Page 4 of 5 FirstFirst 12345 LastLast
Results 46 to 60 of 65

Thread: Monstress

  1. #46
    Incredible Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Posts
    725

    Default

    I'm waiting on the second OHC, then I'll reread it from the beginning.

  2. #47
    Fantastic Member
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Posts
    410

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Dr. Cheesesteak View Post
    I'm trying to decide if I should continue getting singles for this series or just convert to TPB/HC. Once Manifest Destiny ends in a few months, this'll be the only title I'm still getting singles for, as I've essentially full converted all purchases to TPB/HC's.

    I see some references to expected series length, #35 possibly marking the midway point of the series? Are there any citations for this from Liu or Takeda themselves?
    It probably won't surprise you to know that I get both. I am too intent to learn what is happening in the story to wait months to get the TPB. Once I read the issue a few times, however, I bag it and put it away and rely on the TPBs if I want to re-read. A point on this: the last TPB had about four pages that the original issue did not, though that is only time I noticed that kind of addition.

    I am also waiting for the big hardcover compilation. The last one was after 18 issues, so I hope the next one is after 36. I have not seen any information for when the series will end. Another 30-40 issues seems possible, but I suspect it could also go on for much longer than that.

    The latest issue was, again, fantastic. I'll try to put up a summary in the next few days.

  3. #48
    Fantastic Member
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Posts
    410

    Default

    Monstress #38 – Summary

    The story begins in absolute darkness, with the voices of Kippa and Corvin. Kippa is telling Corvin that Maika is not dead and that she saw Maika in her dreams, in a temple, with other people (this happened in the previous issue, where one of Maika’s memories was interrupted by one of the other people in the temple turning into Kippa, who briefly spoke to her). Corvin tells Kippa that she needs to be quiet. The darkness continues and it becomes apparent they are passing through some kind of barrier, called the Silence, wherein creatures may dwell. There is a screaming sound. Corvin holds Kippa. The airship they are on passes through the Silence and emerges on the other side. They are now in the realm of the Dusk Court. The city they approach seems to be located high in a mountain range. It gives the sense of being dark and ancient and also very eerie.

    Three of the “wolves” – Maika, the Wolf Queen and the Warlord – are all contained in various restraining, coffin-like beds. The leaders of Dusk Court are there. One of them seems to be a bird-being, two are horned humanoids, one is a giant snake. All of them have multiple eyes on their foreheads; they look a lot like how Kippa saw the Wolf Queen when the WQ went crazy and was battling Zinn. The monkey king, Aku, from the Wolf Queen’s Dawn Court, is also there. The elders discuss killing the Warlord and Maika, but say that the WQ is the eldest of them and the only “distortion master left.” The snake insists that Maika and the Warlord be left alive because their blood is “very powerful.”

    Tuya, the Baroness, is complimented for achieving the great purpose of her present “incarnation”, i.e., capturing Maika. Tuya tells the elders she will finish “breaking the Halfwolf” but Aku says that the elders will take care of that. He says her purpose is to clean up the political mess her actions have created and he threatens her by saying that they are not thinking of replacing her with a new Baroness -yet.

    A white train is chugging through the darkness. Interestingly, the train itself has three eyes on the front. Kippa, Corvin and Corvin;s sister (Betani, I think) are in a cabin talking. Kippa asks what a “Kromikon chamber” is and Corvin asks her where she heard that name. She explains the cats who were attending Maika mentioned that Maika would probably be put in one. Betani says that would be too great a risk, even if Maika is dead. Kippa insists that Maika is not dead. Corvin tells her that she needs to make herself as invisible as possible once they get to the Dusk Court and that she should not talk about anything, no matter what she sees or hears. Corvin says that Kippa has been too visible and that the Baroness knows Kippa is important, just not how. Kippa insists she doesn’t matter to anyone, except maybe Maika, and that she is a “nobody.” Before Corvin can correct her, she suggests that Master Ren might be able to contact Maika. While Kippa and company are having their conversation, the Beast (Maika’s half-sister) and a number of the Blood Court’s warlords are in the cabin next door. The Beast is using her various built-in cybernetic devices to listen in on Kippa and Corvin’s conversation. So, she now knows that Kippa is important, even though no one knows how. (Just for those who don’t know, it’s already been revealed that Kippa cannot be seen by the various psychic fortune tellers that others have tried to use to spy on Maika, so there is something about her – other than her growing sight – that is unusual. Also, she can understand the language of the Ancients, which is rare).

    The train arrives. Everyone moves into the hall. Betani asks the Beast what she is “looking at” when she catches the Beast looking at their party. They disembark the train and Corvin’s parents – two bird Ancients – greet them. Oddly, one (the father?) greets Corvin by name; the other parent (the mother?) refers to Betani as “the other offspring.” The whole meeting is cold, as this suggests.

    In a laboratory somewhere, a giant snake is looming over Maika’s comatose body. Aku, the monkey king, is talking to the leading DC bird Ancient, suggesting that they are going to great lengths to get Zinn’s power on their side and they have many other projects that are more fruitful and reliable. The Bird says that they need every advantage they can get. The giant snake, whose name is Krom, swallows Maika in her coffin whole.

    The scene shifts to Tuya, in her bath. She looks at her emaciated arm, then says “Goddess, help her” and begins to cry. She breaks down, sobbing “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” A robotic servitor appears with a needle on a pillow and says that she has to sleep, in order to “meet herself.” The servitor also comments that some of the Baroness’ antecedents could also be quite “hysterical” at times. Tuya insists that she has too much to do to sleep, but the servitor injects her anyway, knocking her out, and carries her to bed.

    In her mind, Tuya appears as a half-human bird being, with full wings and claws for feet. She says that she is “not ready” and begins chanting that she is Tuya, “I am me.” She is clearly trying to hold onto her own identity. She is confronted by a huge, powerful, demonic looking woman who is clearly some kind of Ancient. This woman is the Baroness. She has vast wings and a burning eye on her chest, like the symbol of Zinn. She also has an eye on her forehead and wild, white hair. Tuya says “You have no power over me, Baroness. You will not take my mind!”

    The Baroness says that Tuya is not the first to say that, though she has fought the longest. The Baroness says that they are the same. It appears that the “Baroness” is a being who possesses selected woman and eventually amalgamates all of them into a larger personality, causing them to lose their individuality and become part of a collective being. Tuya has been fighting against this, trying to hold onto her own mind and purpose. Tuya says that she “won’t be devoured” but the Baroness says that she already has been. The Baroness notes how Tuya captured Maika and believed she did it to “harvest” Maika’s power to keep herself safe, but she actually did it because she was ordered to by the Dusk Court. The Baroness says there is so little of Tuya left that she should stop fighting and tells Tuya of all the knowledge she will gain if she just gave in. Tuya resists, screaming Maika’s name, like a kind of mantra. She wakes up in bed, still saying “Maika.” She says “Maika…I am Tuya. I won’t be devoured.” As she says this, the picture jumps to Maika, crying in horror in the darkness, clearly still remembering and being shattered by the revelation from last issue, that she (and Zinn) were the ones to murder her mother.

    Some comments: what we’ve discovered about Tuya in this issue changes the game a lot. First, Tuya may not have simply “betrayed” Maika – she may have been compelled by this powerful personality inside of her that is slowly eating her alive. Tuya may be trying to use Maika’s power to save herself, or at least that may be what she is telling herself. The fact that she uses Maika’s name as a mantra, to bring herself back to herself and hold onto her own personality, says a lot about her feelings for Maika. It turns out that Tuya is someone else who may need to be saved. How she ended up as this latest incarnation of the Baroness should be very interesting. Was she forced? Did she volunteer?

    The situation with Kippa keeps developing. We still don’t know why Kippa can do the things she does. The Beast now knows she is important, but I’d be surprised if the Beast did not already know this – the Doctor knows and the Beast is his daughter. But he may not have shared everything with her. Also, we discover that Kippa’s great, great grandmother was born in the Dusk Court and served as a handmaiden. Her grandmother was thrown out, however, either because the DC wanted to keep down its population or because the grandmother was “too human” in her bloodlines, suggesting that the great, great GM may have had a human mate.

    The Dusk Court looks and feels really ominous. Sana Takeda has done a tremendous job of creating something beautiful and also very, very dark and dangerous in its feel.

  4. #49
    Fantastic Member
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Posts
    410

    Default

    Monstress #39

    The story opens in a flashback. The Dusk Court and a very young Tuya -probably no more that 5 or 6 – is sitting beside the bed of a old woman who is complaining and dying. The woman directs her anger at Tuya, who is her “replacement.” Tuya calls the woman “mother”, despite the woman telling her not to do so. They clearly have a very hostile relationship. The woman, of course, is the current incarnation of the Baroness and she is angry that she is dying and that all she is will be passed on to Tuya.

    Tuya is next talking to Krom, the giant snake, who assures her that her own personality will be swallowed up by all the other personalities that make up the Baroness until, in the end, the original Baroness will rise ascendent and Tuya will just be the vessel for her “great intellect.”

    The next scene is of Tuya, wearing a red, fur-lined cape, walking through the snow. She comes to a cave that is guarded by a giant, multi-tailed tiger creature. The tiger calls her a “little rebel” and indicates that Corvin has come to the cave too. He also wants to consult with the Oracle, which is what the tiger is guarding. Tuya and Corvin have a conversation, where he indicates that he was “pulled” to the Oracle. He asks if Tuya felt the pull too but she responds that she was just angry and came where she should not be. She notes that he is injured and he replies that his training from his parents involves being beaten and injured if he is not fast enough or does not get good enough marks. The tiger leads them into the chamber to meet the Oracle.

    The Oracle seems to be an ornate carving on a wall. When they get close, the eyes glow and a voice tells “Raven, son of fate” to approach. Corvin steps towards the wall, raising his hand, and starts telling the Oracle about seeing a small child in his dreams whose eyes are glowing and who seems to be telling him that he is made for more than killing. He screams as some sort of charge passes between him and the Oracle. He falls and begins to question the Oracle, asking who did it show him? He speaks of seeing an army that “she commanded” and he asks if the Ancients lied.

    It is Tuya’s turn to speak to the Oracle. She asks it how she can save herself from becoming the Baroness. As she reaches for the Oracle, she has a sudden vision – Maika, surrounded by Zinn, erupts from the wall, calling her name. Then we see an image of Maika, a full adult, wielding a sword and clothed in the body/armor of Zinn, the form she took when they defeated the Wolf Queen and saved Ravenna. She is giving off a hellish red glow and she seems to be standing on the bodies of the members of the Dusk Court and, maybe, the Wolf Queen. She says “Tuya, you fucking bitch.”

    The Oracle then tells Tuya something of the person she is seeing: “She is the blood and the stars… she is what was lost and she is the punishment for what was stolen…her inheritance will free you from the Baroness (here, Tuya sees the mask). But your destiny is still nothing but hunger. You will devour and be devoured…your throats in each other’s teeth…”

    Then, suddenly, Maika appears again, still clothed in Zinn, but as a child. Maika tells Tuya “No, she’s wrong. We’ll save each other. I promise you, Tuya, we’re forever. Just trust me.”

    The flashback ends and we jump to the present, where Tuya is questioning Kippa. Kippa angrily refuses to tell Tuya anything that Maika and Zinn said to each other. The scene then jumps to a meeting between Tuya and the Ancients. One of them is encouraging her to kill Kippa and use nekomancers to get the information from Kippa’s spirit. Tuya argues against doing this, saying that it is important to understand why Zinn did not kill Kippa and what kind of relationship Kippa had with the old god. During the course of this discussion, one of the Ancients seems to indicate that Kippa is a descendent of the Shaman Empress. Another says that it is no mystery why Zinn did not consume Kippa- they conclude that Maika must be able to control Zinn. The same Ancient asks why Tuya is preoccupied with Kippa and asks Tuya what she is not telling them. The snake Ancient, Krom, argues that Tuya is right to be thorough. The others ask what progress Krom has made in learning information from Maika and she admits she has learned nothing because of Maika’s resistance. She is asked to show Maika and she partly regurgitates Maika so the others can see her (Maika is in Krom’s belly). One of the Ancients makes the comment to Tuya that it was the experiment of passing on a being in the blood that made the Baronness that later made it possible for the Shaman Empress to pass down Zinn to her descendants.

    We jump to Tuya speaking to Corvin. Corvin seems to be in an outdoor hot spring. Tuya is trying to convince him to give her any insights he has into what went on between Maika and Zinn. She can then say she learned these things from Kippa and that will help keep Kippa alive. Corvin tells her not to be greedy or envious. She asks “envious?” and Corvin says that he watched her watch the interaction between Maika and Kippa; she was far more focused on that than Zinn. He feels that she is troubled that a child healed Maika when Tuya could not. Tuya replies that no one is healed when they are possessed by another being. Corvin tells her that he had assumed she had been fully possessed by the Baroness until he saw her reaction to Maika/Kippa in Ravenna. He asks how much longer she has. Tuya replies she does not know, but that when the Baroness takes over completely, there will be no mercy for fox children. Corvin tells her she should have told Maika about her situation with the Baroness when she had the chance. Maika, more than anyone else would have understood.

    We then jump to a meeting between Corvin and his father. His father indicates that “lesser Arcanics” are disappearing from the city and he indicates that they are not being exiled but killed. There is an implication here that they might be used to power up the Ancients, though this is not spelled out. Corvin’s father says that Corvin may live, but his sister Betani will be killed and that the “fox will be right behind her.” Kippa overhears all of this.

    We now jump to a meeting between the Warlord, who has regained consciousness and now seems to be convalescing, and the Beast. Long story short here, it looks like the Beast is trying to recruit the Warlord to join the Blood Court, which is run by Maika’s father, the Doctor. Before she leaves, the Beast leaves behind a glowing, multi-sided box for the Warlord. The Warlord picks it up and it falls apart/explodes. There is a syringe inside.

    We now go to Kippa, who is walking in the streets of the city and thinking about what she has heard. She senses the fear. She is attacked with a snowball by a group of Arcanic children who call her “dirty blood.” She is about to throw a stone at them but changes her mind. She goes to where the Blood Court ships are docked and encounters Yvette Lo Lim and Zortia, the one lilium-bred witch who has survived. Kippa is hostile to Zortium, but agrees to join Yvette and Zortium at a cat café. Kippa deduces that Yvette wants to talk to her or she would not have approached. Yvette indicates to Kippa that Maika can only break free of the effects of the poison if she wants to wake up. Kippa insists that Maika is conscious, but lost. Yvette determines from this that Kippa has been able to access Maika’s mind. Kippa notices that Yvette is not surprised to hear this, making her realize that Yvette already knew. Kippa says the only person she told was Corvin and no one else has been inside Maika’s head except for Maika’s father. Kippa says this last as though she has had a major revelation.

    Just then, a voice calls out “Yvette Lo Lim?” It is Atena, the spy from the Federation and her brother. As Yvette reacts with surprise, Kippa suddenly gasps. Entering with Atena and her brother is Ren. Ren and Kippa see each other -both start to tear up. The issue ends with them throwing themselves in each other’s arms.
    Last edited by ShaunN; 04-30-2022 at 05:53 PM.

  5. #50
    Fantastic Member
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Posts
    410

    Default

    Some thoughts:

    To me, the most interesting part of the issue is what more we find out about Tuya and her experience with the Oracle. The vision that she sees of Maika, wielding the sword and standing on the remains of the Dusk Court is likely exactly what may happen by the end of this arc, if Maika comes back, powerful and enraged by Tuya’s betrayal. The Oracle does indicate that Maika can save Tuya from her fate of becoming the Baroness, but also that she and Maika will be forever devouring each other. But the child Maika’s appearance and assurance that she and Tuya can save each other is striking. In a certain sense, these developments with Tuya may change the focus of the book a bit and introduce a powerful element of a kind of tragic romance. Of course, that has always been present -throughout the entire series, Maika has always been talking to Tuya in her mind. Only now, this element and its importance is starting to come into focus.

    The idea that Tuya is jealous of Kippa’s apparent ability to “heal” Maika also makes sense. This must be the thing that the Ancients sensed that explains Tuya’s preoccupation with Kippa. Also of interest is that the dream Corvin tells to the Oracle must also be of Kippa – a small child with glowing eyes. Kippa is shaping up to be more and more important to the story.

    The visions that both Corvin and Tuya get from the Oracle certainly seem much more complicated than what we had been told to this point. To now, the story they kept repeating was of the Oracle prophesizing that the two of them would kill the incarnation of the Shaman Empress and save everyone. Clearly, they were lying as they both saw a lot more and, in Tuya’s case, she was given a clear vision of Maika and a sense of how Maika might save her. That implies that Tuya’s actions and goals are more complex, though it’s hard to say how much her behavior is simply being dictated, at times, by the Baroness.

    The information that Kippa is a descendant of the Shaman Empress is startling, but it may explain a great deal. I’m not entirely sure what Kippa figured out when she realized that the only other person who had ever been able to enter Maika’s mind was her father. Did it dawn on her that she might be related to Maika too and that is why she was able to do the same? Or did she realize that Maika’s father was somehow spying on them? When Kippa told Corvin about her encounter with Maika in her dream, the Beast was listening in from the train booth nextdoor, so that is presumably how the Blood Court knows. But I get the sense that Kippa may have been thinking about the blood connection, though this is not clear.

    The syringe that the Beast left with the Warlord is interesting. Is it a possible antidote to the poison with which Maika was infected? If it is, how would the Warlord know that and how would she get it to Maika, who is presently in Krom’s belly?
    I'm also curious to see if/how Maika (eventually) reacts to Atena. The last time they met was way back in #1 and she drove a knife through Atena's shoulder. She also sniffed Atena in a very curious way and I've always wondered if something about Atena's scent made Maika realize she was a spy.

    Finally, the return of Ren! Or, more accurately, his reunion with Kippa! The last time they were together was the end of Chapter 24, so it’s been a while. It is nice to see that Kippa has someone else in her corner. The cover of the next issue seems to show Kippa and Ren against the world, so we’ll see where this goes!
    Last edited by ShaunN; 04-30-2022 at 05:55 PM.

  6. #51
    Spectacular Member CaptainCanada's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Posts
    112

    Default

    I sometimes struggle to keep track of all the characters in this series. I should probably do a complete reread at some point.

  7. #52
    Extraordinary Member HsssH's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Posts
    8,223

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by CaptainCanada View Post
    I sometimes struggle to keep track of all the characters in this series. I should probably do a complete reread at some point.
    Yeah, thats what I'm about to do. Been reading it off and on and I'm lost at this point

  8. #53
    Fantastic Member
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Posts
    410

    Default

    Monstress #40

    The issue begins in the past. The Baroness who preceded Tuya is dead in her bed, poisoned by Krom, the giant snake Ancient. Krom explains to another Ancient that the Baroness was complaining too much. The conversation between Krom and this other, demonic-looking Ancient confirms that the Baroness was once one of them. Krom also says that the personality of the first Baroness tends to recede as her mortal bodies come to their end and the personality of the person she possessed comes forward. The other demonic-looking Ancient (it is revealed later in the issue that they are sisters) comes in and says that Tuya has fled. Krom says she knows and he has already sent trackers after her. She says “the endless daughters always run.”

    The scene shifts to Tuya, as a child, in the snow. The ghost of the Baroness appears to her and promises to consume her. Tuya screams as she is found by Corvin and Tanno. Corvin tells her she is safe but Tuya says that the Baroness is in her head and tried to take her. Tanno says that fleeing will not help her because the Baroness was “in your blood from the moment you were born.” Tuya says that the Ancients told her there was a process and a machine that was needed for the transfer, so running could save her, but Tanno tells her the Ancients lied to her. Tanno tells Tuya that the old Baroness has died, the ghost has Tuya “in her jaws now” and that Tuya is living on borrowed time. He asks her what she will do while she still has herself?

    The story jumps to the present where the two demonic-looking Ancients are going to a hot spring to bathe. One is asking the other if she has noticed the difference in herself and that it is almost as if they are becoming new again. The other says she thought the Blood Fox had lost his mind but now… They halt when they come to the spring and express disgust at what they see there. What they see is “the Beast,” without her cloak, bathing. The Beast is a full wolf, like the Wolf Queen. She is also mostly machine.

    The three exchange insults, the Beast saying that she looks forward to enjoying the springs when the Blood Court fully controls them. The Ancients say the Blood Court will never get anything under the Dusk Court’s dominion, but the Beast counters by saying that everything the Ancients have they stole and that the Arcanic children are the world’s punishment of them. She refers to the Shaman Empress as the beginning of their “slow apocalypse.” The Ancients leave in a huff and the Beast returns to communicating with her father, which she had apparently been doing before the interruption. She says that it won’t be long before the Dusk Court attempts the “awakening” of Maika.

    The scene jumps to Krom and Aku, the monkey Ancient. Krom has regurgitated Maika’s body. She has been unable to learn much about Maika, whose body has proved as resistant to her as the Shaman Empress. She has learned, however, that despite her human appearance, Maika’s internal form is much closer to that of the Wolf Queen, yet Maika has shown only limited strength and speed. Krom muses on what Maika would be if she could wield the power of the Wolf Queen and that of Zinn at the same time. Aku says they never would have been able to capture her. Aku also says that the Krom could study the old gods bonded to the Mother Superior and the others if she wants such beings to study, but Krom says that transfer/bonding was made possible by the masks and they already understand that technology. What they don’t understand is how the Shaman Empress was able to pass Zinn, whole in form and power, through her blood. Aku says to Krom that the Ancients are immortal and he is puzzled as to why Krom is obsessed with this, but Krom responds that they are not immortal enough and lists various Ancients who have been killed. Krom goes on to say that Maika’s prosthetic was transmitting but that she developed various acids to burn out the active components. The Doctor’s engineering was more advanced than she anticipated. The Ancients understand that the Blood Court plans to grab Maika. Krom assures Aku they will fail. She then clomps her jaws on Maika’s artificial arm and, apparently, begins to destroy the transmitter or the arm itself.

    The scene shifts to Corvin at a training studio. Tanno is teaching a little girl named Ayut to fight but the child is quite bad at it. The little girl looks just like a young Tuya. Tanno stops and lets the girl go. Corvin comments that Tuya loved to fight at the girl’s age and Tanno says that his father had trained two previous “Baronesses” and that they had been very different from each other. He then comments that he doubts anyone had expected clones to be so fickle.

    Tanno and Corvin then have a conversation. The gist of it is that Corvin asks Tanno about the disappearing Arcanics his father had told him about and Tanno expresses the view that some Ancients in the Dusk Court had reached the same conclusion as the Blood Fox -i.e., that the existence of Arcanics was sucking the power away from the Ancients -and were now implementing the Fox’s plan, just more quietly.

    We then cut to a scene where Betani, is on the street, asking people about Kippa, whom she is trying to find. She is afraid Corvin will kill her if anything happens to Kippa. The Arcanic mother she is talking to warns her that Kippa sounds too human in appearance, meaning she is in danger, and Betani is too. As Betani walks down the street on crutches and primitive-looking artificial legs, she is followed by three figures in uniform. She passes by the cloaked Beast in an alley. She does not see the Beast or the people following her. The Beast gets ahead of the pursuers and deliberately bumps into Betani. The two recognize each other -the Beast recognizes Betani from the train and Betani recognizes the Beast from when she was “screaming” at Maika in Ravenna. The Beast offers to give Betani legs like her own, but Betani tells her to save her bribes for “another fool”. If the Beast wants to know about Corvin or the Halfwolf, she can ask Corvin herself. As Betani walks away, the Beast looks back to see the three uniformed figures have disappeared.

    The scene jumps to Kippa and Ren together under a blanket, sitting by a roaring fire. Kippa is returning Ren’s tail to him but Ren says he has not yet earned it. He tells her a bit of what he has done while away and indicates he needs to talk to Corvin about some of the things he has seen. Sitting nearby, Yvette and Atena are having a conversation that touches on Sophia. Atena asks why a half-mad witch who eats Arcanic children is of interest to the Doctor. Yvette indicates it is because of what she knows.

    In the meantime, Kippa pushes Ren to use his powers to try to reach Maika’s soul through Kippa. Kippa knows that Ren’s power works on souls and that she is connected to Maika. Despite his protests, they start immediately. As the link is established, Kippa finds herself plummeting towards a giant figure of Maika, who is in agony, crying out for her mother. Ren grabs Kippa’s soul (as an astral projection) and tries to pull her back but Zinn explodes out of Maika and says the only thing there is agony.

    The scene switches to the Warlord, in the chamber where Maika is being held. She has a few words with Aku, who she surmises always knew about Maika, and then asks to see her niece alone. The other Ancients allow her to do so out of respect for the Wolf Queen. The Warlord uses the moment to inject Maika with the serum that the Beast left for her. She admits to Maika she does not know what the serum will do, but that she won’t let the Dusk or Dawn Court have Maika because she “belongs to the wolves.”

    Tuya sees that the Warlord has done something. When the Warlord leaves the chamber, Tuya says “Wife, you did something just now. Tell me.” The Warlord derides the Baroness’ imagination and tells her to never call her “wife” again.

    Krom begins the experiment. With the other Ancients present, she tries to inject her mind into Maika’s body and take control of Zinn. At first, it seems to be working, but then Maika’s eyes come open and she ejects Krom. Krom screams as Zinn emerges from Maika’s body. Krom says that the body is alive and active but that there is no mind – hers was supposed to be the mind controlling Maika but she could not. She shouts at the other Ancients to be ready to fight. In an instant, Zinn’s tendrils mow down Krom’s children and Maika’s body walks free, Zinn’s tendrils flowing from it.
    Last edited by ShaunN; 05-28-2022 at 06:33 PM.

  9. #54
    Fantastic Member
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Posts
    410

    Default Some Thoughts on Monstress #40

    Some thoughts: This is the penultimate issue before the conclusion of this arc in the next issue. A lot has happened. The revelation that Tuya is a clone was unexpected. She appears to be a more and more tragic figure, someone who has struggled her whole life to break free of the Baroness who possesses her but who has been unsuccessful no matter how hard she tries. The revelation from the Oracle we saw last issue, however, did seem to tell her that Maika could free her.

    We now know that the Ancients in the Dusk Court are murdering human-like Arcanics. What is not clear is if they are using their bodies to create some kind of formula to rejuvenate them or is the simple act of murdering them enough to restore power and youth to the Ancients? I suspect the former, though it could be the latter.

    Intriguingly, we now know for certain that the Beast is a Wolf. I think that I discussed this earlier, when we saw she had three tails. That raises a clear question: who is her mother? It seems most reasonable to conclude that her mother was Moriko and that the Beast is Maika’s full sister, not half-sister. If that is the case, then Moriko took Maika and the Doctor kept the other daughter. The only other possibility is that the Beast is the daughter of the Wolf Queen. We also know that she certainly saved Betani. She saw the people pursuing Betani and intervened to prevent them from taking her.

    The other factor dealing with the Wolves is the revelation that Maika is very much like the Wolf Queen on the insides and, potentially, has the same kind of power. Given what Maika said about the WQ after she went crazy in Ravenna, that is an enormous amount of untapped power. I am pretty confident Maika will start tapping it before the story is done.

    The point that Krom is so obsessed with investigating Maika because she wants to know how to develop a more certain immortality is interesting. One of the things that is striking is that the Shaman Empress did not make herself immortal through this process – she just sent Zinn, already an immortal being, down through her bloodline. Of course, it has been suggested before that Maika is the incarnation of the Shaman Empress. Is she the reincarnation of the same? Even is she is, the story about Tuya’s clones and Tuya’s fight with the Baroness shows that the beings of the past cannot simply dominate and control the minds of those they incarnate as in the present. I have no doubt that Maika’s will is more than a match for the Shaman Empress, if she does try to take over.

    However, I think that the relationship between Maika and the SE is more subtle. As I’ve noted before, the SE is scheduled for a meeting with Maika in her mind very soon. I think it is clear that she will be instrumental -along with Kippa and Ren – in restoring Maika’s mind to her body. Whether or not this is part of the Doctor’s plan remains to be seen. He does not seem to think that Maika’s mind is lost but did the injection he gave the Warlord to give to Maika create the situation we now see?
    The image we had in the last issue of Maika standing over the bodies of the Dusk Court as she rages at Tuya may soon come to pass!
    Last edited by ShaunN; 05-28-2022 at 06:35 PM.

  10. #55
    Fantastic Member
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Posts
    410

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by HsssH View Post
    Yeah, thats what I'm about to do. Been reading it off and on and I'm lost at this point
    I will admit there are a lot of characters of varying importance. Here are how I order them:

    Main characters:

    Maika
    Kippa
    Tuya
    Corvin
    Ren
    Zinn

    Main (apparent) Antagonists:

    The Mother Superior, Gull, and the other possessed beings.
    The Doctor
    The Dusk Court

    Secondary Antagonists (who can change sides)

    The Warlord
    The Beast
    The Wolf Queen.

    Unknown:

    Vinn, who I find very intriguing.
    The Shaman Empress, who may have a plan for resurrection.

    There are many other more subordinate characters, of course, but I think these are the ones you need to keep track of as the story advances.

  11. #56
    Fantastic Member
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Posts
    410

    Default Monstress #41

    Monstress #41

    The story begins in Maika’s mind, where her child self is being pursued by a monstrous Wolf, a creature that is the manifestation of her mother. The Wolf tells her that “you will have no life except the one I permit you. You will have no thought except what I give you.” Little Maika runs up to the adult version of herself and holds this older version, but when the wolf’s tongue lashes out and wraps around the child, pulling her away, older Maika does nothing to stop it. The Shaman Empress appears behind older Maika and asks “will you allow your young self to be devoured?” Maika insists that she “deserves it” and that the younger child will grow up to be an awful person. Then Zinn intercedes, grabbing younger Maika while telling older Maika that she must “stop this” and stop trying to harm herself. Zinn protects the young child. Maika curses Zinn, telling him she is a murderer because of him. She throws ineffectual blows at the Shaman Empress and her mother, telling them they have made her a murderer too and that she hates them. She then begins to tear at herself, even as the younger Maika tries to stop her. Older Maika rips herself to pieces, all the while screaming “I hate you.” Younger Maika asks Zinn to stop the older Maika, to help her. Zinn tells the child that he is helping by keeping her safe because she is the part that matters most. Older Maika rips herself apart, until her body is strewn about and only her head seems intact. The younger Maika runs to her and begs the older her not to leave her alone and promising to be “good” and not hurt anyone else. She says “I don’t want to die.” Just then, Kippa and Ren finally arrive in Maika’s mind. Kippa says “oh no” when she sees the mutilated Maika. Ren says “Ubasti save us. What is this horror?”

    The scene shifts to the real world, where Maika’s body is on a rampage, attacking the people of the Dusk Court. The Ancients are fleeing along with everyone else, but one of them asks why they are bothering to flee, saying that any of them, individually or as a group, could defeat Maika and end her rampage. Krom, the snake, however, warns against this, cautioning that this will reveal what they have “regained”. She also says that they are the only Ancients awake and that they must protect the others in stasis, even if that means killing the Halfwolf. Krom also admits that she does not know what has gone wrong in her efforts to control Maika, but Aku, the monkey Ancient, notes that at least two things were different from what Krom planned: Krom’s destruction of Maika’s prosthetic arm and the signal it was giving off and the Warlord’s “odd visit” to Maika.

    We jump to the Warlord, visiting her mother the Wolf Queen in the room where she is being treated. The Warlord orders a servitor to wake the WQ. The servitor says the WQ’s body is not fully healed but the Warlord insists. The servitor obeys, tapping on the WQ’s collar bone and the sole of her foot. The WQ’s eyes open.

    We return to the Dusk Court, where Maika’s body’s rampage continues. The Beast is talking to her father, the Doctor, via her ear piece. She indicates that the injection the Warlord gave Maika did not work and that Maika’s mind is absent, implying that the injection was meant to wake Maika. She asks if her father has made progress. The Doctor indicates that he cannot get into Maika’s mind to see what is happening; she is more closed to him than Zinn had been. He says this is “unexpected” and “curious.” He orders the Beast to stop Maika’s body using any means necessary, before the Ancients destroy her. He is not yet ready to take back Zinn from Maika when she dies.
    The Beast attacks Maika’s body, saying “I know you’re in there, Halfwolf!” She says to Maika that there is nothing left of her for Maika to eat, Maika “already took it all.” She indicates that the teeth and claws the Doctor has given her are made from the bones of old gods, Maika’s weakness.

    As the Beast and Maika fight, the Ancients ready a “void cannon” to fire on Maika. However, the WQ and the Warlord appear. The WQ says that only she has the right to kill her granddaughter, no one else. She admonishes the Dusk Court for trying to destroy Maika’s mind and orders Krom to wake Maika. Krom responds that Maika “cannot be healed” which causes the WQ to yank out Krom’s tongue and snarl “can this be healed?” One of the other Ancients tell the WQ that she has gone too far in attacking Krom, especially as she has benefitted so much from Krom’s labours. The WQ slaps the Ancient, telling him to fight her, slay her or be silent.

    The WQ and the Warlord watch the fight between the Beast and Maika. The Warlord notes that the Beast “looks like” the WQ and says that there are no other wolves. She begins to ask her mother “did Moriko have another…” when her mother tells her to “hush.” The Beast bites, slashes and otherwise abuses Maika’s body, seemingly having the upper-hand in the fight.

    We cut to Tuya in the room where all of her fellow clones of the Baroness are in tanks. Tuya tells Maika to “distract the bastards” while she uses a firethrower to torch all of the vats, killing all of the clones and destroying all the bodies the Baroness could have leaped into. Tuya and the young clone, Ayut, are the last bodies. Tuya has tied up Ayut, who begs Tuya not to kill her, calling Tuya “mother.” Tuya insists she must kill Ayut to end the Baroness, but Ayut begs for her life piteously, crying “I want to live!” Tuya is crying and it looks like she may reconsider killing Ayut.

    “I want to live,” is something a cute little Arcanic child is saying to her mother. They are on an airship, about to pass through the barrier of darkness that surrounds the Dusk Court. The people on their ship are Arcanic refugees from Ravenna. An announcement is telling them that they are being transported to a place where they will have food, water and land to farm. The child tells her mother that she is afraid of the guardian in the darkness they must pass through, but her mother comforts her by telling her that whatever is in there likes Arcanics and only eats humans. The child giggles.

    When the ship emerges from the darkness, all the Arcanics on the deck are dead, and appear emaciated. The mother is holding her child. Both look like they have died in agony. The crew members on the ship begin throwing the bodies overboard, into a pile of Arcanic bodies on the other side.

    We see that Corvin is on the ship, hiding with Tanno. He is watching what is happening from a window and turns away to vomit. Tanno says “now you know, boy.” Corvin struggles with the idea that the Ancients are murdering their own children for power. Tanno indicates that the Ancients are too powerful to be confronted directly and that this is why Tuya “connives as she does.” Corvin asks why Tuya destroyed Maika, since she would seem to need her. Tanno asks if Tuya really did “destroy the Halfwolf?” Corvin says he needs to get back to Kippa and his sister.

    A solid black page, with only the words “don’t look at me.”

    We are back in Maika’s mind. Little Maika is being held and comforted by Zinn as she insists that everything is “her fault” and she “killed them all.” Zinn is telling her not to despair.

    Kippa and Ren are speaking to the mutilated remains of older Maika. It is older Maika who is telling Kippa to “don’t look at me” and that Kippa “does not belong.” Kippa tells her that she does belong in Maika’s mind and that she and Maika are family. She reaches out to little Maika and tells her that “we’ll put Miss back together …again” and that older Maika is strong but little Maika is stronger. Little Maika says that older Maika hates her and that she killed her mother. Kippa hesitates then tells little Maika that her own mother left her. Kippa tells people her mother died, but that is a lie. Her mother left her and Kippa thinks that she did so because of something Kippa did. However, Kippa goes on to say that she and Maika will help each other because they are “like sisters.” Sisters, she says “take care of each other” and “love each other” and “save each other’s lives.” Kippa goes on to say “I’m going to save your life, okay?” “Just like you all saved mine.”

    The final scene is Kippa holding little Maika’s hand, side by side with Ren. Zinn is behind them, holding older Maika’s head, cradling it in his arms. In the sky, the Shaman Empress and Moriko look on.

    So, this arc ends on a cliffhanger.

  12. #57
    Fantastic Member
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Posts
    410

    Default Some Thoughts on Monstress #41

    Some thoughts: I’m not surprised about the cliffhanger. Resolving what is happening to Maika will take a lot more time and cannot be rushed.

    Kippa’s role in this story keeps becoming larger and larger. I am sure I read in an interview with Marjorie Liu that Kippa was added to the story, in the beginning, as a kind of afterthought. She certainly is not that anymore! The story and Maika’s restoration rely on what Kippa does.

    The part where Kippa talks about the role that sisters play in each other’s lives is interesting. It probably alludes to her own life with her half-sister. However, it may also touch on the relationship between Maika and the Beast. As the Warlord seemed to realize, it is most likely that the Beast is not Maika’s half-sister but her full sister. She was left behind by their mother because she did not have the mark of Zinn. She has already been a very impressive figure. It will be interesting to see – as Kippa’s comments may indicate – if she and Maika eventually become allies and develop sisterly feelings for each other.

    The relationship between mothers and daughters, of course, runs through the whole series, but it is especially powerful in this issue. The opening narration talks about how mothers leave their teeth in their daughters, even when the daughters bite back. The idea that Maika is the creation of her mother is hammered home. Tuya’s relationship with Ayut is that of a “mother” who must decide whether or not to murder her “daughter” even after having killed all her other daughters. Even the mother and her daughter on the airship is poignant with how she is trying to comfort her child and, ultimately, is helpless to protect her.

    The fact that the Ancients are now happily participating in the murder of their own children is striking and makes some of their acts (such as sabotaging Tuya’s attack on the Ilium factory) make more sense. I wonder what the WQ will do – does she already know this is happening? Probably. What is certain is that the Warlord will sooner kill all the Ancients than allow them to continue murdering their own people.

    The suggestion that Tuya did not actually give Maika a drug that would kill her makes a lot of sense, especially given what we now know about what the Oracle really said to Tuya in the last issue. Tuya has known for some time that Maika is the key to freeing her from the Baroness. She lied about the prophecies so that she could better implement her own plans against the Dusk Court.

    Finally, "I don't want to die" is the refrain from three children in the issue: little Maika, little Ayut and the small Arcanic child on the airship, the one of the three we know has died.

    The series hiatus is now starting. It is a really frustrating place to stop but the story keeps getting better and better.

  13. #58
    Incredible Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2020
    Posts
    542

    Default

    I have recently discovered this series and am now up to date with it through the collected editions and the last few issues so have only just encountered the hiatuses. But it’s such a good title one of the best comics I have read in decades for story, characterisation and art. Very few other comics can I remember being this consistently good. I would say it’s up with the ranks of the original Sandman run. Like that title one of its themes is human fallibility and some of the terrible things this can lead to. Also talk about star crossed lovers Maika and Tuya bring a whole new meaning to the term.
    Last edited by Top Hat; 07-06-2022 at 12:27 PM.

  14. #59
    Fantastic Member
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Posts
    410

    Default

    Hi! I only just saw your note, almost four months later! I'm really glad that you are enjoying the series as much as I am. I agree with your sentiments - this is one of the best series to come out in many, many years. Of course I feel that way or I would not be spending so much time doing these synopses and keeping this thread going! ;-)

    I have also come to really pull for the Maika/Tuya love affair. They are both terribly tragic characters and, despite Tuya's motivations now being clearer and more understandable, they have a lot of betrayal (all on Tuya's part) to overcome going forward. Still, if Tuya's vision is correct, Maika will be coming back stronger than ever. As an aside, in the vision, one of the bodies that Maika is standing on is a wolf. At first, I assumed it was the Wolf Queen - now, it is likely the Beast.

    I think the new arc starts in January!

  15. #60
    Fantastic Member
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Posts
    410

    Default

    Monstress #42

    The new issue starts with a diary entry from Kippa. She writes that she is going to start keeping a diary as she has seen Maika doing. She mentions missing her father and her sister. She does not want to write down all the things she has had to do to survive because she is ashamed of them and ends by speculating that maybe growing up is accepting your choices, not being ashamed of them, but she doesn’t know many adults, Ancients, cats or even gods who can do that.

    The issue begins in a dark void that opens onto a memory from Maika’s past. Maika and Tuya are children, still slaves. The rain is pouring down on them. Tuya has a piece of glass and she is trying to cut open her own wrists because she wants to destroy what is inside of her. Maika slaps away the glass and restrains Tuya, who begs to be allowed to die because she is so tired. Maika insists that they just had a bad day and Tuya will get over it.

    Back in the dreamworld or spirit world, Kippa is holding Maika’s head and asking her to respond. (Remember, Maika tore her own astral body apart in the last issue). Little Maika asks if there is anything she can do and Kippa gives her the head, telling her to “spend time with each other.” LM is reluctant but Kippa insists that Maika can’t hurt herself any more than she has and “the only direction is up!” Ren expresses some skepticism at this (“Ubasti, save us”) and Kippa scolds Ren for being pessimistic about their chances of rescuing Maika, especially in front of “little sister.” Ren insists that “little sister” is still Maika. He also expresses concern about what may be happening to his and Kippa’s bodies in the real world, since they could die if separated from their spirits much longer or appear dead to the others. Ren wants Kippa to go back and he will stay behind but Kippa insists on staying until Miss wakes up because “family stays together.” Ren insists that families that stay together sometimes die together and that someone has to survive. Kippa says that she has been that someone in the past and she wants to try something else this time.

    Zinn interjects. It seems that all of the others have been standing on top of him as he has taken the form of a tentacled ball. They are floating in dreamspace. Zinn tells the others they are not alone. He calls out “Beloved, is that you?” Zinn is sure that whatever presence he is feeling is in his mind, not Maika’s.

    A giant, floating rock statue of a cat appears.

    The scene switches to another memory. Maika and Tuya are together. They are young women now, apparently camping in a tent on the side of a high cliff. Maika is drinking and standing right on the very edge of the cliff, considering throwing herself off. Maika knows that she has done terrible things but can’t remember what they are and is afraid of eventually remembering. She would rather be dead. She asks Tuya if Tuya knows what she did and Tuya replies “nothing more than what I’ve done to survive.” Maika insists that if she lives she will hurt Tuya. Tuya says yes, and she will hurt Maika, but she wants Maika to live. She is holding onto Maika from behind. Maika insists she is not good and Tuya says “so what?” All people can do is keep trying and failing. She reminds Maika that Maika saved her from killing herself and she is angry about that but also glad. She says that Maika will be glad too, one day, even if she hates Tuya for it. Maika says that she won’t be glad and she can’t wait to die. Tuya says “we all die, Maika…horribly. Why the rush?” Both of the women are crying on the edge of the cliff.

    Back in the void, Maika’s head repeats the words “why the rush?” but no one seems to hear. They are all focused on the giant, floating statue, that is holding up, in front of its belly, what looks like a mirror with a fire inside, or some kind of portal. Ren recognizes the statue as being of a cat named “Adara Farclaw,” an ancient historical figure who united all the cats. He wants to know why this statue is floating in Zinn’s mind, since Adara would have existed long before Zinn came to the planet. Zinn could not possibly have known her. Zinn says he things Ren is wrong about that. Ren asks “what is she holding?”

    Together, Little Maika and Maika’s head chant the same words in response to Ren’s question: “A warning. A summons. A possibility.” Zinn replies “All our possibilities lead to pain,” but the Maika’s respond “But what is on the other side of pain?” Little Maika remembers Seizi’s (one of the tigers) words: “there is wisdom in the wound.” She shouts “wake up, self” and throws Maika’s head into the portal. She leaps after it. Kippa leaps after LM, and Ren jumps after Kippa. Finally, Zinn follows all the others through the portal.

    For a moment, Zinn is in darkness, then he hears a voice saying “I should really get out of bed.”

    He finds himself as a human-shaped form, in a luxurious bed, beside a beautiful, naked woman. The woman is telling him that it is a big day for her and that she and other engineers are calibrating a navigational system. Zinn seems stunned, asking where is he? The woman responds with a smirk, asking him “was last night so pleasurable I knocked you senseless?”
    Just then, Zinn hears a voice telling him she needs him in the laboratory for “the experiment.” He recognizes the voice as his “beloved.” She sighs and says he must be lost in a book again and to come in as soon as he can. The woman Zinn is in bed with gets up and tells him to go on and she will join him and the Shaman Empress in the lab later, “when it’s not so obvious.”

    Zinn hears another voice telling him to wake up. He says he is awake but the voice replies “I wish that was true” and tells him to follow it. He emerges into consciousness (again?) and finds he attached to Maika’s disembodied head. Maika tells him there are parts of his old life she really doesn’t want to know about.

    Zinn says how strange he feels, and that he is not contained but is “full.” Maika tells him that he is full of her and that, somehow, they have switched positions and she is now his monster. Zinn goes on to say that what they are experiencing is somehow real, not just a dream or memory. He does not understand how this could be.

    Maika says she doesn’t know either but that they are alive, in his flesh, and not on their world.

    The story ends here, but the next two pages are a lecture from Professor Tam Tam describing how the ancient cats may have had the skill of traveling to different worlds.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •