Hi! I went back 7 or 8 pages and saw hardly any threads dealing with Monstress. I guess that may mean that there is not much interest on this board on discussing the series, but I decided to try to get something started anyway.

To my mind, Monstress is one of the finest comics being published anywhere, right now. The art is beautiful, the characters are compelling, the story and the universe that Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda have constructed is amazing.

I'll get the ball rolling by raising a few questions/points about one of my favorite characters, Kippa.


I have mixed feelings about the idea that Kippa may be playing a more fundamental supernatural role in the series, i.e, that she may possess more "gifts" than we realize. She has been blessed with some kind of supernatural sight by an unknown Ancient Arcanic and she is also a black hole for the different seers who are trying to predict and interpret how Maika will act. On the one hand, I find the mystery surrounding Kippa intriguing. On the other, I like her as simply an ordinary but amazingly caring and virtuous little girl whom Maika comes to love and care for just because of who she is. That part, I suppose, will not change, but I'm not sure how I feel about Kippa becoming more than that.

Also, what do you think it means that Yafaela's ghost has started appearing to Kippa? And is the ghost hostile? I was re-reading volume 4 the other day and realized, at the end of #24, there is a panel of Yafaela lying dead at the feet of Gull, the Inquisitrix/"possessed" woman that Maika set free. So, Yafaela really is dead (I was kind of hoping she survived and that whatever was appearing to Kippa was something different). It's ironic but fitting for the comic that Maika's act of mercy ends up resulting in a totally unconnected character (to her) getting murdered. It underlines the way in which different lives intersect.

The most recent issue, #29, was another kick in the gut. The double page spread of the different citizens of Ravenna getting ready to fight and then their different fates was really jarring.

Anyway, hopefully there is some appetite on the board to talk about this great series.