I adored the first volume of Marjorie Liu’s Monstress. Sana Takeda’s art is one of the most stunning that I’ve come across in a comic. At the same time, it’s also unbelievably violent and brutal. I find this pairing somewhat evocative of the Hannibal TV series, which I also loved. (I don’t know what this says about me – that I am ok with gore, provided it’s beautifully presented?) Monstress is set an alternative, matriarchal, steampunk Asia, which is inhabited by humans, anthropomorphic animal gods […]
Going to give this series one more chance, and then I’m out.
I feel like this series is just getting more confusing the longer it goes, and I am less and less interested. It also continues to be overly bleak with no humor at all to lighten it up. The art continues to be gorgeous. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me. It’s been a couple of months (I think) between actually reading it and writing this review, but I seem to recall a pirate ship adventure, and nobody trusting Maika at all, and the monster inside […]
Intriguing start to this manga inspired fantasy series.
Our titular monstress is seventeen year old Maika Halfwolf, and I’m still not quite sure how I feel about her, to be perfectly honest. Maika lives in a fantastical Asiatic inspired world where women rule, and the world is currently being torn apart by a war between humans and arcanics (magical beings, essentially; it’s more complicated than that). All kinds of magical shit is normal to this world: people with wings, immortality, ancient beings (literally called ancients) who look like animals but aren’t, a race […]
The Art is Better Than the Story
I think a few Cannonballers reviewed the Monstress series last year, and when I saw volume one at the local comic book store, the art was so beautiful I decided to make the purchase. The art is truly stunning, a combination of anime and Art Deco (the blurb on the back says Art Deco, but I think it looks a bit Nouveau; maybe elements of both). The story itself is complicated and involves a variety of races of creatures that have a complex history together. […]