Something is Killing the Children #15 brings the Archer’s Peak storyline to a close. Erica Slaughter should be riding off into the sunset, but she can’t. Now that the creatures are gone, she must deal with the repercussions of her actions for disobeying the Order of St. George. This brings Erica face to face with the Old Dragon as James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera settle business in Wisconsin.
Most of this issue ties up loose ends in the story. We witness first hand how the Order of St. George uses its power and influence to cover up the town incident. If you’re looking for a showdown between Cecilia (One of the top dogs of St. George) and Erica Slaughter, you’ll be highly disappointed. While we don’t get the epic Anakin vs. Obi-Wan type of battle some readers might have expected, the climax does provide a proper send-off. It’ll be interesting to see going forward if Tynion keeps the focus of the next arc on Erica or shifts gears to a new protagonist. Only time will tell.
As far as the writing is concerned, Tynion’s script is solid. This issue itself is dialogue-heavy with informative information that sets things up for the future without being too predictable. There are areas of closure for some characters, and none for others. Despite that, the ending leaves a lot to the imagination but also makes you realize there’s so much more to learn about Erica Slaughter.
Dell’Edera has outdone himself with each entry of Something is Killing the Children. There’s a lot of emotion he’s able to capture for the majority of this book. William Shakespeare said it best — the eyes are the window to the soul, and Dell’Edera plays around with this imagery, bouncing reactions from character to character. I can’t wait to see what his character designs will look like for the House of Slaughter in the next chapter.
Something is Killing the Children #15 is a nightmarish, nostalgic rollercoaster ride of terror. The monsters, the mystery, and of course Erica Slaughter are all great. Tynion and Dell’Edera have only begun to scratch the surface of the potential for this series.
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