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This week, Andi and Lise waxed philosophical fangirl about the first 2 collected volumes of the comic Rat Queens, put out by Image Comics. First launched in 2013, Andi is horrified that she didn\u2019t look into these sooner and thanks Lise profusely for telling her to get with it and read them already. ComiXology might have the best description of the Rat Queens:

Who are the Rat Queens? A pack of booze-guzzling, death-dealing battle maidens-for-hire, and they\u2019re in the business of killing all gods\u2019 creatures for profit. It\u2019s also a darkly comedic fantasy series starring Hannah the Rockabilly Elven Mage, Violet the Hipster Dwarven Fighter, Dee the Atheist Human Cleric and Betty the Hippy Hobbit Thief. This modern spin on an old school genre is a violent monster-killing epic that is like Buffy meets Tank Girl in a Lord of the Rings world on crack!

Rat Queens is also full of diverse characters (primary and secondary), kickass women, and LGBTQ rep (it won a GLAAD award), including Betty, one of the queens. Great world-building, awesome characterization, strong writing, explorations of relationships and past baggage \u2013 Rat Queens is the shizzle. Give this comic a read and re-read!

Shout-outs: Lise recommends Jodi Taylor\u2019s Chronicles of St. Mary\u2019s books, which are a time traveling historians saga (and Andi will be running out to read) that Taylor insists you NOT call time travel because it\u2019s \u201cabout a bunch of disaster-prone historians who investigate major historical events in contemporary time.\u201d And Andi is just about done with Tamsyn Muir\u2019s Gideon the Ninth (Lise\u2019s recommendation), which is mind-blowing and so much awesome \u2013 lesbian necromancers who also do some space travel. I mean. Why would you not want to read that? Also, Andi wants a poster of the cover.