Series: Monstress (Collected Editions) #2
Audience: +18
Genre:Comic Book
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: July 11th 2017
My Rating: 5 Cups
Source: Edelweiss
Blurb (from Goodreads):
The Eisner-nominated MONSTRESS is back! Maika, Kippa, and Ren journey to Thyria in search of answers to her past... and discover a new, terrible, threat. Collects MONSTRESS #7-12
*Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of this book from Edelweiss and Image Comics in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review in any way.
I've been waiting for a long, long time for this volume to come out, and it was just as fantastic as I'd hoped and imagined it would be.
Let me start by saying that the art is just as fantastic and amazing as it was in the first volume, if not even more gorgeous. The tone in some drawings changed a little bit, with some panels being more colorful than usual, and even more detailed than before. I love how dynamic the art looks, you can almost imagine the drawing moving. The entire time I was reading this book I could almost see the characters moving, speaking, the smell of the ocean and the sounds of the city, every little detail was present in those panels in such a way to make me imagine the story and see it in my head much like I would watch a movie.
The story picks up right where volume 1 ends, and we get to learn more about Maika, and why she's so dark and tough, especially with Kippa, all the time. I liked the glimpses we got into Maika's childhood, as it made me understand her more. I am curious to see how her story ends and if she'll find the closure she needs. Kippa, as always, was fantastic. She grew from being the little fox-child needing protection from everyone, to making choices and being braver than in the previous volume. This is also probably due to Maika's form of tough love, but also because Kippa is a brave character. Master Ren is still the snarky cat I remember, but he's taking a few risks I didn't imagine him taking in this story. I really want to understand what his angle is though, what's his endgame.
It seems to me that somehow everyone knows something about Maika that she isn't aware of herself, which is kinda sad and infuriating, because I wonder if everybody has a hidden agenda here.
The story is completed by the lectures of professor Tam Tam, and they offer a glimpse into some stuff that Maika is definitely not aware of, or so I believe. We also find out more about the monster inside Maika, her backstory, and how she ended up inside Maika, as well as more about Maika's family.
I loved this story so much, and I am impatiently waiting for the next installments, especially after that ending, although I will be completely honest with you, I am not ready for the story to end! Not at all!
