The Column in
which Jake tells you to pick up a comic, all you need to know in order
to catch-up, and why you should be doing just that. All comics detailed
can and should be purchased from your local comics retailer or Comixology
Rat Queens: Putting the Sexy Back in Wholesale
Slaughter
This ain’t your Grandma’s fantasy comic.
Whoever is off-screen is about to have a very bad day.
First off, if your Grandma read fantasy comics,
congratulations: your Grandma is awesome.
All mine ever did was force-feed me prunes and tell me how much better
the vaguely-racist old days were (ilu, Gam-Gam). My prune-deluged childhood aside, Rat Queens
is an ongoing fantasy comic published by Image Comics, written by Kurtis J.
Wiebe and drawn by Roc Upchurch. It
details the exploits and misadventures of the titular group: Hannah, the
rockabilly elf mage who has absolutely zero time for your bullshit and heaven
help you if you mess with her friends;
Violet, the hipster dwarven fighter, head honcho of battle cries and
empress of Fuckingyourshituptopia; Dee, the atheist cleric, a runaway from a
cult of Lovecraftian persuasion and easily the heart of the series; And Betty,
the smidgen (so as not to piss of the ghost of Tolkien) thief, who just came
out to have a good time and is honestly feeling so elated due to a strict diet
of candy and drugs. Your heroines, fair
readers.
Going to a bar in Palisade brings
a 70% increase of the chance of getting your shit pushed in.
I’m being fairly vulgar (sorry, Gam-Gam). But that’s because this comic is vulgar, in
the best way. The characters swear, fight,
fornicate, and abuse substances like its their goddamn job, and they’re the
goddamn CEO of the goddamn company, a company that’s at the goddamn top of the
goddamn Fortune 500 of being goddamn awesome.
This is a FantasyFiction podcast story come to life. It also takes a tongue-in-cheek approach to
the fantasy genre, dropping Dungeons and Dragons jokes and references every so
often. But what makes this comic so
compelling is how real every one of the characters feel. Each girl feels like someone you know (or, if
you aren’t so lucky, wish you knew).
They’ve all got their flaws and the emotion is so raw it’s broadcast
live on Monday nights on whatever channel USA is. None of the characters, not even those on the
side, are one-note. Except Gary (FUCK YOU,
GARY!)
Fucking Gary…
This is the part where I’m supposed to tell you
what’s happened so far, but the great thing about this series is that it’s only
on its seventh issue. Which means the
entire run so far is collected in a single trade plus two singles issues. Easily grabbable from wherever comics are
sold. I’m not going to go into great
detail about it, but basic rapid-fire summation: assassins, conspiracy, blood,
romance, fighting, drugs, battle, death, debauchery, emotional climax, plot
climax, actual climax, hangovers, mistakes, trolls, backstory, adventure. If that string of nigh-nonsensical words
doesn’t evoke a reaction in your undergarments, alert a doctor
immediately.
This series has humor:
This series has heart:
It has action:
It has amazing one-liners:
It’s goddamn perfect.
Put on those puppy-dog eyes, kiss your grandma on
her wrinkly cheek,, and ask her for $10 whole dollars so you can buy this
book. If she starts with the “Back in my
day” spiel or hands you a bowl of prunes, just smile and weather it. It’s absolutely worth it.
Labels: Comic Books, Comics, Comixology, Image, In Case You Missed It, Rat Queens