After such an amazing launch of Once & Future, Boom! Studios drops Something is Killing the Children #1 one today, which is seeing such great order numbers that it has already gone to 4th print. It is now currently ranked as the highest-selling series debut in Boom’s history. After reading the 1st issue, I can see why.
Horror comics have increasingly become one of my favorite genres. Writer Cullen Bunn work got me hooked on the genre, and it’s always great to discover a new writer who brings that same level of story to hook me from the start. In Something is Killing the Children, James Tynion IV delivers a gripping tale of local children gone missing, and the few who have returned have horrific stories of terrifying creatures lurking in the shadows of Archer’s Peak. A possible new hope emerges with the arrival of a monster killer.
Truth or Dare, or Die
Most children play truth or dare at some point and the ones in this story are no different. James and his buddies do just that one late night, and he goes for truth. He tells a scary tale of a monster approaching his house, one from the ravine under a bridge close by. Boys are boys and his buddies egg him on about him making it up. Well, we soon find out, that the next dare, to prove his story leads to something horrific.
Dual Blades and Mysteries
Before our boy James heads back to school, after the tragic events, we are introduced to a mysterious dual-blade wielding girl, covered in blood, exiting the woods. She rests next to another girl and confirms that it is over. What is over or what she killed in the woods we don’t know. She soon takes a call and apparently is being called away to a new town, leaving us still not knowing who she is, what she is up to.
James returns to school but is not prepared for what is in store for his day. He is welcomed by a memorial of all the recent missing children, including his best friends from the beginning of the book. Other students don’t know what to make of his return. Some even take it out on him by blaming him, the only survivor of his group. James is still not in a good place, and who would blame him, after all, he went through. We still don’t fully know what he went through.
However, after school, it seems our mysterious blade wielder has just shown up at the Archer’s Peak bus stop. She has tracked him down, and apparently, she knows more about James’ situation than he could imagine. It’s then we get a full account of the insane events that happened the night his friends disappeared. I am not going to spoil any part of this, but I will tell you, it is insane and not what you were expecting to see when you turn the page. It’s here, we get a good picture of the horrors that have been wrecking this town, and what this mysterious girl is going to do about it.
Final Thoughts
YES! GET THIS BOOK! Lol, was I yelling? No, you are yelling. But, seriously, this is a book you do not want to sleep on. While I was unfamiliar with James Tynion IV’s work, I now definitely appreciate what I read here. I really enjoyed how he introduced James and the “mystery girl” to eventually meet and center around a mysterious and horrific event. The art by Werther Dell’Edera was very appealing. Not only, was there great character building and mystery build-up, but being thrown into a very intense last few scenes, portrayed very vividly, gives us what looks to be setting up a great horror story to unfold. Needless to say, I am subscribing to Something is Killing the Children at my LCS as soon as I could.
Score: 5/5
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