker Juan Castro and colorist Romulo Fajardo Jr., put on her face on almost every page. The only fault in this story is that it ends somewhat abruptly, though even that works in its favor, with a last-panel gag that elicited an out-loud laugh from this reviewer.
The Princeless story similarly takes some well-known situations and turns them on their ear. In this story, a princess is trapped in a tower in need of rescue. While a prince pontificates to a crowd gathered at the base of the tower, two adventurers, both women, arrive on a dragon and decide to free the princess. The story is, again, as you would expect it to be. At first the townspeople don’t realize that the knight who is attempting to rescue the princess is also a woman, and when they do, swords are drawn and the prince and his men attempt to arrest them. This after the prince spent a page orating that “The woman is meant to wait and the man is meant to rescue.” That page feels like a mission statement for this story. The princess’s ultimate rescue – and her assistance in handling the prince and his men – just reinforces the idiocy of the prince’s statements.
Both of the stories in this comic are extremely well-done, and suitable for all ages. The full issue can now be read online over at CBR. Take a few minutes and read this comic – you’ve nothing to lose by it, and a lot of entertainment to gain.
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As a backer of that Kickstarter, I was thrilled when the update came through that there would be a preview at FCBD this year. Of course my daughter and I snatched it up; we were not disappointed. Molly is quick and fun and doesn’t have that fluff feel that I am so often faced with when reading a heroine-based comic. My 7yo and I are eagerly awaiting the completion of the book from the KS!