Summer 2019;

(3.5)

Picked up to read between having read the first volume, forgotten about the series for a while, and seeing the 3rd volume is in the nominees for the 2019 Hugo Nominees. I still want to give this series four hundred stars just for the art (and it is part of why even with a 3.5 I went up rather than down). It's just so gorgeous. I have a very judgey aesthetic need where it comes to art, and 90% of the time comics will never reach it (and even a perfect story I will dock a star from for that, because this is a visual media as well as a written one).

I still find myself deeply entrenched, entranced, and in a swirl of questions about the goings on in this story. I am in love with the flashbacks between our main character and her mother, as we tease out through her point-of-view exactly what it is she never knew and what she's uncertain of still, and between it all the true path of what her mother's choices and complicated/conflicted loyalties, choices, and reasons were.

I'm never quite all that interested in the blood-demon side of stories like this, so this I was surprised when it became questioning and confused about its own self, about the way it remembered things, and what had truly happened in the past that it had forgotten. I still would very much like to know where this series is going and how long it might take to get there, and I pray to god no other artist ever switches in.

Also, Kippa may still potentially be my favorite character of this series. Innocent, sentimental children whose loyalty and love unstrips their size, age, and power ability just sink their teeth into my heart and refuse to come out. ( )

Not a ton of forward movement in this one, but there was enough. I liked seeing new types of archanics and learning more of the monster’s history. The artwork is exquisite. ( )

This keeps getting better and better! I love that Maika is such a hard-ass, but I want more Monstrum manifestations!

Also, I have to slow down with these, because there’s only 20 issues left! ( )

The hits keep on coming. The world is amazing and the lore rules. The characters are interesting and their conflicting motivations make them a lot of fun. The art continues to be beautiful and a treat to look at. ( )

Hooking, but confusing. ( )