5 & 6- Something Is Killing the Children Vol 8, House of Slaughter Alabaster- James Tynion IV et al

 

A double bill of the most recent entries in these two continuing series.

Last time we saw Erica Slaughter she'd been severely compromised in her abilities as a monster slayer.  i was kind of hoping for a continuation of that storyline.  Instead this volume is 5 standalone issues that flash back to events prior to the beginning of the series.

The first two felt very similar in content, but then Tynion started to make clever variations on the theme.  The issue set in a therapist's office is probably the best individual issue of the entire run.

The artwork continues to be uninspiring except for occasional full page panels. It all finishes with Erica heading off on the first mission we met her on.

I seriously question the review on the back of one of these that states SIKTC reinvented the comic.  As good as it is, it ahs never quite stopped feeling like a companion piece to Buffy with an entirely amoral watcher's council.

Which brings me neatly to...  

This is the weakest artwork so far in the HoS run.

The story this time involves a white mask called Bait- a young boy whose arms were ripped off by the monster that killed his family. 

However, he's still able to kick these giant creatures to death.  Of all the unlikely twists this series might have taken, the fact that a skinny boy with missing arms can apparently take on the same monsters that the heavily armed Erica struggles with (I managed not to use the 'armless joke! yippee) has to be the most extreme.

They do call him Bait I suppose, so his fighting ability is as much of a surprise to the House of Slaughter as it is to the reader.

We learn yet more about the inner workings of the House and how rotten it is at its core. The ending is particularly downbeat.  That's a good thing IMHO. I'm not having a dig. 

These were a very good way to kill an hour or so.  I don't find them groundbreaking in the slightest but they are solidly entertaining and haven't lost my interest yet.

Number 4- Bunny- Mona Awad

 

I could just put the phrase "What the actual fuck did I read?" and that would be an accurate summation of this book. It was certainly one of the most common phrases that went through my mind while I was reading it. 

Samantha Mackie is a student in an exclusive writing school.  In her regular workshop session she is teamed up with "the Bunnies", a group of 4 rich young women who do everything together and call each other Bunny.

Sam's hatred for these vapid self obsessed women knows no bounds.  But when she receives an invite to a Bunny social she finds herself going, against the advice of her best (only) friend Ava.

She soon finds herself completely embraced by th Bunny way of being, and that's where things turn from an older version of Mean Girls into something a lot darker. 

The first time I said "What the actual fuck" would have been around chapter 12 (they're short chapters)  and it was almost a continuous refrain from that point onwards.

The book has a hallucinatory feel that it never loses.  I found myself constantly questioning how much of what was described was actually happening. The writing is top notch.  Awad can write a great sentence with more layers than you could possibly suspect.  I suspect this is one of those books that would read entirely differently second time around once in full possession of the facts.

t's a quick and easy read despite the nearly 400 pages and has layers inside its layers. It's shocking and gruesome in places and utterly surreal throughout. I really enjoyed it and will be checking out her other books in due course. 

Number 3- Little Monsters- Lemire & Nguyen

 

Jeff Lemire really does love his weird apocalypses. 

In this mini series, the brilliant team behind the Ascender./Descender series have reunited for another fantastical vision of the distant future.

This time it's set on earth a few centuries from now. A group of child vampires have been waiting in an unnamed city, living off vermin and passing small animals for three hundred years since something happened that has seen the city deserted of human life ever since.

When a nomadic group of humans wander within range, things change.  The dynamic in the group shifts and their comfortable but boring existence will never bee the same again.

Lemire's writing and characters are up to the usual high standard, and one character death really did evoke a strong emotional reaction from me.

The artwork is absolutely top notch.  This time around, it's mostly greyscale, but with some colours thrown in, particularly red for blood.

After finishing this (a week ago) the first thing I did was order the second and final volume.

If you're a Lemire fan, you can't go wrong with this one.  If you're not a Lemire fan yet, this is as good a place as any to start. You won't regret it.