Man-Eaters, Vol. 2

Man-Eaters #5-8

by Chelsea Cain, Kasia Nie (Illustrator), Lia Miternique (Illustrator)

Twelve-year-old, Maude, has a case of puberty-induced pantherism, a missing friend, a detective dad who thinks she may be a killer, a mom with a big secret, a unicorn hiding in her bedroom, and a plan to overthrow the patriarchy.

From the creative team that brought you the groundbreaking and Eisner-nominated series Mockingbird, this trade paperback collects the second arc of the unconventional coming-of-age tale--including the mental hygiene guide for girls, "WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME AND HOW CAN IT BE STOPPED?"

Collects MAN-EATERS #5-8

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Feminism, Graphic Novels Comics, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror

128 pages, Paperback

First published June 11, 2019

About the author

Chelsea 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.

Reviews

[Artemy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm getting the feeling that this series will be a much better read as a whole rather than waiting for each issue month to month. The storytelling gets weirder, less straightforward. Issue #8 is once again an in-universe piece of propaganda with ads, games, magazine pieces and such, and it was slightly more interesting than #4, but it's still filler and I don't care for it. It does nothing to move the main story forward and should in all fairness just be back matter in paperback volumes, or at least released as separate special issues a la Lazarus Sourcebooks and such. I'm still torn because I want to support Chelsea Cain and the artists involved in the series, and I still really like the general idea of the book, but the way it's structured and told right now kills any momentum from issue to issue and I really want this series to be complete before reading it. I guess I have some time to think what I want to do with it before the next issue is released in June.

[Kyra Leseberg (Roots & Reads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the plot doesn't really progress in this second volume, it's still super entertaining! I love the design/layout and the propaganda is amazing. The last issue in this volume is a collection of satirical propaganda that has nothing to do with the plot of the story (as was the case with volume one).
The strength of this series is the team work of its creators, the plot is really enhanced by the graphic design.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the idea of this book, but the execution is moving way too slowly for my tastes.

So the basic concept is that, due to a mutation in a common parasite, the onset of menstruation causes women to change into large, predatory cats. Our young protagonist, Maude, has been avoiding her estrogen suppressants, which may or may not be a bad idea. And there seems to be more to at least one of her parents--and, indeed, her place of residence--than we were previously aware.

But there's so much supplemental material--magazine ads, health forms, games, etc.--expanding on the world's backstory that the story itself almost takes a back seat. We get what seems like eight pages of story and a dozen of backstory per issue. Which means that things generally creep along at a snail's pace.

I think this would read better as hefty omnibus volumes rather than slender, standard format graphic novels. Interesting story, but not recommended in its present format.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really sure where this one was trying to go. Vol 1 was fresh & showed lots of potential. This one had moments that were fun, but it was seemingly plotless.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t know how they’ll continue to develop this little science fiction graphic novel that subversively talks about the policing of women and their bodies, while on the surface dealing with a woman-only outbreak of pantherism, but I can’t wait to find out.

Recommend if you liked The Power

[Alex Sarll]

The black humour, the savage yet wry satire of gendered marketing and unfair dress codes, the amazing use of mixed-media elements, are if anything even more pronounced than in the first volume of the teen werepanther series. But when it comes to the widespread sentiment that maybe it was premature to poise the story after three issues for a whole issue of an in-universe publication? Well, they've decided to increase the fucking thing. Which may be frustrating, but you can't deny it's on-brand.

(Edelweiss ARC)

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the first volume, which showed a lot of promise. But this one is just weird and it really doesn't do much to advance the story at all. Still, lots of tongue-in-cheek humor here about adolescence and puberty and the differences between boys and girls, and issue #8, which is more of a handbook, complete with games, profiles, etc., really must have taken some work to pull off. I think I might have admired this more than I really liked it, if that makes any sense.

[Lauren Archer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has quickly become one of my favorite series. So extremely smart.

[㋛ ㋡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another full issue of propaganda at the end? 🙄 Also maybe lost on the tiny bit of plot? Worth the read for the existentialist talk in the girl's bathroom, though. Will read Volume 3 but......

[Karelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 étoiles 1/2 aussi, mais je l'ai préféré au premier tome.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is so clever and tongue in cheek I can't help but love it! The epistolary style is super interesting and really adds to the whole package. This volume includes paper dolls, a card game and more. For a story about girls starting their periods and transforming into man-eating werepanthers it is surprisingly relevant and oh so timely. The "inkblot" test using blood on panty liners was absolutely brilliant, shocking and hilarious. This is a very bloody series, both menstrual and from the cat attacks, so if that makes you queasy you might want to give this one a pass, but you would be missing out on a smart, feminist, thought-provoking series.

[Shannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Individual issue reviews: #5 | 6 | #7 | #8

Total review score: 1

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wanted to give this series another shot. Still mostly faux ads revolving around estrogen and werepanthers.

[Emma Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man-Eaters, Volume 2 by Chelsea Cain is the continuation of the story of a world where menstruating women can turn into bloodthirsty werepanthers that have the ability to destroy anything and everything around them. This was still as satirical and witty as the first, but I found myself longing for more of the... I don't know, actual story. It felt as though this book was lying heavily on the schtick (which is incredibly unique and creative, and I cannot take that away), but... I want to know what is going on with Maude and her parents, and it felt like I was getting little to none of that story. I hope that the next volume gives more plot.

[Hanneleele · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this as much as the first volume.

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This creative team continues to slay with this incredibly feminist book.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great read. The ads and the textbooks give a lot of life to the story.

[Amy! · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is great, and I wish we got more than 3 issues worth of story.

[Chelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still really loving this series. The world-building is creative and clever and the plot seems interesting. My only wish is that the story would advance some. It’s very slow-moving, and part of that is that the 4th issue of this volume (and volume 1) doesn’t have any plot at all, and is just more world-building materials like games and magazine articles. Still a fun and inventive story—I just want more!

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting, again, but not much happened in this volume. Most of the collection was filled with the fake ads (which are extremely creative and certainly add to the immersion, but I wanted more story).

[Amie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man-Eaters Vol. 2 picks up the wild were-panther saga, thrusting teen Maude deeper into a society gripped by anti-feline hysteria. As Maude grapples with her transformations and the fallout from her first kill, a quirky mental hygiene pamphlet ("What's Happening to Me and How Can It Be Stopped?") skewers girlhood anxieties with savage wit, while the plot spirals into chases, cover-ups, and feline-fueled chaos.

This volume cranked the dial up from the first volume: the artwork pops with vivid, feral energy, and the story's feminism had me hooked from page one. Graphic cat maulings mix with laugh-out-loud absurdities, like hormone pamphlets that read like twisted PSAs.

[Clare Snow · Rating 4 out of 5]

This gets weirder and weirder

[Jourdain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maude has period and is saving friend and working with girls not following government orders. Mom and old neighbor turn out to be undercover feminist.

[Tabrizia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you +Edelweiss and Image Comics for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I'm still amazed at how wonderful and creative this new series is. It just hits also the stereotypes that girls and women have to face dealing with their bodies but in a humorous and serious way. I can't wait to read more of this great series!

[Katie Oswald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Freaking fantastic!

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like this volume nearly as much as the first.

For one thing, there was barely any story here. We get a tiny bit about Maude talking with her parents and hints that her mother allows herself to transform into a large cat, but we don't know why or anything else at all really. The story that we did get felt really rushed and disjointed - I don't actually know what was supposed to be happening.

The satirical ads were funny in the first volume, but all the games and stuff here got to be tedious. I get it, I do. It's not funny the thousandth time, though. And I didn't think the game stuff was very funny.

While the first volume was, I felt, unapologetic, this one starts apologizing.

Not as impressed with the series after this volume, but I'll probably end up reading the next volume and basing my continuation on how that unfolds.

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

A second trade volume in this inventive series, where a female population is being treated with hormones in their water so they don't become menstrual – at which point they might turn into werepanthers and gobble people up. Yes, this won't mean much if you haven't jumped on board at the first book, but it also means you're getting half a story, as once again a huge splodge of non-diegetic nonsense is added too. The whole book is peppered with game cards, in-universe posters and adverts, pointless covers to pointless short stories by characters, and once more the entire fourth issue is of this ilk, totally ignoring the fact WE JUST WANT THE FLIPPING STORY, THANK YOU. Someone here offers juvenilia poetry with the line "I do not expect for this to be your favourite book" – well, you can guarantee it won't with this stuff and nonsense, even if we might want it to be. Just have the conviction you're giving us a fully-wrought universe without this faff and get on with it. All the extras are extraneous, narratively, and the paucity of plot within these covers makes me wonder if the padding is disguising the emperor's new clothes.

[Dev · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC copy of this book from Edelweiss

Once again, I just really wish this was better than it actually is. I like the general idea, the art and layouts are great, and the in-universe propaganda is spot on ...but the whole plot still seems both incredibly convoluted and also barely there at the same time. I feel like almost no plot progression is made because each volume is really only 3 issues since the 4th issue is always an in-universe magazine type thing that, while incredibly clever, should really just be an extra in the TPB and not a whole issue in and of itself. Also I get what the author is doing from a satirical standpoint but when you think about it too much it still doesn't really make sense. I'm so confused as to what they think they are actually accomplishing by delaying puberty in an entire generation of girls. I mean ...are humans just going to die out because girls can't go through puberty anymore? I don't know. I gave this a fair chance but at this point I think I'm just going to have to stop reading it.

[S. Wigget · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't wait for the next volume!

[emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not understand this.