Another stellar issue of Monstress, though the story's overall complexity is becoming greater and greater. As we have discovered over the past few issues, all of the individuals who wore fragments of the mask at one time have become possessed by Monstrum called "the Defiled." These are beings who are the enemies of Zinn and his people (or perhaps other versions of the same beings) and they are now acting to take possession of their various hosts -including Maika and Kippa. But Kippa has turned out to have some innate power that allowed her to repulse her intruder- at least for now - and Maika has proven her will to be too much for the being occupying her, forcing it to reach a bargain with her. So, once again, Maika is wielding the power of an "old god." At the same time, we find out that a powerful creature is possessing the Doctor, beyond simply his forced bond with Zinn. There are already signs that being is subtly controlling the Doctor without him knowing what is going on. What Zinn knows is still not clear. One of the more intriguing and amusing developments is between Maika's sister, the Beast, and one of the Doctor's warmasters, a panther woman named Agata. Agata conveys concerns that the Doctor may not be thinking correctly and might not be able to handle the burden of Zinn. The Beast immediately calls that out as treason - until the parrot she is carrying on her shoulder blurts out some of the things the Beast has been saying in private, that mirror what the warmasters are saying. Later, it turns out that the Beast is now in contact with her grandmother, something that we have to assume happened after they met in the Dusk Court. The Beast is rapidly becoming one of my favourite characters. Like Maika, she is driven by rage and tragedy, but she is also enticingly intelligent and capable. She doesn't miss much and it makes her all the more admirable. In one of her earliest appearances, she saved Corvin's sister from being harvested by Arcanics who were kidnapping more human looking Arcanics to use their bodies for the rejuvenation of the Ancients. She did this just by questioning the woman, putting herself between the vulnerable woman and the prospective kidnappers. She knew exactly what she was doing and it spoke to how astute she is. more