Princess Ugg #1 (REVIEW)
written by Heather Finley (@heatherfinley)
Let’s face it, princess tales never completely go out of style. From Frozen to the upcoming Damsels in Excess comic, there is just something about a girl ruling a country that is awesome.
In Princess Ugg, the reader sees the story of Ülga, an unruly princess that enrolls in a finishing school with other princesses. Issue one shows her making quite the entrance and already sets up animosity between her and the princess that will be her roommate.
The story did strike a familiar cord with me in that I love teen books with similar themes. The underdog girl that fights for her place among whatever group she is a part of. Princess Ugg will undoubtably be a story of a strong girl who works hard and fights for what she feels is right.
The comic itself starts out with many panels without dialog. I would have liked to see those panels used to establish more backstory or something that helped pull me into the story a little more. The contrast between the panels when Ülga was an adult vs a young girl were nice though.
OOPS...
Language wise, the use of some old terms was a little off. For a book written for kids, I felt this possibly would be confusing. Also on the subject of kids, I saw this comic was geared towards teens which did not feel like it was the case. I would say this book would be more fitting for younger kids. Age 7-12 would be my recommendation. I do not know if the comic will get more violent and that is why they did not want to market towards a younger audience but I would say the first issue seemed like a great comic for young kids that love Disney movies.
Overall, I would say I liked this comic but would not personally keep reading. If I had kids, I would absolutely love to give it to them as a way to get them hooked into the nerd world.
ED NOTE: the issue we reviewed was a black and white con exclusive preview variant, when the series launches in June it will be in full color.
Princess Ugg
by Ted Naifeh (tednaifeh.com)
Publisher: Oni Press
Cover Price: $3.99
Available: June 2014
