Today, Scott and Shelby are discussing Rat Queens 4, originally released January 15th, 2014.
Scott: Rat Queens is a perfect title for a comic, or for anything really. It’s an awesome dichotomy, one word evoking such filth, the other such poise. It’s repulsive yet powerful. Grotesque yet graceful. It’s also an incredibly apt descriptor for the series’ four main characters. They’re pretty unconventional, even by the standards of female mercenary squads. They’ll go do mushrooms in the woods one day, then unravel a complex murder plot the next. And I appreciate that they’re “Rat Queens” and not “The Rat Queens.” It’s not a title for their team, it’s just who they are. Rat Queens. This is a young series, and writer Kutis J. Wiebe has done an impressive job of building characters who live up to the title.
The issue opens in the middle of the night in Palisade. Betty and Sawyer take out the assassin Old Lady Bernadette hired to kill the Rat Queens. Before they can deal with Bernadette, the city falls under attack by a giant lady troll, who also wants to kill the Rat Queens. Apparently, the troll the Queens killed back in issue 2 was her boyfriend, and now she and her army of orcs are going to destroy Palisade unless the Queens hand themselves over. The Rat Queens, along with Braga, willingly join the fight and begin kicking serious orc-ass. Unfortunately, they’re vastly outnumbered and it looks like the giant lady troll may take the city anyway. Until, that is, the Rat Queens get reinforcements in the form of the Four Daves- Palisade’s other remaining mercenary team.
Through its first three issues, Rat Queens adeptly blended humor and violence with real character moments. As Wiebe readily admits in the letters section, this issues forgoes the serious stuff in favor of more jokes and killing. He gets away with it, as he’s already imbued each of the four Rat Queens with such unique characteristics that their personalities shine through even without any new revelations. The page space devoted to supporting characters like Sawyer, Braga, and Bernadette also helps keep this issue feeling fresh. Overall, it’s a little thin on story compared to the first three issues, but there is one moment that I suspect/hope will have some significance down the line: Betty and Sawyer’s exchange of secrets.
The lack of character moments gives Roc Upchurch’s art a chance to take center stage throughout much of the issue. I love the detail he puts into his character designs; each character has not only a different look, but a different body type, clothing style, and posture. The art contributes to each character’s sense of individuality, and also makes the cast seem more varied and realistic. It’s refreshing to see so many females characters who aren’t merely eye-candy and stereotypes. While the Rat Queens are all traditionally attractive, they don’t look like goddesses. And Upchurch’s creature designs are just so much fun, like the lady troll who may or may not be modeled after that Honey Boo Boo mom.
The one thing I don’t like about Upchurch’s art is the way he shows depth of field. He often uses an effect akin to looking through a telephoto lens, where one plane is in focus and everything in the foreground and background is blurry. I don’t dislike the idea- it can make the art seem more cinematic, if you’re into that- but in this case the art is flat enough that the characters left in focus look like cardboard cutouts in front of blurry backdrops. It’s just like when they 3D-ize movies that weren’t shot in 3D. It doesn’t feel quite right.
Upchurch doesn’t use this effect all the time. Really, there are only a few panels where it stood out to me. Maybe he’s committed to the effect too much to abandon it at this point, but I hope not.
Shelby, how do you feel about Rat Queens? I’m completely on board with the series but I did miss the character moments this time around. Not that I don’t appreciate some good orc-smashing, I’ve just enjoyed the more personal stuff even more. Oh, and those Four Daves are pretty hunky. Do you have a favorite? Personally, I’d have to go with Dave
Shelby: You’d seriously pick Dave, over Dave? Gross, Scott.
But seriously, I am also completely on board with this title. Wiebe has basically taken the old, terrible barbarian comic of yore which were little more than soft-core porn, and made the barbarians well-rounded characters who happen to also be women. They’re crass, crude, probably alcoholics, and tougher than nails. Obviously, I love them. While this issue was more flash-in-the-pan action than we’ve seen so far from this title, I think Wiebe has built up these gals enough to give us that giant fight scene we were all longing for. I love that Wiebe has applied the same irreverence we see in the Queens and applied it to the plot of the book. This first arc has been all about the Mystery of the Ninja-like Assassin. Was it the Merchant’s Guild? A conspiracy that goes all the way to the mayor? Nope! Just a disgruntled citizen, tired of the roaming gangs of mercenaries. It’s such a dismissive answer it’s almost silly, and it fits perfectly with the tone of the title.
As fun and ridiculously over the top as this title is, I really feel for the Rat Queens. They’re all just trying to find their way and be who they want to be. Violet shaves her beard (dwarves, am I right?) and drinks only wine because she doesn’t want tradition to dictate who she is. Hannah strikes me as a trust fund baby who wants to live life from under her parents’ elvish necromancy thumbs. Dee was a religious figure, until she decided the religion was stupid. All these women have rebelled against what they were supposed to be and do and decided to strike out on their own. Except Betty: from what I can tell, smidgens lead such a wild existence there’s really nothing to rebel against. But she’s out there with the rest of the Queens, trying to figure out the path she wants to take just the same. I love the way this little journey to find oneself is sneaked into this book about women who fight and drink and swear and fuck. I’m only just now beginning to feel like I’ve figured out who I want to be, and in this book I see characters trying to figure that out just like I did. Sadly, my journey of self-awareness had far fewer orcs.
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Retcon Punch 
I can’t shake the feeling that this series is just someone’s sorta ribald D&D game committed to comic book form. There’s nothing that seems particularly well-crafted here, and even the weakest jokes are called back over and over again. “Unicorn doo” and “N’Rygoth’s ballsack” both resemble jokes, I find them both more embarrassing than funny. That’s how the whole series feels to me – so much of the reality is sacrificed in the name of a “hey, that thing’s sort of an iPhone” joke (which then isn’t funny because I don’t have a handle on what the reality is).
Aw man, I’m sorry you feel that way Patrick. I ended up blazing through all four issues last night when I should have been sleeping cause I liked them so much. I can imagine Wiebe coming up with these characters in a D&D game (looking through the letters page certainly confirms that he’s played a lifetime’s worth), but I still find them entertaining and even deep to an extent. This is certainly an irreverent book that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but I’m down with that. That is a problem with books that rely on a lot of humor, though — they’re even more subjective than other genres.
Yeah, I’m all for irreverence – but there’s something about the way the world seems to adhere to a strict set of rules, but the characters don’t that makes all of it seem emotionally dishonest to me. Like, it’s obvious that there’s a Questing system in place, and the character’s abilities all fall into pretty standing fantasy tropes (and even more specifically, into fantasy game tropes) – fuck, there’s even a moment when one character asks another if they “have enough” to perform a certain kind of spell. So like, Wiebe is thinking of these characters in terms of Magic Points and Weapon Proficiencies and shit like that.
And then the assassin calls them “dicks” as Sawyer slices his hands off. That doesn’t adhere to any rules of how human beings act – especially a human being that’s seconds away from having his head cut off. It just betrays a focus on the wrong character details.
All the more power to you if you had a good time with it, but I just can’t buy into their world or their humor.
This comic definitely treads a very, very thin line. Its balance is delicate, and it leans precariously towards, “Embarrassing D&D game that you wish the guy at the comic store would stop telling me about.” However, it also has tremendous ballast over on the, “Hilarious fantasy romp with 4 crazy adventurers” side as well.
I did think issue 4 was the weakest, but I did have to spend some time pondering whether it was because it wasn’t as interesting or if this book is a one trick pony. I’m leaning towards the former – I like these characters. I think most of the writing is clever and I want to read more about them, which I guess really is key.
But the vulgarity for the sake of vulgarity and thinking THAT is the joke is wearing a little thin. But Betty is cool. The entire ‘detective’ scene with her was awesome. I’m still having fun, but recognize the faults.