Monstress

[Jinjonator]

As far as new comics go, Monstress is tied with the upcoming Back to the Future miniseries from IDW for my most hyped comics of 2015.

Just a couple more weeks and we'll get the solicits for the second issue of Monstress. I'm really curious what the cover price will be of the average issue, and also what the cover will look like.

http://40.media.tumblr.com/78d32d77f...r6y0ee_500.jpg

I'm extremely excited for this. I haven't read anything of Liu's before, but everything about the premise sounds extremely promising and interesting.

[Geralt of Rivia]

Interested enough to pre-order, if the first issue delivers it'll be on my pull.

[Mia]

Wow. I'm surprised that there's no activity on this thread regarding the book. I came across the trade at a book store and ended up buying it. The artwork is amazing. But the story is just.....I don't know how to put it (I'm just half way through the trade). There are so many themes in this book from the trauma of war, to the mistreatment and dehumanization of people, to learning to pick yourself up and navigate through the harshness of life, to political intrigue. It's a deep and thought provoking book. And manages to be so without being heavy handed, pretentious or preachy. This is a hell of a lot more than just a lazy fantasy re-telling of the Holocaust in fictionalized forms.

I would strongly recommend it to those who are enjoying Rucka's Lazarus and are fans of Claremont's X-Men and those who appreciate a book that you can just fall into . This is truly storytelling at it's best.

[Javasaurus]

Since the book is in between arcs, I'm not surprised this thread is quiet. Hopefully it will pick up when the new arc gets underway.

This series has definitely impressed me so far. Much of that has to do with the story being so multi-layered and well-crafted. I'm looking forward to seeing this title return.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

Wow. I'm surprised that there's no activity on this thread regarding the book. I came across the trade at a book store and ended up buying it. The artwork is amazing. But the story is just.....I don't know how to put it (I'm just half way through the trade). There are so many themes in this book from the trauma of war, to the mistreatment and dehumanization of people, to learning to pick yourself up and navigate through the harshness of life, to political intrigue. It's a deep and thought provoking book. And manages to be so without being heavy handed, pretentious or preachy. This is a hell of a lot more than just a lazy fantasy re-telling of the Holocaust in fictionalized forms.

I would strongly recommend it to those who are enjoying Rucka's Lazarus and are fans of Claremont's X-Men and those who appreciate a book that you can just fall into . This is truly storytelling at it's best.

Yup, I pretty much agree with all this. I'm reading it in trade so I couldn't talk much about it when the issues were coming out but it is indeed a really excellent series.

[Mia]

I just finished the first trade, but it will require a few re-reads to get down to get down thoughts. I was interested in the plight of the Arnaics. I can see some of the influences that Lieu must have called on whether that be the treatment of African-Americans in the US (pre-civil rights) the Jews during the 1930's Europe, and I even thought of the Tutsi's during the Rwandan Genocide and the South Sudanese.

One of the deciding factors of my buying the book after a flip through was spoilers:

the treatment of the child arnaics.

end of spoilers. This is something dear to my heart. As I hate any kind of bullying and bringing shame on people. It almost made me cry. Which is honestly something I can't ever say having happened before in my 20+ years of collecting comic books. And despite considering myself a realist and one of the last people who like cute kids/sidekicks in stories. I really like Kippa. Her loyalty and willingness to see more beyond just Maika was just so beautiful.

I will chime in more later. All I can say now is please buy this book!

[Javasaurus]

I just finished the first trade, but it will require a few re-reads to get down to get down thoughts. I was interested in the plight of the Arnaics. I can see some of the influences that Lieu must have called on whether that be the treatment of African-Americans in the US (pre-civil rights) the Jews during the 1930's Europe, and I even thought of the Tutsi's during the Rwandan Genocide and the South Sudanese.

One of the deciding factors of my buying the book after a flip through was spoilers:

the treatment of the child arnaics.

end of spoilers. This is something dear to my heart. As I hate any kind of bullying and bringing shame on people. It almost made me cry. Which is honestly something I can't ever say having happened before in my 20+ years of collecting comic books. And despite considering myself a realist and one of the last people who like cute kids/sidekicks in stories. I really like Kippa. Her loyalty and willingness to see more beyond just Maika was just so beautiful.

I will chime in more later. All I can say now is please buy this book!

There have been moments in this book that have been heartbreaking – and others that have been horrifying. Since Lieu appears to be drawing from history as inspiration; that hint of reality does give some emotional and intellectual power to the story. Personally, I enjoy stories that can legitimately evoke an emotional response somewhere along the way. Lieu's writing has managed to do that so far – and I mean evoking a full spectrum of emotion.

Back during the summer I was lucky enough to hear a radio interview with Lieu on NPR. I was thrilled to hear that she was getting some exposure; hopefully it might translate into this series getting some attention that may help it to keep going strong.

[alton]

The triple-sized first issue of Monstress should be 4.99, according to this image.

Here's the link the image is from:
http://monstress-comic.tumblr.com/preorder

I think 4.99 is a great cover price to pay for nearly 70 pages of art and story!

Who here is planning on buying Monstress #1 this November?

Thanks for the update. The first arc was already on my pull list and I am having my LCS continue with this second run.

[alton]

Wow. I'm surprised that there's no activity on this thread regarding the book. I came across the trade at a book store and ended up buying it. The artwork is amazing. But the story is just.....I don't know how to put it (I'm just half way through the trade). There are so many themes in this book from the trauma of war, to the mistreatment and dehumanization of people, to learning to pick yourself up and navigate through the harshness of life, to political intrigue. It's a deep and thought provoking book. And manages to be so without being heavy handed, pretentious or preachy. This is a hell of a lot more than just a lazy fantasy re-telling of the Holocaust in fictionalized forms.

I would strongly recommend it to those who are enjoying Rucka's Lazarus and are fans of Claremont's X-Men and those who appreciate a book that you can just fall into . This is truly storytelling at it's best.

Please be aware of her Black Widow arc called The Name of the Rose I believe from Marvel. I don't usually pump Marvel but she did a good job unfortunately it got cancelled after 8 issues or so but after she left the book.My first encounter with her writing.

[Mia]

Okay. I completed the second read through yesterday and I came up with the following:

• There’s an uneasy peace between the humans and arcainics. The humans have backed off because they think that the arcanics are in possession of a powerful weapon (along the lines of a nuclear bomb) that can destroy them. But they don’t know that the arcainics or full blooded immortals don’t have such a weapon.
• The witch-nuns are trying to re-ignite the war so that the humans will finish off the arcainics (who while powerful, their numbers are smaller than the humans). So that they can either use the dead bodies of the arcainic population, or enslave the arcainic population. From there they can use them to harvest magical properties which enhance the supernatural abilities and make them more powerful. From that the witches probably end game is to rule the world of both humans and arcainics.
• Tied into all of this is Maika whose awakening of an old god makes her a pawn on both sides. But I guess, as is the universal story in comic books- How useful she will be will be contingent on her learning to control herself (her negativity) and her impulses and tendency to give up.
• In this story the arcanics are not really shown as being bad. But they must have done something or have a nasty side to them. For the humans to dislike them (I mean apart from the propaganda incited by the witches). I also don’t think that it would be like Liu to make one dimensional characters.
• I also liked the way that Liue wrote the Cummae. She could easily have made them all a bunch of ‘tv mean girls’. But instead Liue gave them more of a of a real world approach and showed that they can be just as devious and power hungry as men. Their Machiavellian plotting and conniving makes them more believable and fascinating to watch.
• I liked Maika, I see a lot of X-23 and Katniss Everdeen (from the Hunger Games) in the story. Not that I think that Liu is copying from those two characters. But they are all the same in terms of being teenage girls who have fought through trauma and difficulties. I guess that they are universal reactions that you would expect to impacted by the harshness of life.
• I liked Kippa a lot. I think that it was a genius idea for Liu to have made her child. The attitude would not have worked with a teenager or adult. There’s just something heartbreaking about her good heart and sweetness and her willingness to see beyond a persons actions to who they are inside.
• Like I posted above, this is truly a great story in an age of boring paint by numbers comic book telling. That goes for cheap shocks and PC pandering. I really have to tip my hat to Liu for writing fully fleshed out characters, touching on the shades of grey, and addressing political intrigue.

This is what great storytelling is about.

[Mia]

Please be aware of her Black Widow arc called The Name of the Rose I believe from Marvel. I don't usually pump Marvel but she did a good job unfortunately it got cancelled after 8 issues or so but after she left the book.My first encounter with her writing.

I bought her X-23 run. Apart from being a massive fan of the character Liu did a great job with the character, not all arcs were page turners. But she captured the essence of what her creators Kyle and Yost made special about the character.

Back during the summer I was lucky enough to hear a radio interview with Lieu on NPR. I was thrilled to hear that she was getting some exposure; hopefully it might translate into this series getting some attention that may help it to keep going strong.

I am not sure if you're talking about this:

http://www.npr.org/books/authors/487495390/marjorie-liu

To be frank, I've been a bit disappointed with some of the online write ups I've seen about the book (I mean apart from the general book reviews). I think that the story is much more deep and profound than a disguised allegory for people of colour/biracial people/the outsiders making it in the world. Sure that's a theme, but it's not all the book is about. One of the things I love about the book, there is no soap boxing. No one is perfect and does the right thing or doesn't have some kind of agenda.

[Jinjonator]

Yet another incredible issue. So glad to have Monstress back again.

Some interesting insights into Maika's backstory, as well as Ren's role. Feels like we got so much this month.

[Mia]

Great issue. The reveal about the Sword of the East was pretty interesting and eye opening. I also found the two pirate brothers very reminiscent of the characters from the Blacksad comic book series.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacksad

Liue is a true auteur who knows how to pick from various sources yet make them her own and seem original.

[HsssH]

I think that the story is much more deep and profound than a disguised allegory for people of colour/biracial people/the outsiders making it in the world.

I'd actually argue that this has nothing to do with the book and that authors specifically removed straight white men from this fictional society as far as relevance goes to skip this topic entirely and focus on society run by mostly women and some half-breeds.

[cgh]

I'd actually argue that this has nothing to do with the book and that authors specifically removed straight white men from this fictional society as far as relevance goes to skip this topic entirely and focus on society run by mostly women and some half-breeds.

Agreed. I know a lot of people are seeing various themes of racism, war trauma and so forth in this series. Personally I don't purposefully look for these sorts of things in fiction and I don't think Monstress is really hitting us over the head with such tiresome issues. Instead, it is an exciting story set in a deep and obscurely mysterious world.

I know I might be alone here, but does anyone else love the Cumaean witch-nuns as much as I do? Just ridiculously great characters and they look completely amazing. And now this Sword of the East badass too. These have to be some of the most awesome women in comics.