Feast Your Eyes on Killer Queens, Dark Horse’s Retro-Cool Queer Sci-Fi Comic

Feast Your Eyes on Killer Queens, Dark Horse’s Retro-Cool Queer Sci-Fi Comic

“Putting the sass in assassin” is exactly the energy we need these days, and thankfully a new Dark Horse mini-series is here to deliver. Killer Queens, a queer sci-fi epic dreamed up by an all-LGBTQ creative team, arrives this August, but we’ve got a first peek at the colorfully retro covers for you today.

The four-part series Killer Queens comes from writer David M. Booher (Canto, Alien Bounty Hunter), artist Claudia Balboni (Fairlady), colorist Harry Saxon (Vagrant Queen), and letterer Lucas Gattoni (Liebestrasse). Here’s a brief synopsis: “Meet Max and Alex, two gay reformed intergalactic assassins-for-hire on the run. Their former boss — a fluffy monkey with a jetpack — is hot on their tail to take back his stolen ship. Even reformed assassins have to eat, so they take a mission from Alex’s old flame: your standard no-kill, casualty-free kidnapping recovery from a nearby moon. Only complication? Half the moon is ruled by a fascist dictator hostile to foreigners. They’re the Killer Queens, so what could possibly go wrong?”

Monkey. With. A. Jetpack. Now, here are the three gorgeous covers from Chris Ables, Balboni and Saxon, and Jen Bartel. First up, Chris Ables:

Feast Your Eyes on Killer Queens, Dark Horse’s Retro-Cool Queer Sci-Fi Comic
Image: Dark Horse

Next, Balboni and Saxon:

Feast Your Eyes on Killer Queens, Dark Horse’s Retro-Cool Queer Sci-Fi Comic
Image: Dark Horse

Finally, Jen Bartel:

Feast Your Eyes on Killer Queens, Dark Horse’s Retro-Cool Queer Sci-Fi Comic
Image: Dark Horse

Killer Queens is a wide right turn from Canto, but that’s what I love about it, Booher said in a statement provided to Gizmodo. “LGBTQ representation matters, and we’ve created a fun, funny space romp that features queer characters but isn’t your typical LGBTQ storyline. The entire creative team has put their hearts and souls into making this gorgeous series, and Dark Horse has put their full faith behind it. I couldn’t be more thrilled to have readers come along for this wild ride.”

Colorist Saxon is similarly excited. “Killer Queens is a fresh and funny comic with queer characters and a retro feel, that’s also in space!” he said. “That’s something I would have been really excited to read when I was younger and, if someone told me the team that created it was LGBTQ and that I’d be a part of that very team…? It’s a dream come true! I’m really proud to be working with really talented people and I hope the readers will enjoy reading Killer Queens as much as we enjoy creating it.”

“When I read this story I got excited,” said artist Claudia Balboni. “Space, adventure, queer characters with a retro flavour style and a lot of fun. I really enjoyed drawing this queer universe and I’m thrilled to be a part of this explosive team.” Added letterer Gattoni, “Lettering this book is a dream come true, and I hope readers have as much fun with it as we all had creating it,” he said. “It’s an irreverent tale with very current and loveable characters, and I think its unique retro look (from the art to the letters) is a real heartfelt homage to the books we read and enjoyed in our younger years.”

Killer Queens #1 (of four) arrives August 18; you can pre-order it now through your local comic shop.


The Cheapest NBN 1000 Plans

Looking to bump up your internet connection and save a few bucks? Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Kotaku, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

Comments