This is a great graphic novel for fans of Stranger Things. Its very creepy and the artwork does a great job of conveying the tone of the book. Children keep going missing in Archer's Peak, but then a new girl arrives who is determined to put an end to the disappearances,

A hauntingly, ceepy story of monsters and the death of dead children. I'm looking forward to reading more

This graphic novel has an interesting concept and story line to it! It kept my attention the entire time I was reading it. Basically the entire course of the graphic novel you are trying to find out what is killing all the children who went missing. Once you start reading it you don’t want to stop until you get to the end because it is so intense you want to find out who or what is killing these children. I feel like if you aren’t big on graphic novels but you like a good murder mystery this is a graphic novel for you to read! I really enjoyed it all the way through and I definitely can’t wait to have the next volume!

Aaah, this is too short. I don't usually read graphic novels but this one's cover is nice and so I thought the content must be equally good. I wasn't wrong. The concept of this novel is so intriguing, dark, and fascinating. It's so atmospheric which is my absolute favorite. I highly enjoyed every part of it that I know I'll read the next issue soon.

The art is really good too and I'm surprised that this graphic novel is not widely known. It deserves more readers.

*I received this book in exchange for a review from Netgalley*

This was a super short read. I liked the artwork and I liked the overall story. I think I would have enjoyed it more in a physical copy, as I had some issues trying to read it on my computer.

Awesome, visceral, terrifying, punky and totally graphic. I loved the art style and the feminist monster hunting protagonist. A lot of the scenes are not for the faint of heart, and it genuinely scared me.

So I had such high hopes for this one. A creepy killing mystical force snatching children all across town? Yes please. It wasn’t the storyline that let me down but the art style of this graphic novel. The style was all dark greys and black making the panels not only not nice to look at but really hard to see. I couldn’t decipher character from character and was squinting trying to read the text bubbles. The story was intriguing but the art style stood in the way of it’s success. Hopefully the finished copy has a better appearance!

I recently got a Netgalley account and this was one of the first ARCs I received.
I really liked this graphic novel. Somehow, on my first read, the text bubbles were missing. The story worked without those, too, so the art is damn expressive. It was better with the full story though.
Horror, monsters only children can see, and a talking stuffed Octopus. I can see myself picking up this and the next book when it is released at my comic book store.

This was a fun and action-packed story one in which I will definitely have to keep up with. I rated this 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads, and recommend this to any horror fans. Or fans of Stranger Things. I do suggest reading this in physical format as the ebook was somewhat problematic with the splash pages. But the art was great and really made the story more enjoyable.

Funny, snarky monster hunting. What more could you possibly want?

For a first volume this does the job it sets out to do, it sets the scene and builds up a connection between the reader and characters. We don't get much plot development but I can see this building up gradually over the next few installments.

The art is also pleasantly aesthetic, and fits well with the overall tone of the writing. I can be quite picky with my graphic novel art style, so this is high praise from me.

I enjoyed it.

I read one graphic novel in April and it was an arc from Netgalley - it will be released at the end of May. It was created by the author of the The Woods graphic novel series which I liked so I hoped I would like this first volume too. We follow a boy, after his friends have been killed by an unknown monster, as he teams up with Erica Slaughter, who can see and kill monsters to find the monster in the town that is killing children. I loved the art style, the easy plot and fast pace but it was quite generic, in my opinion.

The stakes are high and the action is non-stop in the first volume of this edge-of-your-seat horror series. I know James Tynion IV is most known through his Batman writing, but my familiarity with his writing comes exclusively from the Backstagers series, so this was quite a turn, as far as genre and tone. The story is compelling, if a little prone to relying on common tropes, and not a lot of information or background is learned in the five issues. It does give the impression that the reader will learn more, and I am all for building up the suspense, but the fact that the first volume concludes with the vast majority of questions still unanswered does make it somewhat less satisfying. Nontheless, it was a very engaging read, and I know I will be recommending this to other horror fans and eagerly awaiting the continuation of the series.

«Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 1» is a horror story in picture format for adults. If you like graphic novels, if you love thrillers, horror and mysteries, if you love beautiful artwork that this one is for you!

The story begins in Archer’s Peak, a small American town, when children start disappearing and then found dead after a few days (weeks?). The plot is very simple and straightforward, and I wouldn’t necessarily classify this as thriller or mystery, as we know what is happening early on.

Yes, there is a mysterious element about who Erin Slaughter is, but in terms of story-telling the reveal of who she is and why she is in Archer’s Peak was rather anticlimactic.

For me, the story was not the strongest point of this Graphic Novel. I did enjoy the artwork though and think that it was very smartly done to bring out the creepy, eerie elements of the story, especially through muted colors and darker tones.

NOTE: Some pages were a bit confusing to read, especially on the PC, as it only showed one page at a time and some of them were meant to read vertically from left to right from one page to another. I needed to go back and forth quite a lot to make sense of what I was reading.

Overall, this was a very solid graphic novel, and I can see why many people will love it and follow the releases of next installments.

This was a very fun graphic novel. Gave some stranger things vibes and the illustrations were gorgeous. Loooking forward to the next installment.

I enjoyed the graphics, and the story was pretty good, but this just wasn't my favorite. I'm pretty new to graphic novels and I just need to figure out what I like. I don't have anything bad to say about this, it just wasn't for me.

I thought this first Volume was a good read and interesting start into a series.
And not something for the faint of heart (tw graphic deaths and a lot of blood) and the art was horrifying, but still really cool/well done.

It's not the most complex setup so far:
There's a monster in the woods that kills children and can only be seen by children. A woman comes into the town to slaughter the monster.
And then there are mysterious people she is connected to, a kind of third eye that lets her see the monsters, and weird puppets that seem to have demon-esque entities in them and might help her but still be bloodthirsty assholes.

The plot isn't too long yet and there are a lot of unanswered questions - it's only a Vol. 1 after all. But I'd definitely like to see how the plot continues and if it (hopefully) develops into a more deep and fascinating bigger story.

⭐5 Stars ⭐

A beautifully constructed atmospheric supernatural murder mystery.

Vibrant unapologetic gore is perfectly balanced by dramatic writing that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Every character is impeccably rendered, their motivations realistic and complex. The setting of Archers Peak feels at once both extraordinarily homely and terrifyingly grim due to the fantastic illustrations by Werther Dell’Edera and Miquel Muerto, their perfect colouring completes the atmosphere of Tynions story.

My one gripe would be the fight scene at the end of the novel, most of it takes place 'off-camera' so to speak so it was slightly anti-climatic. However, I think this leaves room for later volumes to explore these scenes fully. I eagerly await the next volume of this fantastic graphic novel after that tantalising cliff-hanger.

Pick up Something is Killing the Children for a chilling story about survival and what goes bump in the night. And who is there to stop it.

Trigger Warnings: Gore, Homophobia (Challenged), Adult Language, Gun Violence.

This Volume Collects Something is Killing the Children #1-5. Preorder now to receive your copy when its release on May 26th 2020 by Clicking HERE (link in my Goodreads review)

If you like it as much as I do then Preorder Volume Two by Clicking HERE (link in my Goodreads review)

Thanks to BOOM! Studios for providing me with a copy of Something is Killing the Children. I received an advance review copy for free via NetGalley. I am leaving this review voluntarily 📚.

The first graphic novel series I read by Tynion was The Backstagers, which I absolutely adored. I’d seen the individual issues of Something is Killing the Children on Hoopla, but I hadn’t gotten around to checking it out yet. Luckily for me, the first volume showed up on Netgalley and I was able to read it all at once!

First things first, this is a very different vibe from The Backstagers. This isn’t cute and fluffy, it’s dark and gritty. It features monsters and death and blood and gore. But it also features a pretty cool monster slayer and it takes place in my home state of Wisconsin, so that’s always a win for me!

If you like Stranger Things and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you’ll probably like this graphic novel.

Thank you Netgalley and BOOM! Studios for the ARC.

This was a really original and dark story, definitely perfect for spooky season. The art is definitely gripping and intriguing but also confusing and not really clear. The beginning was like every other horror story, it begins with our main character telling a horror story to his friends, and then, finding out they all were slaughtered in the woods.
Then a girl, monster hunter, appears and shenanigans ensues.
The atmosphere is definitely the best part.
It reminded me of a mix of stranger things meets IT.

My main issue with this story was the lack of world building and backstory. I was supposed to care about these characters and I couldn't because I didn't know them. Not really.
Some parts were definitely confusing and not explained properly.
I don't really think this one is for me, unfortunately.

The point of horror as a genre is that whatever that's created with the intention of it being horror, is that it's supposed to incite feelings of fear, dread, repulsion, and terror in the audience. With that said, the only thing that horrified me (very mildly, to be honest, and that's not impressive because I get scared easily) is the violence in this graphic novel.

I think this volume needs to be better expanded—or well, better "padded". Sure, this is only the first volume and it's (kind of?) characteristic of first volumes (and subsequent ones) of graphic novels to be more bare-bones when it comes to certain things like character development, world building and providing information/answers. However, I think this one is just a little too bare-bones, which isn't good because this lack of "padding" causes the story to move too quickly. In fact, it's flows so fluidly that there's not enough "time" for anticipation, anxiety or fear to build up, which then, causes reading the graphic novel to become dull. Thus, I feel that with just a little more information or fillers here to "pad" the volume, it would help build up the much needed atmosphere of horror, which will then, make the volume less dull.

On the whole, I find the premise interesting and the visuals (art style and typography) suitable, but the execution lacking.