Rat Queens: Deluxe Edition, Volume 1 by Kurtis J. Wiebe

Rat Queens: Deluxe Edition, Volume 1 Reviews

• 
  Anne

  3.5
• 
  Celeste

  Full review now posted!
  
  Look what I found! My favorite graphic novel I’ve ever read. Ever. Man, this just made me so darn happy. While the art was not as beautiful or the plot line not as deep as some other graphic novels I’ve read, this is by far the most entertaining one I’ve ever experienced.
  
  I’ve read a lot of science fiction graphic novels, but very few that were just straight fantasy. This one right here? It was fantasy out the wazoo. I don’t even know what a wazoo is, but Rat Queens packed it full to bursting with fantastical awesomeness. There are elves and dwarves and orcs and all manner of other fantasy beings, as well as magic and sword fights and drunken tavern brawls. There are well worn fantasy tropes that are used and reinterpreted and flipped completely on their heads. It has everything a fantasy comic should have and more. Want diversity in your reads? This series has diversity in spades, and it’s all handled deftly and naturally.
  
  Did I mention the friendships? No? There are some fabulous friendships in this series, especially between the four girls who comprise the title mercenary group, the Rat Queens. Even when they’re bickering, you can tell the girls really love each other. And the characterizations!! Each of the four girls has a completely unique personality from her compatriots, and those four personalities mesh into something special. There’s also romance, but in my opinion all of the romances unequivocally play second fiddle to the friendships.
  
  Now, this is definitely deserving of its “mature” rating. There’s nudity and gore and a whole heck of a lot of vulgarity. There’s some legitimate darkness. But even in the midst of all that I found this to be such a fun, light read compared to other graphic novels I’ve read. I really can’t wait to continue the series, and I can’t recommend it highly enough!
• 
  Steve

  I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
  
  This was great! The story was exciting, the characters were well-developed, and the artwork was fantastic! I've been seeing this series listed on Comixology and Amazon for a while, and passed it over simply because it sounded too far out of my "normal" realm of comics. I'm glad I requested this one, and that I was approved. It was very well done.
  
  The artwork was wonderful. Stjepan Šejić, Tess Fowler, and Roc Upchurch all did an outstanding job at capturing the characters and all of their traits.
  
  Highly recommended!
• 
  Rob

  Rat Queens is awesome, so I bought this Deluxe Edition of the first 10 issues. You should really check this series out.
  
  I originally reviewed these issues with each trade paper. Those reviews are linked below if you're so inclined.
  
  
  Rat Queens, Vol. 1: Sass & Sorcery - (
  My Review)
  
  Rat Queens, Vol. 2: The Far Reaching Tentacles of N'rygoth - (
  My Review)
• 
  Jim

  I loved this the first time I read it.
  
  But I don't remember it being this good.
  
  I swear I laughed on just about every page.
  
  Fantastic story. Great art.
  
  And pulling the first 2 volumes together in a single deluxe edition - I may break down and buy this. The $40 price tag may be a little steep. But this comic? It's worth it.
  
  And the additions from the original TPBs (trade paperbacks) are amazing. Braga's story is fascinating. I'd love to hear more about her. I hope she becomes a regular. Violet's Courting 101 and Betty's Monster Fighting 101 are both spectacular (and hilarious).
  
  Highly, highly recommended. (That is, if you can handle rated R subject matter.)
  
  Thanks to NetGalley, Diamond, and Image Comics for a copy in return for an honest review.
• 
  Marie the Librarian

  This was amazing!! I love it so much. Sass. Sorcery. Badass ladies. Lesbianism. I mean awesoooooome!! Cant wait for volume 3!
• 
  Brittany

  An adventuring group of badass women who aren't afraid to be exactly who they are. This band of 4, The Rat Queens, are a nuisance and when someone tries to dispose of them they have to find out who and why so they can give them a piece of their mind.
  
  These characters are a breath of fresh air, they are unapologetically themselves which does not include fluffy females who are afraid of getting dirty. They cuss when they want, fight whoever they want, and sleep around with whoever they want all the while kicking the butts of bad guys and there may be some looting in there along the way. Not a graphic novel for kids, but I definitely enjoyed the first 2 volumes and can't wait to continue with the series.
• 
  K.N.

  I love this edition; it all looks amazing and all the little bonus features are fantastic.
  
  This series moves, well, super fast but there's no shame in that 'cause it's really fun with lots of action. And the artwork (even with the artist-swapping) is incredible.
  
  I want mooore, and I really hope that animated series gets picked up and rolled out!
• 
  Maria

  OMG, I loved this! The characters, the illustrations, the story, the world, everything! May I be included in their group? I want to be a Rat Queen.
  
  There's a lot of action and a lot of things happening, but also so much love and heart. Each character is fleshed out and has their own background story that I, for one, can't wait to delve deeper into :D
• 
  Martha

  It's a story full of women who all behave like college frat bros; very much felt like a man was writing it. Little world-building and few likeable characters make me unlikely to give it another shot.
• 
  Liam || Books 'n Beards

  Not bad, not great. When it took itself semi seriously, I was actually interested, but the characters were kinda generally unlikable and the humour felt pretty forced. Not for me.
• 
  Kate

  Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
  
  This medieval fantasy sees 4 women team up for adventures and debauchery. The group consists of Hannah; the elven mage, Dee; a cult goddess who has lost her faith, Violet; a dwarven warrior and Betty; a smidgen thief who loves the party lifestyle. The group, along with others, are given missions by towns but often end up destroying the town they're supposed to help with their hard partying ways, something that doesn't sit well with the locals.
  
  Someone sets out to rid the town of Palisade of all the groups, sending them out on bogus missions, only to have an assassin waiting for them. The group have to figure out who is behind it and stop them before they destroy not only them but Palisade as well.
  
  I really loved this comic, first of all the group it has some amazing characters in it, the rat queens is made up of four equally badass woman. They are diverse in looks, background and personalities, whilst most of them had back stories fleshed out a little there's still plenty to be explored especially Betty. The dialogue is snappy and extremely funny at times and I laughed out loud on several occasions whilst reading this, Betty is an absolute hoot and her dialogue was, for me, the funniest. I loved the art, it was nicely detailed and the panels pop with colour.
  
  It's easy to tell that this is more geared towards female comic readers, whilst I love Vampirella and Sonja, it irks me that they have to appear with next to nothing on. The RQ are all covered up for battle, not wearing a few inches of fabric to appease and engage male readers, it's refreshing and goes to show that females in comics can be (almost) fully clothed and still be able to sell a story.
  
  If you liked foul mouthed, hard partying characters and a story that is soaked with sex and violence, this might be right up your alley.
  
  Highly recommended.
• 
  Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive)

  Read all my reviews on
  http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
  
  The Rat Queens Deluxe Edition Vol. 1 covers the first two volumes of the series.
  
  Seldom have I heard so much about a comic series and read such raving reviews. However, after reading them I never really had a good idea of what the book was about. And, I won't explain it into detail either because you'll have to find out for yourself. Besides I believe that the story in this case really is less important than the characters, who really steal the show.
  
  Despite all this positive things I'd heard I was a bit cautious, since my comic reading the last months was not very successful. But I couldn't have been wrong. It was a great read. The reviews certainly were true. It is a - for me at least - one of a kind comic, with great characters, art that fits it great and I was surprised even at how engrossed I was in the story. The only negative thing I can think of is that the story itself was not really special.
  
  I'm certainly looking forward to read more of this comic.
  
  Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
• 
  Minna

  Awesome. I love the Rat Queens! Only drawback is it ends TOO SOON.
  
  The artwork is excellent, too, btw. Don't miss this series.
  
  ARC provided to me by NetGalley. (Thanks NetGalley!)
• 
  Bunny

  Read for Book Roast's
  OWL's Magical Readathon 2019. Subject: Care of Magical Creatures - Land animal on the cover
  
  I've been fighting to figure out what was bugging me so damn much about this series.
  
  I love kick ass women. I like medieval fantasy well enough. I love fight scenes that involve swords. I am decently okay with gangs of hard partying marauders.
  
  So, why did this bother me basically from page one?
  
  Because these characters are fucking teenage brats, that's why.
  
  These are not kick ass women banding together to go on adventures. They're spoiled 15 and 16-year olds smashing property and boasting about how cool it is to drink and smoke and fuck.
  
  It's all well and good if you want to be so cool because you do mushrooms and want to bang orcs, but you're not actually doing anything productive for society? You don't even start fighting bad guys until you've decimated the town and they want to ban you. People are paying assassins to murder you because you're destroying their livelihoods.
  
  I can't. I cannot. I hate all of them, and hope they get murdered in the last volume.
• 
  Sue Wallace

  Rat Queen Volume 1 Part 1 by kurtis j wiebe.
  Who are the Rat Queens? A pack of booze-guzzling, death-dealing battle maidens-for-hire, and they're in the business of killing all god's creatures for profit. It's also a darkly comedic sass-and-sorcery series starring Hannah the Rockabilly Elven Mage, Violet the Hipster Dwarven Fighter, Dee the Atheist Human Cleric and Betty the Hippy Smidgen Thief. This modern spin on an old school genre is a violent monster-killing epic that is like Buffy meets Tank Girl in a Lord of the Rings world on crack! This deluxe hardcover edition combines the first two volumes of the New York Times bestselling series. It includes the never-before reprinted RAT QUEENS SPECIAL: BRAGA #1, and plenty of extras all in an over-sized hardcover with a SILVER-FOIL stamped cover!
  A very good read with good characters. It was different. 4*. Netgalley and diamond book distributors.
• 
  Hunter

  I really enjoyed this.
  
  The bloodshed, violence, and nudity wasn't something I was expecting, but I believe that the story was a great one. The characters grew on me during the duration of the novel, and I'm going to be reading the other volumes because I'm now invested.
  
  I don't recommend this if your sensitive to death, murder, mentions and depictions of abuse, religious trauma, or nudity/sex.
• 
  BB

  I liked this one more than I thought I would!
  
  Rat Queens is a funny, raunchy tale about 4 adventurers set in a D&D-like world. The characters are all really likable and entertaining, and the art is good even with the switches made to the creative team.
• 
  Tara

  Was a great adventure! Can't wait to get started on the next journey with the Rat Queens
• 
  Kat

  Ah it was nice to go back to the old Queens. And the Sejic art.
• 
  Robert de Roos

  Very entertaining, especially the characters! It is funny read and it has a lot of action and gore.. and most of all it is silly (in a good way). And may I add that the art is very nice, loved it!
• 
  Jennifer

  #IchBinBetty 😁
• 
  Lisa

  Disclosure: I received a free e-galley copy of this book from Image Comics.
  
  Why did I wait so long to read Rat Queens?? This ARC has been on my computer for at least a month, probably more. I'd heard about the series last fall, and the local comic store clerk recommended it to me after finding out I liked Image and played D&D. Seriously, though: it's a hilarious, well-drawn, action-packed AND character-driven story about an all-female adventuring party (with some queer action thrown in)! It's everything I've ever dreamed of!
  
  The story opens with the town of Palisade deciding what to do about the rowdy parties of adventurers that, while ostensibly protecting the town, tend to cause a lot of commotion (and property damage). Enter the Rat Queens (through the wall of the building): a beardless dwarf named Violet, a drug-and-women-loving smidgen named Betty, a necromancing elf named Hannah, and a human(?) paladin named Dee who no longer follows her god. The Rat Queens and the rest of the adventurers are sentenced to some boring, run-of-the-mill quests to get them out of jail (and keep out of future trouble), but the missions are quickly revealed to be traps intended to kill them all.
  
  From this fairly standard RPG beginning, it's easy to assume that the story would be cookie-cutter the rest of the way, too - lots of fighting, straightforward quests, lots of dungeons and/or dragons, and not much in terms of character development or world building. Thankfully, this story upends that expectation right away. There's a large, self-contained story in this volume and while the action is certainly thrilling and frequent, it serves mainly as part of a larger story about the relationships between these characters and this town. We get mid-battle flashbacks (due to magical effects) for some origin stories, we get complicated sexual and romantic relationships, we get a sense that this team loves each other deeply and *that* drives the action and the story.
  
  The art is pretty fantastic - a perfect choice for this kind of story. Bold, strong lines, bright colors, and the right kind of detail that reflects and adds to the personality of each character. The artists changed a bit of the way through the series, but I wasn't looking for it, and couldn't tell.
  
  The one drawback to the series is that several times, either due to scene changes or maybe just being slightly dense, I couldn't figure out what the dialogue was referring to. Sometimes flipping back helped, sometimes I was left puzzling and moved on. (For others who have read it, here's one of the points I could still use some clarification on: When Betty tells Hannah she's scared of her black eyes, what is she referring to? I flipped back to the previous scene but I didn't see any obvious eye changes.)
  
  This edition was also lovely, with some extras in the back that riff on the characters and show us some cute extra artwork.
  
  Would highly recommend to anyone who likes D&D, epic fantasy, great stories, and a fun, compelling read!
• 
  It's just Deano

  Rat Queens: Volume One (Deluxe Edition) is a surprisingly fun read. There are some genuinely funny moments here and the book as a whole feels quite sweet and light-hearted.
  
  Where this really excels though is with its characterisation - the real joy in reading here is getting to know these bullish, witty and absolutely crazy warrior women.
  
  The art is beautiful - not a usual choice for a fantasy story - but one that definitely adds atmosphere and helps create the lighter mood.
  
  The only criticism here is that the plot does feel fairly light, in my opinion it's somewhat overshadowed by the characters themselves, which is not really a problem, but it does leave the reader feeling like you're there just for these women alone and not any particular plot elements.
  
  Overall, a fun read, but one not without its flaws. Volume One undoubtedly feels like a set up for the series, but the characterisation keeps this fresh.
  ___________________
  
  My Score: 7/10
  My Goodreads: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  ___________________
• 
  Glaiza

  I stumbled across the second issue of this comic a few months ago and I was quickly sucked into this world. Even though I'd only met these characters halfway in their journey, I was completely charmed by their collective badarsery and ability to admire an enemy's witty comeback in the middle of a battle. While I was reading this edition, I found myself pulled in again by the eclectic rat queens crew's drama in and out of missions.
  
  I was happy to jump into the deluxe edition of the first volume which compiles the first two issues together. The change in art styles is noticeable but I adjusted to it. I loved being able to follow this story again. For thoughts on individual characters, see my previous non-spoilery
  review of issue 2, which is also included in this edition.
  
  Deluxe edition extras:
  
  - On the inclusion of cover art for different issues - Someday, my inner cosplayer shall be coaxed out by the art.
  - On Gary's short side story - He must be cursed with that name.
  - On Braga's side story - I appreciate her backstory so much. Finally, someone's delving into the inner conflicts of orc society.
  - On the Rat Queens' Courting Guides - I'm with Dee on passing blind dates. I loved Betty's hyper yet wise monologue on the whole ordeal.
• 
  Jess Newman

  This book is basically just a gritty, violent, crass fantasy adventure. Those things are right up my alley. The storytelling is fairly standard, but with an all-female main cast that play into a lot of fantasy tropes but subvert a few nicely as well. As the mercenary adventuring party the Rat Queens, they kill wagonloads of orcs, start bar brawls, and fight Lovecraftian nightmare gods. In this volume, the adventures are presented without breaks as one continuous flow of action, debauchery, and death. It's interesting, because most fantasy stories are more episodic and skip over downtime between adventures.
  The dialogue isn't anything special. It reminded me a lot of Brian K. Vaughan or Robert Kirkman, where characters had very anachronistic speech patterns and it sometimes seems like they're all the same character having a conversation with their selves. But the art makes up for this in spades, with lots of character and attitude oozing through the panels. Upchurch's art is incredibly kinetic, and shows chaos and battle in a really exciting way. The two other artists in the book don't reach this level, but do well enough.
  I'd like to see a bit more exploration of the characters' histories and how they met and formed the Rat Queens, and I hope that the series can continue to be this exciting.
• 
  Andrei Ryumin

  It ia a funny and adult comic. I've liked the characters, the dialogs, the art (mostly), but the story wasn't there. I felt rather empty when I finished it. What was it all about? Ummm... One guy wronged another guy, but we don't know whow, and that upset guy is trying to revenge himself with style, but somehow fails and is easily stabbed in the back by on of the Queens. Very deep, fresh story indeed. It was still a fun read, but all the time I was expecting some story, and was disapointed in the end. Besides, I don't understand why the artist emphisises the noses of the characters so much, usually coloring them with different tones, than the rest of the face skin: it looks unnatural and as if a character is a drunkard at times.
• 
  Jay

  Poor Wizards of the Coast; there is no way in all the hells that someone will make a better adaptation of D&D than this. This is what the Vox Machina comics want to be when they grow up, but they probably never will.