Review: Rat Queens #9

Rat Queens #9: The Far Reaching Tentacles of N'Rygoth - Part 4
Rat Queens #9: The Far Reaching Tentacles of N'Rygoth - Part 4
Did someone say tentacles?

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.

Rat Queens #9: The Far Reaching Tentacles of N'Rygoth - Part 4
Oh Brad. Maybe you should have a word with Gary.

 

Rat Queens #9: The Far Reaching Tentacles of N'Rygoth - Part 4
The end of the world as we know it.

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:

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Wendy Browne

Wendy Browne

Publisher, mother, geek, executive assistant sith, gamer, writer, lazy succubus, blogger, bibliophile. Not necessarily in that order.

4 thoughts on “Review: Rat Queens #9

  1. Aah, I really want to read this! I first found Stjepan Sejic thanks to his own webcomic, Sunstone. Then I found out he did Witchblade, which I was interested in getting into. Now this? He’s quickly becoming my comic artist idol. <3

    Now I have to see where I can find the series here in the UK…

    1. My comic store just informed me that the second volume of Ravine, his creator-owned project, is out in a few weeks. I’m very excited. You should check out his art on Deviant Art.

      1. I do watch him, actually – both his accounts. I was really confused when you started tweeting Rat Queens stuff because I assumed it was from his account! XD I still need to get Sunstone as some point, but it’s not something you can put on your Gift Wishlist, if you catch my drift… I also want to get into Death Vigil but I can’t find the damn volumes! And there’s no good local comic store here. Even Forbidden Planet just sells chapters as preorders and then doesn’t give you an option to buy them once they’re out. :/ Laaaaaaame! How am I supposed to finally descend into comic-decadence?!

        Do you happen to have a recommendation on where someone looking to get into Witchblade should start? I want to get into it, but it’s been out for years, so the selection is a bit daunting. I do want to get into one of Sejic’s series of it, at least.

        1. I read Witchblade from the beginning and probably stopped around issue 30 or so. I have been wanting to get back into it now, but I don’t know where to start either. If anything, I’d probably grab the collected volumes by Ron Marz and Sejic.

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