Magic From The Margins: SUN PRINCESS

In Magic From The Margins, Latonya “Penn” Pennington explores sci-fi fantasy webtoons and Tapas comics by marginalized creators. For the debut entry, they’re checking out Sun Princess.

Sun Princess

Writer/Artist: Georgia
Platform: Tapas
Debut Date: April 1, 2024
Rating: Kid- Friendly
Genre:  Action Fantasy, Drama

Created by the cartoonist Georgia, Sun Princess tells the story of Alizetti “Zettie” Alarcon, a young girl cursed to faint every time she gets anxious. Despite this, she decides to prove herself by applying for a school in competitive monster hunting. Thus begins Zettie’s heroic journey as a monster hunter-in-training.

One of the best things about this webcomic is the cast of characters, starting with the protagonist, Zettie. She is an earnest kid determined to be somebody despite feeling like an outsider in her own adopted family. She is also compassionate, because despite enrolling in a school for monster hunters, she is not afraid of anyone with a monstrous appearance. 

Besides Zettie, there are other notable characters such as Zettie’s adopted grandmother Kyumula A Clowdik, senior acolyte and masked monster hunter Hector, and Zettie’s adorable half-wolf/half-lion animal familiar Wooly The Wool Lion. Each of them play a supportive role in Zettie’s life, such as Clowdik wanting to keep her out of trouble despite Zettie’s need to belong. Wooly is a combination of an animal familiar and an emotional support pet, ready to help Zettie fight monsters and give her comfort. Since the comic is still pretty new, there is room for the cast to grow in size and scope as the story progresses.

In addition to the characters, the black-and-white art is cute and visually striking. All of the characters (including some of the monsters) have little quirks to their character designs that make them noticeable, such as Zettie and Wooly’s big eyes or Felix’s mask that slightly resembles an upside down smile. There is also a creative use of inks to emphasize the tension of certain moments such as Zettie’s anxiety. The art is also dynamic through the use of sideways panels that enhance a character’s actions, literally giving it a new angle.

A final aspect of the comic that is wonderful is the subtle influence of Japanese role playing games on elements like the character’s names, the items used, and the monster battles. A small example of this is when Zettie is preparing to go hunt monsters and we see items listed as “Band-aids 4 Boo boos,” “Ether juice for when I faint” and “Spite Core Bag- monster spoils”! 

All in all, Sun Princess is a wonderful comic that is off to a fun start. With a tender-hearted heroine, energetic artwork and quirky worldbuilding, it is an entertaining read for fans of the fantasy genre.

Check out Sun Princess for yourself on Tapas.

Keep up with every entry in K-Comics Beat’s Magic From The Margins column by clicking here.