A dangerous choice put into motion.
Creative Staff:
Story: Marjorie Liu
Art: Sana Takeda
What They Say:
Maika and her friends face betrayal and death, and only the monster inside—and her growing relationship with it—can save them.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I ended up falling behind on Monstress after getting the first five issues on sale and with the series kicking off again after a break, well, it’s a great time to get back into this wonderfully complex world. Marjorie Liu has crafted an intriguing place that already has me wishing for a novelization to dig into the nuance of it all more and Sana Takeda has delivered some gorgeous earthy artwork over the run, which continues here to fantastic effect. This issue brings the opening arc to a close while setting up for what’s next as it provides some clues and a sense of answers to things. There’s nothing here that makes it a jumping off point, however, as it simply establishes that this is a must-read series all the more.
There are multiple storylines that are working at this point with various intersections along the way, but the focus is still primarily on Maika herself. With her having been taken in and captured, placed within an ancient sarcophagus that was designed to hold the most powerful of ancients, the fear is there about how it may not be able to hold her and what’s within her. And the focus is on that as we get a lot of dialogue from the monster inside her, passed down through descendants over the generations, as it takes view of her memories to try and figure out why she’s different. The clues are there and it’s fascinating to see the present form of Maika also self-aware enough to see it and interact with the monster, though the two are fairly adversarial here even as they need each other to escape these confines. It’s a haunting dynamic to see them both watching and commenting on Maika’s past and seeing things in a new light.
Though this is the main focus we do get to explore some other areas. I love how Kippa is so intent on finding Maika that she faces down not just Ren and his blase attitude at this stage but also Corvis and what he represents from the Dusk Court. Of course, Kippa reveals far too much and they all end up back where Maika is just as things go so horribly disastrous as the Holy Mother ends up engaging with a revived Maika. She herself is intriguing since she’s not human and is something more, and someone with the intent on bringing more like her into this world as she sees Maika as a tool. There are a lot of moving pieces here in getting us to the point where the journey can continue but Liu and Takeda bring so much information along with it, and with such excellent pacing, that it’s something that doesn’t feel rushed in the slightest.
In Summary:
Monstress continues to be a book that I really want to soak up on a monthly basis but also find myself frustrated by it because I want to just bing on it in a big way. Like, reading a novel kind of way. Liu and Takeda hit some really big points here that serves to close out the opening arc and it adds lots of details and a change in the dynamic between some of the characters. New reveals are made and it feels like there’s progress afoot, even if it’s not entirely discernible at the moment. This is a series that merits re-reading multiple times as new installments come out and reading arcs in full in order to get ready for what’s next to come. Great stuff and very recommended.
Grade: A-
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Image Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: May 25th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
