r/graphicnovels • u/poio_sm • 27d ago
Horror My problem with Something is Killing the Children
After nearly three years, I’ve finally finished reading this SIKTC arc. I read Vol. 5 back in November 2023; I bought Vol. 6 around the same time but never actually read it until now, just as Vol. 7 came out (in my country, at least). Honestly, this "Tribulation" saga is really good, almost on par with the first arc, I’d say. The issue, however, is what comes next... and that’s the reason for this post.
I just looked up what else has been published in the series and discovered that everything from the next issue (#35) up to #50 (released in a few weeks) is one massive flashback; the story doesn't return to the "current" timeline until #51. That means three whole volumes where the plot doesn't move forward. And if there’s one thing I hate when reading comics, it’s a story that stalls. A few pages of flashbacks to provide context are fine, but entire issues (or worse, entire volumes) dedicated to the protagonist's past? No thanks. Release that stuff as a spin-off, not as part of the main series.
So, I guess this is where my SIKTC collection ends. Maybe I’ll pick it back up at Vol. 11, I don’t know.
What does the rest of the sub think? Do you like those flashback-heavy volumes, or do you, like me, find them a waste of time and money? Let me know.
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u/krisis 27d ago
The problem is not only the length of the flashback work, but that all of the main plot about the House moves into the House of Slaughter side book, which is of inconsistent focus and quality.
I'm all for building a world that can support two different titles, but here I'm just not sure there was enough story for both titles. It feels like SiKtC has been trapped in decompression telling the flashback story with just a few minutes of plot per issue.
None of it is BAD comics, but I wouldn't say it is as arresting as it was at the start.
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u/Benderesco 27d ago
You'll never enjoy Berserk, then. Not a GN, but essentially the same medium.
Needless to say, I disagree. Long flashbacks are a perfectly reasonable storytelling tool and are only a problem when poorly done.
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u/Vermille 26d ago
Why is berserk not a GN? how is something in the same medium not a GN?
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u/BDMac2 26d ago
It’s mostly semantics. Comics, manga, graphic novels, are all stories told through drawn images. Technically graphic novels are supposed to be standalone stories but they’ve expanded to cover trade paperbacks and collected editions as well. Berserk is a 40+ year series with over 40 tankobon/collected editions and a solid 1/3-1/2 of it being an extended flashback.
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u/Benderesco 26d ago
I just wanted to avoid semantic arguments. Calling Berserk a "graphic novel" would immediately summon at least a few people saying that "ACKSHUALLY, BERSERK IS JAPANESE, SO IT IS A MANGA".
Hell, some people object to using the term "graphic novel" and argue (perhaps correctly) that it's just a pretentious way of saying "comics".
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u/Aldo-D-D-Wilson 26d ago
I will say, manga are comics, and if one isn't like 12, I think they should understand that.
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u/Benderesco 26d ago
As I said:
I just wanted to avoid semantic arguments.
But one can't win with these things, apparently.
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u/Only_Bee_3056 27d ago
Berserk's flash-back doesn't stall the plot, it's just embedded story telling
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u/Benderesco 27d ago
Hence my point:
Long flashbacks are a perfectly reasonable storytelling tool and are only a problem when poorly done.
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u/Only_Bee_3056 27d ago
Yes, but then OP might still enjoy Berserk !
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u/Benderesco 27d ago edited 27d ago
He said, and I quote:
That means three whole volumes where the plot doesn't move forward. And if there’s one thing I hate when reading comics, it’s a story that stalls. A few pages of flashbacks to provide context are fine, but entire issues (or worse, entire volumes) dedicated to the protagonist's past? No thanks. Release that stuff as a spin-off, not as part of the main series.
He doesn't appear to make such concessions; from his post, he just hates flashbacks, period, because they "stall" the story. Maybe he just needs to read more before making such a statement, maybe he didn't express himself properly, maybe he just hates them regardless of writing quality; we don't know.
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u/Only_Bee_3056 27d ago
I took that as taking issue with it specifically in SIKTC
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u/Benderesco 27d ago
That's seems overly generous an interpretation, but maybe you're simply a more generous person than me.
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u/hydroclasticflow 27d ago edited 26d ago
I disagree with this. The flashback arcs might not advance the plot, but they advance the motivation of Erica as well as allow the emotional/intrapersonal aspect of the story development. The way that the present day arcs are, there is very little time to do that exploration, and the flashback help reinforce what has been said.
I get it's not everyone's cup of tea but it does serve a purpose.
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u/TheRealDeal2121 27d ago
I stopped reading after like maybe the 3rd volume. I don’t think I gel with Tynions writing outside of his Tec run unfortunately. Def a creator I respect who has carved his niche out well, but I find a lot of his indie stuff too similar with a lot of the problems you laid out here
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u/MrBwriteSide70 27d ago
The writer does the same with Department of Truth. I wanna follow the main timeline, I don’t want backstory. I would rather those be spinoff separate series instead of organized and intermingled with the main series
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u/Dismal_Name_9249 27d ago
I agree entirely. I understand that writers like world-building and fleshing out backstory for their universe, but... I just don't care about this one. The first two arcs were too good; I want more of that way more than I want to learn about Erica's past.
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u/sparehed 27d ago
This is a typical example of a concept-first story. There are great elements but you don’t have and endgame, a resolution. It shows that backstories had to be moved to a parallel series. See also Nice House On The Lake. They all want to be the next Sandman and get picked up by Netflix, closure be damned.
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u/5A5G0T 25d ago
Yes, yes, and yes. That’s exactly how I experience a lot of James Tynion’s work.
I’m not saying it’s bad. I’m entertained by his comics, and his world-building is excellent—which, honestly, is something that can sell a comic book to me all on its own. But all too often, there comes a point in his stories where it feels like he doesn’t quite know how to wrap things up. And he’s certainly not the only writer in comics who struggles with that. In fact, I consider it a relatively rare quality to be able to write a story that remains coherent and focused all the way through and actually arrives at a satisfying conclusion. Too often, stories start to lose their direction somewhere in the middle, become increasingly convoluted, and then struggle to bring all their ideas together at the end.
And also yes: he’s one of many writers where I sometimes feel like, “Okay, if you shifted this comic just a little further in the direction of what you really want it to be, you could have written a TV or movie script in the first place.” That’s something we seem to be seeing more and more these days. And to be fair, it doesn’t necessarily hurt the story if it’s done properly.
But let’s be realistic for a second: very few creators are going to have the kind of career trajectory Robert Kirkman has had. And I can absolutely understand why creators might want to pursue a similar path when the opportunity is there. I have a lot of respect for anyone who manages to build a career around telling stories they genuinely want to tell, regardless of where that ultimately leads.5
u/reindeercurt 27d ago
Yknow, I hear people complain about "comics that just want to be adapted" so often that I have to ask, what are you basing that assertion on? What are the criteria for cynical adaptation-bait? Was Sandman adaptation-bait when it first came out, or is it just a happy coincidence that it did wind up as a show?
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u/NeoNoireWerewolf 27d ago
The Walking Dead and the flood of Image titles that came after are better examples of “adaptation bait” than Sandman. I’d say Sandman is a terrible example; it was in development hell for decades, and it wasn’t popular enough to make it past two seasons even before the news about Gaiman broke.
Comparatively, The Walking Dead show was a huge hit from the jump, and Kirkman made mind boggling money off of it since he owns the IP. This was a big reason why so many creators started pumping out creator-owned books at Image in the early-mid 2010s. If you go back and analyze where many of them ended up, a lot of them were either concluded prematurely after movie/TV deals went nowhere, or they were left unfinished for the same reason. There is a graveyard of abandoned creator-owned titles out there from that era.
With Something is Killing the Children, Tynion is in a good spot in that the comic itself has been a hit, he has a traditional publisher supporting the book with BOOM! (creators have to front the costs of their books in most cases at Image), and the series is pretty deep into development as an animated series and a live-action movie at Blumhouse.
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u/reindeercurt 26d ago
I mean, if you want to be more generous you could say that 2010s Image was creators flooding into the creator-owned space because The Walking Dead and Saga blew up and proved there was an available audience for adult genre comics not attached to an existing IP. And a lot of those cancelations and hiatuses were just life getting in the way for people. Image doesnt hold you to any schedule, so a lot of schedules are gonna slip. Anyway, I really don't get what's so bad about trying to capitalize on a new audience, even with the Hollywood money flowing through that scene at the time.
Like, it seems like people just find it icky to think that a comic would only exist to be a pitch package for movie producers, but that only enters people's minds when they don't like the comic, or don't respect the creators. Nobody says this about manga, which demonstrably has a much stronger adaptation pipeline in place. Accusing someone of chasing adaptation dollars is just a way to call them a sellout and a hack, and imply their work is bad. It's stupid crabs in a bucket shit. Especially considering comics have never been able to provide a stable living for 90% of creators
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u/StrangeDiscipline902 27d ago
Mark Millar is a good example- Kick Ass, Wanted and Kingsman. He made a lot of money with those movies.
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u/FlubzRevenge read yuichi yokoyama 27d ago
Mass appeal, easily digestible, action based
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u/reindeercurt 26d ago
So it's an aesthetic complaint then? A way to separate comics into high art and low art.
I think you're right that this is what ppl generally mean when they levy this criticism; I just really bristle at the idea that making populist is art is bad, or that it makes you a hack, or that it's on a lower rung on the ladder of artistic value than like, a Chris Ware comic or whatever.
I also wouldn't really call SIKTC "action based" but that's neither here nor there
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u/spades17 27d ago
Yeah I agree. It’s jsut too much time spent on flashbacks. Seems even he agrees as Tynion as chose not to include the flash’s back chapters. It jsut destroys the flow of the story which is why I’m not as invested as I was before. Hope he changes that
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u/reindeercurt 27d ago
I guess I'll be the one to make the argument for the flashbacks: These allow the series elaborate on how Erica has been shaped by many of the same forces that the child victims are dealing with: gaps in communication across generations, ossified and uncaring institutions etc. By showing us what Erica’s "normal" operations were before she blew up her relationship to the order, we get further context on how much she was already bending the rules, and why she eventually left them. By showing us how she interacted with Jessica and Aaron we feel her present-day solitude more keenly. The most recent run of issues flashed back to Jessica's training in order to show us the roots of this whole insinuation and the fact that it has never really worked for the people in it or the civilians outside of it. I'm glad to be able to spend time with these characters who are already dead in the present. I think there's a difference between "plot" and "story", and I don't think the story of SIKTC has stalled at all
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u/stepfordcuckoo 27d ago
I agree with your points. While I was initially frustrated by the story not continuing in the present, that’s mainly because I really want to know what happens next.
But the backstory and the other title are all adding to the world building, characters, histories and motivations so I have to believe it’s all building to something.
While its been frustrating waiting for new issues to drop I have been enjoying it all so 🤷🏻♂️
Saying “i can see the next 15 issues are flashbacks… urgh, I’ll just skip ahead”, is wild imo.
Imagine if I got to Batman 403 and saw the next 4 issues were flashback and decided “nothing of consequence could possibly happen here” 😂1
u/NightwingBlueberry13 26d ago
You do see how 15 issues csn be a tougher pill to swallow than 4 issues right? And it’s not like we can expect the same quality of Y1, but just 4 times as much of it. Longer does not necessarily mean better and I feel that’s doubly so for flashbacks in most cases
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u/stepfordcuckoo 26d ago
I was being slightly facetious mainly because i found the idea of “I’m going to skip the next issues because the story is being told in a non linear fashion” - and others nodding sagely utterly ridiculous.
Maybe the more apt batman comparison would be zero year after coo and ditf….
If op had the read the issues and didn’t like them thats another thing, fine, no worries. But i think its absurd to read 30 / 35 issues. Enjoy them. And then decide, nah, I’m not bothered by the next few arcs because i don’t do flashbacks.
My main problem with SIKTC is that it’s not published regularly enough, but what we have had has been great.
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u/enjoiYosi 27d ago
Tynion is one of my favorite writers of all time, but I truly believe he has over-extended himself to too many projects. It’s starting to show in the work, especially this past year.
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u/your_name_here10 27d ago
Completely agree. It's been about 2-3 years since we last saw Erica and I'm starting to not care as much as I used to. Hopefully it'll start to improve. It doesn't help they're averaging about 5 issues a year (which is normally fine, but because the comic is a quick read by design it doesn't feel rewarding)
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u/Cuteshelf 27d ago
It seems weird to complain about something you havent read.
Im a bit behind myself, i think i read 46 or 47 (its been a few months, id have tp check), but im part way through the flashback.
Im not disagreeing with you exactly... id like to continue the main story too, but i assume the flashback will add something to the main story. I kinda like seeing Jessica a bit more, and what erica was like younger.
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u/MaximusDM91 26d ago
I'm coming from manga and hear people saying dislike flashback and origin story and want it go to spin-off series is quite a surprise, manga have a trope with this in all most every series. Personally i agree with u OP, flashback should happen only in maybe a few issues, lets just proceed the plot since thats what we interest in the first place.
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u/Corrosive-Knights 27d ago
Flashback stories have always been -at least to me- a worrisome creative venue to follow.
Part of the problem with having an action/horror series “go back” in time is that we know especially when it comes to these types of books who will survive through the story.
Tangentially, that’s why despite being a pretty good film, I found it difficult to enjoy Furiosa as a movie. I’ve been a fan of the Mad Max franchise since the release of The Road Warrior (aka Mad Max 2) and while I thought Fury Road was a great film (second only to TRW, IMHO!), I didn’t feel we needed to go back in time and flesh out the character of Furiosa. It was actually better to let one’s imagination fill in the blanks and have a “new” film set after the events in Fury Road.
So, yeah, while I felt Furiosa was a decent enough film, it felt like we were stepping backwards while I wanted to go forward, story-wise.
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u/hercarmstrong 27d ago
I started falling out of love with the book when I realized a lot of the stuff I loved was cribbed from other stuff.
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u/Ambitious_Jello 27d ago
its so bland anyways. boring monsters, YA novel level world building, samey side characters
just cool looking bandanas
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u/MarvelousMoirai 27d ago
My problem with Something Is Killing The Children is how similar to Buffy The Vampire Slayer it felt. I only got two arcs in though
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u/thebizzle 25d ago
I don’t read serialized, in fact I only read EC style short stories but I would not be worried about an extended flashback because it would let you return to the story with different eyes.
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u/middenway 16d ago
You'll hate Hellboy then. A vast majority of the stories are flashbacks.
That means three whole volumes where the plot doesn't move forward.
#41–50 is a prologue arc for the story in #51–65, so when it's done you'll have a 25-issue saga. In this case, the past is very important. (And the story returns to the present in the last couple of pages of #49, not #51.)
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