She’s not the only one. Ever since He-Man.org started working with Dark Horse the site has undergone huge changes. All of their information, including scans of minicomics, are now collected in large hardcovers and no longer on their site, which is just a forum now. Other sites I’ve used for minicomics since Free Comic Inside expanded past my sadly small collection has not yielded much when it comes to series two of Princess Of Power, which is where I am now in those readings. In a last ditch effort I went to one of those…more legally questionable scan sites, a last gasp of research and I only know one with not as annoying ad flooding as the others. At the very least it’s usable until I can appropriate the actual comics for my collection.
So we can return to Etheria and the crazy version of She-Ra given what we’ve seen her do in the past. Our last trip into series two didn’t quite have the body count of “Journey Into Mizar” or the cruelty of cursing a mirror to drive Catra insane (I know she’s the villain, but Castaspella isn’t supposed to be) while fighting over a dress-up set and costume jewels buried in She-Ra’s backyard for some reason. No, the first series two story just went full girly and gave She-Ra and Swift Wind a minor toy variant a sparkly new look. I can’t wait to see what happens when She-Ra goes swimming with her new mermaid toy friend.
Before Ariel there was Mermista–who also got race-swapped in the remake.
Princess Of Power series 2 #2
Mattel (1986)
“A Fishy Business”
WRITER: decided not to admit to making this
PENCILER: Jim Mitchell
INKER: Todd Kurosawa
COLORIST: Charles Simpson
LETTERER: not taking credit either and I don’t blame either of them
EDITOR: Lee Nordling
We start with Catra at the Crystal Falls with a large water wheel, with fishnets on it and a giant goldfish bowl at one end. She doesn’t want to get wet while collecting her fish, which shows how into the whole cat thing she is. Except this isn’t supper. Catra, and…you know what, let me just show you this one.
You read that right, folks. Catra wants to train these little fish to create her own Sea World, and give fish swimsuits, so dudes will date her. This is one of those “I’d say you can’t make this up but obviously someone did” moments. Someone wise enough to try to keep this off of their resume. Even on Etheria I’m pretty sure fish can’t do that, especially ones this small, and this is hardly how you win guys over. Unless she wants to date Black Manta, and they were both villains on shows produced by Filmation. How have the villain plots in these comics gotten even dumber as we’ve gone on. Little girls were really getting the short end here.
The next page apparently doesn’t know if it’s a comic or an illustrated booklet, and that’s not the last time we’ll see that in series 2. Even the production downgraded from what Adora’s brother was getting with Masters Of The Universe. We have dialog in the captions and even when we get captions in word balloons they have quotation marks around it. Wertham would be pleased. We even get girls doing girly things. Adora, Peekablue (which sounds like half a My Little Pony name), and Mermista are hanging out when a seal comes to tell the mermaid that his fish friends have disappeared. What is Catra using for bait that this water wheel is snagging all these fish? Adora says she’s going to “look for help”, and runs off to become the new crystal caped version of She-Ra and her friends are happy she’s here. Why Adora couldn’t help they don’t seem to care about. This is not you father’s She-Ra but sadly it is your mother’s She-Ra and you should pity her for it.
Peekablue’s deal is that she has peacock feathers that give her psychic powers but she doesn’t want to get them wet so she’ll follow the stream while She-Ra and Mermista take the underwater route. Not only can She-Ra apparently breathe and talk underwater but she can talk to an octopus and some clams, which should be Mermista’s power really, but they aren’t very helpful. Catra has somehow taken ALL the fish. How many can there be if Catra managed to take them out with a thing that stays in one place and spins through the water? Which leads to me asking how dumb are these fish? Fish that can’t be turned into stunt performers would be smart enough to not get snagged en masse like this. I think. I’ve never talked to a fish before.
“We’re so glad you showed up instead of that silly Adora. She couldn’t fight her way out of a fishnet.”
Peekablue finds Catra’s water wheel but Catra just shoos her off like Peekablue was on her lawn. This is the quality of villain and hero girls were getting from the minicomics. Maybe the Netflix producers read these instead of watching the Filmation show when judging the original media? Peekablue tells She-Ra and Mermista makes Ariel jealous by turning her big fin into legs without selling her voice to a sea witch. I believe this is something the doll could do as well, using a sleeve to form the mermaid tail. Sure enough Catra’s fishbowl is almost full to the point that there can’t be a lot of room for those little fish. Maybe the Sea World reference was closer than I thought. She-Ra stops the wheel…according to the narration because we don’t see it happen, in a visual medium…while Mermista hits Catra with a water spray that we also don’t see. One panel Catra is doing the “they’re mine now” schtick and the next she’s soaking wet and mad. Do you not know what a comic is?
She-Ra dumps the fish and turns the wheel, and don’t ask me how this works, into an underwater ferris wheel for the fish. Red text moral about not using others and then She-Ra and Mermista want a turn on the wheel way too small for their humanoid bodies, the end.
Girls of the 1980s…I am so very sorry for any of you who were drawn to this from the Filmation series, where the heroine was leading a rebellion against a tyrannical ruler and this was the minicomic that came with your dolls. You deserve better but apparently Mattel’s girl division didn’t realize WHY girls like Teela and the other women of Eternia and were just upset their division wasn’t number one versus the boys division. (Purely for business reasons I’m sure.) While TV Catra is leading armies against the heroes and turning into a fierce cat creature minicomic Catra is trying to start an aquarium spectacular with goldfish to meet men. What can you say to that?
Next time we go to the minicomics I’m hoping to get to the Robo Force minicomics I learned exists but if not it’s back to Symbion and the bug men.
BW Media Spotlight 