Reviewed By Katy Rex. “Rat Queens” #9 features a new artist, Stjepan Sejic, previously known for his work on Sunstone and Death Sigil. His high-fantasy art is a good fit for the series, albeit a very different one. Yet, the tone of the series remains unwavering and despite a few narrative hiccups thanks to a lengthy hiatus, the new art is welcomed even if we have to wait until next month to get its full effects.

WRITTEN BY: Kurtis J. Wiebe
ART BY: Stjepan Sejic
PUBLISHER: Image
PRICE: #3.50
RELEASE: March 5, 2015

The artist change is more apparent in a book like “Rat Queens” because Upchurch also colored his own work, Stepan does as well, which has caused a dramatic shift in palette. Upchurch’s work had previously been lighter, slightly more cartoon-y without being cheesy, with visual cues that allowed you to both take the series very seriously and recognize its parody aspects. Sejic’s tone is much darker, both in colors and in realism, while maintaining the unique character designs that attracted many fans to the series in the first place. The humor is still unquestionably present, but it’s also different from the earlier jokes, in a way that is largely attributable to the aesthetic. Wiebe is versatile enough to write for a variety of artistic styles and strengths, and Sejic’s strength in this issue is clearly the dynamic layouts of the action scenes.

The story is particularly appropriate after the series’ hiatus, because it features the cast of Rat Queens regrouping for the next step. Not only does this echo the series’ own position, but it allows Wiebe to remind us of each of the characters’ voices, their backgrounds and relationships, such that they each have a moment in this issue. This of course also gives a spotlight to each character’s new adapted design under Sejic’s eye, a moment where they are each acting and appearing as exactly themselves.

The most unfortunate thing about this issue is that, while the characters are back and strong as ever, this feels like a first issue all over again. It’s understandable, certainly, for the reasons outlined above, but for those of us who have been waiting since October, the minimal plot movement was somewhat of a disappointment. The story spends almost all of its time allowing each of the characters to recover from the psychic attack of madness from the Lovecraftian hellmonster, but since that attack occurred in issue #7, published on July 16 of last year, more forward trajectory could have been nice.

This is an extremely effective comeback issue, and while it isn’t plot-heavy, it’s easy to be optimistic about the future of this series.

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Katy Rex writes comics analysis at endoftheuniversecomics.com, comicsbulletin.com, and bloody-disgusting.com. She really likes butt jokes, dinosaurs, and killing psychos and midgets in Borderlands 2. She has a great sense of humor if you’re not an asshole.