Something Is Killing The Children #2
BOOM STUDIOS
Writer: James Tynion IV
Artist: Werther Dell’Edera
After a surprisingly violent kick-off with the debut issue, SOMETHING IS KILLING THE CHILDREN #2 takes a small step back from the terror for a quieter, more character-focused story. By no means, however, is this a negative. The series’ writer James Tynion IV uses this time to give us more of a connection with our leads while also introducing a handful of new characters to the mix.
Instead of picking up exactly where the previous issue left off, we begin with a young man named Tommy. At first, we are unaware of his relation to the overall story until we soon come to learn that his younger sister is one of several children now missing from Archer’s Peak. In this opening scene, we are also introduced to his mother who is, understandably, really struggling with the disappearance of her daughter. Tynion’s dialogue here does a great job of clearly portraying the struggle Tommy feels of wanting to be with his mother during this troubling time but also having the responsibility of his job; being a supervisor at a local restaurant.
Its at this same restaurant that we meet back up with our lead James and the still-unnamed monster hunter. They aren’t here to just eat though; they use this space to set up a makeshift base of sorts to review all the recent strange events and make plans for how they will continue their investigation and put an end to the killings that are plaguing the town.
What I enjoy a lot about the lead character James is his relatability. He isn’t a master-of-all-trades hero, he’s simply a normal teenager trying to get by as best as he can. Clearly, he’s still affected by all that has happened and wants to do anything he can to help, even though he may not be (at first glance) the most suitable for the job. The artist Werther Dell’edera also does an excellent job of displaying this struggle by mainly drawing him in a sort of hunched-over walking position and through his clothing style (he is always wearing reflective, aviator-style shades).
Werther’s art is one of the series’ strongest attributes. There is an excellent variety of panel sizes and page formats to keep the reader visually engaged throughout. No amount of space is wasted here.
Important to note as well is that even though the story deals with quite a dark premise, there is still room for occasional humor. For example, the restaurant where a portion of this takes issue place is called Applebeans; an obvious jab at one of the most abundant chain restaurants found here in the US. Here, James asks the monster hunter why she chose this place to have their meeting — to which she humorously replies that it works because there is hardly ever any foot traffic. A sharp sting of satire that connects to the actual struggle most chain restaurants such as these are dealing with today.
In conclusion, while this type of story is not groundbreaking by any means, both the writer and artist do a great job of making you care enough about the characters and mystery to want to continue reading and discover what will happen next.
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Something Is Killing The Children #2
Something Is Killing The Children #2 is a solid continuation to the issue before it. It slows things a down a bit in order to give us more time to learn our leads' motivations so we can further relate to them, which should pay off further down the road as the story progresses.
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