The bond between two people who have been through something terrible is special. They trust each other. Montress #5 explores the notion of trust on all sides. Maika, Kippa, the cat are now joined by Sir Corvin Doro, a high member of the Dusk Court, who had gone silent and possibly recluse since the end of the war. He invites them to follow her into safety and promises protection for the rest of their path, which Maika has a hard time trusting, even the monster inside her wants nothing to do with this Arcanic. Meanwhile back in the Cumaea city, Sophia slowly recovers while Atena tends to her and makes sure the people know who their real enemy is.

It’s a game of trust in this issue. Everything goes around that. Who can Maika trust? Has her good (only) friend Tuya betray her? Can the monster inside her actually prove useful? Marjorie Liu successfully poises all these questions without fully providing an answer right away and allowing the story to organically come to that, even then some of those answers bring out more mystery than clarification and move the story along wonderfully. The dialogues and the narration flow is one of the best traits of this issue, another one being Maika’s character and her helplessness to be able to trust people or to take leaps of faith with someone, contrasted to Kippa who is able to put her faith in others so easily, because she has no other choice. It’s two characters with similar stories who have taken opposite reactions to it.

Sana Takeda’s art continues to be gorgeous, dark, and of the kind of beauty you can’t be completely comfortable with, because party of the story, and because of her ability to become twisted, gory, and shockingly horrifying at moments’ notice. This issue has that firing on all cylinders. From Kippa’s incredible cheerfulness which has become one of my favorite things, to the lies and deceits inside the Cumaean cities which mirrors the politics played in Game of Thrones. Monstress #5 dives deeper into the abyss of uncomfort, this time digging into the sentiment of mistrust and letting the reader feel it with every character and at the turn of every page.

[button btn_url="" btn_color="primary" btn_size="large" btn_style="default" btn_outlined="no" link_target="blank" link_rel="" icon_left="" icon_right=""]Score: 5/5[/button]

Monstress #5 Writer: Marjorie Liu Artist: Sana Takeda Publisher: Image Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 4/13/16 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital