The Matriarchs

by Louanne Brickhouse, Jennifer Rea, Renae De Liz (Art)

They look like us. They act like us. They feed on us.

When two female researchers survive a mass prison riot and emerge unscathed, it threatens to reveal them for who they really an immortal race of women with superhuman abilities and a violent history of secrets they’ve left buried with the dead. Racing to head off an impending threat to all men on the planet, they must confront their unforgivable pasts and resurrect the very worst of their demons to save us all.

Written by LouAnne Brickhouse and Jennifer Rea making their dynamic comics debut, Matriarchs is a phenomenal look at the strength of women and the morals and value of all humankind.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Horror, Comics, Fantasy, Vampires, Graphic Novels Comics

120 pages, Hardcover

First published December 5, 2023

Reviews

[andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

minus one star bc it feels like it should be gayer

[Emily Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️ The premise of this sounded awesome as hell and the art is great. However the story reads like a #notallmen campaign, which was an odd choice given its pitched as women’s empowerment vibes.

Literally most women in this graphic novel centre men when they’re supposedly standing for women’s empowerment which is a truly odd choice. Enough that they’re putting their wishes before their own, and the women fighting against centring them are then villainised and go to extremes.

It’s just like the plot was the complete antithesis of what the blurb pitched and what they were aiming for.

TWs listed below, please skip if you don’t want vague spoilers.









TW// blood, torture, sexual harassment, scenes of incarcerated individuals, murder, bodies, death.

[sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

thanks to Edelweiss for the free review copy! This was a promising debut, but unfortunately it tried to do a little too much in too few pages for me to really enjoy it. Bathory was definitely enough of a villain to carry the plot, without the added Matriarch beef, which felt really reductive. Having the Matriarchs be pitted against each other also paints the only Black women as villains, which ... not great, considering we get very little characterization other than "related to other historical Black women." That and the cop-as-good-guy trope were my only big issues with the plot — hopefully the Matriarch plot ends up a little more complicated than "kill all men and that's that." Everything else was compelling, and I can imagine readers would want to follow this story through further volumes. The art style is polished and draws the eye, it's definitely not to my personal taste but worked perfectly for a somewhat gritty vampire thriller.

I definitely would like to see more from these authors in the future.

[☆ shae ☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't know it was a series

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fantastic! I've read plenty of vampire graphic novels and this is the first that is based on venom. I thought it was a really interesting take on the vampire myth. I would love to read more of this.

[✩☽ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Every little girl must grow up and choose between a blade in her hand or a blade at her throat.

banger opening but we all knew this was going to be lame as hell, because 99% of all work produced by women with this premise are lame as hell and yes i did pick it up despite knowing full well the odds were against me because i have my moments of delusional optimism, so this is really my own damn fault. saving grace was it took me all of five minutes to read, because i could've predicted the entire plot without reading a single page, i'm sure someone out there has made a bingo for these books: some kind of #notallmen flavoured whinging with the obligatory #womenareviltoo, sprinkle in a insipid heterosexual/boymom subplot and you have the perfect trifecta. anyway can someone write a book about all female vampire clans but make it three thousand times less boring, please and thank you.

[Liv · Rating 2 out of 5]

The idea of this was very interesting! And I liked the ending—I’m curious as to what will happen next. But the book itself was very confusing.

What actually happened when Beya and Asher went for coffee?? There were two visualizations and neither fully explained anything. I assume one was meant as how someone pictured it but who?

The novel was too fast as well. Is the council all of the women or just the 6-8 clan leaders pictured?? I have so much confusion.

[Juliana Callahan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for the ARC!

I mostly enjoyed this however I found the plot a little confusing at times. Nothing was really explained so you have to piece together a lot from context clues. If you're still into vampires I think it's an interesting adaptation of that mythology.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

A comic about a bunch of vampire / snake women operating in secret. Needs to be a little less obtuse about what's going on, but has some potential. This is clearly an opening salvo for a series. Some of them wanting to end the world of men just because they are bad seems very short sighted as it also would mean the end of the world.

[Jacqueline · Rating 2 out of 5]

It had a good premise but it just felt like there were gaps in the story. A scene would just end in the middle and move on to the next thing to happen. This felt like it should have been longer to benefit the story. The artwork for the Bathory scenes were beautiful and I wish there were more of them.

[Stven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite genre, but if you like vampire stories, this is a pretty good one. The author provides some interesting twists on the mythical history and on her characters in particular. Good artwork -- not genuinely great, but better than the last vampire comic book I read -- with particular attention to snakes.

[Keisha Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graphic novel about vampire clans ruled by history’s most powerful women and a plot to save humanity by eliminating the root cause of all violence- men.

Fun concept, cool artwork. Less than thrilled with their always being a “not all men” character and his ending. Slightly confused with the bloodlines.

[Stephen Ede-Borrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this, to the point that I want a volume 2 - I want to know what happens next. Interesting storyline from an author whose work I didn't previously know but who I will now look out for. Excellent artwork and I cannot help but think that this would make a superb television series...

[Melanie Gaum · Rating 4 out of 5]

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through Edelweiss.

[BooksAsDreams (Tiffany) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning artwork and story. A story of sacrifice and choice of dominance and power. A wonderful twist at the end!

[Kassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A big fan of this story's take on vampires, I'm looking forward to a sequel! Really loved the flashbacks and how much detail could be found in the first page of each section!

[Maya Asia ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The f**kin best graphic novel I have read in a while please tell me there's a second book in the works 😭🙏🏻

[Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty to look at but quite disjointed and a bit confusing.

[Aryanna Tunstall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an amazing graphic novel of women empowerment going a bit too far.

[Olive · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am continually astounded by people's ability to make vampires boring

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

A council of female vampires working to make the world a better place? I was down for this and the moral questions it raised. I would like to see more.

[r. · Rating 1 out of 5]

bioessentialism: the graphic novel

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so good and I can’t find any info about the next one??? I really hope it didn’t get cancelled because I want to know what happens next!

[Sqwiggens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely into the vibes with this one. I wish it was longer and more fleshed out but it’s very much what I was looking for.