Review of Man-Eaters

We've been reading Man-Eaters by Chelsea Cain, Kate Niemczyk, and Lia Miternique since it came out in September of last year. At first, 'we' was my partner and I. The eight year-old unschooling kid here who reads just about everything that passes through the house self-selected out. It wasn't because the book is about menstruation, we talk about that frequently. It turns out she didn't feel the story was moving along fast enough at first. One of her key care-abouts for a book is adventure. So, issue number 1 didn't quite meet her bar.

When she picked up issue 7 though, after watching her 6 year-old brother peruse it, she was sold! Consequently, she and I have been re-reading the series for the last couple of weeks. And I'm here to tell you, it rocks!

Not only is there adventure in the later issues, there's also mystery! No one might be who they initially seem to be. There are layers here. The story revolves around an outbreak of pantherism that may have started in the main character, Maud's, middle school. In the world that's so adeptly, and entertainingly built in only 7 short issues, it's an indisputable historical fact that sometime during Maude's parents' formative years some females turned into werepanthers after having their first period. To prevent further outbreaks, period preventing hormones were added to the water supply while an industry grew up around providing hormone free products for males. Something has gone amok though, and therein lies the rub for our main character, her friends, and her panther policing parents.

One of my favorite parts of the story is that Maud's parents are both incredibly lovable. Her dad an anything-but-hardened homicide detective, and her mother, a werepanther investigator, are divorced, but still pretty good around each other and incredible with Maud. It's a lot of fun watching the family dynamic morph from what appears-to-be to what actually-may-be.

Ironic, yet all too true jokes about the patriarchy are scattered through the world Maude lives in. A few of the comic's eight issues are dedicated to flushing these out with excerpts from manuals on menstruation and other documents, games, and classroom materials concerning menstruation and its avoidance. It's sad that these examples aren't too far, (maybe not actually far at all?), from the world we live in. I've spent a lot of my time reading this book laughing, only to realize that, "Oh God, the absurd thing is upsettingly mostly true".

The kid and I are having a great time reading, talking about the story, and talking about the world Maud, and we live in. We haven't had this much fun with a comic book since we both read Doom Patrol, another book I'd highly recommend.

So, in closing, if you haven't picked up this book yet, it's more than worth it! It's a fun story with mystery, and just recently, (and not a moment too soon some around here would say), adventure. It makes me think about and question the world my kid and I are living in. It gently brings into focus things that need to change, and wow do a lot of things need to change!

The Valentine's Day Magnetic Monopole

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Copasetic Flow

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