It's It: The Comic! Now that lazy comparison-blurt is out of the way, this is a book about a town, where children have been disappearing for a while now, and it turns out something is, in fact, killing those children. Luckily, there is a kickass teenage girl that is hunting the somethings, and now she is being helped by a young boy who narrowly escaped the somethings while all his friends got brutally murdered.

It's a real case of First Volume Syndrome - characters are introduced (and they are believable, interesting people), the monsters are introduced, there are more supernatural events, and all of it is unexplained. We'll have to keep reading to find out where all of this is going. My interest is certainly piqued, and that is enough for now.

I really liked the art - nice and scratchy. If I have one criticism, it's that the design of the monsters isn't that inspired.

3.5 stars (for now)

A first volume brimming with potential and vibrant art. Unfortunately the direction it took didn't work for me and I won't be continuing it, but there's a lot to like here.

Cool, But A Bit Frustrating

This is very cool, in terms of both the art and the story, but it's one of those anti-monologuing tales. By that I mean that the heroine is grumpy, won't answer even reasonable questions from her allies, won't explain or monologue, and keeps telling people to shut up. As a consequence a lot of the early plot turns on people misinterpreting who she is and what she's up to, and thinking she's a bad guy instead of a good guy. It's sort of annoying to have the heroine creating all sorts of problems and roadblocks for herself just because she likes being abrupt, contrary, angsty, mysterious and difficult.

But hey, that's really just a minor style problem. The big picture is that our Ms. Slaughter is a top drawer monster hunter and this story involves an apex predator monster. When your heroine has to stop off and buy a new chainsaw, that's a good thing.

The artwork is especially accomplished because it manages to work well on both ends of the narrative field. On the one hand the setup scenes are crisp, clear, and easy to follow. Characters are readily distinguishable and normal settings look, well, normal. But once we go all monster the art is graphic, violent and big action. Getting from normal to nutz is done in a dark, creepy, moody style, so you get just the right roller-coaster feel.

And even though Slaughter is wound pretty tight and less than chatty she gets off lots of good lines and is compelling whenever she's on the page. When she's in action mode the drawing becomes less realistic and more stylized, but that works well. Slaughter most definitely ends up being a heroine you can follow, and I'd vote for her to be in charge of all the weapons when the demon monsters attack. This is the first of at least five issues in the series, so there's plenty more to come. Fine by me.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This graphic novel is really good. It has some Stranger Things and IT vibes, and that's something I really enjoyed.
The story starts in medias res and I appreciated it. I don't think there's a lack of a backstory, but I feel like everything will be explained in the following volumes. Not knowing everything, makes the character and plot even more mysterious. So, I'm eager to discover more about it.
I found Something is Killing the Children Vol.1 very captivating and with an art style that I really liked. Can't wait to read the following ones!

5 STARS

When children begin to go missing in the town of Archer’s Peak, all hope seems lost until a mysterious woman arrives to reveal that terrifying creatures are behind the chaos - and that she alone will destroy them, no matter the cost...

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SOMETHING IS KILLING THE CHILDREN is a graphic novel that follows Erica Slaughter (monster hunter) as she travels to a small, sleepy American town to investigate - and destroy - the monster hunting the town's children. Broken into five chapters, we are introduced to Slaughter and her intentions but many things remain unexplained. Who is she? How does she know what is haunting the town? WHAT (or who?) is that octopus stuffy?!

This graphic novel gave me total "stranger things" vibes - I loved it! Although the art was sketchily handled, I think it lent to the atmospheric feel of the story. SOMETHING IS KILLING THE CHILDREN sucked me in from the start and I am dying to find out when the next chapter of this is released! I need to know what happens after that major cliffhanger- and hopefully have some of my questions answered about Erica Slaughter and the monster hunting faction she works for.

Recommend for fans of horror, graphic novels and stories like Stranger Things & Joe Hill's Locke and Key.