REVIEW: 'Kill Your Darlings' #1 by Ethan S. Parker, Griffin Sheridan, Bob Quinn, and John J. Hill

 

 

KILL YOUR DARLINGS #1  

Writer: Ethan S. Parker, Griffin Sheridan

Artist: Bob Quinn

Letters: John J. Hill

Publisher: Image Comics

Release Date: September 6, 2023

Cover Price: $3.99

SERIES PREMIERE

Eight-year-old Rose loves nothing more than to play pretend in a magical land of her own creation. To her, that world is as real as our own, from her fluffy friends to the terrible evil that lurks at the center of it all. In one night, the line between fantasy and reality will disappear, an ancient hunger will feed again, and Rose will be pulled into a gruesome saga that began centuries before her birth.  

A new epic begins from debut writers ETHAN S. PARKER and GRIFFIN SHERIDAN, and superstar art team BOB QUINN (Knights of X) and JOHN J. HILL (VANISH)!

Score:

★★★★1/2 (4.5/5)

QUICK REVIEW: 'Kill Your Darlings' starts off as a dreamy child's fantasy with the little girl as the fierce leader of her own army against impending forces only to have the story unfold into a heartbreaking dark fantasy. Writers Ethan S. Parker and Griffin Sheridan alternate her story between her imagination and her real life with great skill and pacing. In stories like this, the examination of trauma through fantasy can feel bleak and distant, but here, the lines between what's real and imagined become blurred invoking real dread and tension. Artist Bob Quinn's versatility in capturing the colorful make-believe of a child's imagination, the starker real world, and the eventual twist is a remarkable achievement. This is one of the best first issues to drop this year and is guaranteed to get readers hooked.