An Infestation Of The New York Kind: ‘New Rat City’ On Kickstarter
by Brendan M. Allen
In a near-future New York City, curious pest controller Felicia Shepherd discovers how the mystery of her mother’s disappearance is related to the biggest threat facing the flooding, rat-plagued city. Live now on Kickstarter, New Rat City is written by underground New York poet Honor Vincent with art by George Quadros, colors by DC Alonso, letters by Lucas Gattoni, and cover by Ariel Medel.
‘Felicia Shephard has taken over the family pest control business in the crumbling, flooded remains of New York City. Killing anything—even roaches—is against the law, so she and her fellow rat-herders have to get creative. Sound cannons, pheromone sprays, and titanium field printers are all fair play, as is the Central Park Pound.
After seeing strange slime at one of her clients’ apartments, Felicia learns that there are swarms of rats and roaches all over the city, and the no-kill order is being lifted by the Mayor for 2 weeks to get things under control. Felicia—who has never killed anything before—hesitates to do this. Later that day, Felicia and her biologist friend Johnny encounter more strange swarms and new creatures downtown.’
“My dad was an exterminator when I was a kid,” said Vincent. “He’d bring me along to restaurants while he worked on debugging them, and on trap and release missions for raccoons and possums, which he rescued. And I always thought it was a tragic sort of job, because he loves animals, as do I. Years later, I watched my neighborhood flood during Hurricane Sandy. It made what had been an idle question a very pressing one: how do people go on living in places that have flooded (or burned, or been flattened by a tornado) and are sure to flood again? What happens to a place if people decide it’s not worth the trouble living there anymore? This was when I decided to team up with George and DC again to create New Rat City.”
“Working on New Rat City was one of the best experiences of my career so far,” added Quadros. “It’s an incredible universe, designed and developed by a super creative team. I was the first fan of this comic and I believe I showed this beautiful (and disgusting) post-apocalyptic rat world artistically.”
Backer rewards kick in at the $6 level for a digital comic, physical copies are at the $11 level. Then at higher backer levels, patches, stickers, name on the backer thanks page, Zoom chats with the creators, and commissioned art from George Quadros are available. Check out the campaign right here.
