Graphic Novel Round-Up: Ody-C 1, The Wicked and the Divine 3 and Rat Queens 1

Ody-C 1: Off to Far Ithaca, Matt Fraction; Christian Ward

Image Comics|23^rd June 2015

Synopsis

A century-long war has come to an end. Odyssia and her crew of weary warriors leave the ruins of Troiia-VII for home – but getting there will be the fight of their lives.

The Odyssey gets reimagined and reinvented for the 21^st Century in this psychedelic, gender-broke and genre-bent science fiction epic.

Review

As soon as I saw the cover and the premise of Ody-C, I was so sold.

I have to admit that I wasn’t too enthralled by the actual story. I love, love, love the idea of a sci-fi, gender-swapped version of The Odyssey, but I didn’t really know what was going on most of the time. The language was very odd and stilted, clearly trying to imitate the old fashioned language of the original story and included lots Greek mythology which was cool, but added to the confusion a little. Once I got about halfway, it did clear up a little bit, but I still felt very distanced from the story.

The art, however, I cannot fault. It’s vivid, bold and completely bonkers and I love it endlessly. I spent much longer poring over the art than I did the words, and there is a lot less text than images. Though I wasn’t fussed by the story, I think I’ll be reading the next volume purely for the art, though I do hope that the next volume is a little easier to follow.

The Wicked and the Divine 3: Commercial Suicide, Kieron Gillen; Jamie McKelvie; Matthew Wilson and Clayton Cowles

Image Comics|11^th February 2016

Synopsis

After the detonation of FANDEMONIUM the gods-as-pop-stars of THE WICKED + THE DIVINE try living in the long dark shadow. Team WicDiv are joined by a stellar cast of guest artists to put the spotlight of each of the gods. The multiple Eisner-award nominated series continues in the only way it knows how: darker, weirder, faster. Don't worry. It's going to be okay.

Mini-Review

The Wicked and the Divine is one of my favourite comics series, second only to Saga, but I was a bit disappointed by this volume. 

Commercial Suicide spans six issues where each issue is done by a guest artist, each focussing on a different one of the gods. It’s a great idea and maybe it worked as single issues, but as a volume, it was chaotic and confusing; there wasn’t enough time for me to find my footing with the art and the arc of each god before it switched to another one. I was really happy to see a page from each issue from Jamie at the end of the volume!

I have to admit that I'm really not sure what happened at all in this volume, with the exception of maybe The Morrigan and Tara’s stories. I loved those ones. The Morrigan has been a fascinating character from when we first met her so it was awesome to get some more page time from her. But it was Tara who I think will stick with me. She was a beautiful girl who was always cat-called, propositioned and threatened because of her beauty and she expected that to stop when she became a goddess, but it just got worse. I really loved how the artist (Tula Lotay) showed her fierceness and strength and that wasn’t at all diminished by her resolution. It was my favourite arc in the issue by far. 

Though I wasn’t completely sold on Commercial Suicide, I really love this world and the art so I’ll be sticking around for the next volume. 

Rat Queens 1: Sass and Sorcery, Kurtis Wiebe; Roc Upchurch
Image Comics|10th April 2014

Synopsis
Who are the Rat Queens? A pack of booze-guzzling, death-dealing battle maidens-for-hire, and they're in the business of killing all god’s creatures for profit. It's also a darkly comedic sass-and-sorcery series starring Hannah the Rockabilly Elven Mage, Violet the Hipster Dwarven Fighter, Dee the Atheist Human Cleric and Betty the Hippy Smidgen Thief. This modern spin on an old-school genre is a violent monster-killing epic that is like a Buffy meets Tank Girl in a Lord of Rings world on crack!

Mini-Review
I can't believe I waited so long to read this!

This comic series is a ridiculous amount of fun. The Rat Queens are curvy, badass, foul-mouthed killing machines and I love them. Each Queen has a juicy backstory that has been hinted at, Betty and Hannah more than most, and I’m really looking forward to learning more about them as the series develops. This volume didn’t have the strongest story I've read in a comic series, but what is there is strong and easy to follow and I'm definitely on board for the more adventures from the Rat Queens.

I’m very looking forward to getting hold of the next trade in this series. 

Sophie