Update: Rat Queens

My summer of comic books continues with Rat Queens.  Written by Kurtis J. Wiebe and illustrated by Roc Upchurch and Stjepan Sejic, Rat Queens follows the adventures of four female mercenaries who are tasked with ridding their city of supernatural creatures and fall prey to malicious malevolence.  There are two volumes currently available from Image Comics, which I picked up on Amazon.

The first volume, Sass & Sorcery, introduce us to the Queens: Hannah, an elf; Betty, a “smidgen” (little person), Violet, a dwarf, and Dee, a human.  You already know the reason why I’m even bothering to read the series and report on it: Dee.

Review: Bitch Planet

I got hipped to this comic book via Jamie @Black Girl Nerds.  The last comic books I read were Daughters of the Dragon and The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury, which was a couple of years ago.  I am more inclined to books, but the life I live now requires the reduction of weight.  Comics are light and easy to carry.  Anyway, I’ve begun a quest of sorts to find and read comic books featuring sistahs who aren’t superheroes.

Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Leandro, Bitch Planet is a sci-fi comic that pays homage to the women’s prison exploitation films of the 70s (which I love).  In short, women who are non-compliant (and there are countless definitions of the word) in a futuristic society get sent to a prison planet where they are watched constantly and lorded over by men via an idealistic female hologram.  BP isn't a nice place, in case the title didn't make it clear.  

The very idea of men determining what makes women "non-compliant" and punishing them accordingly is horrifying simply because it is something that's happening right now; it's just not a sanctioned practice as it is in the comic.  Sandra Bland, anyone? (may she RIP)  But I digress.

I love the way each issue opens: