Monstress vol. 5: Warchild

War has come to the known world as the Federation marches against the Arcanic Kingdom.  The Federation’s first target is the Walled City of Ravenna, whose battlements have kept out invaders for a thousand years.  It’s a record that looks to see its end if the attacking army’s new weapons are as powerful as they’re rumored to be.  Maika Halfwolf naturally wants nothing to do with this conflict as she’s still tracking down mask fragments.  However, two of her entourage both have business there.  Kippa wants to help the fox refugees who have fled there while Corvin has a sister serving as a medic in the city.  So Maika winds up going there against her wishes.  She may not have wanted to go to Ravenna, but it’s to the city’s benefit as she unleashes every awful art of war that she’s learned to keep the Federation from massacring everyone inside of it.

I still think that “Monstress” would benefit greatly from a couple of pages to remind us who the key players aside from those that I’ve mentioned are, as well as to provide a general recap.  Writer Marjorie Liu and artist Sana Takeda have created a memorable world, dense with its own history, and filled with a sprawling cast.  That density is only compounded here as we get more history lessons, intrigue amongst both sides in this conflict, and even more characters added to the story.  My spare time is such that I don’t want to have to keep re-reading this series every time a new volume comes out, but it’s feeling more and more like a requirement as it goes on.

That being said, “Warchild” makes a good case for doing just that.  Once you get past the reintroductions of the opening chapter, this volume quickly morphs into one of the most savage illustrations of the horrors of war that I’ve seen in recent memory.  The conflict may cause Maika to embrace her monstrous side more willingly than before, but the creators are clear that warfare makes monsters of us all as both sides sink to awful depths in order to eke out a win or just survive.  It helps that there’s not a lot of speechifying about this, and that there’s a genuine struggle on both sides rather than just a one-sided smackdown.  So you’re drawn into the battle, unsure about who’s going to win, and that’s just one narrative trick Liu and Takeda have to keep you engaged as things go from bad to worse.  “Warchild” is a compelling read, and the best possible argument the series could present for me to re-read each prior volume before the next one comes out.