In THESE. DAMN. KIDS!, available from Second Sight Publishing on June 25th, 2021, a malevolent force possesses the minds of children to make them commit horrific acts of ritual violence.
The Details
- Written By: Bradley Golden, Peter Breau
- Art By: Helmut Racho
- Letters By: Hector Negrete
- Cover Art By: Helmut Racho
- Cover Price: $3.99
- Release Date: June 25, 2021
Was It Good?
It was a rollercoaster of some spectacular highs and a few, painful lows.
The basic premise is familiar territory if you’re a fan of horror films. A malevolent force possesses the children of each home to murder the adults in gruesome ways. In short, it’s Sinister.
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That said, this comic turns the gore and methods of murder up to gut-churning levels that most modern horror films coming out of Hollywood rarely have the guts (no pun intended) to approach. The murders happen off-panel to make them more effective and less grindhouse, but the artists don’t shy away from the aftermath. If you’re a fan of atmospheric horror that’s not afraid to get its hands dirty, this is it.
The lows come in with the dialog and narration. Bad grammar, missed punctuation, and uneven application of conjunctions make several pages painful to read. Thankfully, mistakes in the letters are easily fixable but the copy we received was a rough read.
Overall, it’s a winning premise that turns up the horror elements on the gore meter to eleven, but the lack of editing on the language is a significant hindrance to the reading experience.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
Gary is a police detective. He and his wife have moved into a new home in Clinton, Mississippi in 1999. Without saying so, you’re giving the impression the couple is here to make a fresh start in a new town from whatever they’ve left behind.
Before they finish unpacking, Gary received an alert about a murder. When he arrives, he finds a scene so gruesome, even the coroner can’t keep food down.
Body parts are strewn everywhere. Blood streaks the walls. And a collection of limbs is tacked to the wall in a symbol that resembles a headless spider or a mutli-limbed deity. Gore fans will appreciate the art team pulls no punches.
Gary and the present investigators are further puzzled by the children sleeping through the murders. What the readers see through a flashback is the children are the killers, goaded into the murder by some demonic force that lives in the shadows of their bedrooms.
Unlike Sinister, which leaves the big reveal of the killers’ identity to the end, here we know the children are the killers right from the start. The mystery shifts to discovering the nature of the demon and its evil plan.
As the pages turn, the demon moves from one home to the next, growing it’s army of juvenile killers. With each killing Gary discovers grotesque symbols created with an assortment of body parts. The symbols are either a clue or a red herring to what’s really happening.
We conclude the issue with the now-orphaned collection of children given a new set of orders.
How Does It End?
Gary and his wife will have a new reason to consider the children. Mother Elizabeth prays for the orphans. Her prayers won’t save her.
Final Thoughts
THESE. DAMN. KIDS! is creepy, moody, and pays bloody amounts of fan service to gore fans. The story is horrific, the art is well done, and the pacing is excellent. This would have been a solid winner but for some much-needed spit ‘n polish on the dialog.
Score: 7/10
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