Monstress #12 Review

Writer: Marjorie Liu / Artist: Sana Takeda / Image Comics This issue of Monstress ends the second story arc and the creative team decided to to do the most to wrap things up here. Deals gone bad, betrayals, ambitions, and overachievers are sure to be a constant because this issue brings it all to a head. The plot thickens incredibly as more information about Morkio bubbles to the surface. The drama bomb surrounding Maika’s mother and her reason for bringing Maika into this world is revealed and it’s both heartbreaking and totally ingenious. This totally puts her struggle in a new light, and I’m sitting here still stunned by the revelation and what this means moving on.

Throughout this series I had redemption, the act of seeing it as possible, as a reoccurring theme as I reviewed each issue. While last issue was a weaker piece in the story, this one starts to right the ship, gathering up loose ends that I felt were perhaps taking too long to connect. Previous issues I thought of characters seeking redemption versus salvation — how Maika and the now-named Zinn, the Monstrum inside her were fighting and making their way to redeem themselves of past sins… of past traumas. I even speculated Maika seeking to redeem her mother of whatever unspeakable trials and tribulations she had participated in that brought about her death. Now I’m convinced that redemption is truly a theme here to stay; that being in a constant state of fighting back, biting for your survival, doing all the …