*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Pretty good, don't read many comic so the story was kinda vague? not bad tho, id read more volumes :)

When the children in Archer's Peak start to go missing a mysterious stranger named Erica shows up in town to track down the killer. James is the lone survivor of brutal attack that left most of his fiends dead but no one will believe his story. When James and Erica unite to find the killer, everything gets real because there's more going on in this little town than anyone could have ever imagined.

I love a good gory, murder/mystery and this book is right up my alley! Erica Slaughter is the perfect MC who comes to town to take out all the nasty beasts that are ravaging this town and James is the perfect sidekick. I can't wait to finish this series to see how this all plays out.

Something is Killing the Children is a decent start to a horror graphic novel series. We follow James, a sole survivor of a horrible massacre of his friends. Someone or something has been killing children in James's small town. James, along with a mysterious companion, set out to find the monster and destroy it. This story had a slow start, but it kept my interest. The story doesn't bring anything new to the horror or mystery genre, but it's a promising start. I'm looking forward to reading the next volume. People who don't like dark content should read this book. The title speaks for itself. There are some very gruesome illustrations.

A solid book with a STUNNING art style! Very gripping and a well paced plot as well as well layered characters!
3/5

{3.5/5.0}

There's a lot of inspiration needed to come up with a story like this because the instance you pick up this book you find a near resemblance to some of the horror sci-fi you might have come across in a movie or a book but still, it feels like fresh air.
So the story revolves around a town where children are gone missing and later found in the woods but too late to be identified.
James is the one who got away, but police won't believe what he saw neither his friends, for them, he is the killer.
But Erica knows it all, she faced such unknown identities before and willing to stop it again but this time in an unknown town with unknown motives.

Many thanks to NetGalley and BOOM! Studios for a review copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

I read the first few pages of this before deciding whether I was interested, and phew, okay, this premise got me right away. It’s so freaking creepy right from the start, and it definitely lives up to its horror tag.

Something’s Killing the Children, Vol. 1, will leave you wanting more, guaranteed. It blends horror and the supernatural for some spine-chilling moments, but also some dark comedy for a bit of levity.

The thing with graphic novels is they always stop when things start getting good, darn it! I will say, this arc was satisfying. It left things with a promise of more, but also having sufficiently wrapped up this introduction. The ending gave me a “greater things to come” sort of vibe, and I just cannot freaking wait to revisit this world.

My Thoughts:

- This was so much gorier than I thought it’d be, but the premise was so interesting that I didn’t even care. Normally, I can get squicked out pretty easily by gore, but this was what I’ll call “fuzzy gore.” Yes, you get the horror-inducing sense of people getting torn apart, but it’s not particularly detailed. The image appears a little “fuzzy,” so it’s almost gore lite. I mostly thought this approach was great, and it made it easier for me to stomach. The one part I felt suffered a bit from this was the monster. I love the art style here, but the monster? Eh. I mean, I suppose it’s supposed to be scary, given what you see it doing to people. But when it’s actually shown, it doesn’t exactly creep me out. I’m sure this says more about me than the book, but it is what it is. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

- While I confess that I may not know much about Erica Slaughter, but I’m already totally in love with her. Erica’s name obviously fits her. She’s a bundle of mysteries and contradictions, on top of being a total badass, so … you know, she’s kind of got a lot going for her right now. There’s very little I actually get to know about her personally, but she’s in the monster hunting business, and that’s enough for me. I’m easy, what can I say? I was already interested in the story by the time she showed up, but she sealed the deal. I couldn’t get enough of her, and I can’t wait to learn more about the people she works for/with and more about her story.

- The atmosphere of this book really hearkened back to the old-school, small-town horrors. I’m not sure what it is about small towns that make them perfect for horror settings. No, scratch that, I totally do. Because small towns are safe. Everyone knows each other. Everyone looks out for each other. Right? RIGHT?! All that murder and crime and stuff happens in the big cities. Having grown up in a small town, I found the setting both charming and alarming, which was a perfect blend. Add to that the natural suspicion that small-town folks feel when a stranger comes to town, and it really lends itself to a tense situation.

I liked this new graphic novel and the premise of monsters killing children, with another young adult available to kill the monsters. Good first effort at this series.

This is a great, spooky read that we haven't seen from Tynion since The Woods. This, however, is spookier and more violent. The writing is great, as is the art. The colors are dark and fitting to the story. I look forward to more in this series.

So about something is killing the chrildren vil 1. I had a Hard time rating this one, nothing against it really just it lost me under the way since I was reading on the Phone, and I feel this would have been better to have in the hands. Really like the art style and can't wait to know more about the story in vol. 2.
So about 3.5 or 4 stars.

A good first volume with just enough of a creepy factor that left me wanting more. There's enough mystery but still plenty of questions to be answered. It reads very much like the first hour of a two-hour monster hunting film or the first half of a TV season.

This actually had a lot in common with my other most recent NetGalley-acquired graphic novel, "Lizard in a Zoot Suit" by Marco Finnegan. Both were enjoyable enough that I flew through, but neither was a particularly fresh story; not to mention that some of the action scenes were kinda hard to follow in both.

In this one, the title tells you all you need to know: there's monsters killing children, and a girl is sent there to kill the monsters (gave me "Malus Domestica" by S.A. Hunt vibes besides the obvious It/ Stranger Things) The premise is fine, it's a solid one, but the problem is that it has no roots. There's no backstory for Erica (the monster killer), or her octopus "familiar" (for lack of a different term), or the mysterious organization that employs her, or the monsters.

This sort of "just go with it" mostly action focused stories are popular with some people (coughMadMaxFuryRoadcough), but they don't work for me all that well. I'm one of those people that want a bit of backstory and WHY I should care about [x thing] before I start rooting for it. While Erica was cool and I was obviously on her side throughout this, I wasn't all that attached to her.

I understand that the decision to hold onto all that backstory was very much on purpose, and that the author is going to tell that story sooner or later because it's obviously going to continue, but, like I don't like the "just go with it" stories, I also don't like "just keep reading to find out the answers!!!!" when it's obvious they could have been revealed already.

All that to say: I liked the graphic novel and I'm probably going to keep reading sometime in the future, but this first volume is basically all setup.

The art is fine, does its job, but isn't anything spectacular either.

This is a great, scary comic. I loved the characters and the style and I can't wait to read the next volume. Thank you for the review copy.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher BOOM! Studios for allowing me to receive this E-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

SOMETHING IS KILLING THE CHILDREN
by James Tynion IV (The Woods, Batman: Detective Comics) & Artist Werther Dell’Edera (Briggs Land)

Description
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.

IT’S THE MONSTERS WHO SHOULD BE AFRAID.

When the children of Archer's Peak—a sleepy town in the heart of America—begin to go missing, everything seems hopeless. Most children never return, but the ones that do have terrible stories—impossible details of terrifying creatures that live in the shadows. Their only hope of finding and eliminating the threat is the arrival of a mysterious stranger, one who believes the children and claims to be the only one 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 an all-new story about staring into the abyss.

Collects Something is Killing the Children #1-5.


THOUGHTS

I enjoyed the artwork a lot, it was creepy and eerie and really made the story more enjoyable!
It was definitely gory and you should know that before reading, I could have used a bit more horror and spook to it, just never got me immersed into it the way I thought that it would.


Characters 7
Atmosphere 8
Writing 7
Plot 6
Intrigue 6
Art 8
Enjoyment 6

RATING SYSTEM CREATED BY BOOK ROAST
1-2 REALLY BAD 3-4 MEDIOCRE 5-6 GOOD 7-8 REALLY GOOD 9-10 OUTSTANDING

Overall 6.85
3 Star Rating

This is the first time I've read anything like this, I don’t usually read graphic novels but this was fantastic and very entertaining. It reminded me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer a little and I loved it. Who doesn't love a kick-ass heroine? 110% Definitely want to read the next volume. Highly recommend.
Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.75 stars

If u like the stranger things tv show u will like this book !!!!!

It is mind blowing, disturbing ,haunting and spooky in all. The way the story was told was amazing. This happened in the beginning of the graphic novel and like all of James friends were murdered I know right sad case and he is the one and only survivor who need to know who kill his friends. There are so many moments were u think like Erica was like a friend of James throughout his journey he found was helping him but I thought that she was kinda weird and spooky like no offence.

The way it ended was a suspense which me hate, need to wait for book 2 I Guess.

Liked the illustrations.

The storyline was just not that convincing to me.

I guess I was expecting a lot more from the book loving the book cover so much.

I wanted it to be more thrilling and adventurous.

The blurb sounds more interesting.

Thanks netgalley for the copy.

Volume One of this graphic novel is a very interesting and it introduces the reader to the town of Archer’s Peak and its inhabitants. Using a unique graphic style which really adds to the overall finished product which is finely meshed with James Tynion’s narrative style works extremely well.

The story, and as this is Volume One of a bigger picture, does a wonderful job of introducing plot, characters and visual style to help flush these out together. Using a graphic novel story telling device, you can tell that Tynion and Werther Dell,Ederm work very well together to pull this off successfully.

The book is the first five of the series which lets the reader fully emerge themselves into the story but as this is Volume One, there are some story threads leaving the reader dangling and hungry for more. It does keep you interested and builds a strong anticipation of what is to come and waiting with bated breath for the next instalment. The plot is very well paced and yearns the reader to find out more.

The characters are very well drawn and are essential to the plot. Deeply layered with in-depth emotional range helps the story becomes more involved. The reader feels a sense of kinship with the main character and relatively cares about them as they set out on their journey of adventure.

Overall, this is a very constructed graphic novel that has piqued my interest and I am keen to know what happens next. It has a great story structure, excellent graphics and fantastic characters that keeps the reader involved though a little disheartening when it seems to end abruptly. Bring on the next edition.

Eng/Esp (Netgalley)
Loved this book. As with anything by James Tynion IV (Detective Cómics, The Woods) , pacing is not an issue. Every issue feels necessary and action packed and filled with pretty awesome, gruesome and impactful horror scenes. The main monster, part Pennywise, part Lovecraft, seems scary and it's main antagonist feels that way too. The art has a cool, undefinable aspect to it and added to the horror feel. The ending, though, felt kind of abrupt in the way serialized comic TP's sometimes make me feel. That said, I also love that Tynion always finds a way to talk about discovering who you are when you are young in such thought provoking ways (anything more would be a spoiler of sorts)

Me encantó este cómic. Como con todo lo que escribe James Tynion IV(Detective Cómics, The Woods) el ritmo de la historia no es un problema. Cada número se siente necesario y tiene un paso vertiginoso y lleno de escenas de impacto de horror y acción. El arte tiene un aspecto indefinible perfecto para el horror. El final, sin embargo, se siente algo acelerado y se siente como que este TP no es una historia completa (algo que me pasa seguido con los Cómics en serie). Dicho eso, también me encanta que Tynion es excelente para hablar de temas complicados, en este caso representados por la búsqueda de identidad de nuestro personaje principal.

I enjoyed reading this book. The mood was just as creepy and dark as I was hoping for when I selected the book. It was a great read and I would recommend it to my friends. It was an easy read on my Kindle, and I loved it so much that I'm thinking about investing in a paper copy to be able to read again and again, since I enjoy having my favorite books in physical copy.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review, which has not altered my opinion of this book.

This was an intense story and I'm very glad that we were able to get as much in this volume as we did. The art of this story matches the tone and the seriousness and danger of the situation that the characters found themselves in. The story was gripping and the art and dialogue natural and creepy and I can't wait to see what else comes from this story!

Overall 5 out of 5 from me.