Raowl looks like a sword welding dog, but he is actually a beast with a hankering to rescue princesses. He manages to rescue one princess, but never gets his kiss. So he sets of again. This time he gets one to his garden, but she is carried off by bats to an evil castle. Off Raowl goes, determined to get his kiss. Will he manage to evade, the nasty guards, the creepy cemetery and be able to face-off with Vincent, The Steward, and The evil Queen to rescue Belle and get his kiss? Read and find out!

'Raowl 1: Beauty and the Creep' with story and art by Tebo is a graphic novel about a young woman looking for a handsome prince and the creature she is stuck with instead.

Raowl is looking for a princess, but he is certainly not the princess type. He is rough and violent and does not really have the right look. He doesn't know when to quit, so when his first attempt fails, he keeps trying. He also has an issue that when he sneezes, he transforms into a handsome prince, but this usually happens at the worst possible time.

This was a cute, if violent, story. I liked the characters and had fun reading it. The art is pretty comical as well.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

An amazing and humorous graphic noval full of fantasy and knights!
A fun read that you can do it in one seating!

This is the book in this year of 2019 that has most sincerely, most effortlessly, and most strongly, made me go "WHAT THE FUCKETTY FUCK??" We start with a monster attacking some people attacking a castle containing a gobby, opinionated princess (for there is no better kind for arch fairy-tale-demolishing childrens' fantasies), only he can be blue in one frame and, er, not blue in the next. But it turns out the slobbering MeToo-unaware beastie is actually a prince charming in disguise. She doesn't know this, so takes him off on an errand to find a proper, real prince charming for her to get rescued and ravaged by, and it goes weirder and weirder and even more fucketty fuck weird as it goes along. Oh, and that's just the first chapter, which proves the reality of our monster and says The End. Which is a LIE. Next, our monster bloke has inherited a blue bird companion, who lasts a few panels before our monster bloke is off on the rescue/slobbering, pants-a-bulging hunt for his belle. Except she's been captured by a huge bunch of bats who have delivered her to a randy cannibal old biddy who wants a prince charming of her own.

Oh, and in this child-targeted fantasy our beast slices two people to death through their brains, allowing no end of comedy gore to leap up into the air, and a cannibal kid with a conscience starts to eat himself before our very eyes.

This seriously is AD&D meets ADHD. It's either the worst book in nearly forever or a wilfully subversive, scatological wonder that if it were a film would need to be seen at midnight with a bag of magic mushrooms to go with the popcorn. And I still don't have a flucking clue how to pronounce the bloody thing's title. Roll on volume two?!

Raowl is a riotous romp through a hilarious fantasyland, featuring an oddball cast of witches, knights, princesses, and more.

A Sly Mockery of the Prince Charming Myth

I figured this would be loaded with morning cartoon "Tom & Jerry" violence and some dumb jokes. I certainly didn't expect what I found - a cheerfully manic deconstruction of "Prince Charming" anchored by two sly and amusing main characters.

The set up is that the Princess is rescued by Raowl, a violent Barbarian type, and she insists that despite the fact that he rescued her and that he should be rewarded with a kiss, she should be escorted by Raowl to find a proper Prince Charming. And so off we go in search of an acceptable Prince Charming.

We start with Raowl's assault on the castle in which the Princess is being held, and it is as over-the-top cartoony violent as expected. But once the Princess and Raowl start off on their buddy comedy cross-country trek the dialogue picks up, there's a bit of edge, and the characters actually start to develop in an interesting and engaging fashion. I just did not expect that.

The book is a fast read, the plot screams along, the dialogue is breezy, and the panels are loaded with energy. I wouldn't say it's "edgy", but every now and then there's a knowing line or a bit of bite that rewards and amuses the reader.

The art is cartoonish, but the characters are more expressive than expected, and the art complements and supports the story very well. There are loads of subtle jokes hidden throughout the panels; this is not just the bland, mass produced computer driven illustrations that have become so common.

So, this was a happy and entertaining find. Who knew?

(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)