Welcome back once more to the Comic Book Corner. This week we’ll take a look at one of the more popular comic series to come out of the fantasy genre, Monstress. Monstress is a high fantasy comic series that is written by Marjorie Liu with art by Sana Takeda. First released in 2015 and published by Image Comics, the series is currently ongoing. The series has also been collected into six trade paperbacks with the seventh to release this year. Volume one collects issues one to four.

The world of Monstress is one rich in background lore. Humans and a race of animal hybrids known as Arcanics war amongst one another after the rise of an order of witch nuns known as the Cumae began to preach against the Arcanics. In the midst of this conflict, an Arcanic girl known as Maika Halfwolf finds herself the host of an ancient deity as she searches for answers surrounding the death of her mother.

My favorite thing about this narrative is easily the artwork. Takeda has a beautiful style that blends fantasy with elements of America’s Gilded Age and Steampunk. I also love how the artist uses paneling to emphasize elements of the narrative. Massive battles are given full-page spreads that add to the epic scope while action scenes often literally bleed between panels. Backgrounds are filled to the brim with small details, and the character designs convey a great sense of style and personality. With each character looking distinctly different from one another it always makes every scene a treat for your eyes.

Another positive for the story is the political intrigue. There are many factions at play in this world, each with its own goals and motivations. There are dozens of betrayals and no character sticks out as one-note or black and white in terms of personality.

That being said I wasn’t a huge fan of the main protagonist. She often seems moody for the sake of it and I was more interested in the mystery surrounding her background than her actual character itself. As of this point in the story, Maika doesn’t have much motivation outside of wanting to learn about her mother.

Strangely, she is ambivalent about halting the persecution of her race. This seems odd to me as this is clearly a core theme of the story that the author wants to push. Something that also bothered me about this story was the somewhat awkward moments of comedy. This is clearly a somewhat dark world in terms of tone and the comedic elements just felt out of place every time they came up.

Tonal dissonance is something that I found to be pervasive throughout my time in this world. This is a mature story with many adult elements and yet the core races of this world fit better with a whimsical children’s narrative. There is a race of talking cats that feel quite silly. Additionally, the Ancients are basically just humanoid animals reminiscent of a Disney film or C.S Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia.

Then on the opposite end of the spectrum are the Old Gods, a race of Eldritch horror abominations straight out of H.P Lovecraft’s mythos. All of these elements (while fun independently) feel somewhat disjointed when put together. It feels as though the author didn’t give much thought as to how the races of this fantasy world should affect the themes and simply threw together a bunch of fantasy tropes they enjoy.

As someone who loves deep background lore, I appreciate that there are many moving parts to this story. However, the writers certainly throw you into this world with little context. This causes the first issue to be very confusing as you struggle to get a sense of the world. No doubt this factor will immediately turn off a large portion of the potential audience. In between each chapter, a small exposition dump is given but I would have appreciated it if the first issue also contained a short expositional piece.

While Monstress is ambitious in scope and constructed with a high level of care, this first volume ultimately didn’t impress me too much. At this point in time, I found myself more interested in the aesthetic than in the actual narrative presented. The major themes, focusing on classism and racism feel disconnected from the character arc of the main protagonist. The world as a whole hides its disjointed nature through an overall lack of exposition and an unreliable narrator. Nevertheless, there is potential here and I will see if the next volume can improve upon the weaker aspects to deliver a truly epic experience.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, Twitch, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

Monstress Vol.1

9.99

6

Score

6.0/10

Pros

• Beautiful artwork
• Creative Paneling

Cons

• Unlikable protagonist
• Lack of exposition at the start
• Disjointed world