Monstress vol. 9: The Possessed

Maika, Kippa, and Ren have all found themselves back in the known world after their jaunt off to Golga in the previous volume.  You know how these things go, though:  Spend a few days spirit traveling to an ancient planet full of eldritch beings, come back and find out that a whole year has passed when you return to your body.  That’s what has happened to Maika and company, with an even worse surprise for her.  The Lord Doctor has managed to take Zinn from his daughter and now commands the being’s power himself.  While our protagonist has spent most of this series wishing to be rid of just that, she realizes that she can’t leave him in her father’s hands and… that after all this time Zinn has become like family to her.

That may seem like a schmaltzy development, but it works here because there’s no denying the closeness that has developed between the two after eight previous volumes.  So Maika’s determination to get Zinn back, regardless of who she has to work with, makes sense here.  In fact, we get to see a newer, more sociable side to the character in this volume, even if she remains as ornery as ever here.  This kind of growth is also seen in Kippa and Ren as well, with the latter displaying a kind of clever ruthlessness that I didn’t think he had in him.

Of course, with Zinn in the Lord Doctor’s hands, you’d think that vol. 9 would make for a downer of a read.  Not so, as writer Marjorie Liu understands that even the bad guys have to struggle for their goals.  There are also plenty of comedic moments (both vanilla and darkly) to keep the tone from getting too oppressive along with the series’ unstoppable momentum, and Sana Takeda’s incredible art.  Even though this series is now in the habit of dropping brutal cliffhangers on a regular basis with each volume, they just make me want to read the next one more and not less.  Which is just one of many reasons I may wind up calling “Monstress” the best series I’m reading right now – the position is open now, after all.