Books of Slaughter, Vol. 3

Books of Slaughter #3

by James Tynion IV, Werther Dell'Edera (illustrator), Antonio Fuso (illustrator)

As it crosses its 5th anniversary, the Slaughterverse unveils one of its darkest chapters yet in this oversized one-shot exploring a brand new facet to the mythos of monsters… and the ones who hunt them.

Maxine Slaughter, a former pack hunter who renounced her White Mask to take up the Black for the Order of St. George, journeys to Europe to seek out House Cutter and their mysterious ways.

The Eisner Award-winning team of iconic writer James Tynion IV, legendary artist Werther Dell’Edera, and acclaimed colorist Miquel Muerto close out 5 years of nightmares with this pivotal entry in the blockbuster horror saga.

Genres: Horror, Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 29, 2025

About the author

Prior to his first professional work, Tynion was a student of Scott Snyder's at Sarah Lawrence College. A few years later, he worked as for Vertigo as Fables editor Shelly Bond's intern. In late 2011, with DC deciding to give Batman (written by Snyder) a back up feature, Tynion was brought in by request of Snyder to script the back ups he had plotted. Tynion would later do the same with the Batman Annual #1, which was also co-plotted by Snyder. Beginning in September 2012, with DC's 0 issue month for the New 52, Tynion will be writing Talon, with art by Guillem March. In early 2013 it was announced that he'd take over writing duties for Red Hood and the Outlaws in April.

Tynion is also currently one of the writers in a rotating team in the weekly Batman Eternal series.

Reviews

[Jayson · Rating 4 out of 5]

(A-) 83% | Very Good
Notes: On growing bigger, founding figures, feral lands explored, no bonus text: implies what's next while juxtaposing lore.

*Progress update

[Catalina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very obscure storytelling here. The art is spectacular as always. I finally feel like the story was gripping.

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maxine Slaughter is off to London for the final leg of her black mask internship tour. Given the setting, it's fitting that imperialism and court intrigue are the main themes of the story.

After seeing the character developed so fully, I'm curious to see her reappearance in the main story and what sort of impact she will have on Erica Slaughter's life.


FOR REFERENCE:

Contains material originally published in single magazine form as Book of Cutter #1.

Contents: Book of Butcher / James Tynion IV, writer, with Tate Brombal, contributor; Werther Dell'Edera, Antonio Fuso, and Letizia Cadonici, illustrators -- From Script to Page / James Tynion IV, writer; Werther Dell'Edera, illustrator -- Cover Gallery / Dan Mora, Werther Dell'Edera, Christian Ward, Khary Randolph, Chris Shehan, Tyler Boss, Ivan Tao, Junggeun Yoon, Joseph Schmalke, and Sajad Shah, illustrators

[Frédéric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intrigue, backstabbing and plans, plans, plans. Monsters don't always look like monsters.
Probably a prologue to the future SIKTC arc, so essential.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, this was a fun lore drop! Also feels pretty significant for the next arc of SIKTC and House of Slaughter.

[Ziyad Baksh · Rating 4 out of 5]

solid setup

house of cutter works like an annual. It adds alot of worldbuilding and setup for future plots in its sibling titles. Which can be a weakness as it might work on its own.

[Kastie Pavlik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't typically buy the supplementals for SiKtC, since usually - generally speaking, anyway, (cough *DC* cough) supplements are junk and ads. But. This is a pleasant surprise. We get an actual story and history on the Order. At first, I wasn't crazy about the format, especially the very text heavy pages. But the break up between narrative telling and comic showing worked well until the last block of text. That went on a bit longer and I wanted that break back to color, but I think the pay off worked out. It's not what I expected, but I enjoyed it. I'm not sure what I've missed about the violet masks, but that wager with Cecilia is interesting. Agree with reviewer who likened this to an annual. It does have that feel to it.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third graphic novella in the Slaughterverse and we continue with Maxine Slaughter's journey to give up the White Mask for the Black. She is over in Europe this time training with House Cutter and it's dark and twisted and fun. We get a ton of background and exposition on House Cutter.

Loving the Slaughterverse and the only reason this isn't five stars is because I wish wish wish it was longer and there was more of it, just when I was really starting to sink my teeth into it, it was over.

[Zian B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a 3.5 star rating;
I really like that Maxine managed to leave the UK without any injuries since I was a bit nervous going into this comic issue. It was also extremely interesting to read about all of the scheming and political backstabbing that happens behind the scenes. Overall I really enjoyed this spin-off, connecting comic series and I’m curious to see how what was set up here, plays into things going on in the main SIKTC storyline.

[Asha McKay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maxine completes the next portion of her training, and she encounters some key players in the House of Cutter. More history of the Order is laid out, with pages and pages of journal entries and book excerpts. Following volume 2, this book largely consists of info and back story dumps, with limited graphics and plot advancement.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maxine Slaughter heads to London to transition from white mask to black mask. Meanwhile we get the history of the different houses and how they came to the Americas interspersed throughout in text form. This says 96 pages but the original story is only half that. The second half of this is a page by page of script to page.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the best of the three volumes, with some actual history of the various houses that helps us to understand them and their interactions. That said, the actual story included is minimal and there's a lot of space wasted with "from script to page" junk, though maybe that's something that appeals to people? Not me. Anyway, looking forward to the next generation of SIKTC stories.

[Thomas Stanistreet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really good storytelling in this one, which is to continue itself into the next installment(s) of SIKTHC. I really like these spin off books and seeing them add in so much more lore is really exciting.

[vk chompooming · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another supplemental book for the Something is Killing the Children title. Great story! Great backstory and decent artwork.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

More history than actual story.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still doesn't like the ratio of 1/4 lore dump, 1/4 comic book and the other half is the script, but what's there is actually interesting.

[Lizeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Taylor G · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5

This was the tie in to Something's Killing the Children I needed.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love learning the lore of the houses, great series.

[Lynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5

[Bo Dixen Pedersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The conclusion to the series about the backstory of the houses.

This is more source book than story.

[Camila · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stakes are getting higher!! I'm so excited for a possible crossover between Maxine and Erica! 🤩

[Lizzy DeMarco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love these one off's to give us more to the story!