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A review by fareehareads
Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening by Marjorie Liu
5.0
“How does one whom history has made a monster escape her monstrosity? How does one overcome the monstrousness of others without succumbing to a rising monstrousness within?”
I first read this story years ago for a college class. In it, I was specifically analyzing the style of Sana Takeda's work and how she used dark imagery to convey a message beyond the panel. I was struck by her work and how immediately different her pages felt from other gritty comics I've read before. But rereading this now, I am struck more by the writing. The questions posed by Marjorie Liu on how this story came to be touch on a theme that is often overlooked. So many of the epic fantasy stories I read tend to center on themes of colonialism, resistance, acts of violence committed by occupying forces, and those enacted in response. Typically, the ending is vague, not particularly siding with the resistance forces, nor are they painting the warmongers in a positive light. Some writers tend to keep things as disconnected from the true question at the center. This series does something different in the medium I enjoy the most. Volume one sets up the world, the types of beings that reside on it, and whose siding with who in this war. Maika Halfwolf is caught in a war between humans and Arcanics, struggling to find out her true identity and the reason she has this insatiable hunger inside her. She is plagued by dreams of a past she can not grasp, and is haunted by a literal demon that is attempting to control her from within. She is hunted and hated by most beings around her and yet has found a couple companions in the form of a cat (ancient and wise beings in this universe) and a young arcanic called Kippa (the only pure soul in this entire story) who stick beside her as she embarks on her journey. I can't wait to continue her story, I'll be keeping that question on monstrosity within at the back of my mind as I dive in.
I first read this story years ago for a college class. In it, I was specifically analyzing the style of Sana Takeda's work and how she used dark imagery to convey a message beyond the panel. I was struck by her work and how immediately different her pages felt from other gritty comics I've read before. But rereading this now, I am struck more by the writing. The questions posed by Marjorie Liu on how this story came to be touch on a theme that is often overlooked. So many of the epic fantasy stories I read tend to center on themes of colonialism, resistance, acts of violence committed by occupying forces, and those enacted in response. Typically, the ending is vague, not particularly siding with the resistance forces, nor are they painting the warmongers in a positive light. Some writers tend to keep things as disconnected from the true question at the center. This series does something different in the medium I enjoy the most. Volume one sets up the world, the types of beings that reside on it, and whose siding with who in this war. Maika Halfwolf is caught in a war between humans and Arcanics, struggling to find out her true identity and the reason she has this insatiable hunger inside her. She is plagued by dreams of a past she can not grasp, and is haunted by a literal demon that is attempting to control her from within. She is hunted and hated by most beings around her and yet has found a couple companions in the form of a cat (ancient and wise beings in this universe) and a young arcanic called Kippa (the only pure soul in this entire story) who stick beside her as she embarks on her journey. I can't wait to continue her story, I'll be keeping that question on monstrosity within at the back of my mind as I dive in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Colonisation, and War