Rat Queens #5

By Kurtis J. Wiebe & Roc Upchurch

It’s that time again! Another installment in my personal favorite series, Rat Queens, is out this week and this was a damn fun issue. Okay, so they’ve all been fun, but there’s clearly no sign of slowing down any time soon. This is such a fantastic series in every way and issue #5 was another action-packed barrel of laughs.

Kurtis Wiebe has succeeded in crafting one of the most thoroughly enjoyable character-driven tales available, and Rat Queens #5 hits all the right notes again. Picking up from last month, there was still a seriously pissed off horde of Orcs and trolls attacking our beloved protagonists. The latest installment keeps the action going hard with a huge battle that was just epic in proportion! Hannah especially lets loose this time around and it’s spectacular to behold! The rest of the book consists of the awesomely hilarious after party hosted by the ladies. Again, Wiebe demonstrates he is a master of dialogue as everything feels completely natural and the jokes remain consistently hilarious. There was some very intriguing character development slipped into this part of Rat Queens #5, but overall it was just a damn fun read that brought a nice close to the first story arc.

What more can be said about Roc Upchurch? His artwork in this series is phenomenal. The character designs are fantastic and interesting while the facial expressions are spot on and really enhance the emotions of each scene, and the action…dear gods, the action! Upchurch has excelled at carrying the portions of Rat Queens that are lighter on dialogue with his amazing fight scenes. The layouts and the overall flow from one panel to the next are really incredible and make every piece of action feel like a cohesive unit across multiple pages. Like the dialogue, the fight scenes feel natural while the creativity is still top notch. Again, Hannah’s contribution in particular looks particularly amazing this month. With the beautiful colors and attention to detail, even the lighter-paced party scene looks terrific.

Alright, I think we all know by now that Rat Queens is a perfect comic book. Month after month, this relatively new series has blown us away with its exciting story, lovable characters, and hilarious jokes. Both Wiebe and Upchurch definitely executed every aspect of issue #5 with perfection. Swords and sorcery, drugs and comedy, this one has it all! The hints of backstory we’ve started to get on the Rat Queens themselves have been quite interesting, and the brief glimpse in this issue was particularly intriguing. After all of the excitement and laughter, the book still manages to close with a mysterious hook for the next arc. If you’re still not reading this series, what the heck are you waiting for?!