Travon arrives at the school just in time to try to save Daysha and Kurtis. How will they react to him now that he has changed? Find out in Monarch #5 from Image Comics!
MONARCH #5
Writer: Rodney Barnes
Artist: Alex Lins
Colorist: Luis NCT
Letterer: Marshall Dillon
Editor: Greg Tumbarello
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: June 14, 2023
Previously in Monarch: Todd, who was abandoned by his mother and who killed his father, is angry at the world and lashing out at his peers at school. Travon realizes he has grown to love the people of Earth. The mothership does also, and he flees before it can kill him. In the school, Todd mocks Daysha and Kurtis. They do not realize that he has a gun. Travon breaks into the school, finds Angie and frees her. She tells him about Todd. They hear gunshots from the gym. Travon races there and finds there are also alien drones closing in!
CARING TOO MUCH OR NOT ENOUGH
Monarch #5 opens with some of Travon’s thoughts. While he was trying to understand Earth, it seemed to him that most humans did not care much about it. They were more concerned with their individual survival. Thinking about the greater universe was even more remote. Despite this, he fell in love with the people.
Travon confronts the drones in the gym, giving Kurtis time to pull Daysha free. As he braces for what they will do next, he recalls a conversation with Marli. She believes that he is from the stars and demands to know where his home is. He also tells her about the death of that home planet and how humans are not caring for their own planet. Wise beyond her years, she tells him she has never been outside her own neighborhood. And in that neighborhood, people hurt so much that it is hard to see anything else. The drones blast Travon.
Kurtis splashes water on Daysha and wakes her up. She wants to help Travon. Kurtis reminds here they are only a couple of kids. She runs to the gym anyway, and Kurtis goes with her. She gets the attention of the drones and pulls the fire alarm, setting off the sprinklers. The drones leave and Travon regains consciousness.
He tells his friends his story. While Kurtis is fascinated, Daysha views it more darkly. She had trusted him and all this time, he had been studying them. She feels betrayed even though he insists he has changed. She remembers when she first met him and thought he seemed so lonely. Like it or not, his people are currently going around and destroying the world. He may have changed his mind, but they are working off information they got from him.
Then they all notice a deeper rumbling. The mothership is approaching!
TRUTH OR DECEPTION
The art of Monarch #5 shows us the differences between Travon before and after he realizes his role on Earth. In the flashbacks with Marli and Daysha he looks much more like the young boy we first thought he was. He does appear thoughtful, but it is hard to tell how much he realized about his own past. Now that he has been processed by the mothership, more about his has changed than his outward appearance and powerful skills. His face looks much older and more thoughtful than before. He will be the death of Earth or of his own people and this weighs on him heavily.
Daysha goes through an interesting transformation. She is fiercely loyal to her friends, and maybe even in love with Travon. As soon as she wakes up and feels a little better, she must try to help him. She is not afraid to face the drones. But upon hearing Travon’s story, she is quick to get to what she feels the main point is – that he has secretly been selling them off for years. We do not know her back story yet, but the fact that Travon could lie to them that easily erases any fondness she had for him.
BOTTOM LINE: DEEP THOUGHTS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
Monarch #5 puts young people who have barely figured out where they are in life into the midst of a conflict for the survival of life on Earth. They are courageous, vulnerable, and interesting, and it looks like the future could be in good hands.
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Monarch #5
Travon risks his life to save the friends he has grown to love.
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By day, she’s a mild-mannered bureaucrat and Ms. Know-It-All. By night, she’s a dance teacher and RPG player (although admittedly not on the same nights). On the weekends, she may be found judging Magic, playing Guild Wars 2 (badly), or following other creative pursuits. Holy Lack of Copious Free Time, Batman! While she’s always wished she had teleportation as her superpower, she suspects that super-speed would be much more practical because then she’d have time to finish up those steampunk costumes she’s also working on.