Something is Killing the Children Volume One

An adult fairy tale? In the town of Archer’s Peak children are disappearing or being murdered in horrible ways. As the coroner puts it, “there’s some scary shit at work.” It seems the woods are full of monsters. These monsters are only visible to kids though, who are also the monsters’ only target or food of choice.

A kid named James survives one monster attack, though he’s traumatized after seeing three of his friends being sliced and diced. Help, however, is on the way in the form of Erica Slaughter, a monster-hunting ninja chick with a stylish ‘do and a backpack full of weapons. Erica is sent by a mystical council (the dragon-slaying Order of St. George) to Archer’s Peak so that she can put an end to this latest monster outbreak. To do so she’ll need some help from James and the strange spirit/familiar in her stuffed octopus.

As I say, it plays out much like a fairy tale. The monsters might as well be hiding under the bed as being in the woods. And I suppose it’s all an allegory about growing up, feeling vulnerable and not being taken seriously. It got a good reception, perhaps because of the gay angle thrown in. James is gay so he’s even more vulnerable and isolated. I didn’t see this as being enough to keep things fresh though. A punk riot grrrl heroine teaming up with a gay boy didn’t strike me as anything new, or interesting, especially in 2019 (when the series started). That writer James Tynion IV was drawing on personal experience didn’t add anything either. Everything about the story seemed stale. I’ll probably stick with it for a while though in the hope that things turn around.

Graphicalex