Normally, a zero issue is set up. It’s getting you caught up on an ongoing story before an event, or it’s potentially material the creative team came up with to figure out the series but didn’t want to weigh down with info in issue one. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of great zero issues. But Something Is Killing The Children #0 is another thing entirely. The BOOM! Studios book is an essential piece of the ongoing story.
Written by James Tynion IV with art by Werther Dell’Edera, the issue jumps back in time to right before Erica Slaughter made her way to Archer’s Peak, i.e. the events of Something is Killing the Children #1 forward. And while the part of the book that sets that up — she gets a phone call telling her to go there — isn’t mind-blowing, the rest of the book is.
As usual, this team is expert at building tension and mixing things that should be innocent and sweet but become deadly and terrifying when you view them in the right light. Look no further than the title, which is not Something is Killing the Monsters… Erica Slaughter, our central monster-hunter, is doing that; but the focus is on what is killing and hurting children. Not vice versa.
In this issue, we meet a kid who was saved by Erica but is now in serious danger thanks to the organization Erica works for. It resets the stakes for the series that weren’t immediately apparent in issue one, but are now thanks to the five years of storytelling — plus spinoff series — that have fleshed out the world. It also sets up a new enemy for Erica and a terrifying tease of what’s coming down the road for her in the next few years.
That’s a tricky balance to walk, to present an issue that does work for new readers, goes back in time, but also excites faithful readers at the same time. Yet that’s exactly what this issue does. Credit to both Tynion and Dell’Edera, the most reliable comic book-creating team out there. Something may be killing the children, but they continue to kill it on this book.
Something Is Killing The Children #0 Rating:
Something Is Killing The Children #0 Official Synopsis:
It’s been 5 years since the smash hit Eisner-winning series Something is Killing the Children changed the world of comics; now, 40 issues later, a new chapter from the past is revealed.
Witness this crucial untold story within the vast Slaughterverse, detailing the mission preceding the fateful Archer’s Peak Saga, where the entire story began.
The Eisner and GLAAD award-winning team of James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera invite fans into this intimate untold chapter of the monster hunter that sliced her way into the hearts of readers everywhere, along with the celebratory Something Is Killing The Children cover month celebrating the franchise’s 5th anniversary.
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