Comic Review: Rat Queens #3

A bit of a departure from writer Kurtis Wiebe’s usually somewhat more serious work, Rat Queens is a fantasy-comedy by Wiebe and co-creator/artist Roc Upchurch. The titular Rat Queens are an all-female group of adventurers that keep the town of Palisade safe from all kinds of monsters, goblins, bandits, and assorted beasties. But, the raging parties and barroom brawls started by the Rat Queens have done more damage than all the monsters ever did. After a simple quest goes wrong, the Rat Queens are in a spot of trouble and scrambling to figure out who’s behind it.

As the Rat Queens look deeper into who is trying to kill them, Betty breaks into the bank office. Amidst the secrecy and breaking-and-entering, the Rat Queens must deal with some personal matters involving unrequited love, distant families, and more. It’s tough being a Rat Queen.

Kurtis Wiebe injects this issue with some serious humor, but also some serious seriousness. While Betty proudly becomes scarier than a squirrel, she must also deal with being spurned by the object of her affection for reasons she doesn’t understand. Violet must deal with her past. Hannah has things left unspoken. And there just might be someone trying to kill them all. Wiebe is able to mix the humorous and the serious together with an expert touch, all while seeding new and interesting plot points and history into the story.

Roc Upchurch’s art continues to be fantastic. The motion and energy conveyed during the scenes where the Queens are fighting or training is wonderfu. Each of the four Rat Queens is a badass in their own way, and Upchurch makes sure that the reader knows it. Upchurch adds an incredible amount of expression and personality to the characters with the way he draws their facial expressions and body language. When Betty tries to be intimidating, it’s Upchurch’s art and expressions that really sells it.

Rat Queens continues to be a stellar title. This issue is really where things start to come together, with the present storyline reaching a head and several aspects of the various characters’ pasts coming into play. Fans of the series will definitely not want to miss this issue.

Related posts: