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Man-Eaters #1
Eisner-nominated and New York Times bestselling thriller writer CHELSEA CAIN returns to comics with a new ONGOING SERIES! A mutation in Toxoplasmosis causes menstruating women to turn into ferocious killer wildcats—easily provoked and extremely dangerous. As panic spreads and paranoia takes root, the fate of the world rides on the shoulders of one twelve-year-old girl. Part Cat People, part The Handmaid’s Tale, MAN-EATERS will have everyone talking. From the creative team behind the Eisner-nominated series Mockingbird: writer CHELSEA CAIN, artist KATE NIEMCZYK, colorist RACHELLE ROSENBERG, letterer JOE CARAMAGNA, and joined by LIA MITERNIQUE, KATIE LANE, and STELLA GREENVOSS. This September… the cat wants in.
24 pages, Comic Book
Published September 26, 2018
14 people are currently reading
654 people want to read
About the author
Chelsea Cain
91 books3,816 followersChelsea Cain is the New York Times bestselling author of the Archie Sheridan/Gretchen Lowell thrillers Heartsick, Sweetheart, Evil at Heart, The Night Season, Kill You Twice, and Let Me Go. Her next book One Kick (August, 2014) will be the first in her Kick Lannigan thriller series. Her book Heartsick was named one of the best 100 thrillers ever written by NPR, and Heartsick and Sweetheart were named among Stephen King's Top Ten Books of the Year. Her books have been featured on HBO's True Blood and on ABC's Castle. Cain lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
November 28, 2018
I need to wash my eyes with soap..
January 3, 2019
You have to read it. Seriously. It's irreverent, and brilliant and exciting!
If you have to read a comic book, this is it. It's fresh, innovative, irreverent, and brilliant and exciting!
In the future, women don't menstruate. Because if they do, they transform into big feral cats that kill everyone.
As a result, we find a society were girls and boys are kept separated, and boys are shown that testosterone is good but girl's periods and all thinks femenine are bad, Because guys rule, you know, and women... they are dangerous and need to be controled...
And so it begins this irreverent comic which will make you think a lot about genre and differences based solely on being born a woman or a man.
If you have to read a comic book, this is it. It's fresh, innovative, irreverent, and brilliant and exciting!
In the future, women don't menstruate. Because if they do, they transform into big feral cats that kill everyone.
As a result, we find a society were girls and boys are kept separated, and boys are shown that testosterone is good but girl's periods and all thinks femenine are bad, Because guys rule, you know, and women... they are dangerous and need to be controled...
And so it begins this irreverent comic which will make you think a lot about genre and differences based solely on being born a woman or a man.
September 26, 2018
Menstruation must end! Thank you, and God bless America!
THIS WAS SO GOOD. From the writing to the artwork, to the colors and the lettering. I loved it.
This is the non-compliant, feminist af, comic book I wanted to read for so long.
Y'all remember what happened with Mockingbird's 'Ask me about my feminist agenda'? This is Cain's response and daaaaaamn. I'm not worthy. The use of satire here, from the first panel, starring a tampon called Tampon Woman fighting against the patriarchy, from the very last page of the issue, that promotes Certified estrogen-free! water for boys, I'm in awe.
The introduction of the story was so well balanced. Explaining the plot, with dynamic artwork and some gore to raise the stakes. But the humour, ohhh the humour. The smart writing, the feminist sass that is the whole core of this comic. I read this with a smile on my face the whole time. What a time for this comic to be released.
Cannot wait to continue this witty, original, fucking brilliant creative statement made by this team!
THIS WAS SO GOOD. From the writing to the artwork, to the colors and the lettering. I loved it.
This is the non-compliant, feminist af, comic book I wanted to read for so long.
Y'all remember what happened with Mockingbird's 'Ask me about my feminist agenda'? This is Cain's response and daaaaaamn. I'm not worthy. The use of satire here, from the first panel, starring a tampon called Tampon Woman fighting against the patriarchy, from the very last page of the issue, that promotes Certified estrogen-free! water for boys, I'm in awe.
The introduction of the story was so well balanced. Explaining the plot, with dynamic artwork and some gore to raise the stakes. But the humour, ohhh the humour. The smart writing, the feminist sass that is the whole core of this comic. I read this with a smile on my face the whole time. What a time for this comic to be released.
Cannot wait to continue this witty, original, fucking brilliant creative statement made by this team!
November 2, 2018
1.5 The part about “prostitutes in space being a bad future to show girls” is cringey as f**k.
I prefer my feminism to be intersectional, support sex work and trans/non-binary individuals instead of just shouting “women” and “fight the patriarchy” over and over. It was a more inclusive book I would like it, the art is nice and I like the quirkiness of it.
I prefer my feminism to be intersectional, support sex work and trans/non-binary individuals instead of just shouting “women” and “fight the patriarchy” over and over. It was a more inclusive book I would like it, the art is nice and I like the quirkiness of it.
August 29, 2018
Get this on your pull lists now it is brilliant and awesome and feminist af!
December 31, 2018
Is this satire? Because it reads exactly like satire. If I wanted to write satire about toxic feminism and masculinity, this is how I would write it.
The advertisement of this first issue already sounds like satire:
"Part Cat People, part The Handmaid’s Tale"
So this is about women popping out babies while transforming into cats? That is how it sounds like.
And the main character, if you can call her that; how old is this girl supposed to be? Because she looks like she is still pre-puberty and plays with tampons but yet she has some weird fantasy about a tampon woman fighting a Mr. Misogyny tampon who has a castle of misogyny and fights for the systemic oppression of women. Said tampon woman even says “the personal is political.” That sounds like some weird sort of adult activist, not like a preteen girl. What preteen girl plays with tampons?
And even though the girl is stated to be twelve, when she talks to the reader about how her dad is a cop and how she could describe him she pictures Magnum and one guy from Miami Vice (I think). And you see, I have no idea whether I get that reference and I am definitely old enough for that. How disconnected from the world is this author/artist? This dad is really odd actually. And what dad with a daughter that age and of his time would use Monthy Python references? Even though he is a homicide detective, the dad is dressed as if he wants to go to a bike race. Either the author did not keep up with the times or this is plain satire.
Apart from the fact that there is insane amount of cat symbolism here (every girl's room here has cat pictures and other cat related things), I also remembered why that cover looks so familiar. It is similar to some posters for revolution. The raised arms feature in several and some even have three arms with clenched fists in the same position as these three cat legs.
When the female cop stated that they should "Suspect a big cat attack" I was: That guy has two limbs ripped off, half his face and big chunks of his body missing. Apart from the fact that no human could fake that (so why suspect a human?), that does not look like the attack of a big cat of any sort, that looks as if he was attacked by an allosaurus. Which makes me think the artist does not know how big cat wounds look like, as otherwise the art is pretty good.
And you should see that “S.C.A.T team.” No professional team would look like these, ever.
And if this isn’t satire, than subtlety really isn’t strong here. The restrained girls have the following things on their shirts: A female symbol with cat ears, "Girls can do anything", "Fight like a girl" and "feminist AF" As a matter of fact, with such lack of subtlety it is usually the case in my experience that the writers are pretty much the same as what they fight against or the deliberately chose it to make fun of it.
Ironically: this is a werewolf story!
At the onset of menstruation teen girls transform into big cats that attack everything on sight (Btw. why are grown women fine?), what she presents here is obviously a metaphor but one used way more often for male sexual awakening and not female ones. Becoming muscular, aggressive and hairy monsters is something claimed to be happening to boys, not girls. She even speaks of a cycle for the next attack here, which actually makes several of the actions shown here pretty nonsensical. After all, why imprison, respectively in effect sterilize girls and thereby doom humanity if they only turn for a few days per month?
And it really is idiotic what is shown here: They say menstruation must end because of the cats, the comic states that the government stated it was for their own good, they put hormones like progesterone and estrogen in the water supply (which should have a whole lot of side effects in real life) and we have protestors against it with "love conquers hate" signs…. if people suddenly turn into violent monsters, that is not hate to be scared it is a good reaction and national emergency. And I did not exaggerate regarding sterilization as it is stated that the hormones block ovulation, the lining of the uterus stops and never sheds, so in effect they sterilize the girls and doom humanity. Again, if this is not satire, I must ask: Does the author realize that?
She even shows men burning tampons and being misogynistic ("who bleeds for 7 days and doesn't die" and "no more blood" signs). While I would expect a rise of misogyny in such a case, I doubt that anything shown here would ever happen. And considering the sort of symbolism used and working with the premise that this is not satire, I wonder if the author is herself afraid of period blood and female sexuality.
And at the end of the story the girl bleeds for the first time, so shouldn’t she turn into a cat right away? The start of the comic suggested that. Or is she a special case? I mean that would make as much sense as the rest here.
After this we got a bunch of in-universe advertisements and a pamphlet that is so ridiculous that if this is serious, I may not want to meet the person writing it. The pamphlet is speaking about cat attacks and saying that cats, like girlfriends, can never be trusted… so really not holding back anymore. This is basically saying that murderous predators (remember, that is what she herself introduced here) are in the eyes of these men the same as girls. Also, this seems to suggest differences in cat behavior.
Is she making fun of male domestic abuse victims? And it once again mentions the estrogen in the water (via an advertisement for estrogen free water), but putting estrogen in the water, wouldn't that counter ovulation blocking drugs? And who would put estrogen in the water supply? That would have serious consequences for not only the human population but also the environment.
So if this isn’t satire, I really have trouble trying to understand what this author wants to say as this seems to be a really confused piece of writing.
PS. That giant double page is a waste of time and space. That one couple has a girl that bitches about alleged prostitutes being everywhere in sci-fi while the guy thinks of growing a pornstache and most of the other people either think or say the exact same thing.
The advertisement of this first issue already sounds like satire:
"Part Cat People, part The Handmaid’s Tale"
So this is about women popping out babies while transforming into cats? That is how it sounds like.
And the main character, if you can call her that; how old is this girl supposed to be? Because she looks like she is still pre-puberty and plays with tampons but yet she has some weird fantasy about a tampon woman fighting a Mr. Misogyny tampon who has a castle of misogyny and fights for the systemic oppression of women. Said tampon woman even says “the personal is political.” That sounds like some weird sort of adult activist, not like a preteen girl. What preteen girl plays with tampons?
And even though the girl is stated to be twelve, when she talks to the reader about how her dad is a cop and how she could describe him she pictures Magnum and one guy from Miami Vice (I think). And you see, I have no idea whether I get that reference and I am definitely old enough for that. How disconnected from the world is this author/artist? This dad is really odd actually. And what dad with a daughter that age and of his time would use Monthy Python references? Even though he is a homicide detective, the dad is dressed as if he wants to go to a bike race. Either the author did not keep up with the times or this is plain satire.
Apart from the fact that there is insane amount of cat symbolism here (every girl's room here has cat pictures and other cat related things), I also remembered why that cover looks so familiar. It is similar to some posters for revolution. The raised arms feature in several and some even have three arms with clenched fists in the same position as these three cat legs.
When the female cop stated that they should "Suspect a big cat attack" I was: That guy has two limbs ripped off, half his face and big chunks of his body missing. Apart from the fact that no human could fake that (so why suspect a human?), that does not look like the attack of a big cat of any sort, that looks as if he was attacked by an allosaurus. Which makes me think the artist does not know how big cat wounds look like, as otherwise the art is pretty good.
And you should see that “S.C.A.T team.” No professional team would look like these, ever.
And if this isn’t satire, than subtlety really isn’t strong here. The restrained girls have the following things on their shirts: A female symbol with cat ears, "Girls can do anything", "Fight like a girl" and "feminist AF" As a matter of fact, with such lack of subtlety it is usually the case in my experience that the writers are pretty much the same as what they fight against or the deliberately chose it to make fun of it.
Ironically: this is a werewolf story!
At the onset of menstruation teen girls transform into big cats that attack everything on sight (Btw. why are grown women fine?), what she presents here is obviously a metaphor but one used way more often for male sexual awakening and not female ones. Becoming muscular, aggressive and hairy monsters is something claimed to be happening to boys, not girls. She even speaks of a cycle for the next attack here, which actually makes several of the actions shown here pretty nonsensical. After all, why imprison, respectively in effect sterilize girls and thereby doom humanity if they only turn for a few days per month?
And it really is idiotic what is shown here: They say menstruation must end because of the cats, the comic states that the government stated it was for their own good, they put hormones like progesterone and estrogen in the water supply (which should have a whole lot of side effects in real life) and we have protestors against it with "love conquers hate" signs…. if people suddenly turn into violent monsters, that is not hate to be scared it is a good reaction and national emergency. And I did not exaggerate regarding sterilization as it is stated that the hormones block ovulation, the lining of the uterus stops and never sheds, so in effect they sterilize the girls and doom humanity. Again, if this is not satire, I must ask: Does the author realize that?
She even shows men burning tampons and being misogynistic ("who bleeds for 7 days and doesn't die" and "no more blood" signs). While I would expect a rise of misogyny in such a case, I doubt that anything shown here would ever happen. And considering the sort of symbolism used and working with the premise that this is not satire, I wonder if the author is herself afraid of period blood and female sexuality.
And at the end of the story the girl bleeds for the first time, so shouldn’t she turn into a cat right away? The start of the comic suggested that. Or is she a special case? I mean that would make as much sense as the rest here.
After this we got a bunch of in-universe advertisements and a pamphlet that is so ridiculous that if this is serious, I may not want to meet the person writing it. The pamphlet is speaking about cat attacks and saying that cats, like girlfriends, can never be trusted… so really not holding back anymore. This is basically saying that murderous predators (remember, that is what she herself introduced here) are in the eyes of these men the same as girls. Also, this seems to suggest differences in cat behavior.
Is she making fun of male domestic abuse victims? And it once again mentions the estrogen in the water (via an advertisement for estrogen free water), but putting estrogen in the water, wouldn't that counter ovulation blocking drugs? And who would put estrogen in the water supply? That would have serious consequences for not only the human population but also the environment.
So if this isn’t satire, I really have trouble trying to understand what this author wants to say as this seems to be a really confused piece of writing.
PS. That giant double page is a waste of time and space. That one couple has a girl that bitches about alleged prostitutes being everywhere in sci-fi while the guy thinks of growing a pornstache and most of the other people either think or say the exact same thing.
August 6, 2024
I don't know what to think about this oddity. It's both blatant and a bit off-putting. For something that's so pro-women, it makes women look so much worse. Literally turning them into wild animals on their period. What? Not that it bothered me, because it's just a weird comic book, but really? It's super reverse. Is that supposed to be the point? A parody? Or is it taking itself seriously?
It started off weird, awkward and boring. Also, the dialogue is weirdly toned and on one page rather repetitive. However, the ending cliffhanger made up for it, and the concept in general is okay, if I think of it like some weird government dystopia / werecat apocalypse.
It started off weird, awkward and boring. Also, the dialogue is weirdly toned and on one page rather repetitive. However, the ending cliffhanger made up for it, and the concept in general is okay, if I think of it like some weird government dystopia / werecat apocalypse.
March 13, 2019
I love, love, LOVED this!
A mutation causes girls to turn into giant cats that eat people whenever they're on their period. The government starts putting hormones in the water supply to prevent menstruation- and thus the cat transformation- but it doesn't always work.
A unique and funny story casting light on the ridiculous shame that surrounds menstruation.
I can't wait for more!
A mutation causes girls to turn into giant cats that eat people whenever they're on their period. The government starts putting hormones in the water supply to prevent menstruation- and thus the cat transformation- but it doesn't always work.
A unique and funny story casting light on the ridiculous shame that surrounds menstruation.
I can't wait for more!
October 3, 2018
All the YES!
December 23, 2018
WTF did I just read?
September 27, 2018
Meh.... First issue was a shot in the dark for me from my comic book vender. At the end of the read all I got was cat poop makes you into a vicious cat... government conspiracies... girls are more likely to become vicious cats... If your looking for odd comic choice this might be for you. I’ll skip the rest of this one.
November 9, 2018
Oh yeah, this is definitely right up my alley. One issue is obviously not enough to really get into the meat of a tale, but this did a really good job of setting up a pretty interesting concept.
I'm very much interested in continuing through this arc, and this series is officially going onto my pulls list.
I'm very much interested in continuing through this arc, and this series is officially going onto my pulls list.
October 9, 2018
Hell yes.
May 23, 2019
Hilarious! I love the concept and can’t wait to pick up the next chapter of the tale!
December 7, 2018
Maneaters is a new series by Image Comics. I’ll be honest and tell you that I didn’t even bother reading the description for this one before I picked it up. The cover was pink and black with cat paws on it. That was all I needed to hear before I decided to read it. I know, I’m horrible.
This series ended up being a lot more intense and political than I anticipated. I actually quite like the points they were trying to make though. It takes the subjects of public safety, bodily autonomy, and government control and mashes them all together into one chaotic mess.
You know those series were you read the first issue, and it’s good but you don’t love it – yet you suspect that the series will be worth continuing anyway? That’s how I felt about this series. I didn’t love the introduction to it – but I can see the potential. Some series just have trouble getting the first issue going; there’s so much information to tell us and very little time, after all. I’m going to give this series at least three issues worth before I make any final decisions on the matter.
The cover for this issue was fantastic – and like I said was the sole reason I picked it up in the first place. The artwork inside isn’t really anything like the cover – but that’s kind of a good thing. There wasn’t a lot on the cover to go by, after all. There are a lot more details inside, with bolder lines. The colors seemed dull – but only in direct comparison to the super bright cover. On the whole I was very happy with the art style used.
This series ended up being a lot more intense and political than I anticipated. I actually quite like the points they were trying to make though. It takes the subjects of public safety, bodily autonomy, and government control and mashes them all together into one chaotic mess.
You know those series were you read the first issue, and it’s good but you don’t love it – yet you suspect that the series will be worth continuing anyway? That’s how I felt about this series. I didn’t love the introduction to it – but I can see the potential. Some series just have trouble getting the first issue going; there’s so much information to tell us and very little time, after all. I’m going to give this series at least three issues worth before I make any final decisions on the matter.
The cover for this issue was fantastic – and like I said was the sole reason I picked it up in the first place. The artwork inside isn’t really anything like the cover – but that’s kind of a good thing. There wasn’t a lot on the cover to go by, after all. There are a lot more details inside, with bolder lines. The colors seemed dull – but only in direct comparison to the super bright cover. On the whole I was very happy with the art style used.
June 15, 2020
The artwork is amazing and the little details are something I enjoy.
The main characters name is Maude which is funny because I remember a Degrassi episode discussing the name Maude and how that a character named Maude was the first to have an abortion on T.V. I found the name to be interesting.
I would love for something to be put in the water so I won't get my period. Does that not make me feminist enough? I despise when I get my period because I get super bad cramps that hurt like hell.
However, turning into a big cat for that time period is pretty cool even though it makes it seem that women are wild and crazy while on their period. Charmed did the same thing on their show and I hated them for that.
For some reason I found myself reading this and referencing television shows that did the same thing. It makes it seem like having your period is a horrible or shameful thing, and while I hate my period, I am not ashamed of having it.
The comic was decent. I didn't hate it or love it. I won't be reading the rest though.
Edited to fix some grammar.
The main characters name is Maude which is funny because I remember a Degrassi episode discussing the name Maude and how that a character named Maude was the first to have an abortion on T.V. I found the name to be interesting.
I would love for something to be put in the water so I won't get my period. Does that not make me feminist enough? I despise when I get my period because I get super bad cramps that hurt like hell.
However, turning into a big cat for that time period is pretty cool even though it makes it seem that women are wild and crazy while on their period. Charmed did the same thing on their show and I hated them for that.
For some reason I found myself reading this and referencing television shows that did the same thing. It makes it seem like having your period is a horrible or shameful thing, and while I hate my period, I am not ashamed of having it.
The comic was decent. I didn't hate it or love it. I won't be reading the rest though.
Edited to fix some grammar.
October 2, 2018
A high energy, very enjoyable debut. The artwork is great and the paneling is very creative. There is a nice blend of horror and humor. This one is similar thematically to Naomi Alderman’s The Power, where women develop electricity powers to gain an advantage over men. In Man-Eaters, though, the power is not so much an advantage as it is a curse. In what happens to the women here there is a distinct shame in a woman going through her natural periods because it means she is a monster. I’m interested to see where this goes.
September 28, 2018
It is off to a good start. Nice artwork.
January 3, 2019
LOVE this comic! Its so tongue & cheek its too good to be true. Beware of a bleeding teenager!
June 20, 2020
I'm on the fence. I prefer subtle books, and I have questions about the virus.
But I did find parts of it funny.
But I did find parts of it funny.
May 9, 2021
Ummm... What have I just read? 😅 Maybe it's better when you read more volumes, but I think this was enough for me 😅
December 22, 2025
I got this for free on the Google Play Store. It was a weird story, so I skimmed through the later half of the story.
November 4, 2025
I like the concept, but so far the series isn't grabbing me...
March 17, 2020
The idea is half-baked and half-assed. The answers as so why teenage girls turn into cats who then kill people make biologically little sense. But it's also dumb as hell because biology is way more complicated than XY and XX chromosomes. People can have more than two chromosomes. In fact, there are more people in the world with more than two than we actually think or even know.
It also doesn't take into account intersex people. Even if you ignored gender identity and in a society where girls can be treated like criminals just for menstruating you probably have a society that isn't particularly friendly towards trans*ender people, the fact remains that there's more than "men" and "women", strictly biologically speaking.
And even THEN you can have a clear chromosome set and still have other genitalia and brains! Because biology is not a clean and simple binary!
But okay, let's forget the superficial and stupid representation of biology for a moment.
How does the comic deal with the social commentary?
It sucks. My problem is not that it's direct or clear what is being said but it's done in the laziest, most boring, unimaginative, and uninteresting way as possible. If you make a political statement, it's going to be on the nose and that isn't inherently bad. It's that this comic does it just so fucking badly that it feels like you're being hit with a baseball, onto which the words SOCIAL COMMENTARY AGAINST MISOGYNY has been written, over and over again.
It's basically one of those one-panel political cartoons where the cartoonist denominates the things represented but in comic form. You don't have to be subtle, sometimes being direct is more effective and realistic but at least be entertaining, for crying out loud.
Now, to the good parts. I really like the art style and there are some neat moments with intriguing worldbuilding or character infos. But the good moments are bogged down by the BS I mentioned above and it just gets boring and tedious to read. Which sucks because the premise could've worked.
Conclusion: It's just meh.
Addendum: I also forgot how superficial the feminism in this is. It's a pop cultura, sugary, and buzzwords shouting White Feminism. On top of that, the comic throws sex workers under the bus. Yes, there's a lot of sexism in media and yes, we should have more than just sexualized women in our media but we can criticise all this without being exclusionary, slut-shamy, and anti-sex workers.
Fuck off with your old-school feminism and grow the fuck up.
Support sex workers. They deserve our help and legal, social, and economic protection.
It also doesn't take into account intersex people. Even if you ignored gender identity and in a society where girls can be treated like criminals just for menstruating you probably have a society that isn't particularly friendly towards trans*ender people, the fact remains that there's more than "men" and "women", strictly biologically speaking.
And even THEN you can have a clear chromosome set and still have other genitalia and brains! Because biology is not a clean and simple binary!
But okay, let's forget the superficial and stupid representation of biology for a moment.
How does the comic deal with the social commentary?
It sucks. My problem is not that it's direct or clear what is being said but it's done in the laziest, most boring, unimaginative, and uninteresting way as possible. If you make a political statement, it's going to be on the nose and that isn't inherently bad. It's that this comic does it just so fucking badly that it feels like you're being hit with a baseball, onto which the words SOCIAL COMMENTARY AGAINST MISOGYNY has been written, over and over again.
It's basically one of those one-panel political cartoons where the cartoonist denominates the things represented but in comic form. You don't have to be subtle, sometimes being direct is more effective and realistic but at least be entertaining, for crying out loud.
Now, to the good parts. I really like the art style and there are some neat moments with intriguing worldbuilding or character infos. But the good moments are bogged down by the BS I mentioned above and it just gets boring and tedious to read. Which sucks because the premise could've worked.
Conclusion: It's just meh.
Addendum: I also forgot how superficial the feminism in this is. It's a pop cultura, sugary, and buzzwords shouting White Feminism. On top of that, the comic throws sex workers under the bus. Yes, there's a lot of sexism in media and yes, we should have more than just sexualized women in our media but we can criticise all this without being exclusionary, slut-shamy, and anti-sex workers.
Fuck off with your old-school feminism and grow the fuck up.
Support sex workers. They deserve our help and legal, social, and economic protection.
October 23, 2018
I was so psyched to see that Chelsea Cain had a new comic book series coming out. I'm still mourning the short-lived run of Mockingbird, which is the great feminist comic of our time, and so I will read anything she puts out. It also helps that Man-Eaters has a fun, weird, socially relevant premise. After some sort of mutation causes young women who menstruate to turn into man-eating cats, the government puts hormones in the water to stop girls from getting their periods. Of course, this doesn't always work as 12 year old Maude soon learns. Plus, Cain is reuniting with the artist from Mockingbird, Kate Niemczyk? Hella yes!
I wanted to love the first issue of Man-Eaters more than I actually did. I really liked it even as I see a few problems in her premise. If girls can't menstruate, do people not still have children in this world? Can people still have cats as pets? I have a few questions, but I trust Cain enough to see where she goes with this story. I was glad to see that even this first issue is unabashedly feminist. There's a tampon superhero, okay? There is a girl seen getting her period! This stuff doesn't happen every day. Also, I don't think a page in a comic book has ever sent chills down my back more than the scene of young girls with their arms bound at some kind of camp, all wearing feminist t-shirts.
I am eager to see where Man-Eaters goes. This is a must-read for fans of Cain's Mockingbird.
I wanted to love the first issue of Man-Eaters more than I actually did. I really liked it even as I see a few problems in her premise. If girls can't menstruate, do people not still have children in this world? Can people still have cats as pets? I have a few questions, but I trust Cain enough to see where she goes with this story. I was glad to see that even this first issue is unabashedly feminist. There's a tampon superhero, okay? There is a girl seen getting her period! This stuff doesn't happen every day. Also, I don't think a page in a comic book has ever sent chills down my back more than the scene of young girls with their arms bound at some kind of camp, all wearing feminist t-shirts.
I am eager to see where Man-Eaters goes. This is a must-read for fans of Cain's Mockingbird.
June 28, 2019
A clever, scathing graphic novel co-written with adolescent girls, sketching a story about how in a dystopian present-day world, young women are dosed with hormones to prevent menstruation, because menstruation brings about... their transformation into giant, killer panthers. This absolutely teems with the rage and frustration inherent in girlhood in America, where the real problems of feminism are left ignored while countless hours are spent trying to find ways to curb and contain women into neatly proscribed boxes. The novel touches on topics such as broken families, fear of puberty, socialization into gender roles, and governmental oversight as well, and it's not clear from the first four volumes here whether the transformation into killer cats is meant to be a revolutionary act we applaud, or a terrifying fate we fear. This ambiguity, among other things, is part of what makes this interesting to read.
My complaint so far is that the story moves slowly: each volume is small, and there are lots of color pages full of detail (such as a full-page spread outlining instructions for inserting a tampon) which lends realism and impact to the world, but which don't really further the story directly. There is at least one other volume, but I would have vastly preferred to receive the entire series in one large volume, so that I could read and enjoy it entire. I'm excited to eventually share it with my daughter, however - probably when she's 11 or 12.
My complaint so far is that the story moves slowly: each volume is small, and there are lots of color pages full of detail (such as a full-page spread outlining instructions for inserting a tampon) which lends realism and impact to the world, but which don't really further the story directly. There is at least one other volume, but I would have vastly preferred to receive the entire series in one large volume, so that I could read and enjoy it entire. I'm excited to eventually share it with my daughter, however - probably when she's 11 or 12.
January 23, 2022
This felt like a worse version of Big Girls (another by Image comics, which focuses on monster children except that it is all children and society is worried about them becoming Godzilla type monsters). I do give them a lot of credit for linking it to teenage girls and making periods be the thing to fear and the sign of monstrous things to come. But this felt very heavy handed to the point where it got kind of exasperating. And I also just really didn't like the art style. This is definitely one of those where the concept was great, but the execution was kind of all over the place and messy.
September 30, 2018
Unapologetically feminist. Surprisingly so. A couple things had me say "Oh my god they actually put that in a comic book." The opening scene involves a 12 year old holding tampons and treating them as action figures...soo, yeah.
The art is awesome. The story is incredible. The world is intriguing and the message seems very promising. Clearly, this has already made my pull list. Do yourself a favor and read it.
The art is awesome. The story is incredible. The world is intriguing and the message seems very promising. Clearly, this has already made my pull list. Do yourself a favor and read it.
February 27, 2019
Shows promise. The story is meh, but I get that it's the first volume and may need a while to warm up. The worldbuilding is uneven but fascinating. The bits that are paid attention to are INCREDIBLY DETAILED (especially in the design of the comics itself - fake ads, etc.), but there are big gaping holes in other areas. Recommended, but know what you're getting into.
I received a digital ARC from the publisher via Edelweiss+.
I received a digital ARC from the publisher via Edelweiss+.
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