Comics Review: Adventure Time #62

With the conclusion of the space arc in the last issue, a new arc begins. 

Spoilers Ahead:

Peppermint Butler stands on a giant stage and opens up the festivities for the princess competition. In the competition, each princess competes for the title of Best Princess Ever. Princess Bubblegum is the main judge and announces the prizes: a tiara buffer machine made by Bubblegum, and a one-of-a-kind princess belt buckle. The competitors are Flame Princess, Turtle Princess, Hot Dog Princess, Muscle Princess, and Wildberry Princess. While all the other princesses give normal speeches, Lumpy Space Princess arrives unexpectedly in a tattered dress and arrogantly announces that she is going to win. The other princesses are outraged and want LSP barred from the competition since she is not a true princess. However, Bubblegum checks the rulebook and can’t find any stipulation that competitors must be coronated princesses, so she allows LSP to participate in the contest. 

Each contestant will be scored based on their grace, creativity, bravery, and wisdom by a panel of judges consisting of Bubblegum, Treetrunks, BMO, and Marceline. The first challenge is to travel through a dark forest before night falls. When Flame Princess remarks that the challenge is fairly simple, Bubblegum increases the difficulty by having the princesses also balance a weeble on their crowns, and avoid being mauled by an angry mob. 

Each princess has a different way of dealing with the mobs: Turtle Princess runs away, Wildberry Princess climbs a tall tree, Hot Dog Princess scares them off, Flame Princess threatens them, and Breakfast Princess bribes them with food. While escaping, Muscle Princess sees a sign pointing towards the finish line and follows it.

The princesses slowly make their way towards the finish line, but Muscle Princess has gotten lost and finishes late. The judges decide to eliminate her, and Muscle Princess accepts her loss with grace. In the meantime, Marceline confides in Finn and Jake that she thinks something suspicious is going on. She thinks that it’s unlikely that Muscle Princess would have simply gotten lost, and that someone might be manipulating the competition. She asks Finn and Jake to investigate, and they agree. 

Overview:

After the serious space arc, this one seems much more lighthearted. Although someone is definitely behind Muscle Princess’ loss in the competition, they do not seem to have nefarious motives. If anything, it could be one of the princesses trying to sabotage the others, or a devoted fan eager to see their princess win. Either way, it doesn’t seem like we’ve been given any hints so far, so it will remain a mystery for now. Hopefully, the next issue will reveal more clues about the culprit and their motives. Adventure Time can get wild at times, so future issues might get more dramatic. Either way, the setup allows for the story to progress in any direction, so next month’s issue should be interesting.