Killer Queens #1
Recap
Meet Max and Alex. Reformed intergalactic assassins for hire. On the run. Also super gay. Their former boss--a fluffy monkey with a jetpack--is hot on their tail to take back his stolen ship. They gotta eat, so they take a mission from Alex's old flame. Your standard no-kill, casualty-free kidnapping recovery from a nearby moon.
Review
This comic is so hilarious, so gay, so in your face, that, if you like the cover and the idea of sassy gay assassins for hire, I’m already telling you you’re gonna enjoy this like a breath of really fresh air. As the vibe in every page of this, from the action, the useless flirting and casual sex, the messiness of it all, is perfectly crafted for enjoyment.
With a visual style that reminds me of the best of Power Rangers and Archie Comics, a storyline that actually centers the gayness of its characters while being mainly about (space-y) piracy and assassination, and a creative team decided to make you have fun (and I would have guess to have fun themselves, cause some of these pages probably were as rib-tickling to write, draw, color, letter), Killer Queens cannot fail.
There is, of course, some caveats for this enjoyment: you definitely need to like innuendos to like this comic; this first issue has a lot of set up, and, while it does an excellent job at defining our main characters, you kind of have to buy into the silliness of the concepts and the snideness of the main characters in the first pages. But, once you let that slide, I can assure you this comic will have more than pure entertainment for you; as it progresses, the queer friendship and care between our two main characters takes a central stage, and it really feels more and more like solidarity as the story progresses, even within a sci-fi unlikely setting.
Final Thoughts
As this fun to the extreme rides plays with classic sci-fi tropes in a queer messy soup, it also promises larger themes further down the road. Can't wait to see where Alex and Max take their journey.
Killer Queens #1: Queer Messy Space Soup (Spoiler-Free Advanced Review!)
- Writing - 9/109/10
- Storyline - 8/108/10
- Art - 8.5/108.5/10
- Color - 8.5/108.5/10
- Cover Art - 8.5/108.5/10