Review by Frank Plowright

As the title suggests, this is a selection of four panel comic strips starring the Disney Princesses, although a broad application of the term ‘Princess’ applies in order to include the female leads from  Disney films going all the way back to Snow White. They’re all drawn, and often also written by Amy Mebberson being both traditional four panel gags and other strips running to several pages.

There are no credits for individual strips, so no indication which are written by Mebberson, and which are the work of Georgia Ball, Geoffrey Golden, Pat Shand or Patrick Storck. Whoever’s responsible, they’re reasonable jokes, and there’s thought applied to ensure they’re applicable to a particular character and their supporting cast, so not just generic. In some cases, however, it may mean readers not familiar with every Disney film may not get the joke.

The continued strips are of varying lengths, with the longest showing Snow White coaxing some of the dwarves to dance. Samples of the others are the genie going shopping with Jasmine, Cinderella being concerned at a cough keeping her from meeting people at a royal ball, and Tiana being overly generous with the hot sauce. These strips are unashamedly aimed at the young girl who loves all things Disney, and are well enough crafted to ensure that girl has a few giggles, thrills to the short adventures, and tries to copy Mebberson’s appealing simple art.

The one slight drawback in a book aimed at younger readers is that as per the sample art, it’s not always clear where one strip ends and the next begins. This was corrected when the content was reissued as Friends, Family, Fantastic and Follow Your Heart, presented in traditional comic size instead of landscape format, with the panels rearranged to accommodate that.