Well thank goodness the Internet Archive is running or I wouldn’t have a decent place to go to for Princess Of Power.
Yes, it’s back to a version of Etheria guarded by a warrior woman who doesn’t really use a secret identity except when she does, will turn you into a butterfly for attacking her, or a flock of butterflies after helping her (apparently they’re also called a swarm, a rabble, or a kaleidoscope), will turn you to stone for helping a woman take over a castle, and has friends who enchant hand mirrors that was in a box of dress-up clothes buried in her backyard just to comatose your enemy if she steals it. This is a surprisingly dark little girly world, and this series has given us xenomorphs and psychic cannibals. Makes you rethink minicomics, doesn’t it?
This time, He-Man’s twin sister must deal with Catra’s most serious crime yet. Yes, worse than stealing costumes. Worse than taking over She-Ra’s boyfriend by removing his heart. Worse than stealing jewels. Worse than taking over a castle to become…probably prom queen at this point. Yes, this time the villainous vixen…ruins Perfuma’s garden!
Seriously, what is with this comic? The weirdest thing that happens to He-Man is learning his lady companion is a clone Skeletor wanted to raise and marry. At least that plan made sense. Sick and twisted sense, but I’m guessing this is why minicomics Hordak opted to invade Eternia. This Etheria is too weird even for him.
At this point She-Ra envied her brother’s planet simply being a death trap.
Princess Of Power series 2 #4
Mattel (1985)
“A Most Unpleasant Present”
WRITER: Tina Harris
PENCILER: Jim Mitchell
INKER: Todd Kurosawa
COLORIST: Charles Simpson
EDITOR: Lee Nording
no credit for the letterer
Perfuma is tending garden in the Laughing Swan Inn. We’re told that whenever a flower dies she immediately plants a new one. She may be OCD but it has led to the garden being one of the most beautiful on Etheria. This may be sending little girls the wrong message. I’m not sure. Apparently nobody told Perfuma to avoid “pretty cat ladies” because Catra shows up to ask her to plant some of her seeds. Without asking what they are, she immediately does, and somehow they grow faster than the creeping horak (little something for my Eternia street cred) and cover the garden and the gardener with weeds, trapping Perfuma in a briar patch. Soon Catra will spread these seeds all over Etheria. And somewhere Poison Ivy is not sure if she’s celebrating or wondering what’s wrong with these people.
Lucky for our ill-informed gardener Flutterina, the girl with butterfly wings, was staying at the inn and saw what was happening. She flies to the Crystal Castle (for you newcomers, in the toys and minicomics that was less Castle Grayskull guarded by a living rainbow and more Adora’s dream castle) and tells Bow and Butterflyer. Adora overhears and transforms to She-Ra. We don’t see Butterflyer until the next page, and she’s a giant butterfly girl who carries Bow, She-Ra, and the unnamed Mermista to fly to Perfuma’s aid. Also apparently the Crystal Castle is on top of a flat mountain, which would be where it is in the show, but in the past it was shown on the ground. It’s not like the minicomic version of Castle Grayskull had that bottomless chasm replacing a moat, though Snake Mountain looked less like the toy and more like the cartoon version. If I can’t have sanity, can I at least get consistency?
Remember when She-Ra had a pegasus? That was way less disturbing than this Hero Wars reject.
Back at the inn, Perfuma tries to use sleep powder on Catra but apparently she catnaps through it or something just as the heroes arrive. Butterflyer swoops in and Bow grabs Perfuma. I had to check at this point. It’s not a person, it’s a vehicle…that looks like Flutterina’s giant pink sister. Did I mention Etheria is weird? It must also be alive because earlier she did drop in to listen in according to the narration and frankly this comic is more narration than dialog. It’s comics like this that make it hard for me to defend narration in comics because this is an example of doing it wrong. Even with the fewer and smaller pages available (like 14 pages and a cover or something like that) I know space is limited and reading Golden Age comics makes me appreciate how hard that is, but I’m not surprised they gave up before the toyline ended and just did illustrated booklets before the end.
Our heroes try to get rid of the weeds, but Catra throws some at Bow and others snag Mermista. Having a plan, She-Ra tells Perfuma to grab some seeds. Since the Swords Of Power and Protection have actual magic in the minicomics, She-Ra uses hers to make a bunch of seeds grow and then tosses them on the ground. We’ve already established how quickly seeds grow in this story so no surprised. However, the dogwood and snapdragons have the actual heads of dogs and dragons…is about what I expect at this point, frankly. Despite the narrator telling us their bark was worse than their bite, Catra is still scared off. Our villain, folks. Wants to make evil plants and flees from stationary plants with animal heads. I can’t make this up. I’m not on Harris’ level of insanity. The story ends with the heroes getting back to deweeding the garden (not sure what they do with the animal plants) as we get the moral of the story in colored text, not to accept gifts from strangers. Still don’t know why they do that in this series.
This…is a comic I read. Catra’s plots get lamer every time I come back here, She-Ra apparently has a sentient vehicle as a friend, and we have a plot about ruining a garden because Etheria. I don’t know if it’s because I’m a boy or because this comic is just that out there or both, but this continues to confuse me. Can’t wait to see what happens the next time this comes up in the rotation. I bet Catra makes an evil cake or something.
Next installment I tried to track down the next Robo Force minicomic, or check in with the Sectaurs if I can’t.
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