Hey pizanos! Welcome back to another week of swag comics. But hey, before we start up on a new week of fresh content, how’s about we take a look back at some of last week’s best comic book offerings?

I’D BE UP FOR A BEARD CONTEST PROBABLY

The town of Palisade is having some high fantasy troubles. The merchants and townsfolk are unhappy, their lives in constant upheaval due to circumstance. In a more typical high fantasy story, that circumstance would have something to do with creatures or vandals or marauders or whatnot. In this story, the circumstance happens to be a group of rough adventurers known as the Rat Queens.

They will fuck you up.

Rat Queens is a book that leans heavily on subversion. When it comes to high fantasy, there are certain expectations that permeate the genre - the group of (male) adventurers, scantily clad women with or without swords, and the romanticized idea of older colloquialisms and “questing”. Many of these elements remain in play here, but with enough of a good natured twist to make the read feel vibrant and fresh. I’m not a big fan of the high fantasy genre (beyond stories like The Princess Bride), but Rat Queens hit several of my favourite fiction soft spots, and has left me wanting more. First and foremost, it’s a high fantasy series that doesn’t take itself so god damn seriously. Which is to say, I’ve tried to read things like Game of Thrones several times over the years, but beyond being quite enamoured with many of the characters, I can’t bring myself to actively follow the story, due to its dour nature. I recognize the craft, and have often been left breathless by certain passages (and moments on the TV show), but feeling an empty pit of despair in my stomach is something I don’t really like. I appreciate a good rattle in the midst of a lighter story, but when that rattle becomes the norm, I get exhausted and opt for something that’s going to make me smile rather than drown. And so: Rat Queens.

Kurtis J. Wiebe has crafted a brilliant story along with Roc Upchurch. The pair infuse a lot of whimsy into this book, from the more comedic dragon-dick-tickling moments to the swift, violent end of this issue. They’ve also crafted a bevy of wonderful new characters that I’m quite interested in following. In addition to the Rat Queens themselves, who get the lion’s share of the character development, there’s their dungeon master Sawyer, a member of the town guard who hands out assignments to the various adventuring groups, as well as the adventuring groups themselves. Each seem to reflect or refract an element of playing a DnD game (the assignment of quests, the reflection of character choices, and so on) in an amusing way, and add another strange and wonderful element to this book.

This book is yet another strong edition to the current Image Comics line-up, one that will be floating just below many radars due to Wiebe and Upchurch’s relatively unknown status. If anything described above appeals to you, I suggest you nab a copy of issue one while you can, or head over to ComiXology and fill your boots. If it helps you make you decision, arm yourself with the knowledge that this book has received this week’s Minus 3 From Wallet Comma Plus 10 To Adventure Award, and see where that takes you. (B)

MAMA’S GOT NEEDS

It is so, so great to have new Saga issues back in my life; a few months away only heightened my appreciation for its humour, pathos and excitement, all on display here in last week’s Issue #14. Of course, it’s rare that an issue of the series isn’t a reminder of everything about it that’s so welcome, but this issue is no exception.

In the fallout from the violent events of the last arc, the two camps of good guys (ostensibly-but-hey-we’ll-see, in the case of the Will) have been figuring out what to do next and collecting themselves; Marko and Alana have tracked down the one person they think might understand their plight: the man whose smutty romance novels may have awakened it. Meanwhile, “hot” on their trail, the Will contemplates getting out of the game and doing right by Sophie, the former Slave Girl. Both storylines give these amazing emotional moments, like the author’s touching reaction that somebody finally understands after a life of loneliness, his shared grief-turned-love with Marko’s mother or Sophie being corrected by Lying Cat of her captor-induced idea of who she is. It’s little things like these, as much as the the wider-scale world-building and maybe explosions, that make Saga as good as it is. Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples know exactly how to craft an issue so that these little moments not only flesh out the characters, but their world and end up underscoring exactly how important these connections between people are, because the entire system is gamed against that kind of basic decency. Saga is a series about love, and just remember that when the events put in motion by the cliffhanger to this issue come to fruition.

For ongoing excellence in love, Saga #14 wins this week’s Stop! In the name of Good Comics Award. (J)

I’ve had Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” stuck in my head for days - only I’ve been changing the lyrics in my head to “Sex Criminal”. This is not a thing to accidentally sing out loud, you guys. Don’t do it.

Let’s be perfectly frank: going into this comic, James and I were carrying certain expectations. Boeyed by over a year’s worth of anticipation and a dynamite premise, anchored by two of our favourite creators and something something another boat metaphor, you could say that we’d built the book up in our minds quite a bit. On my end, I built it to look like a very specific thing: taking the comedic stylings of both Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky and plying it to a book where two time stopping orgasm criminals commit orgasm time-crimes was going to be hilarious first and foremost. What I got was something else. Something sweeter. Something better.

Sex Criminals is not a book about sex. It’s not a book about being funny. It’s a book about people, about life, about love and books and maybe saving a library. It’s a book about discovering sexuality through metaphor and faucets. It’s a book about how funny and awkward and meaningless and perfect sex can be. It’s a book that I can’t stop thinking about days after I’ve read it.

This first issue has a tight focus on Susie, one of our titular Sex Criminals, and her journey through various stages of sexuality. There’s discovery, exploration, awkward encounters, misinformation, and finally, a relative form of comfort and acceptance. Using the trappings of the high concept to distract you from the fact that you are effectively eavesdropping on a stranger’s sexual history, Susie takes you through all the high points and low points of sexual discovery and it’s beautiful and awkward and funny. It’s me and it’s you and it’s sex. It’s something. It’s meaningful. By the time you get to the series’ selling point, you know Susie quite intimately. You’ve felt her emotions and you are interested in what she’s going to do and why. You’re a little unsure about this Jon character, but hey, we’ll get to him and his glowing dick in the next issue.

More often than not, I like to pull apart the writing and art craft from each other, commenting on both separately. Lately, I’ve come to realize that this is probably not the best way to talk about comics. The greatest comics, this one included, are works of collaboration, with all parties contributing to the overall success of the book. This comic is pure collaboration, two creators feeding off each other’s energy, producing something new and vibrant for people to read and experience. Fraction’s script is amazing, and Zdarsky’s art (with all the posters and other background flourishes) suits the events perfectly, portraying real people experiencing real events. It’s a finely tuned comic with points of creative separation existing as a means to an end with Fraction obviously providing the final script and plot while Zdarsky produces the final art. The result, of course, is a comic filled with characters and a world that I want to visit again and again and again. I want more. I need more. Thankfully, we’re going to get exactly that.