Renegade Rule — written by Ben Kahn and Rachel Silverstein, drawn by Sam Beck and lettered by Jim Campbell for Dark Horse — is a delightful and fun little treat for the beginning of Pride. The bones of the story being told aren’t necessarily new or revolutionary, but the artwork, earnest characters and the excitement of having this book be thoroughly queer is enough to bring it out the other end as a light book about gays, gaming and friendship.
Kahn and Silverstein’s script and plot work for the story they’re telling. A great strength of Renegade Rule is its clarity in terms of characters. All four of the main cast have their thing, and it makes them easy to identify with and follow their arcs through the book and on the whole; each ends in a satisfying conclusion. These through arcs on top of the “tournament arc” structure give this book a very good sense of completion.
Some of the stronger plotting moments come from Amanda Cassidy, the leader of the group and the closest character to being the capital “P” protagonist. Despite being the leader of this group of competitive gamers, she is the one with one foot firmly grounded in reality on account of her mother’s illness and money issues. Amanda’s story is by far the heart of Renegade Rule and gives a great sense of pathos to the book. Also she’s got a rivalry romance arc, and those are always fun.
There are elements that didn’t quite work for me, but that may be where I’m coming from as a reader. I must confess that I’m only a lowercase “g” gamer and spend most of my time with single-player games, far from the realm of esports, so I might be missing out on some of the spark that people who spend a lot of time playing Overwatch or other multiplayer games may pick up. Some of the humor also didn’t necessarily do it for me, especially where the punchlines were the characters stating their sexuality. This isn’t on its whole a problem, just not necessarily my cup of tea, and I can see a lot of people digging that and the book’s general bounciness. It doesn’t necessarily always hit for me, but the book maintains a strong tonal consistency in balancing its energetic and sometimes raunchy (in a kinda 2014 way) humor alongside the pretty heartwarming story at its center.
Sam Beck’s work in this book is a treat in how much it differs from her most notable work, Verse. Whereas Verse is a sprawling and atmospheric fantasy story, Renegade Rule is almost at the opposite end of the spectrum with its modern setting and more energetic and humorous pace. There are still hints of Beck’s realm of fantasy in the designs for the in-game avatars, with just a dash of sci-fi, but it is fun to see her play with more contemporary fashion in making these characters feel fleshed out. Beck’s sense of architecture and creating some pretty great settings are in the mix, which is such a treat in Verse and great to see here. In terms of the quick-paced video game action, Beck keeps up with the script incredibly well as she balances the comedy and stunt work. Jessie Nakamaura’s last stand in one of the tournament rounds comes to mind as a satisfying payoff to a really well-told sequence.
Ultimately it could be easy to pass on Renegade Rule, but there’s a solid core there that will resonate with a lot of readers. It’s a tournament arc with video games and it has a lot of tried-and-true tropes at its center, but just on the basis of how queer this cast is, and Kahn and Silverstein bringing just enough fresh ideas to the table, it’s worthwhile. It’s a fun read with cute characters and engaging action, and it succeeds on those levels. Renegade Rule is sure to be a nice comfort read for folks who came into comics with Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and those other mid-2010s books that were big on fun and inclusivity.
Kenneth Laster is a critic, cartoonist, and cryptid with a movie degree.
