Today is one of those extra-special wonderful Wednesdays – it’s a Guest Review Wednsday! And today we have a brand new Guest Reviewer, Faps! I’d like you all to welcome her warmly and comment appricatively for our new GR! The stage is yours, Faps!

Good old Rat Queens! Where else are you going to find dynamite dames drinking, drugging, doing the do, and destroying dragons? It’s what I always wanted my dungeons and dragons games to be! Not only is their crew diverse in roles, and mythical races, but in their distinct backgrounds and personalities. The include the surly warlock Hannnah, the hyperactive thief Betty, the introverted healer Dee, and the hipster swords-woman Violet. The series has started out strong. It was nominated for a couple big time awards and managed to bag a GLAAD media award. This little baby is even slated for it’s own animation.

But does it really deserve all the praise? Well the art delivers whether we’re talking about Roc Upchurch or Stjepan Sejic. For me, it’s refreshing to see women drinking, fighting, and fucking without the finger-wagging but rather it’s shown as just rowdy fun. If you’re squeamish about violence be warned! These ladies paint the town red quite literally. If you can handle assassins being smeared into a gory pulp, you’re going to find a lot of fist-pumping action but the ladies don’t come out unscathed for it.

However, there is a bit more intelligence to this story than ‘punch the baddie and celebrate with drunken fucking.’ The main plot for the first volume the ladies have to put their heads together to find out who’s been ordering hits on themselves and their fellow mercenaries by using magic, diplomacy, and a keen eye. Though not every attempt is successful.

While the story has a pretty good sense of humor, I feel as if the dialog tries too hard to be witty but usually comes off as annoying, cheesy, too referential, overly cutesy, or just downright bad. Though even with my groaning over lines like, “Worst. Assassin. Ever!”, “I’ll charm him with…uh…blood-loss…hampering wit,” and “Rat Queens put the sexy back in large wholesale slaughter!” I can’t really fault it too much because it’s in line with the fun. The friendships between the leading ladies involve some sass and arguments but deep down they’re fiercely loyal to each other. It’s very much the, “No one calls my friends cunts but me” kind of playful mentality. The characters are pretty enjoyable for the most part but I’ll confess Hannah is a bit hard to love. She doesn’t treat those around her with much respect but a change of heart maybe on the horizon. Hannah also beaver impeded our lady-loving Betty by punching her girlfriend twice and according to the book, “Did the weirdest turkey victory dance.”

Most of the main cast seems (mostly) heterosexual except for adorable, spunky Betty. Though thankfully Betty’s girlfriend, Faeyri, moves past the oddities of her friends and they start the relationship over again. At the end of the first volume 3 out of the 4 girls hook up but, lezbe honest, Faeyri is the hottest out of the partners and Betty and Faeyri are the cutest couple. The romance is minimal in the story but it’s awesome to see a kick-ass sapphically inclined main character.

While it’s not high-brow and it’s dialog can be annoying at times, it’s overall a fun, high-fantasy, action-packed story of ladies both kicking and getting butt.

Art – 9
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 2
Service – 3

Overall – 8

Erica here: Thanks Faps, for a completely different perspective than we usually have here!