New York Comic Con 2025 was a big one—from multiple new Vertigo titles revealed, to Marvel announcing the end of the Ultimate line—and so much more. One of the biggest announcements, in my unbiased opinion as a massive Slaughter-Verse fan, happened during BOOM! Studios’ panel on Saturday.
*Drum roll*
Something is Killing the Children is crossing over with DC Comics for Swamp Thing is Killing the Children!
Co-creators James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera announced the news during the panel BOOM! Studios: 20 Years, Here’s to the Future. They also announced Fall of the House of Slaughter, which will prep fans before SIKTC returns to the modern day in issue #50 of the series.
So far, we don’t know much about Swamp Thing is Killing the Children. This will be a collaboration between DC’s imprint DC Black Label and BOOM! Studios. No date has been revealed yet. Luckily, I had the opportunity to talk to James Tynion IV at NYCC and he was able to tease just a little bit about what we can expect!
SIKTC is crossing over with Swamp Thing! Epic!! How long has this been brewing?
JT4: Honestly, for a very long time. I think the first time I mentioned to my friends over at DC Comics that I wanted to cross these properties over, I just sent Marie Javins an email that was just like ‘what about Swamp Thing is Killing the Children?’ And that title freaked them out for a little while [chuckle]. But we have a really really incredible story and it’s one that I’ve been dying to tell. It’s my love letter to the comics that made me fall in love with comics. And it’s being done with the character of Erica Slaughter who is, you know, the character who really has made my whole life in comics. It’s a really really exciting thing.
Having done so many incredible titles for DC, what is it like merging DC with your own creator-owned series?
JT4: It feels great. And I think more than anything, this is a horror story. The Swamp Thing comic is what birthed all of Vertigo. What birthed so much of the style of writing that I do day-in and day-out. Being able to tell a story that taps into my deep love of it all, and also just have some fun—that was the other reason I wanted to do it for a very very long time!
What can you tease about Swamp Thing is Killing the Children? What can people expect to see?
JT4: There’s a lot I could tease [smirks], but we are still putting a lot of the story together. The emotional heart of it is a story about two brothers who are big big fans of DC Comics. The older brother is really into all of the horror characters, and the younger one is into all of the superheros. And there’s a poster on the older brother’s wall of Swamp Thing, and that image terrifies that child so much until those terrors start manifesting into a creature in the world of Something is Killing the Children. And then it goes a few steps further there—how it blends the worlds together. But, it is a story about my love of horror comics, my love of DC, and it’s done through the lens of Erica Slaughter and that’s pretty damn cool.
It sounds like this isn’t the Swamp Thing that we all know and love—but rather a monster created out of a child’s fear of the character. If you are familiar with SIKTC, this is definitely not a shocking direction. In the Slaughter-Verse kids create—or rather manifest—monsters by believing too much in scary stories and creatures. What influences their fears, like their environment and regional folklore, determines what these monsters will be when brought to life. This crossover sounds like it explores what happens when a child is influenced by the world of DC Comics. Though, everything is just speculation at this point, who knows what to expect!
It is safe to say both the Slaughter-Verse and DC Comics are killing it right now in the comic space, and seeing BOOM! Studios and DC come together to bring this story to life is truly something special. Stay up to date with Swamp Thing is Killing the Children news and announcements by following BOOM! Studios, Werther Dell’Edera, and James Tynion IV and his production house Tiny Onion on Instagram. Tiny Onion also has a newsletter here on Substack that you should definitely be following, if you’re not already!
What Slaughter-Verse crossover would you like to see next? Drop a line and cast your vote down below in the comment section!
Sami DeMonster is the founder of The DeMonster and is a freelance writer for DC.com. She is mostly known for being a content creator who passionately shares her favorite comics and stories with people online–with an affinity towards horror. She works with most major comic book publishers to help promote new titles and encourage people to read more comics!
Do you know if Swamp Thing Is Killing the Children is a one-shot issue? I saw it reported that way elsewhere, but I'm don't know how reliable that information is.
As for what other crossovers I'd like to see, I would be interested to learn about Angelique Carnage and her work as a detective in Europe, especially since she doesn't just go after monsters and she works for various houses, not just la Maison de Carnage.
What would be interesting to see would be an Exquisite Corpses take on the classic Universal Monsters.