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Critical Interpretation of MONSTRESS: VOLUME 1 - POST #12

The comic that I chose to read this month is Monstress: Book one written by Marjorie Liu and drawn by Sana Takeda. This story takes place in a world inspired by early 20th century Asia, following the main protagonist Maika Halfwolf who is an Arcanic which is a magical creature that can pass as a human. There is a war between Arcanics and the Cumaea who are an order of sorceresses who experiment and consume the powers of Arcanics to fuel their power. Maika’s main objective is to avenge her dead mother, but is also struggling to find the balance between herself and the powerful demon that is within her. Marjorie Liu discusses on The Hollywood Reporter interview how "The world of Monstress is one that has been torn apart by racism, slavery, by the commodification of mixed race bodies that produce a valuable substance that humans require like a drug. Even if you look human, you might not be safe. It’s a familiar story to people of color in this country, and in the last four or five years I’ve found myself deeply immersed in the study of identity and race, especially in the Asian American context." Maika Halfwolf is always combating against the demon that is inside her whether it would be when she is alone or in the middle of battle or conflict, it was always a constant fight with not only other characters in the world but also with herself.


 The theme of being able to continually retain humanity within oneself despite the afflictions of war, slavery, and racism can be extremely difficult. In the beginning of the novel we already see that the main protagonist despite being able to defend herself and protect her own mentality, when it comes to others witnessing the guard forcibly drag other arcanics and torturing them had come to a limit. Seeing as she was constantly withstanding against dehumanization. One scene that truly captured this inner battle was when Maika was talking to the demon in her arm, even though it tried to intimidate her by claiming to be “god-like” but she responds with “Spit on that. If your so Godlike then why the fuck are you living inside me?”(pg. 139) Showing the audience that despite her seemingly strong capabilities, that she is not someone who is flawless. 


Despite the many themes that are present the biggest theme that the author emphasizes greatly is “Women. Women, women, women. I can’t say that word enough, and I’m not talking about women as a gender — I’m talking about sisterhood” which the comic heavily explores through this world set in a matriarchal society to be able to discuss different issues in the series that will encourage more conversations and thinking about the variety of issues. Marjorie Liu states "If men disappeared tomorrow, there would still be racism, and conflicts over religion. If men disappeared tomorrow, we might not be as concerned about sexual violence, but that would still exist — women batter other women, and women are enablers of rape culture. If men disappeared tomorrow, we’d still have war, poverty — the exact same problems we have now. We like to imagine that women would do a better job of ruling the world — and I’m one of those optimists — but women aren’t a superior kind of life form, just because of our gender. We’re awesome, but not perfect. We’re human. Just like men."


Which was why it was very fascinating for me to choose this comic to read because the hanging question that lingered in my head while reading Monstress was if the main protagonist is not considered a hero in this world (but rather a threat according to the sorceress) than what is exactly a hero supposed to be? A hero used to mean simply that it is someone of supernatural abilities utilizing their strengths for the common good. But nowadays we can also see many depictions of the “anti-hero” or vigilante type of heroes that are used as a model for many comics. In this first volume of Monstress I would not personally dub Maika halfwolf as a villain or a full on superhero either, because her intentions are for herself, but I observing the decisions she makes readers can also tell she has a kind heart in wanting to protect the the weak, despite herself acting aloof and distant with the other characters around her. Maika Halfwolf is quite young, despite being seventeen years old she undergoes more tragedies and finds herself needing to quickly adapt to her situations and maintain a level of maturity to be able to handle the emotions that she is experiencing throughout her journey to answer her unfulfilled questions. In class we learned about what exactly paved the path for superheroes to become more popular in the media, not being labeled only as a hobby limited to children. Monstress is a clear cut example of why it was able to succeed in discussing different realms of issues of war, racism, and slavery in a mystical world where readers can put themselves in the omniscient lens to observe the characters and the protagonist’s actions and hard conversations that relate to our world today.

Sources:

'Monstress': Inside The Fantasy Comic About Race, Feminism And The Monster Within

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/monstress-inside-fantasy-comic-race-836391

Liu, Marjorie M., et al. Monstress: Book One. Image Comics, 2019.


Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 3, 2020 at 11:19 AM

    Hello Grace,

    The author Marjorie Liu and illustrator Sana Takeda construct the climax of the story based on the battle between two powers that impacts the life of dwellers within it. In the back of the comic book, the author Marjories Liu also shared her personal inspiration for this story that comes from the story of Janet Jackson that she heard on the radio and her grandparent’s survival experience in China. As can be seen, the issue of slavery, the battle between clans, the life on the steppe, the outfit of characters, all visual images engages the audiences to the perspective of the East and also the West. In addition, the illustration of Japanese anime also shapes a platform to convey the story. The battle within oneself seems to be associated with the nature of humans who are also conflict species. Just imagine that an angel on one shoulder and an evil on the other side always intervene in a person’s decision making. The balance between those two sides would help a person to respond to the living world much wiser rather than leaning on either side. The main character Maika Halfwolf in the constant battle between two opposite sides that the evil side could take over her body anytime if she wants, or maintains the human side. This extraordinary strength indicates the power of her self-control as an heroic icon to not become a monstress to respond to her circumstances. I agree that “women'' is the biggest theme in the story, but the author seems to not talk about gender equality but present women as sexual objects to draw the audience's attention through the matriarchal society.

    Thank you for your insight thought,
    Duong

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousNovember 8, 2020 at 2:35 PM

    Hi Grace

    Reading your interpretation and analysis of Monstress was very intriguing because I was considering reading that comic for my post. I wasnt aware that it involved so many complex themes that interact with each other in such a dynamic way. I loved your point about how comics are shifting away from the expectation that they are to be for children. Monstress is a great example of this maturity in comics when it comes to more complex and specific social contexts.

    ReplyDelete

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