As long days stretch on between scheduled D&D sessions I find myself wishing that there was a way to carry that unique mixture of belly laughter and heartfelt emotion around with me in an easy-to-consume format.
Enter Rat Queens!
Written by Kurtis J. Wiebe, lettered by Ed Brisson, and drawn by Roc Upchurch (until #8), and Tess Fowler, Stjepan Šejić, and Tamra Bonvillain (until #18), the comic series follows the (mis)adventures of the 4 members of The Rat Queens, a band of sometimes adventurers, mostly tavern brawlers:
Hannah, a mage of questionable parentage with a disdain for the world and everyone in it.
Violet, a dwarven fighter who has shaved off her beard and drinks wine instead of ale to make a point.
Dee, a reformed cultist of the ancient, tentacled god N’Rygoth with healing magic and a lot of big questions.
Betty, a smidgen with stabby knives, a big heart, and a lot of drugs to sell you.
When the series opens the Rat Queens are being threatened with exile from the town of Palisade after one too many block-leveling bar fights. As they attempt to save themselves and then save Palisade, they are quickly drawn into battles with monsters, cults, gods, psychedelic toads, and of course, each other.
If you’ve ever wondered just how petty mages are in University, or how a dragon feels about having his dick tickled, this is the comic for you!
Rat Queens was nominated for an Eisner in 2014 and won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book in 2015. Get ready for some delightfully nuanced representations of queer relationships and trans characters in this one! The Queens are portrayed, through both script and artwork, as complex, interesting, and unique women. They are most certainly sexual beings but are never sexually objectified. Their relationships with each other, and with the other characters in the series (I can’t help but think of them as NPCs) are where these books really shine in my mind.
After issue #18 the series went on hiatus for 8 months, and then returned with a soft reboot, with lettering by Ryan Ferrier, and Owen Gieni on art and colours. Most of the plot continues across the reboot, but you’ll find a few retcons. Wiebe impressively used this reboot to take the complexity of the story to a whole new level, and it’s worth re-reading the whole series to catch the call-backs and important details he pulls from the early issues.
Each artist brings their own flavour to the distinctive looks of the Queens, but the common thread throughout is thoughtful attention to expression and posing that provides a wealth of detail and distinction to the characters.
Full of references to RPGs and geeky culture, every page offers comedy and drama in equal measures. Rat Queens is a story about sex, drugs, adventure, and the ways we hurt the ones we love the most.
There are 5 volumes of Rat Queens available for you to enjoy right now, and I hope once you’ve devoured those you’ll join me in eagerly anticipating the release of Volume 6 in April 2019.
To the slaughter, my Queens!