Book of Butcher #1: Monsters, Monsters, Everywhere

Book of Butcher #1 may be largely a resource text for the universe of Something is Killing the Children, but WOW does its expanded lore open up the series for so many possibilities.

This issue has two specific tracks: Maxine’s journey of being trained to be a monster hunter, and the resource text that expands the lore of the series.

The story itself is decent. There isn’t much to define any character arc nor does it hype any particular story, but that isn’t the purpose of this issue. Instead, fans are given insight into a host of different monsters that are (currently) known in the SIKTC universe. In my opinion, this is where much of the excitement derives from in this series. There are a lot more monsters that exist aside from the types in the Something is Killing the Children and House of Slaughter series’.

Whether the creators do anything with this is yet to be seen, but the creative team on this issue clearly leaned into the monster lore in new and familiar ways. (Fans of old school monsters like Dracula will be happy to see similar “types.”)

Written by James Tynion IV with special guests Tate Brombal, Antonio Fuso, Letizia Cadonici, and Chris Shehan; with art by Werther Dell’Edera and colors by Miquel Muerto, this oversized issue may read more like a book than a comic, but it is worth reading and checking out.

The art from the entire team is top notch with shifts between the main story and illustrations that fill the resource material. The design and visuals make for an enjoyable experience seeing the “aged” paper and drawings. On the main cover is art from Dan Mora and it’s striking and well designed and will look cool next to other displayed single issues.

In comparison to the Book of Slaughter, which had the same purpose but focused on the history and politics of the Order of St. George, this issue is fresh while having a similar format.