Graphic Novel Review: Killer Queens: Putting the Sass in Assassin

Posted on August 25, 2022 at 6:20 am by Gene Ambaum

Killer Queens: Putting the Sass in Assassin written and created by David M. Booher, pencils and inks by Claudia Balboni. Dark Horse Books, 2022. 9781506722153.

Killer Queens opens in the bathroom at Stan’s Diner. Max is about to get it on with a pink alien in a bathroom stall. Alex is having less luck with the woman she’s dating, who is off talking to someone else. Then a flying alien monkey (jetpack, not wings) arrives with a couple of hench otters to try to get his spaceship back from them. That monkey, Captain Bieti, is also pissed that the pair are no longer intergalactic assassins-for-hire, though we don’t know that until the totally unnecessary dialogue on the page where they escape post lasergun fight. (They actually refer to it as “totally unnecessarily dialogue about stuff we both know” which is cute.) They’re soon offered a rescue job which they take and turn into a horny, innuendo-laden adventure that’s a lot of fun.

Balboni’s art adds to the charm of the book and makes the whole thing feel like an episode of Flash Gordon. I’d give it to anyone who loves both Saga and Wilma Deering’s outfits in 80s Buck Rogers reruns.