Rat Queens #3 – Review


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Someone wants to kill the Rat Queens — and after dodging swords and rampaging trolls for the last two issues, the girls take a break from fighting so they can try and get to the bottom of this series’ inaugural mystery. And once again, Rat Queens is a delight to read.

Here’s the official word from Image:

One tablespoon of cayenne peppers, 2 ounces of 100 proof vodka, and 3 ounces of tomato juice makes one fantastic Bloody Murder. So does double-crossing the Rat Queens and foolishly thinking you can get away with it. Drink up!

Somebody, please, give Kurtis J. Wiebe a high-five. Only three issues into this new series and he’s Screen shot 2013-11-26 at 9.35.48 PMalready created a nuanced, funny, and action-packed world where mythical girls (with a penchant for drug use, violence, and just a touch of promiscuity) have the heft and credibility of fully established characters. It’s true: Rat Queens already feels like it’s been around forever, even though we’ve just met them. That said, Wiebe still takes the time to slow things down with issue #3, letting the gory action of the first two issues recede so he can amp up the characterization of our new protagonists. Readers get a deeper sense of what the girls have lost, and what they hope to gain in both love and life. Overall, the balance of front and back story is just superb.

Roc Upchurch’s art is a wonderful compliment to this title. The girls are real, and not hyper-sexualized at all. His pages are masterfully rendered and the girls actually act — meaning that even without dialogue, we can read mood and feeling just from posture and facial expressions.

If you haven’t fallen in love with the Rat Queens yet, just pick the book up and start reading. You will.

5/5

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