A Black princess who saves herself and exposes princess culture? Kids and adults say “Yes!”

An interview with Jeremy Whitley about his race-positive, gender-bending, subversive series for kids, Princeless

What we do to princesses. Princess Adrienne locked in a tower in the first issue of Princeless, illustrated by M. Goodwin

Princeless series [recommended for ages 8+] by Jeremy Whitley (Action Lab Entertainment)

Synopsis: As a young girl Princess Adrienne was already critical of the princess stories her mother read to her. What kind of parents imprison their daughter in a tower? she scoffed. Until one day her parents do imprison her in a tower, as is the custom, so that the brave knight who slays the dragon guarding her can win her hand. But Princess Adrienne doesn’t want to be saved or belong to a prince. So she decides to save herself and her seven sisters who are also trapped in towers. When her ruthless father, the king, hears about the “short knight” trying to free the princesses he calls for “his” head. Adventure, suspense and fun ensue. Along the way, we meet others (like her brother, Prince Devon!) who need to go against convention and expectations just to be themselves.

Melissa: Thanks so much for writing the Princeless series! What were you trying to do in regard to race with the story?

Jeremy: In part, I wanted my daughter to be able to see a character that looked like her in the story. I’m white, my wife is black, and my daughter is mixed race. There’s already not a lot of representation in comics for girls of color.

Also, I remember my wife and I being kind of excited about “The Princess and The Frog” [Disney’s 2009 movie featuring a black princess], and then actually watching it and being hit with, Whoa, this isn’t quite what I was looking for!

Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog” movie (2009) — we do not recommend!

And that’s become a trend with me. Why I write the books I write is I find that I’m looking for something and it doesn’t seem to exist. I start working on it and sometimes it turns into a thing, sometimes it doesn’t. In the case of Princeless, it’s proven to be something that a lot of other people were looking for as well.

Melissa: Why start with Princesses at all; why not a superhero?

Jeremy: A lot of kids like princess stories, they’re looking for them whether that’s what we want them to read or not. Those kids are bound to read about princesses, they want to read about princesses. So starting with a princess and having her experience the many downsides of her position with the reader was very much something I wanted to try.

Melissa: Seems like you’re also trying to attract readers who don’t like princesses.

Jeremy: Yeah that’s definitely something we had in mind. If you look at the cover for the first [single] issue, it’s bright pink. But she’s also carrying a sword. We were trying to strike that balance between people that want nothing to do with princess stories and kids who are going to look for the princess stories that can still benefit from an interesting and subversive, important story.

Melissa: So what are you most proud of pulling off with Princeless, or are there specific scenes that you are impressed with, reading them years later?

Jeremy: Actually we started reading it with my 5 year-old daughter recently. I didn’t want to push it on her. But she’s seen it lying around and brought me the first volume to read to her the other day.

I‘m surprised how well it comes together. Managing to move through the concept of the story in the first issue. Going from, here’s what we do to princesses, to Adrienne saving herself.