Review by Frank Plowright

Jonathan Coulton is an endlessly inventive and quirky singer and songwriter who releases his material under a creative commons licence, meaning anyone can use it for any artistic project provided the purpose isn’t commercial. That’s presumably how Greg Pak and Takeshi Miyazawa came to produce this graphic novel based on one of his songs. Hear Coulton’s original here, and dig deeper and you’ll come across animations produced by others.

Pak and Miyazawa have previous for creatively reinterpreting Coulton’s material, having funnelled several characters and themes into Code Monkey Save World, and are faithful to the theme of Coulson’s lyrics without following them exactly. This is probably because given the style of the adaptation and the brevity of the song, doing so would have resulted in an extremely short graphic novel.

Because of that brevity Pak writes some extra rhymes, fitting them in seamlessly alongside the original lyrics so that anyone who didn’t know wouldn’t spot the joins.

The Princess and her surroundings are charmingly drawn by Miyazawa in large panels featuring imaginative interpretations of the characters from Coulson’s song, not least a thoroughly modern witch, along with a few new creations. Everything oozes charm, and if you’re captivated by Miyazawa’s art you’d happily frame any of the illustrations on a wall.

The gist of the story is the princess, who lives on her own, enjoys playing her guitar, but not everyone enjoys hearing it, which is where the problems arise. Pak contrives a good solution that fits the song, and this slim hardcover graphic novel was successful enough to prompt a sequel in The Princess Who Saved Her Friends.