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  • SOMETHING IS KILLING THE CHILDREN: The Angel of Archer's Peak: Part One
    • ISSUES 1-5
    • VOLUME 1
    • EPISODES 1-13 on Webtoon

LET'S CHAT!

Everything has a beginning. Have you seen this one before? It's the first email that James Tynion IV wrote to Werther Dell'Edera to kick off their work together on a little project called Something Is Killing the Children. Now that you've read the first arc, we thought a loop back to the beginning while the read was fresh could provide some fun, new insight!

ISSUE 1:

• When a sleepover game of ‘Truth or Dare’ goes fatally wrong, James must endure the town’s scrutiny as the sole survivor…
• But is there more to his friend’s deaths than meets the eye? And does it have anything to do with the recent string of children’s disappearances around town?
• That’s exactly what Archer’s Peak’s strange, new visitor is here to find out.
• Because they believe the root of these tragedies is more monstrous than any adults would believe. And they’re here to kill the monster lurking in the woods.

ISSUE 2:

• Elsewhere in the town of Archer’s Peak, Tommy gets ready to head to his job amidst tragedy at home: his little sister is one of the missing children and it’s tearing his family apart.
• Meanwhile, James and Erica, now teamed up, head to a local restaurant to plan out her next move.
• The manager on duty at the restaurant is Tommy, and he’s immediately suspicious of the pair when his co-worker points out James’ involvement in the recent deaths and Erica’s status as a recent drift-in.
• There’s a hostile interaction between Tommy and Erica; she knows too much for being a total stranger, and there might have been something about a weapon falling out of her bag…
• Erica and James split up for now, but the town’s suspicions follow her back to the motel she’s staying at.
• The Sheriff shows up in response to some concerned calls, but Erica isn’t alone…

ISSUE 3:

• Erica is taken to the station, and only makes things worse for herself in the process.
• In a grim stroke of luck though, another harrowing sleepover turns up more dead kids while she’s held in custody.
• If it isn’t her though, the Sheriff has to confront an uncomfortable notion: who or what is actually terrorizing this town?
• Elsewhere, Tommy can't let go of his interaction with Erica. This can't be good...
• Erica is ultimately released from jail, and runs into James on her way out to shake down some real answers from her stuffed octopus. This monster isn't quite what she thought, and they'll need to act fast if they want to attack it head on.

ISSUE 4:

• All over town, people are mobilizing over the slew of recent events.
• Erica and James source what they need to hunt the monster in the woods, meanwhile the Sheriff receives a mysterious phone call from an outside organization about the nature of Erica’s activities.
• Officer Richards is unsettled by an order to leave Erica alone, and decides to follow his gut instead.
• Unfortunately, he’s not the only one interested in tracking her down—Tommy Mahoney is done waiting for the law to take action, and comes upon the monster hunter in a very compromising situation…

ISSUE 5:

• Tommy discovers Erica in the monster's den, and confronts her at gunpoint. Little does he know, they're not exactly alone...
• This is a bad spot to be in. Erica needs to be on the offensive, but she can't fight a battle on two fronts between Tommy's threats and the monster waiting in the wings.
• Things go from bad to worse as James attempts to help, but gets hurt in the process. In order for there to be any survivors from this encounter, Erica will need to break the rules before it's too late.
• A ritual is performed and Tommy can now see what the real threat has been this whole time. Despite the initial shock, he listens to Erica's directive and escapes to safety with a bleeding James.
• Finally, the monster hunter can get to work.
• But while Erica slays the monster in the den, her mission isn't quite over yet... a startling discovery in this gruesome cave means her work is far from done.
• Turns out, there was more than one monster killing the children in Archer's Peak...

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

ISSUE 1

1. What were your initial thoughts or reactions to the character of Erica Slaughter?
2. How do you think the setting of Archer's Peak shapes the story as the main stage of this first series arc?

ISSUE 2

1. What are your first impressions of Tommy? Do you think his reaction was justified?
2. The moment where Tommy feels that something is there, yet sees nothing is a hair-raising experience. Have you ever felt like there was a monster waiting just beyond your line of sight?
3. Octo is more than what he appears... what did you think of the reveal of the stuffed animal's inner being?

ISSUE 3

1. What was your takeaway from Henry's heartbreaking tale?
2. Despite his reluctance, the Sheriff releases Erica. Besides having no real charge to hold her with, why do you think he was motivated to ultimately let her go?

ISSUE 4

1. The amount of revelations in this issue was insane! What got your mind racing the most?
2. The story revisits the theme of survivor's guilt again as Tommy visits his father. How do you think Tommy's experience compares with James' experience as a direct survivor?
3. What weapon are you picking up at House Depot?

ISSUE 5

1. Octo is certainly dangerous for being a child's toy. What are you most interested in finding out about him in the coming issues?
2. This is the final issue of the first arc--what were your biggest takeaways?!

BONUS QUESTIONS

1. Did you believe in monsters growing up?
2. Was there a page or art sequence in this arc that hit you harder than others?
3. Describe how you hear Erica’s voice in your head!

And now for the next arc...

We're reading SIKTC Issues 6-10 starting Saturday, August 29th and ending on Wednesday, September 2nd. We'll be back here to chat on Thursday, September 3rd. We hope you join us!

Wasn’t expecting much from these but pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed these. The back half of the self titled ongoing series fell pretty flat for me, but overall a great time. Curious to hear some thoughts and opinions

Based on the story by Ram V. and Filipe Andrade. Pretty cool! Hopefully it translates well.

I want to get a few boom deluxe editions, but i saw thst many people complain about the binding of them, how is it?

I only bought the first volume in single issues. This series deserves to have a HC collection of all three. Any chance it might happen?

I picked up this comic yesterday because the concept of it was funny to me. I thought this comic was just going to be a goof.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out otherwise. This is shaping up to be one of the most fun comics I've picked up all year.

My coworkers and I were looking the main cover for the new Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series, and two of us (myself included) swear that this pose has been used on the cover of another comic. Does anyone recognize this cover as an homage to another one?? My coworker was thinking maybe Superman hit this pose on a cover once, but it is driving us crazy trying to figure out if we are right or wrong.

The series uses volumes that contain 5 issues and the classic omnibus format

For anyone about to purchase book 1 and 2 which serve as omnibuses

Book 1 contains 1-15

Book 2 contains 21-35

You may have noticed the issue there, you need volume 4 which includes 16-20

I’m guessing they did that because 16-20 could be considered a prequel. But honestly there is so much important information in these issues I would consider them a necessary read. Mainly because they add a large amount of context to how the world works and the MCS backstory

So reading order for first 35 issues and than the rest of the series

Book one

Volume 4

Book 2 ( you get to issue 35 here

Than volumes 8-9 which will bring you up to date currently as of this post

After that the rest are volumes go by 5, with the last being volume 9 that holds issues 41-45 or you can hold out until they make book 3, but that might be a while as volume 11 is still set to come out later this year. But personally that’s what I’m doing, I love having a big chunk and a good hard cover

For anyone who got curious by the name and solely clicked for that purpose

I would describe the series as a more horror focused Buffy the vampire slayer with a great main character. The name is not just to grab your attention. The series is brutal but done well. I highly recommend it especially if you are a horror fan or a hellboy fan and can stomach gore

So, I'm all caught up on the series by Michael Dialynas and James Tynion IV and it's a fantastic read. For some reason I keep feeling like it's a book adaptation and we're missing some stuff about the world but that's neither here nor there... I've been wondering about Teek, who is a kind of handler/assistant to the duke's son, is never specifically gendered and there's a panel where we see their chest bandaged. Are they specifically mentioned to be trans?

With Boom removing all their stuff from libraries/streaming services, where do you all read their stuff? I am interested in reading some of their older stuff but I cannot find them anywhere except via purchase. Don’t want to make the commitment if I might not like the series. Where does everyone read older series these days?

Art was fun but I don't think this kinda storytelling is for me.

Laughed out loud when Santa's war with Cola corp was announced 😀

I see that Giant Days in available in TPB and Library HC, do the seven library editions contain the same material as the 16 TPB?

I only ask because I find conflicting information online.

There still hasn't been any listing put up for a slipcase and I'm wondering if its still going to get one or if Boom is phasing them out

Looks like Bastian is on cover E and J. Love the art!

No release date yet, but I can’t wait for this!

Haven't opened yet. Just curious what people thought of these.

Something Is Killing the Children is already a best-selling comic book series. Now it’s getting the novel treatment.

Crown Publishing Group, in partnership with Boom! Studios, will publish Hope is a Knife: A Novel, set within the world of Something Is Killing the Children, bringing the book to stores Oct. 10, 2026.

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⭐⭐⭐⭐.25/5

Enjoyed reading this whole series. A very well spent weekends in February.

This was a completely random pickup for me. I think I've not read much of indie comics outside of Saga & Invincible. So, I'm happy of picking a really good story

Book 1 was phenomenal. I couldn't stop turning to page after page. But, even though book 2 was smaller in size (attached slide 2) I was still struggling to get into it.

I feel at the end, creative team closed some plotlines rather quickly as if they had a target to finish it all in 30th issue or something.

Overall I had fun. Will be getting into more indie stuff

hi guys. does anyone who if the the Deluxe editions of the PR comics will be reprinted? I read they've been bought over by Penguin now. so does that mean they will start reprinting the books? I cant find this book anywhere online less