Written by: Kurtis J. Wiebe
Art by: Tess Fowler
Publisher: Image
The last issue of Rat Queens came out way back in October, but that hasn’t kept their name out of the headlines. Since then, the creative team for Rat Queens was rattled when original artist Roc Upchurch was arrested for domestic abuse, which they dealt with gracefully by swiftly replacing Upchurch with Stjepan Sejic and promising a more consistent schedule in 2015. Now, Rat Queens is back with a special one shot with guest artist Tess Fowler focusing on the back story of the side character, Braga.
This issue is a real treat. Rat Queens has always impressed me with its cast of diverse, kick ass women, and with this one shot, Wiebe is revealing that the cast is even more diverse than we originally thought. Braga, the lady orc leader of the Peaches, used to be known as Broog to her orc tribe, where she was the eldest son of the Chieftain. In other words, Braga is a transgender orc woman.
We are introduced to Braga through the scope of her telling her back story to a one night stand. In her flashbacks, she is Broog: a commander born into a leadership role for a tribe he no longer believes in. Even as Broog, Braga is breaking orcish tradition by yearning for a more diplomatic way of dealing with conflicts. By the end of the issue, Broog has left the tribe and presumably transitioned shortly after that.
Wiebe tells Braga’s story in a subtle way. There’s no point in the issue where she comes out and says she’s transgender, and she doesn’t have to. It’s not even the main reason she left her tribe. Her gender identity is just a part of her, it’s not her defining feature in any way.
Tess Fowler does a phenomenal job in this issue. She draws Braga with a really gentle face that reflects her peaceful leanings and sets her apart from the other orcs. That doesn’t stop her from kicking ass, though, or from being incredibly sexy in the beginning and end of the issue. Fowler and Wiebe tackle transgender stereotypes by making it clear that now, to the reader and to other characters in the story, Braga is a woman, and she’s a desirable woman, too.
This issue comes out at a really interesting time where transgender issues are at the forefront of a lot of conversations because of the death of Leelah Alcorn, a transgender teenager who committed suicide due to the rejection she experienced from her parents. Wiebe and Fowler show that Braga didn’t experience acceptance at home either, but she still grew into a powerful woman and leader in her own right after she parted ways with her tribe, and that’s an important message to relay to the world in the wake of tragedy.
