Horror trilogy Night Eaters: What makes these epic graphic novels so personal
An immigrant mother takes a firmer hand with her adult children… inside a haunted house.
“The women in my family are terrifying,” notes writer Marjorie Liu. “A ghost would stand no chance.”
The award-winning graphic novel horror trilogy The Night Eaters is an epic tale of family—as well as magic and monsters, demons and demigods, and the power of luck. The series comes from writer Marjorie Liu and illustrator Sana Takeda—the creative team that also created the popular epic fantasy comic book series Monstress.
In this article, we share more info about each volume in the trilogy. We also share some of the glowing reviews of the series, and talk about the creative team.
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Endorsements for The Night Eaters #1: She Eats the Night
Many are raving about The Night Eaters. The graphic novels are getting high praise from the likes of Publishers Weekly (with a STARRED Review), NPR, Forbes, Newsarama, Buzzfeed, and lots more.
Horror author Tananarive Due said:
“Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda have crafted a story of family legacy that gives a whole new meaning to the term ‘Mother from Hell.’ The characters make this story leap from the pages. Horror fans won’t be disappointed.” (Due wrote the historical horror novel The Reformatory and produced the documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror.)
Fantasy author Daniel José Older said:
“This story, this art, the chilling and delicious music they make in harmony with each other—it does not hold back, does not miss,” remarks “I love every panel and the way they all come together to form something truly spectacular, unnerving, invigorating, inspiring—ALIVE. The pulse of this book gets louder and louder with each turning page, a total masterpiece. Cannot wait to read more.” (Older’s fiction includes the Council of the Dead agent urban fantasy Bone Street Rumba series, the Shadowshaper Cypher series, and Star Wars: The High Republic.)
Other reviews and comments about The Night Eaters #1: She Eats the Night include:
“Come for the haunted house, creepy dolls and human-devouring creatures, but stay for the family drama.” (New York Times)
“Builds to a shocking reveal and exciting, cliffhanger ending.” (Library Journal)
“Isn’t the book that you think that it is, in the best way imaginable.” (Popverse)
“Horror meets dark urban fantasy, with a dollop of thorny black humor.” (Pfangirl Reviews)
“An inventive take on Asian horror that is a wonderful mix between gory and funny.” (Geek Dad)
“On paper, The Night Eaters could’ve been told as a superhero story. Instead, powers are a vehicle for horror, and character flaws are explored through the lens of the damage they do.” (Multiversity Comics)
creators
About the creators
Marjorie Liu
The Night Eaters writer Marjorie Liu is an attorney and New York Times bestselling novelist and comic book writer. When she started writing for Marvel Comics, that led to her work on comics about X-23, Black Widow, Han Solo, Dark Wolverine, and Astonishing X-Men.
Liu’s novels include the urban fantasy series Hunter Kiss, and the paranormal romance series Dirk & Steele.
As an indie comics creator, she co-created Monstress (Image Comics), which has won multiple Hugo Awards, British Fantasy Awards, the Harvey Award, and five Eisner Awards. In fact, Liu is the first-ever woman—and woman of color—to win an Eisner in the best writer category.
Sana Takeda
The Night Eaters artist Sana Takeda is a Japanese Hugo and Eisner Award-winning illustrator and comic book artist behind the Monstress comic book series. (Which she co-created with Marjorie Liu.)
After having worked as a designer at Sega Corp., Takeda became a freelancer. While drawing for Marvel Comics—where she and Liu first worked together—her work for Marvel has included X-Men, Venom, Civil War II, and Ms. Marvel.
Takeda also creates illustrations for games and children’s books.
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talk
Marjorie Liu talks about The Night Eaters trilogy
When The Night Eaters opens with the first volume, She Eats the Nights, Chinese-American twins Milly and Billy learn through a night of panic and supernatural havoc reveals that there’s so much more to their family than kids ever knew.
The Monstress creative team of Eisner Award-winning and bestselling author Marjorie Liu and illustrator Sana Takeda pull in readers with a bizarre family horror tale.
Night Eaters writer Marjorie Liu told IGN that no adult child likes being told by a parent that they suck at life. “But that probably happens more often than most of us want to admit,” she said.
But, of course, when Night Eaters kicks off, twins Milly and Billy have been told just that. “Their mom, Ipo, isn’t happy with the choices they’ve made,” Liu said. “And because there’s no manipulation like parental manipulation, they’ve agreed to help her out with some gardening—in the yard of a house they don’t own.”
Which doesn’t make sense to Milly and Billy, Liu said. “But when has that ever stopped children from following the directives of a parent they secretly are too afraid to disobey? A parent they also crave approval from?”
Source: “The Night Eaters Trilogy: See the Supernatural Horror Epic From Monstress Creators Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda” (IGN)
Liu told AIPT how the trilogy was inspired by the dual nature of family history:
“As a writer, I think I’m always wrestling with family—blood family, chosen family. What comes from blood is an intergenerational legacy that can be a source of strength and inspiration—or trauma. And, hopefully, what comes from choosing one’s family is an opportunity to heal — to expand into a self that family can’t always accept, or nurture. Is it that simple? Of course not. But it’s just one of the ways that I think about these things, and they play out powerfully (if differently) in Monstress and The Night Eaters.”
Source: “Marjorie Liu discusses the heart and horror in The Night Eaters” (AIPT)
Liu told Daily Dead that The Night Eaters addresses the dilemma of immigrant families and their children. To assimilate, or not?
“Some families make a deliberate choice not to teach a mother tongue, or pass down culture, in the hopes that their children will have an easier life in a new country. Some families do just the opposite, but find themselves still outnumbered by the society at large, which puts tremendous pressure on children to fit in. This is what Ipo and Keon have wrestled with, only to realize too late that perhaps they made the wrong choice for their children.”
Source: “Q&A: Marjorie Liu Discusses Exploring Family Dynamics and Teaming Up with Artist Sana Takeda for New Horror Graphic Novel THE NIGHT EATERS: SHE EATS THE NIGHT” (Daily Dead)
Liu told Fangoria that the trilogy was launched by a surprising outburst of creativity.
“I wrote it at the height of the pandemic, when most people were still in lockdown—after months of watching too many horror movies—and the book began with a simple question: How would my grandmothers and aunts handle a haunted house? And I found the answer to that very, very funny—because the women in my family are terrifying. A ghost would stand no chance.”
Source: “Exclusive: Interview With THE NIGHT EATERS Creator Marjorie Liu” (Fangoria)
volumes
Spotlighting each graphic novel in The Night Eaters trilogy
The Night Eaters #1: She Eats the Night
A graphic novel by writer Marjorie Liu and illustrator Sana Takeda
The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night is the first volume in a graphic novel horror trilogy from author Marjorie Liu and illustrator Sana Takeda—the creative team behind the bestselling comic book horror series Monstress.
Eisner Award Winner
Named a Best Graphic Novel of the Year by the Washington Post
Named a Book We Loved by NPR
Chinese American twins Milly and Billy are having a tough time. On top of the multiple failures in their personal and professional lives, they’re struggling to keep their restaurant afloat.
Luckily their parents, Ipo and Keon, are in town for their annual visit. Having immigrated from Hong Kong before the twins were born, Ipo and Keon have supported their children through thick and thin and are ready to lend a hand—but they’re starting to wonder, has their support made Milly and Billy incapable of standing on their own?
When Ipo forces them to help her clean up the house next door—a hellish and run-down ruin that was the scene of a grisly murder—the twins are in for a nasty surprise. A night of terror, gore, and supernatural mayhem reveals that there is much more to Ipo and her children than meets the eye.
Eisner Award–winning and bestselling author Marjorie Liu and illustrator Sana Takeda have crafted a wild and wicked tale that will leave readers hungry for more. She Eats the Night is the perfect start to The Night Eaters trilogy, which is a combination of Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith and Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan.
Buy She Eats the Night
The Night Eaters #2: Her Little Reapers
A graphic novel by writer Marjorie Liu and illustrator Sana Takeda
It’s been four months since the night of gore, chaos, and the failed demonic summoning that revealed the Ting twins' unusual family background. Since then, Milly and Billy have tried to explore their new powers but their parents, Ipo and Keon, haven’t been much help.
Despite the lack of explanations, one thing is abundantly clear: the Ting family is part of a much larger supernatural world and something in that world is very, very wrong.
As Ipo and Keon are reluctantly drawn back into the treacherous high society of supernatural elites, their children find that dealings with the spirit world comes at a steep price—when the dead have unfinished business with the living, only blood can balance the scales. To save humanity and themselves, the Tings will have to embrace their inner demons.
Eisner Award–winning and bestselling author Marjorie Liu and illustrator Sana Takeda have done it again, spinning an epic tale of gods and monsters in Her Little Reapers that will leave readers hungry for more.
Buy Her Little Reapers
The Night Eaters #3: Their Kingdom Come
A graphic novel by writer Marjorie Liu and illustrator Sana Takeda
Their Kingdom Comec is the epic conclusion to the critically acclaimed, award-winning Night Eaters trilogy!
What happens when you and your twin accidentally trigger the apocalypse while trying to defend your family from an evil warlock? Well, Milly and Billy are about to find out.
Los Angeles has been decimated by the Ting twins and the hole they’ve accidentally torn in the fabric of the universe. But that’s not all—across the world things are... changing. The long-separated realities of Earth and the magical world have collided with disastrous results.
Milly and Billy are desperate to set things straight, but Keon and Ipo know better—some things can’t be undone. The final war for the fate of our world has begun.
In Their Kingdom Come, the New York Times bestselling creative team Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda return to conclude their epic tale of magic and monsters, demons and demigods, and the capricious, incontrovertible power of luck.
Buy Their Kingdom Come
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Graphic novel horror trilogy The Night Eaters is an epic tale of family—as well as magic and monsters. We share more info about the series, plus co-creators Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda.