Image Comics’ The Princess Murders Roasts Your Disney Sing-a-long Nostalgia With a Surprising New Video

If you’re a fan of classic, cheesy princess stories, then Image is releasing a comic you should definitely avoid, unless you’d love to see all their classic tropes flipped on their head. The Princess Murders is an upcoming comic dead set on bringing us a tale exactly like that, and it just made a hilarious case for itself with a trailer that takes the classic Disney style and flips it on its head. Heck, it even begins with the old-school Disney movie logo you’d see in trailers for Cinderella, only given an Image twist. This music video announcement trailer debuted at NYCC, and it’s a barrel of laughs and shock.

Tony Fleecs (Stray Dogs, Feral) and Tim Seeley (Revival, Hack/Slash) are an acclaimed duo who have told plenty of horror-style stories in the past, but now they’re taking us to a world of princesses and slasher villains. All the world’s princesses are called together to win the affection of Prince Carlo, but a black-gloved assassin has made it their mission to kill these princesses before they get the chance. Everything falls to a wicked step-sister and a would-be fairy-godmother, and you can get a taste of the action yourself in the trailer here.

To really get a sense of just how much they spoof classic princess sing-a-longs, just check out this trailer for Disney’s own Cinderella, which seems to be the main inspiration.

A Classic Story Given a Very Modern Horror Twist

Nowadays, fairy tales are feel-good stories that focus on eternal love and happily-ever-afters, but these stories were originally much, much more grim. Disney had a whole lot of impact on that shift, adapting these classic tales into child-friendly animated movies. When people think of these princesses now, they think of big dresses, magic wishes, and heartfelt songs. The Princess Murders gives us exactly that setup, with small-time Princess Lottie and her wicked step-sister Edwige having the exact type of relationship you’d expect from those descriptions. Lottie is the picture-perfect princess for a Disney movie, but she’s about to meet a much darker reality with a princess serial killer. Take a look at these short preview pages.

Based on these pages, this story has everything it needs to hit fans in the chest. It’s bound to be brutal, irreverent, and bring in all of the tropes that make these stories what they are. Of course, we can also make a few guesses on how the story will go. Edwige is sure to be a much more pragmatic and cynical protagonist than her sister, and will probably run into all kinds of interference as she both navigates the political intrigue and generalizations that are sure to shoot up from other princesses, both serious and not. Based on how the opening storybook even calls out that Carlos has lost his true love, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the killer, giving another giant twist to the classic Prince Charming archetype.

This series will hit store shelves on December 9, so be sure to preorder your copy now and brush up on your classic princess tropes. Let us know what you think about these types of horror-filled parodies in the comments below and the ComicBook forum!