Maybe after the horrible year that was 2020 a book titled Something is Killing the Children wouldn't be greenlit. Maybe a book about dead children shouldn't have ever been greenlit. I admit...it's a dark book, obviously, but it was also the best comic of 2020. The funny thing is...writer James Tynion had a much bigger book out this year and it was borderline terrible. His Batman run is a colorful mess (unfortunately it's still going on). Strange how he can write such a wild, exciting, compelling book like Something is Killing the Children while also writing such a bland, unexciting, no-good-ideas Batman book. I suppose the reasons don't matter why he's sometimes a great writer and sometimes not. At least we got this. Something is Killing the Children has a fairly simple premise. Monsters are real and they're killing children. Tynion has created an intriguing world around this premise, though. There's a secret society that trains people to fight these monsters. The main character, a young woman who was attacked by monsters as a kid and survived, has joined this secret society and heads to a small town that's besieged by these beasts that lurk in the woods and can't be seen by adults. She also has a teddy bear that just happens to be alive with the soul of a monster she killed. And in the last few issues of 2020, the book turned into an all out action movie with the monsters attacking and the townsfolk and police running to the high school to hide in the gym while all hell breaks loose. The art, by Wether Dell'edera (pencils/inks) & Miquel Muerto (colors), fits this book perfectly. The art is ragged and dark. The monsters actually look scary. The members of the secret society with their white face masks look evil and cool at the same time. And the best thing about this book is that it's gotten better since #1. I'm glad it's been a big best seller for the smaller Boom! Studios. It deserves all the accolades it's gotten.
