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Renegade Rule
Prepare for competitive gaming like you've never seen it!The Manhattan Mist have beaten the odds to land themselves in the national championships for Renegade Rule, one of the hottest virtual reality games in existence. But they're in for competition fiercer than they ever imagined, and one team member's entire future could be at stake. Four queer female friends will have to play harder than ever against self-doubt, infighting, romantic distraction, and a slew of other world-class teams if they hope to become champions. Both hilarious and heartwarming, this new graphic novel from Ignatz-nominated writer Ben Kahn, debut author Rachel Silverstein, and artist Sam Beck is a celebration of friendship, competition, queer identity, and the insane things we do for the things and people we love.
112 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 8, 2021
2 people are currently reading
621 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
June 18, 2021
I like the components of this book, but taken as a whole, it is just sort of so-so.
It's about a team of virtual reality gamers playing a mash-up version of laser tag and capture the flag for big bucks in a national tournament. But it is also about their relationships -- friendly and romantic -- within the team and with their rivals. Having lots of diversity and LGBTQ+ elements drew my attention, but none of the characters are particularly complex emotionally, doing little more than ribbing each other before getting psyched up for the next match.
The games were not presented in a very exciting manner, and between the time spent on them and trying to cover the whole ensemble cast, the relationship stuff seemed pretty cursory and perfunctory.
The art was nice, and I would be willing to try more work by the writers in the future to see how they develop.
It's about a team of virtual reality gamers playing a mash-up version of laser tag and capture the flag for big bucks in a national tournament. But it is also about their relationships -- friendly and romantic -- within the team and with their rivals. Having lots of diversity and LGBTQ+ elements drew my attention, but none of the characters are particularly complex emotionally, doing little more than ribbing each other before getting psyched up for the next match.
The games were not presented in a very exciting manner, and between the time spent on them and trying to cover the whole ensemble cast, the relationship stuff seemed pretty cursory and perfunctory.
The art was nice, and I would be willing to try more work by the writers in the future to see how they develop.
April 20, 2021
I really liked this comic! I have nothing to complain besides not being able to read more of it.
This comic is about a group of girls competing in a virtual game competition.
The characters are super queer and fun. I loved the art style, both the characters and the way the gaming experience is illustrated look great. And I am impressed how much the story conveyed in the limited space the comic has.
So I am really hoping that this will be a longer series and that I get to find out what happens next.
This comic is about a group of girls competing in a virtual game competition.
The characters are super queer and fun. I loved the art style, both the characters and the way the gaming experience is illustrated look great. And I am impressed how much the story conveyed in the limited space the comic has.
So I am really hoping that this will be a longer series and that I get to find out what happens next.
April 4, 2021
Take the action of Code Lyoko, girl squad from Skam, and make it 100% queer for new adults— and you get Renegade Rule! This book was so fun. It’s a love letter about being queer and a gamer, about trying to figure shit out in your twenty’s, and about cherishing your friendships. The art style and colors pop on every page, and the dialogue is bursting with wit. If you’re looking for a quick, joyful, queer graphic novel, I can’t recommend Renegade Rule enough! 5/5 stars.
July 29, 2022
This was a fun and entertaining graphic novel. I enjoyed the characters and the plot. Love that the book is about finding love and kicking butts in a video game world. I also loved the underlying story of Amanda and her mother. This was an enjoyable read overall.
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October 1, 2021
really quick, fun read! + would definitely love to see more in this universe
February 17, 2024
Kinda cute one shot story about a group of queer girl’s competing in a VR game competition. Most of them have some sort of romance. I was bummed Tonya got no one. Very sad when the rest of her team was shown with a partner at some point, even if one was just a one night stand.
Still, nice to see bi rep even with Sasha’s comment about dating men being boring. This book wasn’t made for me but other queer people might like it.
Still, nice to see bi rep even with Sasha’s comment about dating men being boring. This book wasn’t made for me but other queer people might like it.
August 9, 2021
funny, cool, cute and queer AF
October 29, 2021
(2.5)
Rep: Black lesbian mc, lesbian mcs, Japanese American bi mc, Black bi side character, Latina lesbian side character, gay side characters
Rep: Black lesbian mc, lesbian mcs, Japanese American bi mc, Black bi side character, Latina lesbian side character, gay side characters
August 11, 2025
3.5 ⭐️ A wild adventure of Sapphic competitive gaming.
First of all, I did enjoy this. It’s nothing out of this world, but it is fast paced and a lot of fun.
I also really enjoyed the illustration style, its vibrant and really lends itself to the in game scenes.
I was let down a bit at the pacing and the humour. Some of the humour felt a tad off with the generalised commentary on body parts etc that do have the potential to read as harmful to trans/bi readers. It was only a few one liners but was still a bit surprising to find in a queer novel.
Other than that, I did enjoy the novel. I will be reading the second because my library has it and I’m hoping the humour is better in that one. The art style and story have a fun premise so it will be interesting to see how it continues.
Rep// Black Lesbian MC, White Lesbian MC, White Lesbian MC, White bisexual MC, Black Bisexual SC, Butch Sapphic SC, Queer Men SCs. Central romances are mostly WLW.
TWs listed below, please skip if you don’t want vague spoilers.
TW// parent who is sick, struggle to cover medical fees, guns (in game), explosions (in game), several jokes involving anatomy etc.
First of all, I did enjoy this. It’s nothing out of this world, but it is fast paced and a lot of fun.
I also really enjoyed the illustration style, its vibrant and really lends itself to the in game scenes.
I was let down a bit at the pacing and the humour. Some of the humour felt a tad off with the generalised commentary on body parts etc that do have the potential to read as harmful to trans/bi readers. It was only a few one liners but was still a bit surprising to find in a queer novel.
Other than that, I did enjoy the novel. I will be reading the second because my library has it and I’m hoping the humour is better in that one. The art style and story have a fun premise so it will be interesting to see how it continues.
Rep// Black Lesbian MC, White Lesbian MC, White Lesbian MC, White bisexual MC, Black Bisexual SC, Butch Sapphic SC, Queer Men SCs. Central romances are mostly WLW.
TWs listed below, please skip if you don’t want vague spoilers.
TW// parent who is sick, struggle to cover medical fees, guns (in game), explosions (in game), several jokes involving anatomy etc.
July 8, 2021
Very gay, very fast, very fun. Did I mention it's gay?
July 21, 2021
This was cute and queer - I loved the gaming element infused throughout, it totally reminded me of my old days playing Overwatch.
August 27, 2021
A good time!
December 11, 2021
really fun comic about a group of queer girls who are in a gaming competition!
January 19, 2022
Okay, the art was pretty
November 1, 2022
I wanted to like it more than I did. The art style was my favourite part, but it felt like I watched part of an episode. It didn’t work well as a whole, the characters weren’t fleshed out and a minimal amount of plot happened. Minus point for the dialogue “awko-taco”
June 18, 2021
Gahhhhhhh I loved this so much but why must it be so short??? I need more immediately!! The art is gorgeous and this has the most beautiful Bi-rep I think I've ever seen. All around a winner but I still want to throw a chair at the lack of more pages!!!
June 5, 2022
Queers girls playing games and kicking ass pretty much locked me into enjoying this one. I do think it could have used more time, more space. I think the stakes feel a bit artificially inflated. There is no tournament for any competitive game i've ever seen that has no runners up prize. The idea that a game with a grand stage show has no second place prize is so freaking wild to me. That was pretty distracting. I do think we didn't get room for the sapphic romances to really blossom in the book.
The art is fantastic, colors are great, it's a really good book that I think coulda been that level greater with more space or different priorities. It worked well for the space they had though and the team did a good job of fitting in the full story in such a condensed place.
The art is fantastic, colors are great, it's a really good book that I think coulda been that level greater with more space or different priorities. It worked well for the space they had though and the team did a good job of fitting in the full story in such a condensed place.
June 2, 2021
Almost every film student of the late twentieth/early twenty-first century thinks that just writing about their friends sitting around at their houses having awesome conversations would make for an interesting film. They're almost always wrong. Excruciatingly so.
Similarly, this century, more and more media seems to be about playing video games of mmorpgs or fantasy campaigns. But it is super fucken hard to write about playing a game in a way that's interesting to someone who's not involved in playing that same game.
Renegade Rules opens with a team playing an mmorpg and just throwing one liners at each other to give the reader some idea of their personalities. And ... it feels like a lot of 80s superhero comics, in that the snappy patter is just going to sound like dated idiocy in just a few years. And while the art in this book is fine, it's not supporting the in-game world experience. If you're just going to go for action flick interaction, you need some astounding artwork to make your audience realize how cool the game is, and it needs to look vastly different from the Real World component of the story. But there's really no difference between the two worlds, and the whole thing just looks a slightly above average webcomic.
I just didn't care about any of the characters (again, they have the depth of action movie characters, so I don't think I'm supposed to care very much), and the premise about wanting to be champions at The Nationals tournament just wasn't exciting.
Similarly, this century, more and more media seems to be about playing video games of mmorpgs or fantasy campaigns. But it is super fucken hard to write about playing a game in a way that's interesting to someone who's not involved in playing that same game.
Renegade Rules opens with a team playing an mmorpg and just throwing one liners at each other to give the reader some idea of their personalities. And ... it feels like a lot of 80s superhero comics, in that the snappy patter is just going to sound like dated idiocy in just a few years. And while the art in this book is fine, it's not supporting the in-game world experience. If you're just going to go for action flick interaction, you need some astounding artwork to make your audience realize how cool the game is, and it needs to look vastly different from the Real World component of the story. But there's really no difference between the two worlds, and the whole thing just looks a slightly above average webcomic.
I just didn't care about any of the characters (again, they have the depth of action movie characters, so I don't think I'm supposed to care very much), and the premise about wanting to be champions at The Nationals tournament just wasn't exciting.
June 3, 2021
Renegade Rule by writers Ben Kahn and Rachel Silverstein, and artist Sam Beck, is a celebration of friendship, competition, queer identity, and the insane things we do for the things and people we love.
The Manhattan Mist have beaten the odds to land themselves in the national championships for Renegade Rule, one of the hottest virtual reality games in existence. But they're in for competition fiercer than they ever imagined, and one team member's entire future could be at stake.
The Manhattan Mist:
Amanda Cassidy - Team Captain
Sasha Zimmerman - healer
Tonya LeFleur - tank specialist
Jessie Nakamura - sniper
This comic was so much fun!! There’s honestly not much better than a queer group of friends living their best life. I hope there is more to come with these characters because I need to know what happens next! ;)
LGBTQIA+ rep: Four queer female MCs, bisexual boyfriend, queer side characters, non-binary author
The Manhattan Mist have beaten the odds to land themselves in the national championships for Renegade Rule, one of the hottest virtual reality games in existence. But they're in for competition fiercer than they ever imagined, and one team member's entire future could be at stake.
The Manhattan Mist:
Amanda Cassidy - Team Captain
Sasha Zimmerman - healer
Tonya LeFleur - tank specialist
Jessie Nakamura - sniper
This comic was so much fun!! There’s honestly not much better than a queer group of friends living their best life. I hope there is more to come with these characters because I need to know what happens next! ;)
LGBTQIA+ rep: Four queer female MCs, bisexual boyfriend, queer side characters, non-binary author
May 18, 2021
I received an eARC courtesy of Dark Horse Books via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.
I was pleasantly surprised with this one. Our college-aged gamers have some colorful language, but there is a lot of diversity happening here. Girl gamers and LGBT+ representation-yes please!
For Libraries: Note the content (language, sexual references) and ages of characters, so this might fit best in an adult graphic collection. Don't have an adult graphics area? No worries-I don't think there is anything that is TOO much for teens (no nudity, no gore, language isn't worse than many of the other YA titles).
I was pleasantly surprised with this one. Our college-aged gamers have some colorful language, but there is a lot of diversity happening here. Girl gamers and LGBT+ representation-yes please!
For Libraries: Note the content (language, sexual references) and ages of characters, so this might fit best in an adult graphic collection. Don't have an adult graphics area? No worries-I don't think there is anything that is TOO much for teens (no nudity, no gore, language isn't worse than many of the other YA titles).
July 23, 2021
A highly entertaining read about a group of queer friends who qualify for the fictional Renegade Rule National Video Game Tournament.
Amanda Cassidy is the team captain of the Manhattan Mist and has a lot riding on the outcome of the tournament to be able to pay her mother's medical bills. Her teammates and friends are less serious about the game, but are 100% in to support Amanda. The other teams are made up of lots of great secondary characters as well and the underlying relationships between players on the different teams makes for a fun tournament.
Basically if you enjoy reading about video games and super gay people you will love this story.
Amanda Cassidy is the team captain of the Manhattan Mist and has a lot riding on the outcome of the tournament to be able to pay her mother's medical bills. Her teammates and friends are less serious about the game, but are 100% in to support Amanda. The other teams are made up of lots of great secondary characters as well and the underlying relationships between players on the different teams makes for a fun tournament.
Basically if you enjoy reading about video games and super gay people you will love this story.
June 1, 2021
Renegade Rule is an inclusive and action-packed read, perfect for anyone who loves a good sports movie, with excellent art and smart writing that elevates from a simple story of friendship to a world of possibilities. One of my favorite comic reads of the year!
You can read my full review at the Outerhaven.
A copy of Renengade Rule was provided in exchange for an honest review.
You can read my full review at the Outerhaven.
A copy of Renengade Rule was provided in exchange for an honest review.
July 2, 2021
Absolutely LOVED this.
A fun VR gaming competition that feels like a mix of D&D and The Hollow (tv series). The characters themselves are a hilarious and sarcastic band of misfit queers and I love all of them. The flirting was everything and the one liners killed me everytime
《"I don't want to hear about your fucking fanfic!"》
It also doesn't hurt that every single character in this is uber hot.
Not 5 stars only because I thought it was too short. I wanted to see more of the other team members backstory/home life but hopefully there's more to come and I'll be first in line!
A fun VR gaming competition that feels like a mix of D&D and The Hollow (tv series). The characters themselves are a hilarious and sarcastic band of misfit queers and I love all of them. The flirting was everything and the one liners killed me everytime
《"I don't want to hear about your fucking fanfic!"》
It also doesn't hurt that every single character in this is uber hot.
Not 5 stars only because I thought it was too short. I wanted to see more of the other team members backstory/home life but hopefully there's more to come and I'll be first in line!
February 9, 2021
I cannot express how much I love this graphic novel! It has something to suit everyone—esports shenanigans, pining from afar, quippy one-liners, and supportive (sometimes snarky) pals. PLUS the underlining queer storyline is so amazing and not overdone or overemphasized, and is depicted as a subplot to the overall story line; which, as a queer gal myself, I enjoyed quite a lot. If I could give this work 10/10 stars I absolutely would, and I would definitely recommend reading it!
August 4, 2021
Meh. Despite my love for video games, I didn't really love the story - I didn't care for the in-game parts, and most of this took place in-game. I would have liked the characters more if there was more to them. I felt like their personalities weren't really fleshed out, and I can't even remember any of their names despite just finishing the book. However the art was pretty nice, I liked all the representation, and it was an interesting idea for a story, even if it didn't really do much for me.
June 27, 2022
An all female group of teen/young adult gamers gets into Nationals for the game Renegade Rule. Their team, Manhattan Mist, goes up against some of the biggest names in the game - people they've idolized. These ladies embrace their bad-assery to the fullest and pull out all the stops to stay in the game. Includes backstories of the characters as well as play by play details of their competitions (and relationship adventures). Fun, light read.
April 19, 2023
This was a fun story about a group of friends who are competing in the Renegade Rule virtual gaming tournament, and along the way they find love and a sense of purpose. I enjoyed this. It was both amusing and heartwarming. I was expecting more development on the potential Tonya and Sasha romance though.
Overall, this was fun and had great artwork and vibrant colors. I would read another volume of these girls falling in love and kicking ass.
Overall, this was fun and had great artwork and vibrant colors. I would read another volume of these girls falling in love and kicking ass.
December 10, 2021
This is story of a team of female gamers, playing a VR competition game and getting to go to the national championships. It's fun and full of well-rounded interesting characters. There were a few times where panels didn't quite line up for me, or made a jump I didn't 100% follow, but it was a fun quick read!
January 23, 2022
Cute and queer. Queer gamers compete in tournament. Lots of queer characters, gay crushes and queer references. Even a night at Stonewall. They even had a poly relationship. Were they the healthiest relationships? Debatable. Have I seen these characters in people I’ve met in real life? Definitely. It did feel rushed, especially at the end and I was left wanting to see just a little bit more.
February 25, 2023
I picked this up for a bookclub read.
I enjoyed this story and loved how it flipped back and forth between real life and the game the characters were playing. I covered a variety of topics quickly and easily but didn't dwell on the problems so they were not as depressing as they could have been.
It was a quick read and I would recommend it to those who like light adventure and graphic novels.
I enjoyed this story and loved how it flipped back and forth between real life and the game the characters were playing. I covered a variety of topics quickly and easily but didn't dwell on the problems so they were not as depressing as they could have been.
It was a quick read and I would recommend it to those who like light adventure and graphic novels.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews