Smaller truths reveal as Maika’s path begins to take shape.
Creative Staff:
Story: Marjorie Liu
Art: Sana Takeda
What They Say:
Maika must confront the deadly secrets that live inside her.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Monstress has built in a complex (but not complicated) story in its first two issues, aided by the triple-length first issue, that really does remind that the medium can handle a lot of exposition. With Liu’s background in novels as well as comics, she brings a different perspective to world building here that appeals heavily to me, especially in contrast to so many series that are very flimsy on the details. Luckily, it seems like Liu loves details and Sana Takeda is fantastic at bringing it to life. That’s made the complex (but again, not complicated) story of Maika and her attack to gain the mask something that explored a lot of material and introduce us to a world that works in very different ways from our own. All with an immense amount of visual and verbal detail to it.
Liu and Takeda continue to work two main stories that are tied together well here as events get underway and it works well in that we get to see the other side and not just Maika’s story. The focus on Yvette and the Inquisitrixes that have arrived there has its own power schemes and connections that tie back some ways. With a lot of it focused on Maika’s mother Moriko and the belief that Maika was long dead, it’s interesting to see how Yvette is now a total believer and is trying to use the situation to recover some position here, both by getting the illium she needs to get her daughter up and moving again but also to try and regain the mask fragment that was stolen. And even if she doesn’t retain the mask there’s the potential of some status coming back by getting it. The conversation that happens definitely works to fill in some of the blanks with the relationship between these two and Takeda really makes for some fascinating costume design here for just about everyone involved.
The bulk of the issue focuses on Maika herself and she’s definitely struggling. With the thing that’s within her having made its way out, we get a good physical representation of the hunger that she has and the kind of potential adversarial relationship that they’ll have. Maika’s freakout over it is well played as is the darkness of the creature itself, giving it a very imposing feeling. While that sequence itself is short overall, it has a lasting impact that becomes even more important as we get a moment later in the book where, knocked unconscious, Maika talks with her mother and is given a name more important than her own to remember. While we don’t get it, it certainly sets the stage more for what’s to come and I want to know everything about it because it has all the right pieces to intrigue.
The chase given to Maika by the Inquisitrixes definitely plays out well in this issue as we get to see how they catch up to Emilia and her child while Ren is off trying to find and bring back Maika. This reinforces the brutal side of the rank and file, which is understandable when you see what they’re operating under as results are a must, as the threat to the child is intense. What I like about this sequence is that we see a change in how the journey is going since Maika and Ren make their way back but it ends badly for Maika and Ren has to separate again to find the mask. This puts Maika with Kippa once more and that helps to humanize both of them a bit as they eventually make their own escape, leading us to more beautiful mysteries that exist in this world that we’re just barely scratching the surface of.
In Summary:
Monstress continues to be a dense read but it’s a combination of both the writing and the artwork. There’s a lot of detail to what Liu is putting into her scripts with the dialogue but also in the design of the world, which gives Takeda a whole lot to work with and expand upon. It’s such a visual treat to dig into each of the panels – made easier with the zoom capability with the digital edition – and just admire all the work that goes into it. Liu and Takeda have established a lot in the first three issues even as we’re really just in the prologue section of a novel by comparison. I’m really just gushing over this book but it’s also one that I think will really be stronger for a good chunk of readers when they can just read a good number of issues at a time as opposed to monthly. But at the same time, this is one of those books that you want to be there monthly to support and get every little bit that you can by looking at just the individual issue as opposed to burning through the whole. Very recommended.
Grade: A-
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Image Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: January 27th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
