My Dearest, Rat Queens: A Love Letter to the Ladies of Palisade

My Dearest, Rat Queens,

Art by Roc Upchurch

After learning that your book will be going on hiatus for the foreseeable future, I thought I’d take a moment to let the four of you know what you’ve meant to me since your first issue debuted three years ago. While I have confidence that you’ll return to my comic book shelves someday, in case we don’t see each other for a while it’s important that I express these feelings as I am not an overly sentimental person by nature. At least not in a public forum.

Hannah, Betty, Dee, and Violet…you’re the best. There are certainly bigger words to describe you but from the most sincere facets of my heart, that’s all I need to say. I’ve been with you since the beginning. I’ve followed this small drop in what I can only hope for and imagine is an ocean’s worth of adventures, but in that short amount of time you’ve all become precious to me. Yes, I’ve been reading comics for some time and I’ve read plenty of stories featuring all-women groups, but yours is the perfect storm of writing, artistry, commentary, and timing that is difficult to sell and even harder to sustain.

So let me tell you what I wish I’d had in my younger days and the void you might have filled then but overflows now.

Art by Stjepan Sejic

I wish I’d had a book that elevated the value of misfit families. It took a long time for me to find my questing group. I struggled with friendships, preferring to spend my time alone, but when that group finally formed I held on tight because it meant the world to me. It still does. Finding your family of choice, the people who value you outside of any biological ties, the ones who put up with your less than stellar personality traits because they’re dwarfed by your lovable quirks, the ones that push you and challenge you and make you better because there’s another voice and a pair of ears to listen means everything. Hell, just having someone to hug you without saying a word or requiring something in return is the most valuable currency I can think of. Rat Queens honors that love between friends even in the most dire moments. It celebrates the formation of a new family and dares to mourn its loss.

I wish I’d had a book that posited the damage of traditions, organized religion, institutions, and cultural norms. When I was a teenager, I had my greatest crisis of faith but it was hard to articulate those feelings when I lacked the freedom of adulthood to explore what it truly meant. My father and I were in constant conflict over our differing religious convictions – he renewing them as a born-again and I still crafting and solidifying a world view separate from what I’d been taught. For many years we fought a domestic war of ideals and philosophy, but it was overwhelming at times and in my darker moments it wasn’t hard to see the value in silence. In the world of Rat Queens there is space for everyone even if they have to carve it out for themselves. Within the fantastical walls of Palisade the text and subtext is clear: bucking stagnant systems is to be encouraged, pointing out logical fallacies will be rewarded, and acceptance is the rule not the exception.

Art by Tess Fowler

I wish I’d had a book that was so unapologetically badass in its art, attitude, and language. As modern fantasies go, Rat Queens blends the two seamlessly. It’s as much a love letter to Dungeons and Dragons style role playing games as it is an exploration of female friendship. I wish I’d had a book with female characters as brash, witty, and sincere in their feelings towards each other and the world around them. Growing up with media that always emphasized the “token chick” as something to strive for, I know in my heart or hearts that I would’ve jumped at the chance to watch or read about a group of friends working together and giving each other shit independent of another generic group of male characters. The credit, of course, goes to the creative team and their tireless efforts to bring readers a unique experience in the most unique of places. So thank you Kurtis J. Wiebe, Roc Upchurch, Stjepan Šejić, Tess Fowler, Tamra Bonvillain, Kelly Fitzpatrick, and Ed Brisson. Thank you for Hannah, Dee, Betty, and Violet. Thank you for Sawyer, Old Woman Bernadette, Tizzie, Braga, the Four Daves, Lola, and even Gary. Thank you for what you’ve created and what you will continue to create. Even if Rat Queens is on hiatus for a considerable amount of time, your work is still here and it will enrich more lives by virtue of its existence.

So in conclusion, everything is still awesome about the Rat Queens and until the day those lovely ladies dock at Palisade, or on some distant shore, I’ll be waiting patiently on the widow’s walk eager for their return.

Love and Kisses,

Sam

P.S. I’m still pretty sure Gary had something to do with this. Seriously, Gary. Fuck you.

N’Rygoth Ain’t Got Nothin’ on the Rat Queens

It’s been a hell of a time for the Rat Queens, internally and externally, but despite some hiccups along the way Kurtis Wiebe’s sophomore arc, The Far Reaching Tentacles of N’Rygoth, went above and beyond in its storytelling as the Rat Queens and friends fought to save Palisade from the mind-altering squid demons of another dimension. Like ya do. But like everything Wiebe does there’s a greater story being told while the Queens punch, curse, and bring destruction to their enemies with righteous fury. If the first volume, Sass and Sorcery, was our introduction to the world of Rat Queens, then N’Rygoth is our introduction to the people within that world. Now that we have a handle on the personalities and the dynamic between Hannah, Betty, Dee, and Violet, it’s time we got a better idea of who they are and what brought them together.

If we’re going to boil the story down to its nitty-gritty elements, then these are the essentials: Gerrig Lake, the merchant who Old Lady Bernadette hired to “take care” of the quest group problem in Palisade, has been secretly plotting to release demonic beings worshiped by Dee’s religious order to get revenge on Sawyer for the death of his wife. As the demons attack Palisade and its residents, the Rat Queens fight their way to Gerrig’s stronghold, with help from the Four Daves and the Peaches, while trying to stave off the time-altering mind fuckery of the tentacled creatures from beyond. Of course there’s more to the story than just that, but we’ll get to that in a bit. Just know that this is the minimal amount of information you need without being ridiculously spoiled.

That being said…spoilers ahead (unintentional rhyme!).

After the events of the previous volume, the Rat Queens find themselves revisiting their pasts on an epic scale that still manages to feel surprisingly intimate. The arrival of Dee’s husband, Kiah, Hannah’s on-again-off-again relationship with Sawyer, and Violet’s inspirational meeting with the clean-shaven Morgan Meldhammer all speak to the underlying themes of the book: outcasts, acceptance, and misfit families. The need for acceptance and the feeling of belonging has been present from the get-go, but it’s really in N’Rygoth that we see exactly why the world of Rat Queens is so important and why so many people within the comic book community have become ravenous fans. Wiebe stated it very clearly when I interviewed him about the Braga one-shot. Rat Queens is about home and how people from disparate backgrounds come together and create their own families.

This is especially relevant when one looks at the geek community. We’ve often felt isolated because of our interests, but within the communities of fandoms and internet groups, and the rallying point of conventions, we find acceptance and a place where we can be ourselves. Yes, there are times when the creation of like-minded groups causes a great deal of harm, but there are just as many, if not more, cases of groups producing beautiful displays of love, friendship, and family through their bond over something they love. It’s the inclusive nature of Rat Queens that makes us all want to be a part of this world where modern sensibilities meet high fantasy. There’s a reason the book won a GLAAD award. Just sayin’.

From the beginning of the book, Rat Queens has felt fleshed out in a way that many sword and sorcery comics suffer to accomplish. Wiebe’s grasp of the characters, of the people of Palisade, contains just enough of the man himself and his own experiences that one can’t help feeling his sincerity. While Dee is the character Wiebe identifies with the most, he still manages to weave in similarities between most of the Rat Queens. Dee’s religious community, Violet’s tradition-mired clan, Braga’s stagnate horde of orcs, and the subtle jabs directed at Hannah for being a “demon baby” all drive the point home that narrow-mindedness is poison and isolation breeds intolerance. The saving grace for all of them was finding each other in a place where diversity is the norm. Although we still don’t know much about Betty…for now.

Yeah, if I was going to lob any kind of criticism on a book I clearly love, it’d be that Betty, while present within the story, didn’t have much in the way of character development in this arc. Even in the last two issues she doesn’t have much to say or do except regroup with her friends. I can understand with the focus shifts in the story and the unintended hiatus of the book leading to a shorter narrative that something had to give. It’s not unlike the previous arc where Dee’s background was put aside so her outlook and background could have a more thorough explanation so I’m gonna give Rat Queens the benfit of the doubt and trust that Betty will get her due with the next story.

As far as the art goes, Rat Queens really can’t fail from a stylistic standpoint. Yes, the circumstances that brought Stjepan Šejić on as the book’s new artist were unfortunate, but the way he renders Roc Upchurch’s designs are fantastic. Šejić brings just as much energy and movement to the book, but it’s in his expressions where he really punches you in the gut. The scene between Hannah and Sawyer in which Hannah reveals that her rockabilly hairdo is actually hiding a pair of horns is pitch perfect. Šejić captures that fleeting moment where Hannah hopefully looks to Sawyer to say the right thing, which goes as well as you might expect, but the impact of that one panel gave me quite the visceral reaction. There was also Dave and Violet’s romance novel kiss, which made me squeal in delight. Of course, it must be mentioned that Tess Fowler’s work on the Braga one-shot was phenomenal! Like Šejić she makes her style work for telling Braga’s tale. There a hint of adorkability that makes the pages feel warmer, more inviting – that would also be the work of colorist Kelly Fitzpatrick – even when Braga is slaughtering other clans so the bards can sing her accolades.

Rat Queens is a book that plans to be around for a long time and I couldn’t be happier. And it looks like the Queens are headed to Mage University soon. I can’t wait!

Thought Bubbles: Comics to Read for 10/01/14

Another week and another batch of comics to recommend for your reading pleasure. Let’s not waste any time and get to the list!

 

Peter Panzerfaust #21 – Image Comics

Written by Kurtis Wiebe with Art by Tyler Jenkins and colorist Kelly Fitzpatrick, this is the beginning of the final arc of Peter Panzerfaust and the team behind the book aren’t pulling any punches, figuratively and literally as the issue features two intense fist fights between the twins, Maurice and Claude, and the remaining Lost Boys when Tootles essentially decides that they need to hold a memorial for Peter, Lily, and Julien after which the rest of the group can get right the fuck out. Framed within the elderly Maurice’s recollection, the group, back in Paris, has tried to stay together in the wake of their flight from the Sticks and Peter’s capture, but their own personal vendettas and underlying feelings of guilt, responsibility, and bitterness seem to be driving them farther and farther apart. Tootles tries to keep Wendy, Michael, and John safe, with Wendy still taking on the motherly role. Felix has taken to executing Nazis as he sees fit. And the twins…they’re both dealing with things in their own way. It’s part and parcel of what older Maurice tells John Parsons, their story is no different from the stories of hundreds of other people during the war. Survival was the least difficult part, the hard part was figuring out what to do in the aftermath. The crumbling of the Lost Boys, however, gets a bit of a reprieve with a last minute reveal that still manages to get upstaged by an even bigger reveal.

 

Rat Queens #8 – Image Comics

Also written by Kurtis Wiebe with Art by Roc Upchurch, we get a lot more background on Violet as we get to see almost exactly what led Violet to make the decision to leave her dwarven home, shave her beard, and join the Rat Queens. In the first volume, Sass and Sorcery, we were introduced to Violet’s brother, Barry Blackforge, who, like many of the familial relations to the first ladies of kickassery, didn’t approve of Violet’s decision to go off and become part of a quest-group-for-hire. Now we get to see that, like Dee, Violet’s home was built on the foundations of tradition, ones that still pigeonhole Violet into a model for her father’s new brand of armor instead of a competitor representing her family among the other noble dwarf clans during an annual tournament. It isn’t until she sees the shaven face of Morgan Meldhammer, an older woman fighting in place of another who chooses to buck the system and forge her own path by wearing the symbol she finds empowering, a rat, instead of the symbols of her clan. It’s her example and the supportive and steady hands of her mother with a straight razor that give us the Violet we know and love. And the way this issue ties into the overall narrative is not to be missed at the end.

 

Nailbiter #6 – Image Comics

Dear God can the town of Buckaroo, Oregon get any creepier? According to writer Joshua Williamson and artist Mike Henderson, yes, yes it can. Case in point, Alice, one of the town locals, waxes poetic about her home town from an insider’s perspective. The ongoing mystery is whether the myriad serial killers originating from the town, the Buckaroo Butchers, are some fluke of nature or if there’s something about the town itself that turns its citizens into killers. Determined to find her own answers, and by sheer happenstance, Alice becomes entangled in a woman named Mallory’s desire to have her baby born in Buckaroo so he’ll grow up to be a serial killer and she’ll become famous as the mother of said serial killer; doing the talk show circuit and eventually starting a foundation to help others. Basically a form of Münchausen syndrome where fame is the ultimate goal through the attention of the media. It’s a strong issue to start the next arc despite the exclusion of one of the book’s main characters. Finch sits this one out, presumably because he’s arguing with the FBI over his pending murder trial, while Alice and Sheriff Shannon Crane take the center stage for good reason. Both of these women were born in Buckaroo and both have had to grow up with the stigma of living in the town and the possibility that anyone they know is a potential serial killer. In Shannon’s case, the guy she went to prom with ended up becoming the Nailbiter. Alice, however, is still struggling with how to deal with growing up in Buckaroo, thoughts made far more relevant by the issue’s end.

 

Grayson #3 – DC Comics

Written by Tom King and Tim Seeley with Art by Mikel Janin. Coming off of the phenomenal Future’s End tie-in that could have easily derailed the momentum of the new book, Grayson wastes no time getting us back into the story proper as Dick and Helena are tasked with taking down The Old Gun, a man who literally sees through the barrels of his guns, after he kills a man and steals his enhanced eyes in a desperate attempt to return his vision to normal. Dick and Helena are backed up by Agents 1 and 8 and it’s through Agent 8 that we get the inevitable conflict between the world of espionage and the world of superheroes. Dick was raised by a man who fell victim to the power of a gun, a man who spent his life attempting to bring an end to crime in Gotham without resorting to the easy route of using the very weapon that ruined his life. Dick isn’t unfamiliar with guns, but as he says to Agent 8, it’s not how he fights. For all of Agent 8’s proselytizing about how quick and easy relying on a gun can be as opposed to the credo of most superheroes and their “no kill” philosophy, Dick sees it as too simplistic of an answer when the missions they’re involved with are much more complicated. The objective may be to get the eyes, but the Old Gun brings a greater emotional weight to the situation once Dick learns the truth. It’s also an intriguing issue that delves into Dick’s own form of identity crisis. For all intents and purposes, Dick Grayson/Nightwing is dead in the eyes of the world, but within the confines of Spyral, the former superhero is now a spy, Agent 37, which comes with its own set of rules and regulations. Agent 8’s repeated botching of the Nightwing moniker as a means of getting under Dick’s skin, and reinforcing the fact that he’s a spy, not a hero, serve only to push Dick’s resolve in holding true to the teachings of his mentor and staying true to himself.

 

Spotlight On: Gotham Academy #1 – DC Comics

Yes, I know everyone’s been hyping this book as the greatest thing to come out of DC in a long time, but it’s for good reason. Writers Becky Cloonan and Brenden Fletcher and Artist Karl Kerschl bring about a new side of Gotham City through the students and faculty of one of its most prestigious schools. There’s definitely a DC Comics meets Harry Potter vibe, in a good way, as we’re introduced to second-year student Olive Silverlock and first-year student Maps Mizoguchi. Told from Olive’s point-of-view, we know that she’s technically in a relationship with Maps’ older brother Kyle, but there may already be drama involving another student. Olive has become distant and moody as a result of some unknown event that took place during the summer; something so significant that even a visiting Bruce Wayne is aware of her even if she’s not aware of him. But really what the book boils down to is an intriguing, engaging, colorful, and, most importantly, fun, start to the next wave of Bat-books. Olive and Maps, both women of color, are delightful characters to watch. For all her moping, Olive’s problems are that of the typical teenager. She doesn’t quite fit in with her classmates, but much of that is largely tied to her attitude as evidenced through her interactions with her roommate Lucy and Maps. Of course, there’s always a bully and Olive’s Draco Malfoy equivalent is Pomeline Fritch. Seriously, the names alone are a mashup between comic books and Harry Potter naming conventions. But when push comes to shove, Olive is there for the people who need her and that says more about her character than the majority of her teen angst. Maps, however, is joy on legs, which makes her the most entertaining character of the bunch. I was definitely on board when she had the one-sided conversation with Olive about the school’s Headmaster, but later when the girls are climbing the bell tower to see the supposed ghost haunting the North Hall and Maps rambles on and on about her Dungeons and Dragons/LARPing escapades as if they parallel the situation, that’s when I think I fully fell in love with the book. I’m definitely looking forward to solving the mysteries of Gotham Academy and attending classes with such new and fantastically realized characters.

So those are my picks for the week. What about you? What did you read this week and what would you recommend?

That Girl with the Curls – Episode 2 – Roc Upchurch and Tyler Jenkins

Sam and JP talk to artists Roc Upchurch (Rat Queens) and Tyler Jenkins (Peter Panzerfaust) about their respective books, the artistic process, and crying pros – women of ill repute.

Review – Rat Queens #7

If I was the meteorologist of Palisade, I’d definitely start rethinking my career options. A rainstorm is one thing, but giant tentacled elder gods? Yeah, I’m pretty sure that isn’t in the job description. Or maybe it is; this is Palisade after all. More importantly, this is Rat Queens.

After finding the missing Bernadette wandering the streets with her still scary as all hell eyes, Hannah takes her back to the Rat Queens’ home to figure out what happened to her despite the fact that she’s still a complete bitch and tried to have the Queens killed. At Casa de Rat Queens, Dee and her husband, Mezikiah, awkwardly catchup. Though he’s glad to see that she’s thriving in Palisade with her friends, there’s a measure of expectation from Kiah that Dee will figure things out and return to their religious community. Because it definitely isn’t a cult. It’s totally a cult. However, Kiah’s visit is two-fold. It seems as though their people were visited by Gerrig Lake who stole an important artifact, the Haruspex Requiem – a death mask containing all the knowledge of every high priest of Dee and Kiah’s people. His reasons for taking the mask? Revenge, of course. Revenge on Palisade and on Sawyer in particular.

The past, it seems, is creeping up on everyone in Rat Queens. Prior to reaching out a helping hand to Bernadette, Hannah and Tizzie get into a fairly heated argument that speaks to a darker past for the rockabilly mage; she’s the only one in Palisade capable of using darker magic, her parents are necromancers, and she’s still using Necrius as part of her spell-casting. We’ve already seen Hannah tap into her darker side during the battle with the trolls and Betty’s concern for how scary it was to see her so full of rage, so it’s very possible we could be seeing a heel-turn from Hannah if she goes completely to the Dark Side. Sawyer and Dee’s pasts tangentially cross paths through the involvement of Gerrig Lake, but only because Sawyer’s past as an assassin caused the death of Gerrig’s wife, the only bright spot in his life in Palisade.

Dee’s religious background, however, has become integral to the plot as all hell breaks loose. Kurtis J. Wiebe has repeatedly stated that Dee’s backstory reflects his own upbringing in a small, religious town and through Dee he explores the complicated relationship people have with religion. Dee left her home and family to find herself separate from the religious community. Kiah, in his own way, tempts her with letters from her mother, but he also points out that Dee wears the markings of their religion, which she didn’t have when she left. If Dee is so skeptical of the tenets of her people and the purpose of their religious practices, then why did she willingly take on the markings of N’Rygoth?

As a lapsed Catholic, I can say that I understand the contradictions inherent in separating yourself from religion yet still finding pieces of it to latch on to. When our lives, our families, are tied up in a specific belief system, and we break away, there’s still a part of us that remains attached. I may not go to church anymore, and I question A LOT of things about religion in general, but I still have my rosary, I remember the prayers, I have tattoos featuring crosses, and sometimes I even try to stick to things like Lent. Like it or not, my religious background isn’t something I can entirely separate myself from. Dee, as far as I know, is in a similar position, and she’s also quick to point out to Kiah that their religion is now being used to torture and maim. But Kiah counters with the fact that their gods are neutral and it’s the actions of mortals that manifests evil. In this case, evil literally manifests in the form of a tentacled creature from the abyss. We have our gods, they have theirs, but it’s nice to know that Wiebe doesn’t blame religion so much as he blames the people who corrupt and abuse it for their own purposes.

On the lighter side of things, Betty is high as fuck and it is glorious! Just that look in her eyes as she hallucinates her candy dream date is hilarious and it provides a welcome interlude in a pretty dark portion of the story, though I expect it to get darker. It’s one of the aspects of Rat Queens that I truly love. The characters and the story aren’t fighting each other. There’s equally as much time devoted to progressing the plot as there is making sure the characters react in their own way. Cracking jokes, eating candy people, it all fits regardless of the looming danger.

And because there’s no way to fit this into the flow of the review organically, just know that Lola’s fight scene is all kinds of awesome. Girl has some skills, I tell ya. Very nice, Roc Upchurch. Very nice!

Rating – 10/10

Final Thoughts: The forecast for Palisade is rain, wind, and a tentacled elder god bent on destruction. Remember to bring an umbrella.

Rat Queens and Peter Panzerfaust Coming to TV

It’s probably no surprise to anyone that I’m slightly obsessed with Rat Queens, the breakout comic from writer Kurtis J. Wiebe and artist Roc Upchurch. I mean, it’s not like I’ve reviewed every issue or interviewed the creative team as well as Wiebe’s other collaborative partner, Tyler Jenkins, the artist for Peter Panzerfaust. Oh wait, I totally did.

Anyway, I’m not alone in my love of the kickass, foul-mouthed, all female quest group operating out of the much beleaguered city of Palisade. Wiebe and Upchurch have crafted a fantasy world with a modern attitude that has drawn in plenty of fans, male and female, to form their own community of social clubs, burlesque shows, cosplay, fan art, and online hangouts. And it seems that the popularity of the book will now extend into television.

Announced by Variety back in June, Rat Queens will be adapted into a 30-minute animated show by Weta Workshop’s Pukeko Pictures and Heavy Metal under the purview of executive producers Martin Baynton and Adam Fratto from Pukeko and Heavy Metal’s co-CEO Jeff Krelitz. Heavy Metal is also producing the television adaptation of Peter Panzerfaust for BBC Worldwide, adding to the wide variety of properties and mediums they’ve expanded to since the magazine that supplies the company name was bought from previous owner, Kevin Eastman – co-creator of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book.

As a producer, Krelitz is eager to bring the exploits of Hannah, Dee, Violet, and Betty to the small screen, saying:

Rat Queens is a standout in the marketplace as a diving rod for fangirls, a market as yet untouched by most comics publishers. It is not only perfect for the TV space, but much needed.

Krelitz isn’t wrong in his assessment of the television landscape when it comes to courting female viewers. While the “fairer sex” as an audience will watch everything their male counterparts do, Rat Queens presents an untapped well in animation with four female protagonists who don’t conform to gender stereotypes. They’re awesome characters who happen to be women and their sex is never called into question by their male peers. If anything, the Rat Queens can out drink, out curse, and out fight most of the men they interact with or face off against. It’s a chance for a more mature audience to see that being a girl is by no means detrimental to your ability to stab out a troll’s eyes.

I took the liberty of reaching out to Kurtis J. Wiebe and Roc Upchurch to get thoughts on this next step in the journey that is the Rat Queens phenomenon.

Wiebe: It’s exciting to have interest from the TV world on both of my projects. It’s the sort of thing you don’t ever expect to happen, and when it does it’s pretty surreal. It can be a slow process, as I’ve come to learn from the Peter Panzerfaust option, which is fine by me because my focus is, and always has been, the comics.

Upchurch: I can’t wait to see Rat Queens animated. I think this will be a great platform for it. And it’s in good hands with WETA and Heavy Metal. They won’t fuck it up.

I completely agree with Upchurch’s excitement for Rat Queens to be animated. The fantasy genre is where a property like Rat Queens thrives in animation rather than live action where the special effects can range from passable to Syfy channel, low-budget, green screen fiascos. In animation, the possibilities are similar to the comics from which they originate, limitless. I only hope the adaptation sticks to Upchurch’s art style. It’s a distinct universe with equally distinct characters. The Rat Queens are a diverse group in terms of races, religions, and sexual orientation, so I hope Pukeko and Heavy Metal stay true to what Wiebe and Upchurch have created.

Peter Panzerfaust will also need a deft hand to bring it to television. Unlike Rat Queens, Peter Panzerfaust is made for live action. And considering the track record with mini series and television shows produced by the BBC with an historical slant, adapting a book that meshes J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan with WWII sounds like a daunting, yet ultimately rewarding task. Luckily, the production already has some excellent writers on board.

For the time being, both properties are in the pre-production phase. Scripts are being written and Heavy Metal plans to produce a pilot to shop around. Fingers crossed that a network takes advantage of a growing market of female-driven properties and the fans that follow them. In the mean time, please enjoy this motion comic trailer for Peter Panzerfaust that was produced back in 2013.

 

 

Review – Rat Queens #4

This article was originally posted at Word of the Nerd on January 16th.

You know how in most books the plot starts some sort of mystery or a problem to solve that tends to become the ongoing, if not the overarching, narrative? Yeah, not so much with Rat Queens. Like most D&D campaigns, it’s about moving from mission to fight, mission to fight, fight to fight. Roll for initiative, you get the idea. So you know how the Queens, along with the other questing groups of Palisade, were attacked by an assassin while en route to weed out some cave trolls and barely escaped with their lives? Turns out it was Old Lady Bernadette the whole time. Go figure. Seems she didn’t take too kindly to the favorable treatment Sawyer was giving to the Queens, who were pretty much becoming a nuisance on a regular basis, so she hired some assassins to take care of the problem herself. While I applaud the initiative…man, Old Lady Bernadette is such a bitch! Guh!

It seems, though, that Bernadette’s plans to get rid of the questing groups have brought on a troll hoard set on wrecking up Palisade because the Rat Queens killed the leader’s boyfriend. Interestingly enough, the troll actually killed the assassin hired by Bernadette, but then the Queens had to kill him because, well he was a troll and he was attacking them and – ya know let’s just say the situation is complicated and move on. Oh, and the only reason the lead troll knew the Queens killed her boyfriend was because of Gary, a Palisade soldier, going on about how the Rat Queens totally killed her troll-man and were drinking in celebration of his death. Way to be, Gary. Way to be. Anyway, the Queens, at Violet’s insistence and with some help from Braga – formerly of the Peaches – decide to fight off the trolls since they’re kinda-sorta responsible for the attack in a very roundabout way.

And what a glorious battle it is! Not only does Kurtis J. Wiebe create some choice one-liners, but Roc Upchurch’s art brings the pain and the awesome! Once again, Violet and Betty shine, but Hannah and Dee hold their own as well. Violet is all about kicking ass as she puts her dwarven fighting skills to good use while Betty acts as Braga’s literal back-up, firing her arrows as Braga tears through the trolls. The energy of Upchurch’s art is phenomenal. Every page brings something new to the characters and Sawyer gets a fantastic fight sequence in the beginning of the issue. There’s a reason why he’s Captain of the Guard. In the midst of battle, he makes you feel like you’re in the middle of the fight with the Queens, keeping the blood flowing as the ladies defend Palisade.

I think what I love most about Rat Queens is the books unrelenting action as well as it’s sense of humor. I don’t often laugh out loud when I’m reading comics, but Wiebe always has at least one line that breaks my composure. Which is what a good comic book should do. Comics are entertainment, escapism, and Rat Queens is the embodiment of both aspects. This is a book that wants you to enjoy yourself and I enjoy it more and more with each issue.

Rating – 10/10

Final Thoughts: There’s a +5 on attack rolls against dudes named Gary…go find someone named Gary! He probably had it coming anyway.

Review – Rat Queens #3

This was previously posted at Word of the Nerd on November 28th.

If you want to kill the Rat Queens, you’d better be sure to get it right the first time otherwise there’s no stopping them from uncovering your fiendish plot. Like any good quest, even an insular one, there’s a process of discovery. What starts as something as simple as killing a bunch of trolls quickly turns into a secondary quest to find out why the trolls were there in the first place, leading the adventuring party further and further down the rabbit hole until the true plot comes to light. Rat Queens #3 manages to solve the mystery but does so in a way that is organic and true to its cast of kickass female characters.

Imprisoned, albeit briefly, for impersonating Sawyer in an attempt to implicate Mayor Kane in the murders of several adventuring parties in Palisade, Hannah and the real Sawyer spend some time comparing notes on the subject. While Hannah is ready to put all the blame on Kane, Sawyer did some digging of his own and reports that the Merchant’s Guild was responsible for purchasing the quests that got the other parties killed and nearly killed the Rat Queens. With this new information, the Queens send Betty and Dee to get a read on the leader of the Merchant’s Guild, Mr. Lake, but Betty finds, in a very Sherlockian way, that while the man himself may not be behind the purchase of the quests meant to kill them, he might have some information worth stealing that could shed more light on the mystery. Breaking into Lake’s office, Betty finds a number of scrolls, one of which is a loan from Old Lady Bernadette for damages caused by the Queens. Resolved to make right an apologize to the woman they’ve treated poorly in the course of their drunken evenings of revelry and brawling, Betty discovers that there’s more to Old Lady Bernadette than the Queens thought. For one thing, she’s only thirty-nine!

Filling in the spaces in between the main story, though it’s hardly filler, Kurtis J. Wiebe devotes a lot of this issue to fleshing out the personal lives of the Queens. Hannah and Sawyer’s talk while she’s imprisoned is an opportunity to ground Hannah a bit more, humanizing her through the obviously failed relationship with Sawyer and the complications that come with working around someone she obviously cared about and who obviously cared, and still cares, about her. Sawyer plainly states that Hannah’s presence in Palisade keeps it from being paradise, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. Betty tries to rekindle the love connection she had just prior to the beginning of the book, bringing flowers and an apology to the girl who Hannah punched over a joke taken too far. Unfortunately, Betty’s former lover is just that. She’s unwilling to take Betty back because of the friends she associates with, specifically Hannah, but leaves the door open should Betty decide to leave her friends behind. Violet, during a vigorous training session, gets a visit from her twin brother, Barrie Blackforge, who believes it’s time she ended her little journey of self-discovery. Violet responds appropriately by sending him home with his broken sword between his legs. Also, apparently Violet had a beard. All of this continues to be rendered beautifully by Roc Upchurch’s art. Wiebe and Upchurch seem to feed off each other with Wiebe’s humor and excellent storytelling fueling the hilarious and heart-breaking situations of all four Queens.

The only one with very little character development is Dee, which is a shame because all of the moments I previously described served to highlight the complicated lives of our heroines. This is hardly your garden variety fantasy story. The characters function as real people and Wiebe does a remarkable job of highlighting their unique personalities while simultaneously uniting them through a shared sense of wit and humor. Hopefully Dee will get some more backstory, but we are treated to a nice blurb about her former life as an elder god’s acolyte. The thoroughfare in the narrative is that the Queens are a team and, more importantly, friends. They’re willing to stick together even if it costs them severed relationships with friends, family, and lovers. Unfortunately, their friendship might have caused something a bit more high stakes to occur as well.

Final Thoughts: Old Lady Bernadette is such a B. I mean, really. You have no idea.