Panelology is a weekly podcast about comics. We talk about current books, what we're looking forward to, and how to get into reading comics in the first place.

Monstress: The Blood (Image Comics, 2015; #7-12)

This is your regularly scheduled reminder that Monstress is has some of the best world-building and most beautiful art in comics.

  • Maika wrestles with who she wants to be—and what her mother wanted her to be.
  • Figuring that out means coming to terms with her mother’s history and how she came to have her dark passenger.
  • Turns out, that means a trip to an ghost-ridden island built from the bones of a dead god.
  • Liu’s world-building, prophecy, and character work form a complicated but rewarding narrative—the kind of book that you re-read after its finished so you can see how all the parts fit together.
  • Takeda’s art is stunning—some of the most gorgeous pages in comics.
  • I love the tension that comes from seeing such a cruel, unforgiving world drawn so beautifully.

If you’re not reading Monstress, you’re missing out on one of the most intricately crafted comics coming out.

Collected in

  • Monstress, Vol. 2: The Blood (#7-12)

Credits

Writer: Marjorie Liu | Artist: Sana Takeda | Letterer/Designer: Rus Wooton | Editor: Jennifer M. Smith | Editorial Assistant: Ceri Riley

The Mighty Thor by Walter Simonson (Marvel Comics, 1966; #341-345)

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