Amazon is Working to Bring ‘Monstress’ to the Screen
If you've been waiting for one of comics' most breathtaking series to get its moment in a bigger spotlight, the wait is almost over. Variety is reporting exclusively that an adult animated adaptation of Monstress is currently in development at Amazon MGM Studios.
For the uninitiated: Monstress is an Image Comics series from writer Marjorie Liu and artist Sana Takeda that launched in 2015. It takes place in a richly built fantasy world drawing heavily from Asian mythology and aesthetics, following a young woman who shares her body with a powerful, dangerous supernatural entity. Driven by grief and rage, she sets out to unravel the truth about her past while surviving a brutal conflict between human and otherworldly powers. It's one of the most strikingly beautiful and uncompromisingly dark comics in recent decades and deserves animation that can honor Takeda's extraordinary art.
The showrunning team is a genuine reason for optimism. Steven Maeda, who co-created and co-ran the first season of Netflix's widely praised live-action One Piece, will write and executive produce. His longtime collaborator Tiffany Greshler, also a One Piece season one veteran, will serve alongside him as co-showrunner and executive producer. The pair are joined by Hivemind's Jason Brown and Ryan Stayton (the production company behind The Witcher), as well as Liu and Takeda themselves, who are both on board as executive producers. Having the original creators directly involved is never a guarantee of show quality, but it's a meaningful signal about the level of care being taken here.
Over its run, Monstress has taken home four Hugo Awards, seven Eisners, including Best Writer for Liu, and the 2018 Harvey Awards’ Book of the Year. The series has been collected in ten volumes. Volume One, which collects the first six issues, drops you directly into Liu and Takeda's world without much hand-holding, which is part of its appeal. The comic itself isn't slowing down either with issue #61 arriving in late April.
