Forgiveness is never given … nor is it ever taken for granted.
Creative Staff:
Writer: Joe Brusha
Artwork: Sergio Ariño
Colors: Maxflan Araujo
Letters: Taylor Esposito
What They Say:
The uneasy alliance between Blair Spencer’s team of human soldiers and the vampire Xavier Drake and the monsters he leads has been pushed to the limits. But they’ve managed to hold together and escape the creatures and bandits that have taken over Chicago … or have they? Just when it looks like Spencer will complete her mission and deliver the cure that will save humanity from being primordial creatures, everything falls apart. Now with the time quickly running out Spencer finds herself trapped on a mysterious island from which no one has ever escaped alive. And if she can’t find a way to survive hope for the human race will die.
Content (please note that portions of review may contain spoilers):
After barely escaping from the hunters, Sergeant Spencer and her escort of monsters find a moment of respite as they scavenge for supplies to continue their journey, but all is not proceeding as she had hoped. As Eva attempts to comfort Karl’s ongoing pain, the vampire will not tolerate any false efforts at solace from the human commander, even if the words of sympathy are truthful. Blair consults with Xavier to understand this hatred, but her brother clearly states she will not trust someone from a race that has committed so many atrocities to her former inmates, although none may have been done directly. But as survivors reforge their bonds of companionship, the haunting howl of pursuit once again rears its ugly head, with a shameful display of force exploding before them and used to pacify their latest prisoners. However as the concussive force shatters all resistance, the familiar voice of a sadistic woman cannot but help to taunt Spencer, chiding her for leaving her fearsome hospitality without so much as a thank you to the unyielding hostess.
As the last vestiges of the stunning force wear off, Blair finds herself and the rest of the group now firmly manacled and traveling on a ferry, even as the forceful captor looks down upon her former guests. She cannot but take sincere delight in explaining the morbid situation to her prisoners, how they are now arriving at one of their bases, the former national park called Mackinac Island and the history of this facility once being a Native American burial site, allowing the irony of the location to add to the situation as being their final resting place. However as they separate their prizes, this malicious leader takes savage pleasure in assuring Eva and the sergeant are locked in the same cage, with the brutal hope that the two supposed allies tear each other apart. But even as Spencer once again tries to convince this distrustful vampiress of her pure intentions, this raven haired beauty still cannot forget the past grudges she has against all of humanity, stemming from her memories of a place called Monster Island. The scars Eva bears are a constant reminder of the physical and mental abuse she endured, but can she put those memories behind so that all, both monster and human may survive a common foe?
In Summary:
Writer Joe Brusha continues to surprise as the tenuous structure of which were laid out within Escape From Monster Island have some meaningful repercussions, adding credence to the trauma which was hinted at from the beginning of this series. To think Eva and her friends were survivors from those horrifying experiments is troubling, especially since there were no details given in that prior series as to what they were doing to the captives, and only now do we see who the true monsters were at that location. While the scientists may tried to justify their tests as a means to better understand the enemy, it also dehumanizes themselves and makes the captives all the more mistrustful and validates their deep rooted anger, and thus sowed bitter seeds for an unseen future. Brusha magnificently utilizes that premise to the utmost, allowing the seething cauldron of hatred that we know well from popular legends and horror stories to become his basis, thus churning this collected history into a solid foundation for the title. But what makes it all the more effective is to give a beautiful face to that fury, allowing us to want to relate in some part to Eva, since most may have some history to being bullied and thankfully not to her gruesome extent. And yet it is this approach which gives the struggle between Eva and Blair such a deliciously tenuous and caustic fervor, so much so that it is surprising the vampiress has not struck out at her unwanted allies sooner, with only the promise of helping Karl keeping her in check. However it is this new relationship with a mutual enemy which makes reading their conversations all the more painful, knowing no matter how clichéd it may be that they need to help each other to live, Eva may not swallow her pride if means turning her back on friends of the past.
Since the story takes on a darker turn as we learn the reasons behind Eva’s intense hatred, this allows the stunning illustrations of Sergio Ariño to weave a fantastically detailed tapestry of toxic turmoil for us to witness, even as talented colorist Maxflan Araujo lures us into the narrative with his marvelous palette of enticing tones. However even as this mesmerizing combination of images and colors allows readers to fully delve within the intrigue of this ferocious struggle, we are bombarded with an array of inconsistencies which detract from allowing us to fully enjoy the visual majesty after the opening page, and this is a sad mishap which spoils the overall rewards. While Ariño has crafted a cast of characters which are both beautiful and dynamically portrayed within this issue, he once again falls into the amateurish habit of filling in large portions with black markers, and since this story concentrates largely on Eva’s past, this faux pas cannot be overlooked as before since we now have several close ups of her captivating figure in an ebony catsuit; this strange tendency is jarring to the eye, especially when she also has a luscious mane of black hair which is delicately sculpted but not often muddled by the same technique – it is only on her costume and darker areas which need shadows where we see those signature streaks. What also complicated matters in this issue is Araujo’s change of lighting sources after the first page, switching from a brighter aspect into something which casts a somber veil and thus tones down all colors to a duller finish, this magnifying Ariño’s errors with an overcast atmosphere. It is strange to see the narrative in this manner, and while it is understandable of wanting to create a depressing mood for the story, this change should have remained consistent throughout the issue, but instead changes to a disharmonious balance for explosions or scenes where he wished to attract our attention and then switching back after the mood has been established, making the transition between moments seem lopsided. This odd amalgamation of images and color has created a story that is still intriguing, but in an overall summation it stumbles before we reach a satisfying finish.
Monster Planet has rapidly surpassed my initial judgment in thinking this would be a formulaic story of unwanted alliances, instead emerging into the light as a tale of needed relationships for the betterment of all. But as we near the complicated conclusion for this moving series, a change in art styles and shift in coloring techniques makes this issue seem misplaced within the overall excellence of the title, and I can only hope it will be settled once the dust settles in the end. And yet this stumble is insignificant as we look forward to a finale that will hopefully supply readers with a finish that is meaningful to those who have become invested within these dynamic female leads.
Grade: A
Age Rating: T (for Teens)
Released By: Zenescope
Release Date: February 26, 2020
MSRP: $3.99
