Raven the Pirate Princess is Sinking
I despise doing posts where I ask for help, but here we are.
About two years ago I started a new creator owned project. It began as a spin-off of Princeless, but the reality is this - Raven The Pirate Princess is its own thing altogether. I knew this from the first issue and if youâve been reading, so have you.
Sure, the first few issues of Raven: Pirate Princess had that heroic lady feminist banter for which Princeless has become known both among its fans and detractors. I mean, Raven had this scene:
and issue 1 had this scene:
But perhaps much more importantly, the first issue of Raven had this:
but that wasnât where that ended. This is a book about a community of diverse queer women actively claiming their place in the world and taking whatâs theirs. Itâs about Raven, who is desperately in love with her childhood best friend Ximena
Itâs about Ximena, a girl who was held captive for years by a pirate king who pretended to be her liberator. Who fell in love with the pirateâs daughter, only to be left behind by that father when she outlived her value.
About Sunshine, the thief that chose the wrong target and ended up falling in love with a woman already hopelessly in love with somebody else.
Itâs about Katie, the bisexual second in command whoâs motivated by honorâŠand occasionally beating the snot out of a dude or two
Oh and in case I forgot to mention, Katie is also incredibly muscular:
And Jayla, the asexual science genius whoâs tired of being treated like a little sister
and Cid, the deaf engineer who quietly keeps the ship running
and of course, these two:
The socially awkward poet and the angry sword fighter who couldnât stand her who have somehow become these two:
But hereâs the thing: this comic is failing. It has a very dedicated and exuberant but at this point SMALL fanbase. Today I had a hard conversation with Action Lab about the reality of the numbers on this book versus what it costs to produce this book and, suffice it to say, Action Lab isnât ready to cancel the book, but they arenât ready to greenlight year 3 either. After Year 2 #13, Raven is set to go on the shelf until numbers can support continuing it.
This is where I need your help
If you care about this book full of queer pirate ladies and you want it to continue, we need to find a way to spread the word about it. We donât need to sell single issues (it would be nice) but ultimately we need the trades sales that back up the continuation of this big YA Pirate/Revenge/Adventure/Romance thing.
Digital copies can be bought instantly right on Comixology:Â https://www.comixology.com/Princeless-Raven-The-Pirate-Princess/comics-series/46971
You can buy the physical volumes on amazon here:Â https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B01BF7U91Q
In fact, if youâve already purchased volumes 1-4, volume 5 is available for preorder there right now!Â
Maybe youâve bought all the issues already. Thank you! If you still want to support Raven, you can review the books on Amazon or other retailers, you can share, reblog or retweet this post. You can tell a friend about the book!Â
If you have a comics review site or, say, a blog where you talk about LGBT media, contact me for review links or interviews. Please, help us save our ship.
