Week 12 (yes, I did it!)

I read Rat Queens, and I thought that it was so awesome, that I looked up the other issues and read those too! I absolutely adore the whole medieval-fantasy setting, it’s a guilty pleasure to me, and I’m all about epic adventures, magical warfare, and fantasy violence, that stuff is super cool! 

The story follows the happenings of an elven mage, a cleric, a dorky dwarven chick, and a tiny weirdo who likes thievery and candy. The characters have so much appeal to me, because their personalities and dynamics with each other are very rich and organic. They don’t feel like the typical heroic, good guy-vigilantes that the townsfolk look up to; instead, they are given evident flaws and are shown making mistakes like any normal person would. We can’t relate to fantasy characters in some fantastical universe, but we can relate to what these characters experience as they go through conflicts. 

There was also a good balance of seriousness and comedy relief. All of the seriousness seemed to be centered more around Hannah and Dee, but all of the funny moments happened between small adventures that Betty and Violet would go on (that one part where they go sledding and meet a friendly, candy-hoarding dragon was so adorable). Although all of these characters are unique in their own way, they synergize well when they all come together, and make a badass, monster-slaying team. 

Also, of course I have to mention the art style. I looked it up, and it turns out the first volume was illustrated by three different artists, then the second volume (2017) had a different artist. Regardless of whoever drew the thing, the illustrations were absolutely gorgeous regardless. Everything was colorful and had very establishing backgrounds to give a great sense of the fantasy world that the story takes place in. It was dynamic and colorful, and the effects for the magic particles looked so nice. The style reminded me of the Team Fortress 2 comics before the artist changed, it’s probably the thick lines and saturated color (this is referring to the first volume of Rat Queens). 

Below I have examples of how the style changed over time (psst, the last one is my favorite!)