Title: Something is Killing the Children Vol. 1Author: James Tynion IV, Miquel Muerto, Werther Dell'Edera
Series: Something is Killing the Children #1
First Published: May 20, 2020
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Pages: 128
Genre: Horror
Format: PDF
Source: Humble Bundle
Rating:
Synopsis:
When the children of Archer's Peak begin to go missing, everything seems hopeless. The few children that return alive have terrible stories -- impossible details of terrifying creatures that live in the shadows. Their only hope is the arrival of a mysterious stranger, one who believes the children and claims to be the only adult who sees what they can see. Her name is Erica Slaughter. She kills monsters. That is all she does, and she bears the cost because it must be done.
GLAAD Award-winning writer James Tynion IV (The Woods, Batman: Detective Comics) teams with artist Werther Dell'Edera (Briggs Land) for a haunting series about staring into the abyss... and what happens when the abyss stares back.
Collects issues #1-5.
Review
Something is Killing the Children is a title that demands attention. Who or what is killing the children, and why? I took a chance on this series and from chapter one I was already sucked in. The premise is one straight out of a fairy tale, there are monsters in the woods eating children and a mysterious stranger shows up to kill them. It’s a simple concept and the execution was straightforward, and I didn’t mind that.
I really enjoyed the main cast of the characters and the mystery is intriguing, you don’t get a lot of answers in volume one. The story balances out some of the horror with humor and there were a few parts that made me chuckle. I absolutely loved Erica’s personality and character design, she’s a fun protagonist to follow.
The art stands out amongst many, and I really enjoyed the rough sketched look on the characters and backgrounds. There were many striking panels thanks to the spectacular colorization which added so much to the atmosphere of each scene. Though the story is quite gruesome at times some of the blood and gore is less detailed and for most will be easier to digest, though the drop in quality during some of the more action packed sequences, reducing the impact of some scenes.
It’s worth noting that for digital editions that there are panels that spread across two pages. I did not know this and found myself confused initially before realizing I needed to either flip between pages or switch the program I was using to read. I was able to remedy the issue by installing Adobe Acrobat on my PC and setting it to two page view. The Kindle for PC app also has a two page view, thankfully.
Overall I really enjoyed this first volume and I’m excited to dive straight into volume two. The first volume was satisfying and set-up some truly enticing plot threads for the next volume.
Quote
“There were probably a few cases of disappearance you wrote off. Before there were bodies. Before you knew there was something killing the children.”
Content Warnings
View Spoiler »About the Authors
About James Tynion IV
James Tynion IV is an Eisner Award-winning, New York Times bestselling writer and publisher of comic books. He is best known for co-creating hit horror comics series like Something is Killing the Children, The Nice House on the Lake, and The Department of Truth. He is also the writer of Young Adult adventure series, like multiple GLAAD Media Award-nominated Wynd, and the 2017 GLAAD Media Award winner The Woods. He spent ten years writing various Batman titles at DC Comics, where he co-created exciting new characters like Punchline and Ghost-Maker. He lives and works in Brooklyn, and is represented by United Talent Agency.
About Miquel Muerto
Not dead, Miquel Muerto lives in Barcelona since 1992. He studied graphic design first and illustration later, and ran a small press with friends for a few years until feeling entitled to chase his dream: drawing comics! The Druid’s Path (2016) was his comic book debut: a traumatic experience he swore would never happen again. Coloring comics instead was the first good step in his career and he’s happily following that path ever since.
About Werther Dell’Edera
Werther Dell’Edera is an Italian comic book artist who is best known for Something Is Killing the Children, which he provided art for and co-created, and its spin-offs House of Slaughter and Book of Butcher.
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