Maika Halfwolf and company were surrounded by the mysterious Dusk Court last we saw them. This time she finds herself in a chamber of eternal sleep. Designed to keep beings of unimaginable power, and wear them out slowly in their entrapment. The Dark force inside Maika realizes this and digs into her memory to try and find answers as to why is she so hunted, and how can they get out. Elsewhere the Cumaea is preparing an all-out assault on the Dusk Court lead by the Mother Superior herself. The conclusion to the first arc of Montress hits on all fronts. My biggest fear reading this issue was that in the interest to continue building this wonderful world, some stories would be relegated for later. What I got instead was Marjorie Liu arranging all her players in the same board to collide with each other and close out their immediate goals, all focused around a protagonist who digs deep to find herself in equal footing to the thing that had threatened to take over since it’s awakening.

All the elements of this story are perfectly blended together by Sana Takeda in a boiling cauldron full of stunning visuals, changes from one dream to another, dives into memories, changes from one faction to the next with pages fulls of great battles, and moments that terrified and mesmerized me at the same time. Every big reveal had all the punch it was packing and put internal conflicts onto whether to turn the page or continue to admire that ⅓ splash in front of my eyes for a bit longer. Monstress is the perfect book to pick up for creepy beautiful visuals filled with creatures of fantasy and darkness.

There are still questions left, but Monstress #6 has delivered to drop a strong first arc that will definitely keep me coming back fro more.

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Monstress #6 Writer: Marjorie Liu Artist: Sana Takeda Publisher: Image Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 5/25/16 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital

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