"Rita" is the current wiki-coined name for an orange cat who, when she first appears, is the resident mouser in the kitchen of an unnamed British submarine. This particular sub happens to be the one that evacuates (among others) Krosp and Martellus from the self-destructing dome of the Queen's Society. And so, Rita meets Krosp, and affectionately recognizes him as her king. This annoys Krosp more than anything else, but Martellus sees an opportunity, and latches onto her.
Uplifting the Empress[]
Eventually Martellus is given a lab by Hadrian Rakethorn, and successfully alters Rita in two ways: first, physical contact between the two of them allows him to remain healthy without contact with Agatha, cf. Agatha's Wasp eater. Second, he uplifts her intelligence, producing a demanding and arrogant gal with lightning-bolt patterns on her forehead. He hands Rita's post-op recovery and etiquette training over to his sister Seffie; how successful Seffie was with the latter remains to be seen. It's not been explicitly stated what Martellus hopes to gain with the uplifting; see below for speculations
And so inevitably Rita and Krosp meet again ✣ for the first time. There is an instant mutual attraction, but, well, they're cats. HISSSSS!!
After a further off-screen argument, Krosp and Rita separate and she accompanies ✣ Martellus as he stows away on Gil's Europa-bound airship. En route, she gets some grooming from Seffie, and offers political advice to her creator.
When everyone converges on Mechanicsburg, Rita and Krosp do start talking to each other, and even share ✣ a meal of Norville's tasty sandwiches, though they are still a long way from being overtly friendly.
The Empress with No Name[]
In the scene in which Rita first appears, ✣ Krosp refers to her as "the kitchen's cat", which isn't much of a name. An early attempt on this wiki to coin a name for the character resulted in "Floozy", which didn't stick. (Both "Floozy" and some variant of "the Kitchen's Cat" have also been used to refer to Rita in this wiki.) After that, Rita vanishes from the story for some time. When Rita, now uplifted, reappears in the comic, the section title "Introducing the Empress" ✣ is used. It is uncertain whether this title should be considered canonical or used as this cat's only name.[1]
However, given Martellus's situation and the comments he's made about Krosp, and to Krosp about the Swartzwalders (his control of whom was lost to Krosp), it seems likely that Rita's ultimate purpose is indeed to subvert Krosp. Conversely, it should be noted that initially Rita displays great antipathy towards the idea of spending more time around her potential target.
The Future?[]
For the 2023 holiday season, the Foglios teamed with PipsMountain to create a set of four advent-type dice calendars, one of which depicts a Yule-time meeting ✣ of the Mechanicsburg Guild of Monsters. Among the guests at this soiree are Krosp and Rita, arriving as a pair and both wearing clothes; exactly how canonical this scene actually is remains to be seen.
There was no comic on Wednesday, 12/27/2023. The image in place of a comic is Krosp and Rita, ✣ in an embrace, watching Agatha play with their kittens. Also, Rita is wearing purple, which was a color associated with royalty, starting in Classical Antiquity. The association lasted until the invention of synthetic dyes in the 1850s. Still no word on whether the pairing is canon.
Possibly relevant outside information[]
The lightning bolts in her hair resemble the iconic hairdo sported by the Bride of Frankenstein in the classic film of the same name. Rita's first post-uplift appearance, lying bandaged on an angled slab, is likely to be another reference to the 1935 film.
Supergirl adopted a stray cat named Streaky with orange fur and lightning bolt marks on his sides. He was given superpowers when exposed to Kryptonite she had chemically altered.
References
- ↑ It is not clear that the Foglios seriously intend "The Empress" to be Rita's official title. It may only have been used as a joke because Krosp originally identifies himself ✣ to Agatha as "The Emperor of All Cats" and Rita is Krosp's female counterpart. On the other hand, ever since this section title was added to the comic, Kaja has been consistently referring to this cat as the Empress on Patreon (behind a paywall).