cover art by Ken Macklin
Back before she made the New York Times best-seller list, and before her Young Wizards novel series made her a favorite of the young adult crowd (and the librarians who serve them), science fiction and fantasy author Diane Duane teamed with artist Sherlock (before Sherlock won her Hugo Award) to tell the story of Prince Ivan. This twisted version of the classic Russian folk story was a forerunner to Shrek in many ways, a wacky take on fairy tales and the characters who inhabit them. The story was serialized across half a dozen issues of the Eclipse Comics anthology The Dreamery, and there it had remained, uncollected and unseen by most of Duane’s growing base fans… until now. This October, About Comics will release a paperback not only collecting Duane and Sherlock’s original Prince Ivan story, but adding a brand new 28-page sequel by the original creators, reuniting them creatively for the first time in decades, in The Misadventures of Prince Ivan.
In the lead story, “The Adventures of Prince Ivan”, the shy young prince meets and marries the beautiful warrior princess Marya Morevna, and they go off to live in her castle, a pleasant place but for the one room which the prince is forbidden to visit. If the prince merely followed that simple rule, the story could have ended with a “happily ever after” right there… but then, it woudn’t be much of a story. So of course the prince does visit the forbidden room, the great evil sorcerer Koschei the Undying is unleashed, and there are dozens of pages and various challenges – even death! – to overcome before any ever-aftering can commence. With chapter titles like “How Prince Ivan meets various insects and critters, and what they do for his credit rating”, this is a tale that does not skimp on the entertaining details.
The first page of the new Prince Ivan story, by Diane Duane and Sherlock
In the new sequel story “Prince Ivan and the Bachelor Parties of Doom”, Ivan and Marya Morevna realize that they had simply rushed through the whole wedding process and had never celebrated it properly. When it comes time for the appropriate parties, however, the prince and princess enemies have plans of their own. With a talking donkey, a magic cockroach, exploding pizzas, and more, they’re either having a battle or a really good party. Maybe both.
The Misadventures of Prince Ivan (ISBN 978-1936404-01-8) is a 104 page 5.5”x7.75” black-and-white paperback. Published by About Comics and distributed by Diamond Comics Distributors and Diamond Book Distributors, it can be found on page 222 of the August Previews, ordering number AUG11 0743.
