Kill Your Darlings

by Ethan S. Parker, Bob Quinn (artist), John J. Hill (artist)

Rose loves nothing more than to play pretend in a magical land of her own creation. To her, that world is as real as our own—from her fluffy friends to the terrible evil that lurks at the center of it all. In one night, the line between fantasy and reality will disappear, an ancient hunger will feed again, and Rose will be pulled into a gruesome saga that began centuries before her birth.
Debut writers ETHAN S. PARKER & GRIFFIN SHERIDAN and master artists BOB QUINN (Knights of X, Black Cat Social Club) and JOHN J. HILL (VANISH, CROSSOVER) are proud to present a fantastic nightmare years in the making. 
Collects KILL YOUR DARLINGS #1-8

Genres: Fantasy, Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Young Adult

Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2024

Reviews

[Aquila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engaging story with characters I cared about, beautiful art, vibrant colors, and a message that resonated with me.

[London Heady · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really really loved most of it, but then it just kind of abruptly ends. I knew it was going to be 8 issues, and I was really scratching my head at the end of issue 7, wondering how they would land this narrative in one more issue. And the answer is that they just do it pretty poorly. Final issue has some fun spectacle, but there's also a lot of nonsense, and it ends in a not necessarily "cowardly" way, but in a way that kind of betrays the overall tone of the rest of the series.

While I didn't really care for it's finale, it was still kind of nuts that this was a debut from so many people. Looks great, and I really like the dialogue between characters in this. Just doesn't quite stick that landing. Incredible first half though. Practically perfect up until the end.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this fast paced, magical, fairy-tale like vicious murdering bloody story all wrapped up in one.

Rose is being raised by her mother at the start of the story but soon in, terrible things happen, and Rose is sent away after someone dies. But as things keep going we're introduced to a magical world in which Rose enters, her fairy tale world she made up. But the darkness following up creeps up and soon all hell breaks loose as a vendetta begins and death comes.

Overall really bright and colorful story with vicious moments, and great themes of loss and trying to fight for a better future. I really enjoyed Rose a lot, as well as her friend/lover. I did think it wrapped up a BIT too nicely but overall it was enjoyable quick read that I say is worth it for fans of things like Something is killing the children and fantasy mixed together.

[Estibaliz · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.25?

The art was good, and quite cutesy here and there; but also a bit rushed and muddled at times, when it came to the action scenes.

The story just felt extremely formulaic and a bit tired, like something we've seen before, multiple times, and lacking that ounce of originality, or that great protagonist, that would set it apart from the rest.

The first part was quite boring and predictable, and I wasn't ever so sure what the tone they wanted to give to the whole thing was exactly. The second part has slightly more interesting ideas but, once again, they get pretty lost pretty quickly. And quite boring.

Well, I guess it's obvious I didn't really enjoyed that much, it was just something to read and, mostly, look at...

[Natasha den Dekker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this up in my local Waterstones on a whim for the following reasons -
- Image comics
- female lead
- cute characters
- gory detail
- another world
- angst
- trauma

All in all a glorious read and great to read a graphic novel where I'm not waiting for the next issue for like a year! If you liked 'I hate Fairyland' or 'Once and Future' this is defo for you!

[Matthew Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I enjoyed this one a good bit, but some of the story plots left me wanting a bit more and the ending of this story didn’t exactly make me feel satisfied with where things ended. The pacing is what feels the weakest in this story and I think this comic would’ve benefitted from a much longer run. The art in this book was nothing short of incredible, though.

[Dean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me. I don't think they settled on a tone.
Felt too long and drawn out also, however I would like more 8 issue miniseries when that amount of issues are called for.
Art was good.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Generational trauma, the horror fantasy. Incredible debut by Parker. Artwork really sells it and keeps it from tipping over into pure horror.

[:¨·.·¨: `·. izzy ★°*ﾟ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certain plot points and timelines were never revisited and so didn’t make much sense, and didn’t add anything to the story, (mostly 1887).

I also thought the 8 year time jump was a little lazy. I know these came out as comic issues prior to being bound up into one graphic novel, but this really should have been a larger series. This story just doesn’t work as a mini series in my opinion. There’s too much going on, the time jumps don’t mesh well with the main story, and the characters and storyline weren’t fleshed out or complex enough for this series to be executed well.

Overall, it felt rushed and unfinished, and sadly fell flat. The premise was great, and this would have made a really good series if it was fleshed out into more volumes.

[Josh]

"Rose’s imperfect but bright childhood fell entirely to pieces in a single night when the land of her fantasies ended in bloodshed and horror the same night she lost her mother. Years later, institutionalized and with only her friend, Elliott, left to support her, Rose’s life is again upended by the discovery that the imaginary land she used to play in is very real."

Full review at: https://noflyingnotights.com/blog/202...

[Jeremy Fowler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh this was ADORABLE (and rather disturbing at times) which made it the perfect story!

[Adetutu · Rating 5 out of 5]

reading this reminded me of this post -

going through my old journals as part of therapy homework, and i'm reading a section written in the emotional wreckage of a full-on breakdown when i get hit with this line:

'There is never a satisfying answer to ‘Why didn’t they love me?’


this is one of those times i wish i were better with words so i could describe in detail all the ways this book made me feel. Rose's relationship with her mom before she died brought me to tears. when the people who are supposed to love and nurture you don’t, when those who should take care of you fail to do so, it breaks a part of you. you find yourself wondering what it is about you that makes you so unlovable. and to think her mom was dying under the weight of guilt from the tragedy that happened all those years ago.


fun fact: i listened to Billie’s "what i was made for" the entire time i was reading this.

[Alex Sarll]

Rose, neglected by her hard-working single mum, creates a vivid fantasy world into which she can retreat – only to suddenly find that she's not in control of it, something monstrous killing her imaginary friends, then reaching into our world, with Rose inevitably blamed for the crimes. So basically a horror riff on A Game Of You, plus maybe a little Kingdom Of The Wicked, Return To Oz and Never-Ending Story when she gets back there years later and sees the state of it. And yes, originality often consists of combining elements, but these ones all feel a little too readily adjacent to each other anyway, and adding in new components and explanations every couple of issues only compounds that, especially once we meet the villain who seems incapable of saying anything that's not a cliché. The art is at least strong on the fantasy world's cute little guys, though that of course means the many scenes of terrible things happening to them are quite distressing. On the real world, it has a very polished, vaguely Luna look that I'm not convinced meshes with the down at heel settings, and which – SPOILER – then flips entirely for the finale, where our world is suddenly green and gorgeous as the survivors escape here, in a scene which I initially thought had to be a piss-take; you're fleeing a realm drained of its colour and ability to sustain life by the greed of something that should be long dead, and instead you came to Earth? The worst of it, though, is that I was already pretty sure of what the afterword confirmed: this is absolutely a passion project by two young creators in love with the possibilities of comics. I had to steel myself and remember what Oscar Wilde said about sincerity to resist just posting an extremely brief and anodyne review with few specifics beyond the scene where a top-hatted hedgehog boops a small bird.

[Terence James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kill Your Darlings knocked me sideways. I thought I knew what I was getting into, some kind of cute fantasy about a kid with a big imagination. What I got was a story that crushed me and lifted me up at the same time. It’s about grief, it’s about running away into your own head, and it’s about how imagination can save you and destroy you all at once.

Rose is such a powerful character because she feels real. She’s a kid, she’s innocent, she’s just trying to survive something she doesn’t fully understand. The world she builds in her mind is magical at first. It feels like a safe place, almost like a fairy tale. And then you realize it’s not safe at all. It’s her way of making sense of pain no child should have to carry. That realization hit me hard.

The book balances whimsy and heartbreak better than almost anything I’ve read. One page you’re smiling at the sheer creativity of it, the next page your stomach drops because you suddenly see what’s hiding underneath. That’s the genius of it. It never tells you what to feel, it just lets the story and the art show you.

And the art… wow. It’s beautiful and painful at the same time. The fantasy stuff is colorful and gorgeous, but it always feels a little too bright, like it’s covering up something raw. Then you flip back to the real world and the weight of it just smacks you in the face. That contrast never stops working.

I don’t usually say this about comics, but Kill Your Darlings feels necessary. It’s the kind of book that stays with you, that forces you to think about your own childhood, your own escapes, the things you imagined when you needed to survive something. It’s not just sad, it’s honest, and that honesty makes it unforgettable.

[TheTwelveBlades · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Fantasy. Dreams. Conjured by a living nightmare. Poetry, heard in the screams of burning children."

Kill Your Darlings by Ethan S. Parker is a haunting, multifaceted graphic novel that brings together all eight books of the series in one stunning, cohesive volume. This dark tale follows Rose, a young girl struggling with deep emotional scars, as she escapes between the real world and a surreal, often terrifying realm of her own creation. Parker weaves a complex narrative that explores trauma, survival, and the resilience needed to face one’s inner demons, both literal and imagined.

The story finds its perfect visual counterpart in the art by Bob Quinn and John J. Hill, whose illustrations are nothing short of breathtaking. Their work captures the world of Kill Your Darlings with a blend of beauty and horror—vibrant colors pull readers into Rose’s fantasy, while nightmarish scenes remind us of the darkness she’s confronting. Quinn and Hill’s art flows seamlessly between scenes, setting a visual tone that’s both enchanting and chilling, perfectly matching the emotional weight of Parker’s narrative.

With its blend of fantasy, action, and horror, Kill Your Darlings doesn’t shy away from mature themes, delivering a story that’s both gripping and profound. The artwork alone is mesmerizing, but it’s the emotional core of Rose’s journey that truly leaves a mark. This is a tale of survival and self-discovery, a journey through a fractured mind looking for healing in the midst of chaos.

4 stars for a powerful, immersive experience—a beautifully dark story brought to life by stellar artwork and an emotional depth that resonates long after the final page.

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking at the back page that shows the drawings of four men as the creators of this graphic novel made my spirits fall a little. There’s nothing wrong with men making powerful female figures in graphics and comics. Men created Red Sonja and Wonder Woman, after all. It’s just, in this day and age, you hope to see at least one female name when encountering a graphic novel about a girl who wields sword and sorcery with equal aplomb.

Rose’s rise from an overly imaginative girl to psychiatric inmate to powerhouse fighter is a journey that hits all the right beats. She’s smart, clever, fierce, sensitive and, above all, prizes peace above warfare. As a child, we see her brokering a treaty between combative “factions” of her stuffed animals, a bit of clever foreshadowing for the grimmer actions to follow.

The graphics are bold, edgy and occasionally blood soaked. This is not a graphic novel for the squeamish and I’d strongly recommend that it be kept away from children. (They’d likely get nightmares.)

It’s a terrific trip to an imaginary world and back again. My only quibble with it is that we’re not given a real sight of how much the world we know changes after Rose and her imaginary friends enter into it. A lone monkey from the Other World walks by in a leather jacket but that’s it. Our current world is one that gladly wishes magic were true. (Why else is Harry Potter so popular?) But that small lack doesn’t detract from the glorious story and illustrations.

[Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Came across this at the bookstore and was struck by the awesome cover art and synopsis. Glad I gave this one a go! Kill Your Darlings was fun, gory, occasionally spooky, occasionally moving. I loved the artwork and the way Rose's two worlds were captured and contrasted. Like the stories Rose created, the book reads like an epic fantasy, but with the free flowing imagination of childhood wonder.

This works well in terms of the world Parker and his team have built, but there were also some pretty big tonal shifts and leaps in the plot. As the book says, "not everything has to make sense". I half agree, but there were times where I felt situations just resolved or progressed because "magic!" and thus, didn't really feel earned. There were also jumps in time that I really wish were filled in. I dug Rose and Elliott and her fairy tale family and wanted to get to know them better. What surprised me amidst the battles against good and evil and bloodshed were the surprisingly tender moments between Rose and those close to her. The big dramatic beats were entertaining, but I felt the smaller moments were strongest here and wanted more of them. Without spoiling, there's a flashback at the end involving Rose and her mom (as well as the following epilogue) that were my favourite parts of the whole book and got me a little mushy.

[Cody Wilson]

Kill Your Darlings is a respectable first outing by writers Ethan S. Parker and Griffin Sheridan. The story is well-structured and well-paced with a strong thematic core. Unsurprising given their association with him, Parker and Sheridan clearly subscribe to the ethos of "badassery with a heart" as propounded by Donny Cates.

The fantasy genre isn't my jam (the dreaded "chosen one" trope rears its ugly head here) and I've seen the "dark/adult version of childhood fantasies" hook done more than a few times before. Parker and Sheridan seem to be playing things safe with these familiar genre tropes, which is understandable given that this is their first published story. I think their future work could benefit from more originality.

At any rate, Kill Your Darlings is a stellar showcase for artist Bob Quinn and has officially put him on my radar. His characters are expressive and his sense of dramatic pacing on point. He pulls off blockbuster action and quiet character moments with equal aplomb. Quinn's deliberate use of color is effective throughout. Also, shoutout John H. Hill for the strong sense of design in the packaging of the story.

[Rhobot · Rating 5 out of 5]

This complete story is just amazing never mind the beautiful illustrations.

It starts with a young girl being burned at the stake for being a witch then her coming back to life with them finding her again.

It flits forward to the now a small girl called rose in her imaginary kingdom or so we think .

She is left alone by her mum for hours she is often not fed locked in the basement for bad behaviour.

Suddenly her loyal subjects have been massacred and she is devastated she ends up being controlled by an outside source. Only to awake on the street with her home ablaze and her mother dead . She is blamed for the fire and put into some kind of. Institute.

Later her best friend comes to rescue her as they are just about adults. But someone beats him to the escape a small elephant man who’s an Aussie called Wallace he’s cute fiesty and will do anything for princess rose .
They make there grand escape back to her imaginary kingdom do find it desolate barren and many have died or fled.

It’s all her everything she’s remembers but there is a dark and terrifying evil awaiting for her .

No more spoilers

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A unique and a little weird comic that includes all eight issues in this volume that details an arc of bad decisions and violence that Rose dealt with. She grew up with the creativity of a whole world that she created that her mom played in to as well until one night where a tragedy unfolds and her mom is dead. Was Rose at fault? Everyone seems to blame her, but then Rose is again lured into a fantasy world, but this time it's one that seems to be showing her the past and how this train left the station centuries before she was even involved and that included her mom's unconscionable decision while pregnant with her.

It's vivid setting is my favorite though I don't know if I followed every seed of the stories and how they all connected before the final issue, which seemed off track from the first few issues. Creative nonetheless but I felt like details were missing to explain some details to pull it all together.

[Alexander Lisovsky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Номинант на Айснера'24 (лучшая лимитка). У Розы богатое воображение, она устраивает яркие баталии в мире плюшевых игрушек, где нужно дружить даже с монстрами. Впоследствии монстры приходят уже в её собственную жизнь, миры переплетаются, и на выходе получается нечто среднее между "Я убиваю великанов" и "Ключами Локков".

Очень хорошо нарисованный и покрашенный комикс, довольно развлекательный, авторы необычно сплетают миры детских сказок с ведьмами и хоррором. При этом по сюжетной части он на мой взгляд слишком уж примитивный — и можно было бы подумать, что он просто детский, если бы не вся сопутствующая кошмарная кровища. В итоге я не очень понял, на кого он рассчитан. На взрослых детей? Вот небольшое превью.

[Richard Pulfer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a series with plenty of cool ideas and some great art...but I thought might have been a little overcrowded with a few too much going on.

The story focuses on a young woman institutionalized after a vision of her imaginary friends leads her to become institutionalized after burning down her house and apparently killing her mother. Soon she struggles to separate fantasy from reality, as the fantasy in particular starts targeting her with a vengeance.

The result is an engrossing storyline with some fantastic artwork. That said, I thought there was just a little too much going on for me to completely enjoy it. I think this storyline was trying to do too much and could have benefited from being stretched out a bit to allow some breathing room.

I also thought there were a little too much darkly WTF moments which took me out of the story.

That said, there's still plenty of enjoy here for those interested.

[Eli Pruitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up

I’m so conflicted on this one. The first 7 issues of the 8 issue graphic novel were beyond amazing 5 stars all the way. I’m somewhat shocked at how much it stumbles and very much does not stick the landing in its final issue.

There’s a nonsensical and rather significant time jump that leaves out an immense amount of story and character development that leaves the entire ending feeling rushed and incomplete. As if an entirely different series is required to fill in the huge gap provided.

Prior to that, again, the first 7 issues are truly something to behold. The art is gorgeous, the story is engaging and whimsical, while also being scary and intense, and the characters are charming and cute and sweet.

I need answers to who made the final decisions in issue 8. Huge bummer.

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me. This really misses some serious emotional cues. One main character fully abandons his terminally ill mother and alcoholic father to live in a fantasy world, because being around them is hard. There's no thought given to how his parents would react to their only son vanishing. Rose's mother neglected her out of financial necessity, working so hard to make ends meet while they live in a huge, two story house that she regularly leaves her home alone from a young age. I have no idea how Rose feels about this, because whether or not this is a big deal to anyone depends on the issue. Just too much soul searching left on the floor.

[Néstor Vargas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is how you make your comic debut. Ethan and Griffin created a captivating story from the very first issue, I could not stop reading this until the very end. Quinn's art gives this Stray Dogs vibe, where cuteness meets violence, and he does not hold back on any side. It's more on the fantasy side than the horror one, so if those were your expectations you may be let down, but just a bit, because the story proves itself to be binge-worthy. I think the timeline jump from issues 7-8 is the only weak part here, not sure if there was a change of plans in how this was gonna be released but there was still so much we could've explored in between.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kill your darlings
Dark, intense, peculiar. ****
#1 - "What do you see, your highness?"
#2 - "And the improvement we've seen.. she's beginning to fit in remarkably. Isn't that right, Rose?"
#3 - "BEHOLD! THE NEXUS BETWEEN WORLDS! Potentially."
#4 - "Please.. let him go!"
#5 - "How has Miss Havisham raised Estella in response to this trauma?" (from Dickens' Great Expectations)
#6 - "If the beast has defeated Rose, then we won't stand a chance.."
#7 - "Tomorrow, we TAKE BACK OUR HOME."
#8 - "Who says everything's gotta make sense?"

[cvtherin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was really fun! And I loved the coloring and art style. The ending wrapped up too quickly and cleanly. It didn’t really match the tone of the rest of the story and it sort of felt like the writers just didn’t know what to do. It was a HEA sort of ending that felt really abrupt.

The huge timeskip of “8 years later” marked the downfall of the comic. Everything else was progressing pretty steadily, then timeskip, then ending, then happily ever after. and idk, it just felt too abrupt for the story itself.

[Alison · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me a long long time to finish this because I didn’t dig it. Beautiful art, but it felt like a story meant to be executed over a length of three times its size and instead it came out feeling hollow because it didn’t have the space to breathe or let its characters grow. Hell, even some montages would’ve worked really well here. The generational trauma didn’t hit and the protagonist goes through major time jumps and has a kind of meh ending. Summarily, this should have been something I dug, but I mostly ended up finishing it because I had it checked out for so long.

[Popcar2 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starts off really good, slowly falls apart until it devolves into a derivative and cliche good vs bad story with an insanely rushed ending.

The tone really misses the mark, too. It's really dark and edgy at times, and at other times feels like a YA novel with really surface level writing.

The art is the biggest saving grace. I actually enjoyed the visuals a lot despite hating the story. It's a decent read if you can get it for cheap.

[isabella murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

glossy pages, vivid colouring, insane concept! i’m so obsessed with this make-believe world made real. and giving adult personalities to plush neon coloured stuffed animals. yes please. and badass female lead!!! with a sick sword!!!! wallace possibly the best side character ever invented. the art in this is absolutely incredible and i love the mix of dark horror and playful cutesy setting. i think it’s a testament to imagination.