Review by Frank Plowright
The Matriarchs opens with a prison visit by two women carrying out a study. When a riot breaks out, the pair of them prove more than capable of dealing with the consequences. They remain unharmed, and all inmates awaken with a slight memory loss.
Reading a little further reveals that both Dr. Beya Bobadilla and Dr. Kata Beniczky are part of a group of immortal woman vampires who’ve been tasked with ending the violence of men, because it’s escalated so much that projecting into the future it endangers the species. If humanity dies out, so do the vampires. The more extreme members advocate just wiping men from the planet. After all, science is on the verge of producing embryos without men.
Louanne Brickhouse and Jennifer Rea have a valid point about male violence, and about how globally there’s been little progress in decades, yet The Matriarchs isn’t a convincing way of addressing the issue. It’s overbaked and contradictory as the most extreme violence actually shown is instigated by women, with space given to highlight the horrors perpetrated by the notorious Elizabeth Báthory in the 16th century. The emotional issues are understandable, but reduced to melodrama.
That’s partly down to the way Renae De Liz draws the cast. She’s great when it comes to people feeling sorrow, but terror is too exaggerated. While the main story is otherwise well drawn, it’s with the chapter separating portraits that De Liz really shines. These are gothic gems designed as wall friezes with all the colour and beauty of the inspirations, and they’re the best aspect of The Matriarchs.
An incredibly rushed ending finishes the emotional conflict introduced from the start, but far from completes the story, which was obviously intended to continue. It didn’t and only De Liz’s full page illustrations are memorable.
