Rayna: The Bastard Queen #1 is a comic written by Ryan Cummins with art by Stan Yak. This is the story of a woman fighting demons on both fronts while hunting for a specific person. A traveling band of mercenaries is hired to defeat a raging demon that is terrorizing the Kingdom of Meravim. Rayna is one of the members of this group and she is probably their best fighter. The only other character of note is Rayna’s father Brom, the leader. The plot is pretty straightforward, a demon is fought and we see the aftermath. They also do a nice build up for the next issue. This issue reminds me of an opening fight scene in a sword and sandal movie. The action is big and loud and very unafraid to get nasty. The dialogue is mostly light but when they really get down to talking it can be a lot. This is a nice opening issue showcasing Rayna’s skills and setting the tone for this series, which isn’t fully dark but close.
This comic is drawn in a realistic style with an overall high amount of detail. There are the occasional brighter colors but everything seems to have a layer of dreariness befitting the environment. The locations we visit are a snow-covered battlefield and the inside of a bar. The expression level here is about average, as most of the characters sport a stale face. The faces are drawn with great detail; full of wrinkles and age, with some characters rocking war paint. If you’ve ever seen anything Norse-related then you can picture the exact kind of outfits these characters are wearing. Fur coats and lots of brown. The action scenes have good flow and get extremely bloody. You’ll have to skip a few pages if gore makes you squeamish.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes.
“Would I like this?”
If you like Norse-inspired tales starring powerful women with a slightly dark tone this is for you. She kinda reminds me of Red Sonja.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
R. Blood, gore, and titties.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“All of these men…yet I’m the only one with any balls.”
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/skeletalpress-comics/rayna-the-bastard-queen-1/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 24
Violent Pages: 9, for 38% of the comic
Sexy Pages: 4, for 17% of the comic
**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**
Violence Level – 3
“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 – 3
“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.”
