Disney Descendants: A Lost Revenge
By Kalynn Bayron and Asiah Fulmore
176 pages/Abrams Fanfare/$16.99
Fairy tales require a suspension of belief, a willingness to accept the impossible as possible. It gives us a sense of wonder that magic is real. Tapping into that, Walt Disney adapted these fairy tales for modern-day audiences with charming animated musicals and turned them into a set of idealized characters that have been endlessly exploited ever since.
In 2015, that roster of familiar heroes, villains, and comical sidekicks was more than doubled with the creation of Descendants. Here, we stretch our disbelief to accept that all the Disney characters share a universe and now, 20 or so years later, they all magically have offspring of approximately the same age.
Not having children during this run, I knew of the spinoff but didn’t realize how many musicals, short subjects, cartoons, prose, and graphic novels have mined the territory. The sixth such film is due later this year on Disney+, and the latest graphic installment is coming soon.
The focus is on Uma, daughter of Ursula, a pirate captain sailing the seas in and around the United States of Auradon. The theme here is an exploration of acting as others expect you to, or carving your own destiny. To the surprise of her VK (Villain Kids) peers, Uma has gone straight, fighting for what’s right, much to her (mostly unseen) mother’s chagrin.
In the sprawling continuity, this is a prequel to Descendants 3: Rise of the Red, explaining how Uma became headmistress of Auradon Prep. It pits her against Captain Hook’s daughter, Harriet, with her beloved friend Harry, the son of Hook. What starts as a search-and-rescue mission becomes something more when Hazel kidnaps her sister, CJ, and uses her as bait.
If you’re at all a fan of this franchise, you get it and can be entertained and captivated. If you’re an outsider, just dipping your senior toe into the realm, you need something annotated, which the graphic novel fails to provide. It expects you to know, which I find insular.
Kalynn Bayron makes her GN debut here and acquits herself well, with good dialogue and nice pacing. The art from Asiah Fulmore mostly works, although there are too many panels that need art direction for clarity. It’s light and carries strong messaging for the tween readership.
English (US) · 