In this feature, I ask comic creators that I like a lot to recommend a great comic that they'd like to see spotlighted. They pick the comic and then I write a review of the comic (of course, this runs the risk of them picking a comic that I don't like, but there's so many great comics out there to pick from that I find it hard to believe that that will ever actually happen).

Today's creator is Skottie Young, Eisner-Award winning superstar writer and artist, probably best known for his work on the Oz adaptations with Eric Shanower (Young picked up about four Eisner Awards out of that project), his extremely popular variant covers for Marvel and his current work as the writer and artist of Marvel's Rocket Raccoon. Skottie's choice was Katie Rice's Skadi.

Katie Rice began Skadi with Luke Cormican in 2008, but Rice has been doing the strip solo for nearly two years now.

The concept of the strip is that Skadi is a barbarian who is on a quest to eat one of every animal in the world. Along for her on this quest is a creature known as a bushbeast who is Skadi's slave. She named him Diseasoid, because he is brimming with disease.

Initially, the strip was pretty strictly just a gag strip about Skadi being a demented barbarian with big breasts and a big butt and a desire to eat every creature. She was pretty much completely without morals.

Here is an example of one of the over-the-top early gags (not that Rice doesn't still do the occasional gag strip still, of course)...



And here is an example of her lack of morals...



As time has gone by, Rice has developed Skadi a lot and most importantly, Diseasoid has REALLY developed a personality. Here's an early Diseasoid strip...



but here's a more recent one. See the big difference?



The biggest recurring character is Princess Boudica, who has a great origin for her hatred of Skadi...



The strip has some similarities to Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier's Groo, in that they're both dim-witted barbarians out on quests that end up getting caught up in various misadventures. And they're both really well drawn, as Rice is an excellent artist. Her sequentials and her storytelling are top rate.

And the story in general is fun, too. For a truly amazing experiece, check out her Choose Your Own Adventure storyline, where she literally made up the story as she went along based on reader votes! Amazing!

Anyhow, here is Skadi's website. Go read it!

Skottie ALSO wanted to point out another Katie Rice comic strip, Camp Weedonwantcha, about a camp where kids are just left off and never returned for. It mostly follows a trio of friends, Malachi, Seventeen, and Brian. Here is the latest strip (Rice does the strip with Adam Wallander)...



And here is the website for Camp Weedonwantcha!

Rice is clearly one hell of a comic creator.