Monarch #5 // Review
Travon had a job to do. People trusted him. His feelings had changed since he started work on the job. All of this would be a lot easier if Travon wasn’t from another planet. Things begin to get complicated for Travon and the people he has come to love in Monarch #5. Writer Rodney Barnes and artist Alex Lins continue a new take on an old trope in a world that is brought depth and atmosphere by the colors of Luis NCT. Travon holds a very meaningful place at the center of the panel in a heartfelt articulation of an old science fiction trope.
Travon was looking for a planet for his people to inhabit. He had been sent ahead to scout out Earth and figure out whether or not it would be a viable place for his race to settle. Somewhere in the midst of his search, he had come to care about the humans that inhabit the Earth. Now, Travon’s people are coming, and there’s no way to stop them. Before he can confront them, though, he must first confront those people who assumed that he was human. It’s not going to be easy to come clean about his true nature.
Barnes is working with ideas that have been reflected through science fiction and fantasy far too many times to count. Aliens have come to Earth countless times in pop fiction. Countless times, they’ve fallen in love with the human race and attempt to defend it. Barnes manages a very heartfelt iteration of the premise that embraces the full ugliness of humanity even as Travon looks to defend it. The duplicitous nature of Travon’s entry into Earth makes him far from any kind of angelic figure. He’s just as flawed as humanity. There is beauty in that mirror between humanity and its defender.
Barnes’s characterization of Travon and his framing of the plot wouldn’t be good enough to sell the strength of the fifth issue of Monarch without some very touching and nuanced rendering of the drama on the page. Travon may look like something of an angelic extra-terrestrial in aspects of his true form, but Lins does an impressive job of engaging his deeper humanity in facial features and postures, movements and motions that all feel engaging on some emotional level. NCT lends a stylish atmosphere to the page that fits the action quite well throughout the story, lending tension and intensity to the visuals.
The basic ideas crossing over the page in the fifth issue echo sci-fi tropes that have been around for decades. Nevertheless, Barnes, Lins, and NCT bring deeply engaging emotion to an old story that feels fresh. In five issues, Monarch has managed to slowly develop something that looks like it could be headed in an interesting direction. If Barnes and company can find a novel resolution in the next couple of issues, they might have found some new life for an old trope. Time will tell.
