REVIEW: Something is Killing the Children Vol. 1— by Rob D. Smith
In Archer’s Peak, James and his young teen friends have a casual sleepover when Truth or Dare enters the evening. The truth turns into a dare, as they are wont to do. The boys all head into the woods behind James’ house, and the horror that is the title of this comic unleashes. We find out that this isn’t the only incident and that the town is in deep dread over so many missing children. Something is killing the children.
A mysterious stranger comes to town on a bus. Almost like an old Western movie, except this stranger is a bladeslinger instead of the gunslinging type. Erica Slaughter is an intense young woman. Capable and unrelenting. Garners no bullshit from hotel clerks to county sheriffs. She does one thing and one thing well. Kills monsters. All the other little details she leaves to a veiled organization that we see her converse with on a flip phone. They share the same tattoo she has—a serpentine dragon with three criss crossed lines through it.
BOOM! Studios have collected the first five issues of this darkly suspenseful horror comic in The Angel of Archer’s Peak Part One. James Tynion IV writes the ghastly script that Werther Dell’edera illustrates into nightmare images on the page. Miquel Muerto is the colorist who enhances the mood with his somber hues. Sequential art such as comic books relies on collaboration from an artistic team, not unlike a film. This writer, illustrator, and colorist weave their inky magic into a horror comic series for the ages.
James Tynion IV plays with the realm of imagination. Between knowing and believing. Kids have always been in better touch with this realm. They can move in and out freely. As we grow older, that line blurs so much that we can’t find our way back most times to that land of make-believe where anything is possible. When you believed that the carpet was lava and you had to jump from couch to coffee table or be burned alive. Youth is the engine of imagination.
Tynion pushes that idea with kids being the only ones who can see the monster culling Archer’s Peak of their children. Why just the children? What sustenance does the creature pull from the children? Questions that pull the story forward. Certain adults can see the creatures, too—Erica and the secret organization that aids her. Most adults can’t tap that well of imagination that reveals the monster.
“The images depicted in Something is Killing the Children roils the mind.”
The images depicted in Something is Killing the Children roils the mind. Werther Dell’edera’s draws a loose, sketchy line that is melancholic and pensive but then sharp and jagged the next. A calm walk through the parking lot, then frenetic slicing and dicing with streams of blood. Every eye drawn haunted except for Erica. Her eyes are bold and furious. A striking lead character design by Dell’edera. White tank top. Hair in a ponytail. A black bandana covering her mouth, harkening back to that old Western gunslinger again. This black bandana has a fanged smile across it. She doesn’t carry a magic sword. She goes to the local hardware and fills her shopping cart with machetes, gardening shears, and the crappy rundown chainsaw that “won’t stop going ‘til they’ve chewed through your leg.”
His creature design is superb as well. With the reveal of the monster, all the kids can see shadows in the tree outside your room at night. Larger than life and coming to feed on you. There is a stuffed toy octopus that Erica consults with from time to time. Only she can hear its counsel or taunts. When Dell’edera shared the octopus’ secret on the page, a pure wow passed my lips. Throughout his dark illustrations is clarity of emotion. These are troubled people, and the depictions evoke their worry and terror.
“These are troubled people, and the depictions evoke their worry and terror.”
Volume one collects the first five issues of “Something is Killing the Children” and is an excellent way to immerse yourself in the macabre world that Tynion IV and Dell’edera have created. I’m a weekly warrior, which means I buy my single-issue comic books every Wednesday at my brick-and-mortar comic shop. “Something is Killing the Children” is one I can’t wait for the trade editions to come out later. I have to have it in my veins as soon as it is released. Get hooked like me. Read “The Angel of Archer’s Peak: Part One.” Then if you can’t scratch that itch, start buying the single issues with the rest of us horror addicts.
AUTHOR’S BIO
Rob D. Smith is a common man attempting to write uncommon fiction in Louisville, KY. His work has appeared in Apex Magazine, Shotgun Honey, and The Arcanist. He co-hosts The Abysmal Brutes podcast that explores pop culture storytelling at https://theabysmalbrutes.podbean.com/ Follow him on Twitter @RobSmith3
