Story: Kurtis J Wiebe
Art / Cover: Owen Gieni
Image/Shadowline Comics
$3.99

“CAT KINGS AND OTHER GARYS,” Part One

The biggest thing that sucks about finding a book that you really like is when it becomes sporadic. Worse is when you are waiting for releases and things change about the book. Rat Queens went through a lot of changes since its release in 2013 and it was sad to see it stumble into a hiatus back in 2016.

Thankfully, this return issue is all that I hoped for which, as long as it stays consistent, will have me eagerly anticipating its monthly release.

As the book opens, the Rat Queens are recovering from yet another wild night at the Palisades. They all regroup as they realize it’s time to go off adventuring again. As they start on their path, they meet old friends as well as a new band called the Cat Kings, which is just as it sounds: a male version of the Rat Queens but not as cool.

I really enjoyed the opening of the book as Wiebe takes a meta approach to bringing long time readers back into the fold. It’s as if he is conveying to readers that “look, I know we took some time off and we really partied it up but it’s time to get back business” and it really works. The dialogue is, as always, snappy, on point and foul mouthed – in other words, it’s FUN.  Even though I missed maybe the last three issues in the original run, the way this book starts, it’s not too difficult getting back up to speed with the characters.

The art is where the book also shines and to be quite blunt, in previous issues, it was also what caused me to stop reading the last arc.  In this book we are introduced to Owen Gieni (Manifest Destiny and Shutter) and in many ways his work here reminds me a lot of Roc Upchurch’s style. The difference here is that while it’s similar it’s also a bit more fluid especially in the facial expressions and the action.  With Gieni’s style, it recaptures a lot of what made the book a fun read in the first place.

This has been one of my favorite books by far in the past 5 years, second only to Chew and as long as it stays consistent, I am onboard for the long run. For those of you that fell off like I did, this opening issue is one that will bring you back on board.

5 Garys out of 5