Kurtis J. Wiebe and Roc Upchurch have formed a unique partnership in the madness that is RAT QUEENS #4. With the first six panels foreshadowing a literal crap storm for our anti-heroines, the issue maintains a decent plot pace while remaining well seasoned with all the banter we’ve come to expect of the series.
Wiebe continues building the world of Palisade and its surrounding areas by filling it with characters that all seem to be educated at the Polytechnic School of Snark. Practically everybody has some witticism at the ready and I love it. RAT QUEENS may be a fantasy series, but it is so far, delivering the comedy in spades. Mark you, the often foul-mouthed oral antics of Palisades’ populace isn’t for everybody, but then they should be reading something else, no?
Slaughter really gets Betty’s motor going.
Anyway, Upchurch’s lively paints bring some extra punch to the table and it is a treat to behold, without getting bogged down with a glot of unnecessary detail. It would feel like overkill for such a violently over the top romp of this ilk. That leads us back to story: Betty has discovered who’s behind the bounty hunter assassinations. Things get grim, but Betty being the horny little smidgen she is, works in a little stabby flirtation with Sawyer.
Is it just me, or do you hear the Tom & Jerry ‘tiptoe music’ playing?
A little later in the show, there’s a teensy bit of bloodletting and again, Betty finds her miniscule self in the center of it, riding reverse piggy back. On the back of a seriously ticked off orc half-breed, laying waste to an army of orcs with a half baked excuse for vengeance against them. I was having a whale of a time. Seriously, I had to duck an axe swing, it was so much fun. RAT QUEENS #4 came, saw and conquered.
I am hoping that with this episode focusing on Betty, that Dee is up next. Fingers crossed.