Snapshots
[Maika] Go on, all of you. RAGE. Madness just struck your friends and loved ones, and probably had to kill them to survive. But none of you can deal with that, can you? You’d rather blame someone else, instead of feeling your grief. You’d rather keep killing instead of remembering. You’re murderers. But worse, you are cowards.
[Maika] The Cumaeans don’t think we’re people either, old man. They say we don’t have souls. [Lord Doctor] We can quibble ethics all day, daughter, but there can be no denying that we are on the brink of war. A war that will be decided by intelligence. I do not intend to lose that war because of a frailty of conscience.
[Maika] I felt the same last night after I discovered we’d killed. Horrified… But not suicidal. That terrifies me… More than anything. It means I’m okay with killing… and eating… so I can survive.
[Crow] I was raised to believe one must sacrifice the few if it saves the many. But how many? How few? Would you sacrifice Kippa to save the world? I don’t believe it would even cross your mind. And that, Lady Halfwolf, is the answer to the question. You fight for a who… not a what.
[Maika] Mother… I feel strange. [Zinn, taking over] I’m so hungry. [Moriko] Little wolf. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be…
Gut punch to see Zinn feed on Maika’s mother, and Moriko’s surrender while trying to calm her Maika.
[Crow] I saw your face in Ravenna. I saw you watching the halfwolf and Kippa. You didn’t care about the old god. You only watched them. Does it trouble you? That a child healed the halfwolf, and you could not?
[Clone] No! No, please don’t kill me! We’re the same! You’re my mother! [Tuya] We don’t have mothers. And we’re nothing alike. I have to do this. The Baroness will be reborn in you if I don’t. She needs to die. [Clone] W-why? Sh-she’s not evil, is sh-she? [Tuya] All the ancients are evil. What they do to us is evil. How they take our minds is evil. [Clone] I don’t care! I don’t care! I want to live! I want to live!
Review
Familiar trope: Maika is a teenager with other-worldly power inside her, and Kippa is the idealist cute plush-like friend. That said, Maika is not entirely likable. Reminds me of the Mandalorian and Grogu.
A captivating story that leaves me wanting to grab the next issue. Theme-wise, it’s comparable to Brian Vaughan’s Saga , but fewer moments-that-make-you-think™. A lot of explorations on the evils of war.
The matriarchal order just is, and that makes it potent. To borrow from Tywin Lannister, “Any order that must say, ‘I am The Order’, is no true Order.” contends that the faction leaders are too interchangeable, and the female bosses are annoyingly exquisite.
References
- Monstress Vol. 4: The Chosen. #19. Marjorie Liu; Sana Takeda. 2019.
- Monstress Vol. 4: The Chosen. #23. Marjorie Liu; Sana Takeda. 2019.
- Monstress Vol. 5: War Child. #26. Marjorie Liu; Sana Takeda. 2020.
- Monstress Vol. 5: War Child. #30. Marjorie Liu; Sana Takeda. 2020.
- You've Heard 'Monstress' Is Great. But Just How Great Is It? Etelka Lehoczky. www.npr.org . Jul 9, 2019. Accessed Sep 5, 2022.
- Creator ownership in comics - Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org . Accessed Sep 5, 2022.
- Monstress Vol. 7: Devourer. #37. Marjorie Liu; Sana Takeda. 2022.
- Monstress Vol. 7: Devourer. #39. Marjorie Liu; Sana Takeda. 2022.
- Monstress Vol. 7: Devourer. #41. Marjorie Liu; Sana Takeda. 2022.
Ms. Liu notes that Monstress is a creator-owned comic book series. Why is “creator-owned” significant?
While creator ownership has been common in fiction writing, it’s more the exception in comics, recorded music, and motion pictures, where the work is sold to the publishers, or produced as work-for-hire. Prominent outfits for creator-owned comics include Image Comics (founded by prominent Marvel artists), DC’s Vertigo imprint (now Black Label), and Dark Horse Comics' Legend imprint.
Monstress is published under Image Comics.