Rat Queens Volume 4: High Fantasies

Book four in the series of paperbacks that collect issues of the comic 'Rat Queens.' The story of a group of female adventurers in a fantasy setting. With enough strong language and adult moments to make this a comic strictly for mature readers.This collects issues one to five of the latest run of the comic. It might actually work as a jumping on point, but new readers would still be better off starting with volume one.Previously in Rat Queens:The original artist vanished during volume two. Due to legal reasons [an internet search will tell you more]. There were some fill ins. A new artist took over from volume three on. That finished with issue fifteen of the first run of the comic.But after issue sixteen - which has never been collected and most likely will never be - the writer put the comic on hiatus. This, as mentioned as being issues one to five of the latest run, is it's return. With another new artist. And it's something a reboot story wise. The main characters are now back in the town of Palisade. With a couple of minor changes. And trying to get back to business as usual. With no mention of what happened in between.It's Rat Queens: the reboot.It tries hard writing wise to get back to the style of volume one. As does the art. The quality of that will be a matter of opinion, but by and large it is pretty good and does suit the story well. If perhaps a little too cartoony at points. It does focus on the main characters, adding one to the group as well, trying as before to make them strong and capable people who just happen to be ladies. But as before, Violet just remains a bit dull and Hannah is still not that nice a person. Thank goodness for the likeable Dee and the entertaining Betty.Some original characters are briefly glimpsed. Others briefly mentioned. Some new characters show up and do have their moments.The main plot though just seems to be a way to restart the series, by putting them into a quest situation. Which is all done and dusted by the end. there is fun and entertainment to be had along the way, but in the end it feels a bit slight.Not a bad volume, but you are left feeling that still needs to do a bit more to get totally back on track. Hopefully the next volume will.There are various original and variant covers as chapter pages, and a few bits of art at the end.

I'd been absolutely loving this series, up to this volume. Admittedly the story stalled slightly in book 3 - a tad too much backstory in the form of just speech bubbles, but it didn't destroy my enthusiasm.And I'm not opposed to a change of artists in a series, per se... It's just that I prefer artists who can... well... DRAW.As I read this, I was torn between annoyance and genuine embarrassment on behalf of the artist who now has this as part of their CV. Several times I was reminded of the (very very bad) attempts I made at creating my own comic during my schooldays.Bottom line? I'll be sticking with the series (for now, anyway). The first couple of volumes were so good that I still feel a sense of loyalty. But the artwork in this one stretched that loyalty severely.

So glad I stuck it out and kept reading after the abysmal volume three (worst art ever made) the illustrations in this are fantastic, it threw me off at first but stylistically I felt it worked alot better and looked beautiful after I had adjusted to the style change from the secondary book, it was funny and great to read from page one, brilliant series.

great anti-hero graphic fantasy.

Good read

Great humour and enjoyable, but feels a bit random and disconnected from the last issue, still enjoyed it!

As described, quick delivery

I’m collecting them now