Free Comic Friday: Disney Princess, starring the Little Mermaid

 

Disney Princess FCBD
Written by Paul Benjamin, Steffie Davis, Geoffrey Golden, Megan Kearney, Amy Mebberson and Patrick Storck
Illustrated by Mebberson, Egle Bartolini, Dylan Bonner, Chris Dreier and Brianna Garcia
Colored by Mebberson, Wes Dzioba and Paul Little
Edited by Davis, Jennifer Hale and Deanna McFadden
Cover by Mebberson
Lettered by AndWorld Design and Andrew Thomas
Released: May 5, 2018

Free Comic Book Day isn't just for Big Two die-hards like me. The idea is to not only reward longtime fans but maybe get some new, and even younger, readers to be part of this world.

I made sure to snag the Disney Princess Free Comic Book Day issue in 2018 in hopes that one or both of my daughters would want to read it. I think each expressed an interest at some point, but that's as far as it went. Until this week, when it was finally read by... me. For this post. In an effort to grab the attention of someone in the Venn diagram of looking for content about the live-action “Little Mermaid” remake and likely to be intrigued by a deep dive into CapWolf and/or the Secret Defenders.

I think if either of my kids gave it a try, though, they would like it.

The book is presented horizontally – not because it's a '90s Marvel event drawn by an Image founder, but because it consists entirely of newspaper comic strip-like bits and gags, most of them four panels.

It all seems to take place in the immediate chronological vicinity of the original 1989 animated version of “The Little Mermaid.” I didn't see it until much, much later, I presume for the same reasons I avoided “The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking” in favor of “Caddyshack 2” the year before – I was way too manly.*

The strips largely consist of Sebastian trying to get Ariel to practice her singing and other musical skills, Ariel trying to understand surface-world artifacts that have fallen into the ocean, Ariel exasperating her father, etc. There are a few set after – 34-year-old spoiler alert – her wedding to Prince Eric.

And puns. There are a lot of puns, particularly from Ariel's sister Andrina, who, after seeing her wordplay in action, I kind of want to get her own spinoff.

The gags are all-ages appropriate, likely to entertain kids and proven to get an audible chuckle or three out of a 40-something dad as well. I'm don't know if this was brand-new or reprinted content, but with 22 full pages not including the ads, it definitely wasn't a flimsy promotional gimmick. This is a solid, substantial comic, especially for the extremely reasonable price of free. It serves as a capable ad for the Joe Books Disney Princess collections advertised within, and therefore a Free Comic Book Day win for the readers and the publisher.

* - I mean, I thought I was.