Comic Review: Robots vs Princesses #1

Robots vs Princesses #1

Dynamite Entertainment

Writer: Todd Matthy

Artist: Nicolas Chapuis

After a successful Kickstarter campaign and having their book picked up by Dynamite, Todd Matthy and Nicolas Chapuis’ fever dream mashup Robots vs Princesses is finally here. I don’t know who, if anyone, was asking for this crossover but I’ll be damned if I don’t love that it happened.

The story follows two characters rebelling against their destined “roles” in their respective societies. In the fairy tale land of Harmonia, princesses sing songs to summon animal friends and seek princes to marry just like your typical Disney movie. However, young Princess Zara has no wish to find a prince, and rather than find an average animal to befriend she desires to tame a dragon. Over in the sci-fi world of Chromia, a war between the gladiator-like Centurions and the monstrous Decimators is being waged, and amongst the fighting meek Decimator Wheeler desires a life beyond the constant fighting and abuse under his tyrannical ruler aptly named Tyrannis. These two worlds are separated by the Forbidden Woods, a forest that the people of both worlds never dare to venture into. That is until Wheeler and Zara both take off for the Woods in search of adventure.

Like I said earlier, this is a concept that I never knew I wanted until I saw it on the page. I’ve always loved both the fantasy and science fiction genres and having them collide here is a fun idea that has the potential to give us great scenes in the future. Even the short moments towards the end that we get where the two worlds begin to collide result in enjoyable moments of humor.

Matthy’s writing is pretty good: the dialogue is pretty funny, and each character, for the most part, has their own voice. However, because each character sort of falls into an archetype (Zara is the rebellious youth who is uninterested with princessly things, Wheeler is the small and meek robot who doesn’t want to fight) their dialogue is fairly predictable and you kind of see where things are going to go.

Chapuis’ art is serviceable, but it’s nothing that’s really going to ‘wow’ you. The cartoony style does work well with the feel of the whole book, but at times it does feel like the kind of rough work you’d find on a 14-year old’s Deviantart page. I’ve seen Chapuis’ work online (and on his own Deviantart page, ironically) and I know he can do much better than some of the panels in this book.

Overall, this is a fun first issue that everyone can enjoy. It’s good to see a book that will bring brothers and sisters together with the material, and it’s a book that while for kids doesn’t talk down to them. However, at the moment, there are a lot of flaws that could drag the series down if they’re not worked out in future issues. The charm of the book really sells it here, and I’m hoping in the issues to come it will be able to lift up the writing and artwork to become a series that I want to recommend to everyone I meet.