Monstress, Volume 10: Hollow Gods

Monstress #10

by Marjorie M. Liu, Sana Takeda (illustrator)

The Defiled, a group of Monstra long confined to the prison planet Golga, have slipped through a rift between worlds and possessed anyone who has ever held the Mask of the Shaman-Empress--including Maika, Kippa, and Maika's father, the Lord Doctor. Without Zinn at her side, Maika will need to partner with the most unlikely of allies to fight this invasion--or risk losing everything and everyone she loves.

Collects MONSTRESS #55-60

Genres: Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Comics, Horror, Graphic Novels Comics, Adult, Steampunk

200 pages, Paperback

First published November 19, 2025

About the author

New York Times bestselling and award-winning writer Marjorie Liu is best known for her fiction and comic books. She teaches comic book writing at MIT, and she leads a class on Popular Fiction at the Voices of Our Nation (VONA) workshop.

Ms. Liu is a highly celebrated comic book writer. Her extensive work with Marvel includes the bestselling Dark Wolverine series, NYX: No Way Home, X-23, and Black Widow: The Name of the Rose. She received national media attention for Astonishing X-Men, which featured the gay wedding of X-Man Northstar and was subsequently nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for outstanding media images of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Ms. Liu also wrote the story for the animated film, Avengers Confidential: Black Widow and Punisher, which was produced by Marvel, Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan) Inc., and Madhouse Inc.

Her newest work is MONSTRESS, an original, creator-owned comic book series with Japanese artist (and X-23 collaborator) Sana Takeda. Published by Image in Fall 2015, MONSTRESS is set in an alternate, matriarchal 1920’s Asia and follows a girl’s struggle to survive the trauma of war. With a cast of girls and monsters and set against a richly imagined aesthetic of art deco-inflected steam punk, MONSTRESS #1 debuted to critical praise. The Hollywood Reporter remarked that the longer than typical first issue was “world-building on a scale rare in mainstream comics.”

Ms. Liu is also the author of more than 19 novels, most notably the urban fantasy series, Hunter Kiss, and the paranormal romance series, Dirk & Steele. Her novels have also been bestsellers on USA Today, which described Liu “as imaginative as she is prolific.” Her critically praised fiction has twice received the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, for THE MORTAL BONE (Hunter Kiss #6), and TIGER EYE (Dirk & Steele #1). TIGER EYE was the basis for a bestselling paranormal romance video game called Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box.

Liu has appeared on MSNBC, CNN, MTV, and been profiled in the Wall Street Journal.com, Hollywood Reporter, and USA Today. She is a frequent lecturer and guest speaker, appearing on panels at San Diego Comic Con, the Tokyo Literary Festival, the New York Times Public Lecture series, Geeks Out; and the Asian American Writers Workshop. Her work has been published internationally, including Germany, France, Japan, Poland, and the United Kingdom.

Ms. Liu was born in Philadelphia, and has lived in numerous cities in the Midwest and Beijing. Prior to writing full-time, she was a lawyer. She currently resides in Boston.

Reviews

[Vyshakh Aravindan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Monstress, Volume 10: Hollow Gods

Written by Marjorie Liu | Art by Sana Takeda

Hollow Gods brings the saga to its most reflective and unsettling phase yet. The title captures its theme perfectly — gods that are hollow, power that has lost meaning, and heroes who no longer know what they’re fighting for.

Maika stands at the edge of everything she’s endured. The divine and mortal worlds have intertwined into chaos, and the question isn’t whether she can win, but whether she can survive herself. Liu’s writing is at its most philosophical here — questioning not just war and faith, but the emptiness that follows them.

There’s an eerie stillness to this volume — an awareness that the world has changed too much to return to what it was. The gods are revealed not as omnipotent beings, but as flawed echoes of human ambition. It’s a theme that resonates powerfully: divinity and monstrosity are two sides of the same broken mirror.

Takeda’s artwork remains transcendent — a visual hymn of decay and divinity. Her depiction of ruins, spirits, and celestial remnants makes every page feel like the fading memory of a dream.

Hollow Gods doesn’t end things neatly. It leaves the reader in a suspended state — uncertain, haunted, yet awed. It’s not closure; it’s reflection.

[Abraham O'Coffey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Monstress is a steam punk inspired visual masterpiece akin to the great fantasy series written by Sanderson, Tolkien, and Gaiman. It started out extremely strong, with lots of real world analogies and complex world building to complement its powerful characters. As I’ve read 60 issues over the last 5 years, it has transformed into something much more mythic, cosmic, and vague. It’s still extremely unique in the comic world but much of the magic feels different as the focus has changed from more grounded characters to more ambiguous ones (the old gods). I’ll keep reading it, but it is the most difficult series to read issue by issue rather than altogether.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This pains me to say as someone who has been reading since day 1 but I’m putting this series on hold. Officially removed it from my pull box today. :’( While this final issue did feel like they were maybe contemplating wrapping things up, it still just feels a bit too meandering for me, like every arc just expands and expands with no closure. At least Maika and Zinn are finally back together, I think I’ll leave them here for now, maybe return once everything is wrapped up to finish their story.

Issue #55: Read 03/23/25 4.5 stars
Issue #56: Read 05/23/25 2.5 stars (maybe the first time in the series that I thought about quitting)
Issue #57: Read 05/23/25 4 stars
Issue #58: Read 10/03/25 3 stars
Issue #59: Read 10/03/25 3.5 stars
Issue #60: Read 12/28/25 4 stars

[Jayson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come...


(A-) 80% | Very Good
Notes: Review pending re-read. Individual reviews for included issues can be found here:
- Monstress #55
- Monstress #56
- Monstress #57
- Monstress #58
- Monstress #59
- Monstress #60

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of big things happening but for some reason I did not enjoy this quite as much as the previous ones. But I'm quite sure the next one will be back to the usual amazing stuff, if this *insert curseword here* cliffhanger is anything to go by.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid 3.5 book.

It always takes me a bit to remember where I was when I get a Monstress volume because a lot happens from volume to volume.

This was a lot of dialogue that is moving the story along at a lot slower rate than I'm used to but that's probably because of the Old Gods being a larger part of the volume. We finally are getting hints of what they're planning and doing vs Maika who is a consistently moving problem for everyone.

This volume didn't change that.
Maika has her own problems from the last volume since waking up so she's still reeling from the loss of Zinn and now the old gods being known and being pests.

I did find this volume harder to read in general. The font is small amongst all the dialog bubbles and I thank whoever for the different colors of bubbles to go with the person in question but overall the reading was just harder so I had to pause and zoom in a lot so in zooming out I would get to see the actual illustrations through out.

[Tamara Morrill · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars just because i hate tuya

otherwise as always 5 stars , this like volume 9 is setting up some new plots and a new ark
if you like monstress other vols you will like this continuation

[Jade Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is slippery. I read the entire thing last year and remember nada (of the later volumes at least). This one took an interesting turn tho. As always, intrigued to see what happens next.

[Jesse Bookout · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cool series, but I'm starting to wonder if they know where they're going with it.

[Bertazzo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the Old Gods better when they were trapped in Golga.

[Audet Maxime · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are now 10 volumes deep into this series, you know what you are getting when a new volume drops: amazing art, slow-moving pace, cosmic horror and a cliffhanger that makes you wish you could fast forward 12 months to read the next issue.

[Sara Jovanovic · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Abigail Pankau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the Defiled have escaped their prison, and have possessed any who have come into contact with the mask shards, including Maika, her father, and Kippa. Maika and Kippa fight for control over their own bodies, while Zinn and the new Defiled are fighting within Maika’s father. But there seems to be infighting even amongst the Defiled. Can Maika convince the Defiled that is trying to possess her to help instead?

Another excellent addition to this series, which is still darkly beautiful and complex and strange. While I love the art, this one is a bit harder to follow because of all the tentacles from the Defiled. But still really great.

[TAB · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series hasn't gone anywhere for two years now. It's been circling seemingly unsure of how to resolve all the arcs in a clean way. It pretends to focus more deeply on character growth, but I'm not sure there's enough evidence to support that. I will continue buying it because it is an absolutely beautiful story and I am invested in many of the characters and the lack of a true good/bad divide, but I really could use some resolution or at least a path towards it.

[Marybeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

"YOU ARE HUNGRY."

Hungry for more, yes. These cliffhangers are killing me...

"...Some memories are more real...than others...and this song...was always an infection..."

The art, the art, the art, the art. My favorite art of any graphic novels so far, just the details. It is absolutely not for you if you have an aversion to multiple eyes tho.

"Our fractured hearts, bleeding into each other. Until your memories, your grief were as real as mine. How could that not change me?"

I missed this story, a lot. I really need to reread everything before Vol 11 releases.

"I had a heart, a very long time ago. Sometimes, I felt the echo of it..with Tuya...or Kippa. Just enough to pretend that one day I might feel things the way other people do."

There's a lot happening in this volume, plot-wise. Multiple strings from previous volumes are coming back & tying in to the events. It's a lot of action, as opposed to explaining though.

"Who am I when I'm all alone inside myself? Who is the girl with no heart?"

Representation: MC & multiple characters with amputation, an MC is temporarily blind, lesbian MC

"You ally yourself with cats? You are a fool. We must exterminate them, with great haste."

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, as a marginal fantasy fan, I have never really fully known what was going on here, and yet the various arcs the series explore are still moving glacially forward, seeming more cosmic than ever. And darker (before the dawn, maybe), maybe, more dreamlike, vague. Entering into the heart of darkness, or the dark night of the soul? At the heart of all the arcs is young woman mc Maika Halfwolf trying to figure out who she is, who her family is, seeking out her personal and political goals.

She and mom and dad in someways are in the central circle. The next concentric circle involves all those cute animals, including Kippa, and then Ren, who take center stage here for awhile. I have no idea what the gods ultimately represent, or who is fighting for what, but I bet true fantasy lovers can tell me in a minute (or hour).

Let me just be clear, as always: Though the Marjorie Liu story seems like it is forever very slowly evolving (story, 1-2 stars, as far as I can figure out), the amazing Sana Takeda artwork holds everything together as much as possible. Some consistent combination of gorgeous and sometimes horrific work worth checking out even if you don't follow the story.

[K.S. Trenten · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Defiled walk the world, ancient horrors like Zinn, possessing many of the main characters, and yet these monsters are not in accord as far as their goals, feelings, or feeding patterns. War spreads once more with everyone out of their depth, but Maika is focused, learning, and listening like never before, intent upon achieving her personal and political goals. Once again, the setting is so rich with characters, distinct in personality, and the cast just exploded. I had a very hard time, keeping track of everyone. Many a panel was both gorgeous and horrifying, yet brought humanity to horrors from beyond, yet made it very clear they were neither human nor gods. Overwhelmed as I was, certain characters stood out, such as Maika and Kippa, while Ren took center stage as never before. Vast as the expanding cast is in an intricately complicated universe, I’m still hooked.

[Ανδρέας Μιχαηλίδης · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I am all read up until issue #59, just waiting for issue #60 to bid this series farewell, one way or another. I was inclined to give it 1 star, but in all honesty, the art never falls below a certain level, even if the script is as hollow as the volume's title.

At this point, the creators are just adding useless layers to their already convoluted mess of a lore. Once more, everything is overturned, choices are made for shock value rather than narrative usefulness, and the end cannot come soon enough.

Well, I am now certain the story cannot end with issue #60, and I no longer care to see when or how.

***SPOILERS***

And now the penultimate Tuya clone is pregnant with Maika's baby or some shit, probably in a less than consensual way.

[Theo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Monstress is still one of the strongest ongoing comics out there. But as the world-building has moved outward and gotten more cosmic, I've cared less.

I really do not care about the individual Monstrum beyond Zinn, and the art isn't helping me keep track of who is whom. There are some coloring differences with the speech text and bubbles, but I find myself either getting confused or skimming.

The art seemingly has been getting darker shaded, and that is frustrating. I find myself sitting under my brightest plant grow lights to read this. (Yes, I am wearing my reading and computer glasses, thank you.)

I am surprised that Liu has taken such a big swing as the story's heart Kippa. Which makes you wonder even more just how much steam the Monstress tale has in it.

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 stars
Goddammit, for some reason I thought this was the finale so when I saw the "to be continued" at the end, I flipped.

This volume finally discusses choice vs fate and manipulation. it also covers how power can take different forms.

Im starting to suspect the Old God's separation of groups is more about class and elitism than anything else. Captain Lore is a "bad guy" because he is a defiled, yet he has the loyalty and love of the others where as the Smith can only offer power.

And I love how Kippa continues to politely talk with the Old God's even when they easily pose a threat to her.

Overall, I really liked this volume and I need the next one right now.

[Amie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Monstress, Volume 10 pushes deeper into the divine hierarchies and ancient powers shaping Maika’s world. Loyalties fracture further as gods, monsters, and mortals collide in increasingly catastrophic ways. The emotional cost of power becomes harder to ignore.

I found this darker and more introspective than earlier volumes. The art remains astonishing, but what really stayed with me was the growing sense of inevitability and the brilliant clash of gods and monsters. This series continues to feel both epic and deeply personal.

[Chihoe Ho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Monstress is one of the hardest graphic novel series to dive back into its world even though only 11 months have lapsed since I last read Volume 9. There are plenty of threads and characters to keep up with, but it seems like the plot is now squarely focused on the Old Gods. I actually did enjoy this arc, but I do hope it advances the overall plot because it feels a bit tediously circular. This might be the volume I put a pause on keeping up with the series annually, only choosing to return with yet another re-read of Monstress once it concludes.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do I keep forgetting who everyone and what allegiance they have between volumes? Yes.

Am I still consistently enthralled? Yes.

My least favourite trope is a fantasy story actually being a sci-fi story in disguise, but Monstress is, for now, still managing to straddle the line well enough that I can't put it down.

And I could look at Sana Takeda's artwork until my eyes fell out, so there's that going for it too.

[Madeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Series is still solid, though this feels like a bit of a side plot that takes over the main story as the Defiled awaken inside numerous hosts and begin causing chaos. Lots of battles and conversations that take place inside an astral plane of sorts.

The arc seems mostly concluded by the end of the volume so I'll be eager to see where things go. The drama amongst the Defiled isn't as compelling as our main cast of characters.

[S.Ravkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my current favorite graphic novels. It is beautiful - in a dark, creepy, eldritch way. There are occasions when I just sit and drink my tea and flip through the pages to simply look. The story is remarkable. Dark, brooding, magical, menacing. But there is also some humor and a bit of joy.

[Drucilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to knock a star off this volume because it's so hard to tell the old gods apart. They all look so similar that if their speech bubbles hadn't been different colors, I would have been lost. Other than that, lots of fun lore bits and the ending was a chaotic hot mess, but in a good way. I can't believe I now have to wait a year for the next volume.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maika Half Wolf is in a fight she may not win this time. All internal and very dark as the ancients that slipped through have a plan to take over the world.
I love the cats arguing. Unsure who to trust as the war between courts takes an unexpected turn.

[Siobhán · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do I understand what happened? No. Do I ever? No. (Though this volume I did follow the back half better than most.) Am I so excited for how messy the Sapphic drama is getting? Oh yes! Now to once again see if I can find someone to explain everything to me.

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 - I’m ready to be done with this story and had basically decided as much until the last few pages of this volume. I remain fatigued but found just enough curiosity to consider the next part of this unending saga.

[Megan Flaherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

The monstress series is one of my favorites! Volume 10 was a great addition to the series. We get to know more of the old gods and what is with the servitor???? Who are they really? who do they really serve?