Monstress, Book One

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

The richly imagined world of MONSTRESS is an alternate matriarchal 1900s Asia, with an art deco-infused steampunk aesthetic that's brimming with arcane dangers. Within it, a teenage girl struggles to overcome the trauma of war, a task that's made all the more difficult by her mysterious psychic link to an eldritch monster of tremendous power—a connection that will transform them both, and place them in the crosshairs of both human and otherworldly powers.

Creator/writer Marjorie Liu (who made history as the first woman to win an Eisner Award for Best Writer) and creator/artist Sana Takeda present a deluxe, oversized hardcover edition of their beloved breakout comic in MONSTRESS BOOK ONE. Collecting the first 18 issues of the New York Times bestselling series, this massive edition features a striking new cover, as well as special extras, including never-before-seen sketches, script pages, and more for over 500 pages of award-winning content.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534312326
Publisher:	Image Comics
Publication date:	07/09/2019
Series:	Monstress Series
Pages:	528
Sales rank:	139,564
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 11.10(h) x 1.40(d)
Age Range:	16 Years

Editorial Reviews

BOOK RIOT — Monstress (Marjorie Liu, Sana Takeda, and Rus Wooten) is intense, and does not hold back on the darker elements of magic it explores. Set in a matriarchal world where sorceresses capture and use magical creatures (the Arcanics) to sustain their power and control, Monstress follows Maika on her quest to avenge her mother. Littered with nuanced, flawed, powerful, hopeful, and dangerous female characters, this tale of war and race is a punch to the gut at every turn of the page.





NPR — For page after gorgeous page, Monstress engulfs the reader in layers of masterfully drawn figures, textures and details. In the context of comics, where a few hasty scribbles often carry the whole weight of the reader's imagination, Takeda's compositions are almost dizzying. Her talent, like Liu's, is seductive - it distracts and overwhelms. Only after you've become acclimatized may you begin to notice certain weaknesses. For one, there's a static sameness to many of her female characters. Maika and nearly all the female bosses are annoyingly exquisite. (Could it be that crow's feet and double chins are caused by patriarchy?) But such shortcomings don't seem like that big a deal stacked against this saga's capacity to engage and absorb. When you're lucky enough to encounter a complex story, winning characters and all that delectable art, it's hard to get hung up on a few flaws - however pervasive they may be.





"Liu's accomplishment is impressive. She's created characters who feel larger than life, but whose motivations and values are almost always obscure.” —NPR



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



"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.” —Publishers Weekly



"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.” —School Library Journal

From the Publisher