Advance Review: The Tribulation Is Over – Almost – In ‘Something Is Killing The Children’ #35

At last, our Tribulation is over!

After 15 issues and nearly two years, Something is Killing the Children finally – FINALLY – resolves its story in Tribulation, New Mexico. Except, of course, that it doesn’t really. It’s clear that this overlong story was meant to set up Erica Slaughter’s future foe. Whether that opponent will appear in the next arc or at some point after doesn’t really matter. It turns out this whole story arc was meant as a villain origin story.

Spoilers prevent more from being disclosed, but regular readers will likely see it coming. And they’ll also likely be glad that it’s over, for now.

Writer James Tynion IV cemented his reputation as a premier horror writer with SIKTC, elevating him to new heights beyond the fame he garnered from his Batman run. While the first 20 or so issues were legendary, the story wallowed in Tribulation. A tale that could have been told in 10, maybe even five issues, inexplicably took 15. The entire series – perhaps even the franchise – seemed to stagnate.

All of that is a shame if, for no other reason, this concluding issue was better than much of the arc. It’s certainly action-packed, though navigating that action is challenging, mainly because – ironically enough – Tynion tries to do too much with this issue. He’s dealing with two villains – a monster and a human who is worse than a monster – a major death as well as a betrayal. Cramming all of that into a single chapter doesn’t give any single story element its due, particularly after SO MANY issues leading up to #35.

With so much action in the issue, Werther Dell’Edera’s usually reliable art gets confusing during the battle scenes. He can’t devote enough time to Erica’s showdown with Cutter, so the fight is rushed and certain action seems to come from nowhere. But that fight is straightforward compared to the battle against the monstrous duplicitype. The creature has taken the form of Erica, though with a mouth and large eye often in its abdomen.

So you have Erica fighting Erica, which is confusing enough, except that the real Erica is now unable to see the monster. That’s straightforward enough, right? If only it were that clear.

It’s fairly easy to give a subpar story arc a pass. Even the best creators aren’t going to get a hit at every at bat. But this one has gone on for so long, that it will take something special to pull readers back to the point where they literally can’t wait for the next issue of this series to hit the local comic shops. Hopefully Tynion and Dell’Edera can recharge their batteries can come back with something special for next time.

Something is Killing the Children #35 will be available for purchase tomorrow.