Rayna: The Bastard Queen #2 is a comic written by Ryan Cummins with art by Stan Yak and colors by DC Alonso with letters by Justin Birch. Rayna battles self-doubt, fear, and strange creatures in both her nightmares and the real world. This comic could be classified as psychological horror with a woman at the helm that is suffering from undeserved guilt. The woman in question is Rayna, a young witch leading the group of mercenaries she is a part of into another witch’s den. The leader of this group is her adoptive father Brom who is very concerned for Rayna as she deals with these troubles. This story focuses on Rayna as they traverse through snowy woods and she deals with her problems. There are themes of doom, doubt, and isolation throughout this tale. The action is light but there is a quite a bit of blood and gore. Things are tense from the beginning and only let up for a few moments. This is a slow-paced story so you can soak everything in. The dialogue has a slight tinge of older English but for the most part it is modern. No wordy pages here but text bubbles occasionally stack. This is an issue that gives us a closer look into the mind Rayna while also providing us with daunting stakes for the next installment.
The art here is very detailed and due to nature of the environment the colors are mostly drab and dull, which fits the tone of this story. The scenery is full of trees and almost everything is covered in snow. The bitter cold is conveyed well and this tale takes place entirely outdoors. The backgrounds persist throughout every panel which helps you stay locked in to the story. The expression level here is high as Rayna goes through the ringer and we see many emotions clearly shown on face and with her body. Adding in the other characters and we get a wide range of different looks from pure terror to anger to concern. The faces here are drawn with so much detail from scars and tattoos to the simpler features like eyes and mouths having a sense of realism. The creatures here look grotesque and creepy and fit perfectly in a horroresque story like this. The action here is very light but the blood and gore that surrounds it is what will stick out in your mind.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes.
“Would I like this?”
If you like lady-led horrorish tales with Viking vibes and lurking danger involving magic and mercenary band this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
R. Blood, gore, deaths.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“Rayna! By the gods, what are you doing?!”
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/skeletalpress-comics/rayna-the-bastard-queen-1-2/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 24
Violent Pages: 4, for 17% of the comic
Sexy Pages: 0, for 0% of the comic
**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**
Violence Level – 2
“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”
“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”
“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”
“This was a tournament arc.”
“All my life I had to fight.”
Gore Level – 5
“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”
“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”
“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”
“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”
“This is a slaughterhouse.”
Death Level – 4
“And everybody lived happily ever after.”
“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”
“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”
“Yeah this was a tragedy.”
“Think Gettysburg.”
Porn Level – 2
“Everybody kept their clothes on.”
“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”
“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”
“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”
“Oh. This is porn.”
