The Courageous Princess
Encyclopedia
The Courageous Princess is a comic book
written and drawn by Rod Espinosa
, published by Antarctic Press. The story consists of fairy tale
lands, princes, and princesses. The books had been discontinued for a fewyears, but now Rod is continuing his work on the series. Some of Rod Espinosa's other stories are Neotopia, and The Alamo.
At the beginning of the story, Mabelrose is invited to a ball in the kingdom of Warwick. Unlike most fairytales, when she arrives at the ball, the other princesses made fun of her uncouth, un-princess-like features, and her clothes, and the prince never even noticed her. She decides to make the ball more "entertaining" by letting loose a frog and causing chaos at the ball. Later, she tells her parents about the horrible experience that she has had at Warwick, and asks to be excused. She is then kidnapped by a fearsome dragon named Shalathrumnostrium, using his power of making her feel weak. His hobby is to kidnap princesses for their parents' gold.
Since there is no hope for a noble prince to rescue Mabelrose, she decides to escape on her own, despite Shalathrumnostrium telling her all about the dangers that princes have to go through, and telling her that no one would come to rescue a princess like her, since she is not the fairest in the land. She plans to escape just until a noble prince, or her father, King Jeryk can rescue her.
When she is caught in a bush of magic thorns, she meets a talking porcupine named Spiky. He is one of the "anifolk", animals who can walk and talk like real humans.
Although Shalathrumnostrium keeps chasing her to bring her back to his castle, she escapes every time.
In the story, she meets lots of new friends, and enemies as well. She learns new things every day, and is staying in the kingdom of Leptia, but in her heart, she still dreams of home.
. Spiky met Mabelrose in Shalathrumnostrium's forest of thorns, near the end of the first book. Since then, they had been good friends. Spiky often helps Mabelrose when she is in trouble. There has been some speculation as to whether or not he is a prince disguised as a porcupine, but nothing has been confirmed. It is also unknown why Spiky was in Shalathrumnostrium's thorn bush in the first place.
. He is green, with glazed, silver eyes, although sometimes his pupils are shown as gray. Shalathrumnostrium lives in a large castle in the Unremembered Lands, which is very far away from New Tinsley. His hobby is to kidnap or "collect" princesses, and force the Kings and Queens to pay ransom in gold. When he first captures her, he claims that it is impossible for anybody to escape his fortress, or to enter and rescue Mabelrose. Shalathrumnostrium has an army of trolls and a wolf-like creature called "Mukhorgouroth". The trolls always fail to find Mabelrose and in the second book, Shalathrumnostrium crashes headlong into a cliff, killing Mukhorgouroth. This angers him, and when Mabelrose is at the Kingdom of Leptia in the third book, he attempts to settle things with her once and for all. Mabelrose finally ends up destroying him with his own fire by the power of a magical flute.
a masterpiece edition is also available, as well as a multitude of covers.
s and familiar stories are obviously alluded too, as Mablerose's parents are descended from literary characters: her Mother is the Great Great Great Great Granddaughter of Snow White
and Prince Charming
; her Father is supposedly descended from Aladdin
.
Other stories alluded to include The Wizard of Oz
, Princess and the Pea, The Pied Piper, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, and Rapunzel
.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
written and drawn by Rod Espinosa
Rod Espinosa
-Biography:Espinosa was born in the Philippines. He graduated from the Don Bosco technical college with a certificate in architectural drafting and got a degree in advertising art from Santo Tomas University in Manila...
, published by Antarctic Press. The story consists of fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
lands, princes, and princesses. The books had been discontinued for a fewyears, but now Rod is continuing his work on the series. Some of Rod Espinosa's other stories are Neotopia, and The Alamo.
Story
The story takes place in the land of a hundred kingdoms. Princess Mabelrose lives in the small kingdom of New Tinsley, raised by her kind parents, King Jeryk, and Queen Helena.At the beginning of the story, Mabelrose is invited to a ball in the kingdom of Warwick. Unlike most fairytales, when she arrives at the ball, the other princesses made fun of her uncouth, un-princess-like features, and her clothes, and the prince never even noticed her. She decides to make the ball more "entertaining" by letting loose a frog and causing chaos at the ball. Later, she tells her parents about the horrible experience that she has had at Warwick, and asks to be excused. She is then kidnapped by a fearsome dragon named Shalathrumnostrium, using his power of making her feel weak. His hobby is to kidnap princesses for their parents' gold.
Since there is no hope for a noble prince to rescue Mabelrose, she decides to escape on her own, despite Shalathrumnostrium telling her all about the dangers that princes have to go through, and telling her that no one would come to rescue a princess like her, since she is not the fairest in the land. She plans to escape just until a noble prince, or her father, King Jeryk can rescue her.
When she is caught in a bush of magic thorns, she meets a talking porcupine named Spiky. He is one of the "anifolk", animals who can walk and talk like real humans.
Although Shalathrumnostrium keeps chasing her to bring her back to his castle, she escapes every time.
In the story, she meets lots of new friends, and enemies as well. She learns new things every day, and is staying in the kingdom of Leptia, but in her heart, she still dreams of home.
Mabelrose
The main character of this story is Princess Mabelrose of New Tinsley. In the beginning of the series, she looks about 12 years old but as the series goes on, she grows and begins to look older, around 14 or 15. The best evidence of time passing is that her hair grows and the gets slightly taller. Mabelrose has light brown hair, and sienna-colored eyes. Her skin is a bit tanned. The tan comes from her father, King Jeryk. Mabelrose's skin is lighter than her father's because her mother's skin is lighter. Unlike any other princess of the kingdom, she has freckles and a rather un-princesslike way of holding herself. As the series goes on, her spunky attitude is muted, and she becomes much more mature. Shalathrumnostrium is always trying to track her down and bring her back to his castle, but she uses her quick wits and tomboyish skills to escape every time. When she is at the Kingdom of Leptia, Shalathrumnostrium attempts to settle things with her once and for all, but she discovers the true power of a magical flute, and destroys him.Spiky
Mabelrose's new best friend, a brown porcupinePorcupine
Porcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp spines, or quills, that defend or camouflage them from predators. They are indigenous to the Americas, southern Asia, and Africa. Porcupines are the third largest of the rodents, behind the capybara and the beaver. Most porcupines are about long, with...
. Spiky met Mabelrose in Shalathrumnostrium's forest of thorns, near the end of the first book. Since then, they had been good friends. Spiky often helps Mabelrose when she is in trouble. There has been some speculation as to whether or not he is a prince disguised as a porcupine, but nothing has been confirmed. It is also unknown why Spiky was in Shalathrumnostrium's thorn bush in the first place.
Shalathrumnostrium
The very large, fearsome dragonDragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
. He is green, with glazed, silver eyes, although sometimes his pupils are shown as gray. Shalathrumnostrium lives in a large castle in the Unremembered Lands, which is very far away from New Tinsley. His hobby is to kidnap or "collect" princesses, and force the Kings and Queens to pay ransom in gold. When he first captures her, he claims that it is impossible for anybody to escape his fortress, or to enter and rescue Mabelrose. Shalathrumnostrium has an army of trolls and a wolf-like creature called "Mukhorgouroth". The trolls always fail to find Mabelrose and in the second book, Shalathrumnostrium crashes headlong into a cliff, killing Mukhorgouroth. This angers him, and when Mabelrose is at the Kingdom of Leptia in the third book, he attempts to settle things with her once and for all. Mabelrose finally ends up destroying him with his own fire by the power of a magical flute.
King Jeryk and Queen Helena
Mabelrose's kind and generous parents. For years, they had lived happily, but the element in their lives that was missing was a child. After a long time of praying, their dream came true, and Queen Helena birthed a daughter, Mabelrose. When Mabelrose is kidnapped, King Jeryk risks his life to find her, even though she is far in the Unremembered Lands. Helena always prays for him and for Mabelrose to come back alive and well. Jeryk has yet to find his daughter, or to find out that she has escaped on her own.Rope
Mabelrose possesses a magical rope from Shalathrumnostrium's castle. She does not know that the rope is actually alive. Spiky regularly catches the rope moving, or helping them and has developed a sort of friendship with it, but Mabelrose refuses to believe him. She always says that it is "just a rope". Rope is fairly long, and has two green beads on either end that look like two pairs of eyes. The Rope has been helping Mabelrose and Spiky since Mabelrose first stole it from Shalathrumnostrium's treasure room.Boar
Boar is a magical boar that is one of the "anifolk", a race of animals that can speak like human beings. His first appearance is when his leg is caught in a bear trap. He says that he has been stuck there for days. Mabelrose rescues him, despite losing one of her jewels. Boar knows right then that she was a princess, because she risked her wealth to save him. As a token of his appreciation, he gives her a bag of seeds, which came from a box on his jade collar. He also gives them to her because when the jade box glows, a "worthy one" is near. He then asks for Mabelrose to kiss him. She thinks that if she kisses him, he would turn into a prince. When she kissed him, nothing happened. Spiky ends up guffawing about Boar not really being a prince. Mabelrose asks why he asked her to kiss him, and he says that he wanted to know what it would be like to be kissed by a princess. This is an embarrassing moment for Mabelrose.Books
- The Courageous Princess
- The Courageous Princess- The Quest to Home
- The Courageous Princess- The Kingdom of Leptia
a masterpiece edition is also available, as well as a multitude of covers.
Literary allusions
Several Fairy TaleFairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
s and familiar stories are obviously alluded too, as Mablerose's parents are descended from literary characters: her Mother is the Great Great Great Great Granddaughter of Snow White
Snow White
"Snow White" is a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm...
and Prince Charming
Prince Charming
Prince Charming is a stock character who appears in a number of fairy tales. He is the prince who comes to rescue of the damsel in distress, and stereotypically, must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell...
; her Father is supposedly descended from Aladdin
Aladdin
Aladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale. It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , and one of the most famous, although it was actually added to the collection by Antoine Galland ....
.
Other stories alluded to include The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (adaptations)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1900 novel by L. Frank Baum, which has been adapted into several different works, the most famous being the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland...
, Princess and the Pea, The Pied Piper, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, and Rapunzel
Rapunzel
"Rapunzel" is a German fairy tale in the collection assembled by the Brothers Grimm, and first published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales. The Grimm Brothers' story is an adaptation of the fairy tale Persinette by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force originally published in 1698...
.