Book of Slaughter #1

Books of Slaughter #1

by James Tynion IV (Writer), Werther Dell'Edera (Illustrator), Letizia Cadonici (Illustrator)

The future of the Slaughterverse is laid bare by Something is Killing the Children and House of Slaughter creators James Tynion IV and Werther Dell'Edera in the very first SIKTC one-shot special!

From the sidelines to the spotlight, Book of Slaughter follows the white mask Maxine Slaughter... but will her loyalties remain where they are, or will she show her true colors?
In addition to being a precursor to the upcoming chapters of both series, this special issue features a sizable guidebook that delves into the deep lore of the Order of St. George!

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

59 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 28, 2022

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-) 82% | Very Good
Notes: Tells a tale of changing clothes, half reference prose: all rules and lore, it doesn't bore, feels apropos, and never slows.

*Progress update

[Whitney (The Cover Collector) · Rating 3 out of 5]

History lesson. A bit dry. Anyone else annoyed Violet Eyes carries Aaron’s mask around? Like, how dare she.

[Frédéric · Rating 4 out of 5]

All about lore. If you’re into the main series, you’re into this special issue.

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

With Erica Slaughter gone rogue, Cecilia Slaughter and her white-masked team lead Maxine Slaughter consider the future of black masks within the House of Slaughter. Maxine studies the Book of Slaughter -- an illustrated text insert of the House's operating manual -- as she considers the options. It's a good little lesson in how the mythology of this series works, and an intriguing story about a side character who had guest appearances in Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 3 and House of Slaughter, Vol. 3: The Butcher's Return but who will obviously play a larger role in future stories.

This particular volume is basically a deluxe edition of the 2022 one-shot Book of Slaughter #1. It reprints the story -- including the long text section in the middle -- and appends the full text script of the story -- text section not included -- with three images of the art for each page of the story, in sketch, inked, and colored forms. There is also a gallery of variant covers for the special.


FOR REFERENCE:

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

Contents: Book of Slaughter / James Tynion IV, writer; Werther Dell’Edera, illustrator; with Letizia Cadonici, Francesco Segala, Chris Shehan, Antonio Fuso, and Dylan Todd, guest illustrators -- From Script to Page / James Tynion IV, writer; Werther Dell’Edera, illustrator -- Cover Gallery / Dan Mora, Werther Dell’Edera, Stephanie Hans, Francis Manapul, Junggeun Yoon, Tyler Kirkham, Arif Prianto, Marco Mastrazzo, Ivan Tao, Zoe Lacchei, and Zu Orzu, illustrators

[Bill Hsu · Rating 2 out of 5]

So far I've been enjoying Tynion's House of Slaughter series. For the most part, the mechanics of the characters' world has been in the background; we discover the rules, rituals and perils through some interesting characters.

Unfortunately this abandons the previous approach, with a long middle section that's basically a D&D style user's manual for how the Slaughter world works. Was this a concession to increasing readership? Perhaps newbies need to have the main masks explained, the house rules laid out, etc. But I already know the differences between black/white masks etc, and prefer to figure out the new material through storylines.

This is why I read very little science fiction/fantasy in recent years. Heavy-handed over-explanations just ruin the experience for me.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much lore drop in this issue, I really liked it!

[Elizabeth (Miss Eliza) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating! Not only do we find out that we are getting another black mask with retraining but this look behind the curtain is a straightforward history. Also I think we might be getting an emerald mask after the last arc!

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more of context/history document than a graphic novel. It’s more akin to the Wild Fictions series that Tynion used to do for the Substack. Nice adjacent material

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually really love this little stint into more lore and moving into the next issues.

[Alex Sarll]

Something Is Killing The Children remains probably my least favourite of Tynion's current horror books, so of course it's also the most successful, as witness this second spin-off. And this one is strictly for completists, a bit of side-story that would have lost little had it been left implicit, combined with what purport to be pages from the in-world Book Of Slaughter* but read less like the holiest text of an ancient secret order of monster-slayers, and more like an unusually bloodthirsty Ladybird book. And then about half of an already slim volume is Making Of backmatter, which doesn't particularly bother me when I got it from the library, but would have been infuriating had I forked out for it.

*Yes, yet another for my list of that nameless phenomenon.

[Nicholas Kaufmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This quick, interesting sidebar to the main plot line of SOMETHING IS KILLING THE CHILDREN follows Maxine Slaughter as she is presented with the opportunity to switch from being a White Mask to a Black Mask. There's not much action here; the story's bigger purpose is to allow readers into the pages of the Book of Slaughter, the secret book of the House of Slaughter that explains all the rites, hierarchy, and iconography of the Order of St. George. I think much of it readers were already able to figure out on their own from context, but it's still nice to see it all clearly laid out.

I heard this is a one-shot, rather than the start of a new spinoff series, but regardless, I suspect we haven't seen the last of Maxine Slaughter in the KILLING universe.

P.S. I read this in paperback, but Goodreads only currently lists the Kindle edition, for some reason.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this was a satisfying way to explain the details of the house and how it works, and the hierarchies and the masks.
While you can guess at or understand a lot of it without being told, because they do hint at or partially explain a lot of it throughout the series, it's nice to see it spelled out.
I genuinely do appreciate it. I was interested to see the focus on a character who was newer to me, since I read siktc via trade and don't try to keep up with individual issues, and I like having things laid out so that I know what's going on and if my guesses were correct or not. It's satisfying. Or finding out that I had the basics right but didn't know the details. It's satisfying for me.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one-shot mainly is a teaser for the future of Maxine Slaughter as she contemplates giving up being a White Mask to instead become the House of Slaughter's Black Mask. Mostly, it serves to finally explain all the elements of the Order of St. George through a tome detailing what each of the masks represent, how members are chosen and become the various colors of the masks, etc. It was a nice encapsulation of everything behind the houses and masks finally in one place, but the book was just that, a synopsis of the order and no exciting story within.

[Dallas Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't much of a story and could easily be skipped in this franchise.

That being said, any fan of SIKTC Im sure would love to have this book, since it contains a guidebook to everything in it!

I do think these volumes should have collected more. Why is a 3rd of this just scripts and the initial drawings? Feels like a huge waste for volumes like this.

The extremely short story in here, does sprinkle in lots of tiny nods to different parts of this universe from previous volumes that are fun to see.

[Lora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doesn’t really move the story along very far, but at least what’s there is coherent, unlike the last couple of books I’ve read in the “Something is Killing the Children” world. The history of the monster killing organization that took up a great deal of the book was an enlightening back story. And I guess it was clarifying to read the “this is how we turn a script into a comic” section that took up a good half of the graphic novel, as it made a few things clear that were fuzzy. Of course I needed a magnifying glass to read the tiny, grayed typeface the script was written in. Why do that?

[Camila · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 !! No question!

I REALLY LOVE THIS WORLD!!! I found this read particularly interesting since it delved more into the systemic practices and heirarchies of the Order of St. George. Maxine Slaughter has also become a favorite of mine! I hope Erica and her have a chance to become friends. Both of them don't feel like they belong in the Order and hold different beliefs from the rest. I cannot wait for them to meet! And to see more of this world flushed out! 🤩🖤⚔🐉

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This square bound one shot contextualizes a lot of the worldbuilding in the Something Is Killing the Children / House of Slaughter universe. The middle of it is text explaining how the Houses work and the like. The story surrounding it introduces a couple of new characters which will probably show up in the main books in the future. Well, worth reading if you are already caught up in Tynion and Dell'Edera's world.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very good issue. I've been wanting some history and some info on the hierarchy of each mask for a long time. I appreciated this. I'm also really interested in the fact that there were 3 Houses in North America, but in their book it showed that the New York House no longer existed. It still showed the House in New Orleans, but we know that House no longer exists, either. So only the Chicago House is still active. Why were the other two Houses disbanded?

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was sooo good (but short) - had a short(ish) story but the main thing here was all of the inner workings of the houses and masks (if you know, you know, if you don't know then read the main series first). There were so many confusing puzzle pieces in this world and story (from the main series) that now make perfect sense so this is a great companion book that I would recommend if and only if you are up to date with the main series.

[Anilea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m so happy for this one shot.

Not only we got to know more about Maxine and Cecilia, but more about the house of St. George lore, history and the neck breaking requirements to become a hunter.

It’s the best follow up to SIKTC, and I think I’ll start with prequel because I’m so excited to know more about the houses history.

I’m enjoying it too much and I can’t hide the excitement.

[vk chompooming · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heard Netflix is doing a series based on these comics so I thought I would c what they were all about. I am liking this series. This book, book of Slaughter, is a one-shot comic that explains the origins and organization of these houses. It is a supplemental read for the series Something is Killing the Children.

[Sebastian M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun "little" one-shot that expands the lore of the Slaughter-verse(?).
Half encyclopedia, half prologue introducing a new hunter, this was a welcome addition to the growing roster of Something is Killing the Children spin-offs that's sure to provide some necessary context for things to come.

[Dkaysup · Rating 5 out of 5]

The background lore of The Order of St. George is unmatched! For anyone who is trying to get into the Something is Killing The Children series, this book does not spoil anything and is helpful if you would like background knowledge before going into the main series!

[Zian B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This comic issue just makes me overly curious about Maxine as a character and I want to learn more about her, and why exactly she decided to change masks. This was an extremely informative issue and I enjoyed learning a lot more about the Order of St. George.

[Mik Cope · Rating 2 out of 5]

Missed this when it came out, so I didn't really benefit from knowing where it fits in the chronology. Essentially, it's a history of the Order of Saint George and a summary of how the Houses are organised.

[Julie Boudreau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mieux connaître Maxine. Mieux comprendre the House of Slaughter. Petit encart très intéressant pour quiconque a adoré la série Something is Killing the Children et s'intéresse à la série House of Slaughter. Ce petit livret ajoute a ce bel univers!

[Ma'Belle · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

Mostly just explains the finer details of some lore in the ever-expanding world of these monster-killing houses via one of their reference books, and sets up a story that might be quite interesting, but there's just not enough in this volume to go on.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of light on story, with a lot of the specific details of the Order of St. George filled-in, from the pages of the Book of St. George. Maxine Slaughter decides to switch from being a White Mask to attempting the trials involved in becoming a Black Mask. And...scene.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A relatively short volume that sets up the rise of a new black mask in Erica's absence while also providing a dive into the lore and background of the hunters. Tynion and Dell'edera remain in fine form, and we'll see where this part of the world leads next.

[Nate Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly great for learning more about the Order of St. George.