Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening

by Marjorie Liu, Sana Takeda (Artist)

Overview

2018 Eisner Award winner, Best Writer
2018 Eisner Award winner, Best Painter/Multimedia Artist
2018 Eisner Award winner, Best Continuing Series
2018 Eisner Award winner, Best Publication for Teens
2018 Eisner Award winner, Best Cover Artist
2018 Harvey Award winner, Book of the Year
2018 Hugo Award winner, Best Graphic Story
2018 British Fantasy Award winner, Best Comic/Graphic Novel
2018, 2016, 2015 Entertainment Weekly's The Best Comic Books of the Year
2018, Newsweek's Best Comic Books of the Year
2018, The Washington Post's 10 Best Graphic Novels of the Year
2018, Barnes & Noble's Best Books of the Year
2018, YALSA's Great Graphic Novels for Teens
2018, Thrillist's Best Comics & Graphic Novels of the Year
2018, Powell's Best Science-Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Graphic Novels of the Year

Set in an alternate matriarchal 1900's Asia, in a richly imagined world of art deco-inflected steam punk, MONSTRESS tells the story of a teenage girl who is struggling to survive the trauma of war, and who shares a mysterious psychic link with a monster of tremendous power, a connection that will transform them both and make them the target of both human and otherworldly powers.

About the Creators:

New York Times bestselling and award-winning writer Marjorie Liu is best known for her fiction and comic books. She teaches comic book writing at MIT, and leads a class on Popular Fiction at the Voices of Our Nation (VONA) workshop. Ms. Liu's extensive work includes the bestselling "Astonishing X-Men" for Marvel Comics, which featured the gay wedding of X-Man Northstar and was subsequently nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for outstanding media images of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Prior to writing full-time, Liu was a lawyer. She currently resides in Boston.

Sana Takeda is an illustrator and comic book artist who was born in Niigata, and now resides in Tokyo, Japan. At age 20 she started out as a 3D CGI designer for SEGA, a Japanese video game company, and became a freelance artist when she was 25. She is still an artist, and has worked on titles such as "X-23" and "Ms. Marvel" for Marvel Comics, and is an illustrator for trading card games in Japan.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781632157096
Publisher:	Image Comics
Publication date:	07/19/2016
Series:	Monstress Series , #1
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	629
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	16 Years

Editorial Reviews

10/17/2016
Lush, disturbing artwork by Takeda (Ms. Marvel) creates an atmosphere of chaos, oppression, magic, and dread in this fantasy tale. Writer Liu (Astonishing X-Men) spins an interesting if confusing yarn about a war between humans and animal-like Arcanics, centering around a young “chosen one”–type Arcanic, Maika Halfwolf. Human witches imprison and chop up the bodies of their Arcanic enemies in secret to eat their life force, an act that includes the dismemberment of Arcanic children. Maika breaks free from her fate, only to find that she’s possessed by a demon hiding within her arm. Takeda’s visuals recall realistic, gritty manga such as Lone Wolf and Cub, with magic and monsters to rival those of Hayao Miyazaki’s films. The bleak worldbuilding will satisfy fans of grim but humanist SF and fantasy. The labyrinthine drawings enchant, but the convoluted storytelling and extreme violence may drive away more casual readers. (July)

Publishers Weekly

If you want big, beautiful, terrifying, violent magic, Monstress is your next favorite comic.” -Cosmopolitan




“Something entirely different” -Hypable




"This is stuff that demands to be explained and dares you to turn the page." -The Rainbow Hub




"Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda take eastern and western comics storytelling traditions and styles, and create something wholly their own and remarkable: a beautifully told story of magic and fear, inhumanity and exploitation, of what it means to be human and the monsters we all carry inside us. Also, some of the best cats in comics. A delight." -Neil Gaiman




SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL - Gr 9 Up-In the aftermath of a terrible war, tension still exists between the humans and the animal-hybrids, Arcanics. Surviving Arcanics are sold as slaves by the Federation of Man and even experimented on by the Cumaea, powerful human witch-nuns who mine the precious life-giving Lilium produced from the bodies of captured Arcanics. Maika Halfwolf, a 17-year-old Arcanic, survived the war but at a devastating cost. Looking for revenge, she allows herself to be sold as a slave to infiltrate the Cumaean stronghold in Zamora. Once there, she uses her newly developed, terrible power to escape, free the captured Arcanics, and brutally attack the witch-nuns. She also steals a fragment of an ancient and powerful mask and murders a Cumaean elder who knows secrets from Maika's past. On the run from the Cumaea, the humans, and her own people, Maika must rely on herself and very few allies if she is to discover the secret of why her mother was murdered and, more important, who she is and what awful power she possesses. Collecting the first five issues of the popular comic, this is a beautifully written and complex book. Intricate and detailed, with a definite manga influence, Takeda's artwork creates a lush and dangerous world for Liu's equally dangerous characters. The work is infused with feminist themes; almost all of the characters are strong-and deadly-women. VERDICT Intended for mature audiences owing to the violence and nudity and filled with rage and barely contained fury, this is a book that will be wildly embraced by all fans of graphic literature.-Erik Knapp, Davis Library, Plano, TX




“If you want big, beautiful, terrifying, violent magic, Monstress is your next favorite comic.” —Cosmopolitan

From the Publisher

08/01/2016
Gr 10 Up—In the aftermath of a terrible war, tension still exists between the humans and the animal-hybrids, Arcanics. Surviving Arcanics are sold as slaves by the Federation of Man and even experimented on by the Cumaea, powerful human witch-nuns who mine the precious life-giving Lilium produced from the bodies of captured Arcanics. Maika Halfwolf, a 17-year-old Arcanic, survived the war but at a devastating cost. Looking for revenge, she allows herself to be sold as a slave to infiltrate the Cumaean stronghold in Zamora. Once there, she uses her newly developed, terrible power to escape, free the captured Arcanics, and brutally attack the witch-nuns. She also steals a fragment of an ancient and powerful mask and murders a Cumaean elder who knows secrets from Maika's past. On the run from the Cumaea, the humans, and her own people, Maika must rely on herself and very few allies if she is to discover the secret of why her mother was murdered and, more important, who she is and what awful power she possesses. Collecting the first five issues of the popular comic, this is a beautifully written and complex book. Intricate and detailed, with a definite manga influence, Takeda's artwork creates a lush and dangerous world for Liu's equally dangerous characters. The work is infused with feminist themes; almost all of the characters are strong—and deadly—women. VERDICT Intended for mature audiences owing to the violence and nudity and filled with rage and barely contained fury, this is a book that will be wildly embraced by all fans of graphic literature.—Erik Knapp,Davis Library, Plano, TX

School Library Journal