Rat Queens #9: The Far Reaching Tentacles of N’Rygoth – Part 4
Kurtis J. Wiebe (W), Stjepan Sejic (A), Jenny Frison (C)
Image Comics
March 4, 2015
After the news of former Rat Queens artist Roc Upchurch’s domestic abuse charges, fans were concerned about the future of the beloved series. Never fear, Stjepan Sejic has stepped in and stepped up with all the glitter and gore, snark and circumstances that the Rat Queens and their companions deserve. I already knew his art from Witchblade and his own series, Ravine, and I love his sense of humour, so I had no doubt that he could capture all the nuances that make Rat Queens so good, as well as the diversity of the characters that has made this series so visually appealing.
When last we left the Rat Queens, we got a peek into Violet’s past, including that awesome beard I’d been dying to see. This time, it’s elven necromancer Hannah’s turn, although Hannah doesn’t fall quite so easily for the reality distorting tentacles of N’Rygoth. Especially when her on again off again beau, Sawyer, is in desperate need of rescuing. When you toss in the added pressure of the world possibly coming to an end, Hannah is going to have to fight harder than ever to pull everyone together for an epic assault on the keep. But is it enough?
The last issue slowed things down a bit with Violet’s backstory, but issue nine balances out the insight into Hannah (as well as a few moments into Orc Dave’s worst nightmare — oh my goodness how can you not love Orc Dave?) with lots of spell flinging, head chopping violence. And most importantly, Violet gets to have her precious battle cry moment, and Betty gets her slashy-slashy on.
It’s hard to believe that this is only issue nine. Kurtis Wiebe has pulled me in so completely with characters, and a plot, that have been solidly fleshed out from the first issue. I cannot recommend this series enough. In fact, the moment I finished reading volume one, I hopped online to buy copies for my friends, and if I had the money, I’d buy copies for you too, because everyone needs to be reading Rat Queens.
This is still very much based on roleplaying games, so, while the Rat Queens do tend to break the mold when it comes to standard RPG expectations, issue #9 makes it clear that an epic boss battle is nigh. Though, as with the first story arc, I don’t expect Wiebe to tie up all the loose tentacles completely, even if the (sort of) good guys do manage to scrape out a win. Not that it matters. I’m with Rat Queens for the long haul. And you should be too.
And now for some Rat Queens Twitter Appreciation:
