Welcome back to the comic book corner. Today I’ll be continuing my review of the popular high fantasy comic series Monstress published by Image Comics. Volume 2 collects issues 7-12 of the story by Marjorie Liu and art by Sana Takeda.

The story for these five issues follows Maika Halfwolf as she journeys to the port city of Thyria in order to uncover more about the mysteries of her past. In the aftermath of a chaotic battle between the Dusk Court of Arcanics and the Cumaea witch nuns at the end of volume 1, Maika still finds herself hunted by her own people as they seek to control her power.

Once again, the artwork and worldbuilding in this collection are top-notch. I like how we get to see more of the Arcanic society. Volume one was mostly set amongst the Human Federation, so the diversity is nice. Additionally, it is much easier to follow the narrative now that the initial factions have been set up. I still feel that the Old Gods are out of place here because of their mysterious nature.

However, they remain one of the more interesting elements present in the narrative. Nonetheless, the whole seafaring vibe that guides Volume 2 is great fun. I like seeing how every Arcanic city has its own distinct cultural identity. Though some of the worldbuilding is overtly dumped at the end of each respective issue, the exposition is delivered in a more subtle and creative fashion. For example, an important war from the past is told through propaganda pieces.

Maika is unfortunately still bland as the main protagonist. She is always cruel towards her two unfortunate companions and conquers every situation with brute force and little effort. I feel as though Liu hasn’t effectively utilized her main character in the story thus far. Maika is cursed to kill hundreds in order to satiate the monster which lives inside her, yet the story barely stops for a moment to dwell on how this could affect someone’s psyche.

Granted some of these pacing issues might be a result of the limited page numbers allowed for each issue. However, for a story with this much depth to the characters and world, I would prefer slower pacing. It not only would allow for Maika to develop into a more interesting person but also allow villains to be more threatening rather than being killed after a single altercation or forgotten in favor of a new threat.

I found it strange that the Cumaea are sidelined in this volume. Holy Mother, Destria, and Lady Yvette were presented as integral antagonists in the first six issues, yet we don’t even get a glimmer of what they are up to now. Instead, less interesting villains take the stage adding little more than a one-time battle or tidbit of lore.

Ultimately, this volume ends up feeling like a filler arc for the grander narrative that will unfold in later issues. The revelation at the end of issue twelve felt obvious and unimportant rather than exciting. Even the characters themselves remark on why they searched for answers to questions they already suspected the answers to. I wanted to come away from this volume with a better appreciation for a story that clearly has a lot of love put behind it but found myself again to be underwhelmed.

If you really want to read a fantasy comic you could certainly do worse than Monstress but I don’t expect to continue reading the series unless I can find the remaining trades for cheap. Monstress failed at keeping me truly invested in the main quest and though there are good characters presented here, the ones we are forced to follow had me wishing there was an artbook I could flip through instead.

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Monstress Vol. 2

$16.99

5

Score

5.0/10

Pros

• Stunning art
• Deep Worldbuilding

Cons

• Uninteresting protagonist
• Blander narrative