It’s been a while since we visited the minicomic version of Etheria and the girly psycho that is the Princess Of Power version of She-Ra. We’ve seen her turn many beings into butterflies, cat men to stone, and make friends with someone who will make their enemies go into emotional shock over dress-up clothes buried in the backyard. Minicomics Etheria is weird.
In our latest outing our focus is on Sweetbee, the bee girl. We also get to meet the minicomics version of Entrapta, and if you only know her from the Netflix show, as I don’t remember her being part of the original cartoon that much, you’re in for a surprise. This is the girls division of Mattel trying to regain their #1 status when He-Man took the title from Barbie, which isn’t what Filmation was thinking when they saw all the girls who liked the strong women of planet Deathtrap Eternia and cheered them on. In the show it’s a battle to reclaim their planet. Here, Bow just got too close to Catra’s treehouse. It’s going to get very girly up in here.
I wonder if Sweetbee ever met Buzz-Off?
Princess Of Power series 2 #4
Mattel (1986)
“A Born Champion”
WRITER: Tina Harris
PENCILER: Jim Mitchell
INKER: Todd Kurosawa
COLORIST: Charles Simpson
EDITORS: Joan Dumbauld & Lee Nordling
no letterer credited
Our tale begins as Bow goes out on patrol. SweetBee, as her name is spelled here and for a guy whose screenname is ShadowWing I’m hardly one to comment, sees him off and wishes she could be as big a hero. Near the Valley Of The Lost we don’t find dinosaurs but Catra’s new treehouse, the “Tree-Plex”. Unfortunately for her there doesn’t seem to be a toy of this that I found evidence for. I guess your Catra doll remains homeless. No wonder she wants the Crystal Castle. She wants a place for her stuff.
“What a nice playset. Bug Mattel to make it, girls.”
Joining her is Catra’s new flying mount, Clawdeen, who in typical giant cat fashion for this franchise can talk. Also present is Entrapta, and the trio see Bow on patrol. I guess he couldn’t see the treehouse through the forest. Deciding he clearly knew She-Ra’s secrets, Entrapta calls Bow over, and he’s “Bewitched by her golden glow”, which we don’t see in the panel so it sounds like Bow forgot he’s supposed to be She-Ra’s love interest. She grabs him with her hair like Medusa from Marvel Comics and drags him up into the treehouse. Way to think with your quiver, Bow!
SweetBee is working in the garden and notices Bow is late coming back, and goes to investigate. She finds the treehouse rather easily. Remember, this is the girly comic. I’m not surprised or bothered by Bow being the “mansel in distress” instead of the hunky guy that She-Ra’s not into because Adora already has a sky pirate boyfriend in the original series. Or from what I’ve seen of the Netflix reimagine I’m not even convinced he’s into girls, but I still don’t have Netflix, nor do I hate myself. That much. The bad girls have Bow tied up and demand he spill She-Ra’s secrets, but he’s still man enough to refuse. Maybe Bow needs a mustache to be masculine?
Using her wings, SweetBee is able to send a “come help” light and Adora, who is on top of the castle for some reason (it’s not that cozy a hangout given what I’ve seen of the toy and is just a big tower in the show), sees it. Transforming to She-Ra and Spirit to Swift Wind, they head for her signal and rescue Bow. Of course, it wouldn’t be minicomic She-Ra if she didn’t at least threaten someone. Catra and Clawdeen are both taking a catnap–don’t blame me, it’s what Entrapta calls it–and warns that they’ll have both their heads if awakened. I get cranky getting woken up from a nap, too. Well, it’s not surprising when She-Ra drops in through the skylight in true superhero fashion, it wakes them up. She-Ra threatens not only Entrapta’s head but her hair, the notion of a haircut sending the villainess running for her life in a blind panic. That’s our She-Ra! Be glad she didn’t immediately turn it into a flock of butterflies. She does that in these things.
Catra and Clawdeen also beat a retreat, and I can’t tell if she somehow control the Valley Of The Lost or just, as she says, is the only one who knows its secrets. Considering all of them came in on their own, two from flying, it shouldn’t be that hard to find their way out. However, SweetBee needs to be a hero for the comic’s message of anyone can be a hero if that’s what they use their powers for, and guides Bow, She-Ra, and Swift Wind out of the Valley.
Are you a prose story or a novel story? Pick a lane.
The story as I summarized isn’t necessarily terrible, just very girlish for this dude. That doesn’t effect the quality. What does is how much of the story is told through narration versus actual events. Good narration speeds the story along, not tells the story for the in world events. I don’t think they told Harris that, and don’t tell me I’m only on her case for being a woman. As I write this I’m doing a Chapter By Chapter review of a Star Trek novel by a woman, and I liked that one enough to eventually buy the previous book when I had the chance, and also enjoyed. I don’t expect the violent conflicts of the brother minicomics of Masters Of The Universe. TV She-Ra fights robot soldiers and tanks all the time but this is a take by the Barbie people. I’m not surprised at the lack of violence.
This about the panels being mostly splash pages, with three panels at most at other times and the narration doing the storytelling. It feels like the comics are already starting to devolve into the illustrated booklets of the end of the toyline, doing the opposite of what Masters Of The Universe did. It’s kind of insulting that the girls didn’t get the same benefits of layouts within the minicomic size and story flow that feels like a comic instead of a booklet with the occasional word balloon. Most of the time, the narrator tells you what is being said. That’s what ultimately lets the comic down, because it isn’t comic enough but still pretends it is.
The next one seems to be some kind of fashion show booklet but I’ll find out for sure when Princess Of Power comes up in the rotation again. Barring new entries our next minicomic will travel to the original Robo Force as our mechanical warriors head to space.
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