In this review of It Killed Everyone But Me #1 we’re introduced to Sutton Reed, who survived a massacre 28 years prior. But there’s a new set of murders that may be connected to the incident.
Editor’s Note: Mad Cave Studios released a second printing of this series on October 29, 2025. The original issue released on September 10, 2025.
It Killed Everyone But Me #1
Writer: Ryan Parrot
Artist: Letizia Cadonici
Main Cover: Jorge Corona
Variant Covers: Trevor Henderson, John Pearson (2nd Printing)
Page Count: 28 pages
Release Date: October 29, 2025 (2nd Printing)
This review contains spoilers
It Killed Everyone But Me #1 begins back in 1996, the police are investigating the scene of a multiple homicide at a cabin. There’s a single survivor to be found, covered in blood, a shovel in her lap, and sporting a major thousand-yard stare.
Twenty eight years later, we catch up to Sutton. At this point, she has a job in real estate (which she hates) and a daughter that seems to be in her late teens. She seems to have gotten her life back together after the murders, despite the dissatisfaction with her work.
Not too far off, a young couple drives out to a secluded area. The girl leaves the vehicle for a moment…When she returns, she’s at Death’s Door.
A few days later, the police speak with Sutton. They bring up the murder of the girl, the disappearance of her boyfriend, and the similarity between this incident and what had happened with Sutton. She gives them no information (but does ask if they thought she was lying about what she’d said last time), before they part ways.
There’s a brief flashback to her youth, when she was happier. She, her boyfriend, and their friends were at the cabin. She and her boyfriend were discussing their future, the group had drinks around….
In the present, Sutton drives to the woods, to a specifically-marked tree to dig up what’s buried there, lights a candle to summon its spirit…The entity definitely remembers her. And he’s reveling in the fact that the murders have started again, and that there seems to be another out there just like him…
Okay, so, in your average slasher film situation, there’s generally a Final Girl. And in It Killed Everyone But Me #1 is one of those situations that explores what happens next in said Final Girl’s life. She’s survived what has to be the most traumatic night of her life, a night that probably haunts her nightmares even decades later. Sometimes, they’ll spend years preparing for the slasher’s return, forever haunted and paranoid. And other times, they’ll find ways to move on. Sutton, at least from what I’ve seen, seems to be more along the lines of the latter.
That’s not to say that she’s happy and thriving, of course (and could probably, if she hasn’t already, do with some therapy)…but she’s found what seems to be some level of normalcy in spite of what went down that night. She still has flashbacks, can be a bit numb to stuff around her..but her daughter is still in her life enough to say so. Might be separated from her husband (since Addison is asking about staying with him for the weekend…really a front for partying with her friends).
Of course, I’m also very curious about some of the details of that night. Some of the aftermath is shown with the investigation of the crime scene. It’s stated later on that she told the cops that her boyfriend (who, it’s pointed out, had had no prior history of anything that’d make him snap and kill his friends). Sutton is insistent that she didn’t lie about this, but there were also footprints on the ceiling. So the most likely explanation for what happened was that he was possessed.
Also, bunch of teens/freshly-minted adults drinking at a cabin? Classic horror setup (and asking what could go wrong? Beautiful example of tempting fate, right there.). It would not surprise me if it turned out that someone had read some Creepy Mysterious Book or disturbed the wrong burial spot, thus causing the possession in the first place, and I look forward to seeing more about this night unfold.
With one scene, I’d found myself wondering something. At the grocery store, one woman approaches Sutton and throws her drink in her face. I doubt that this was some rando, so I wonder if this woman was Lucas’s mother, still upset with Sutton for seemingly throwing her son under the bus. Sutton doesn’t seem too shocked that this happened, which tells me she either knows this woman and is used to this kind of thing or it’s a trauma-based numbness.
Art-wise, I’m liking the style for It Killed Everyone But Me #1. There’s a nice clean quality to the lines, and some of the expressions are done really well. I especially love that panel when we first get a look at Sutton. If one were to imagine the essence of “Someone has seen Hell today”, her expression is what would come up. Not a ton of detail required to get the point across, and that’s what makes it so effective.
There’s also the design of the demon/spirit/entity at the end. He’s a mix of “pretty” (well-tailored suit, long hair) and “unsettling” (yellow eyes, what looks like blood at the tips of his long-nailed fingers and in his hair). One route could have been to make him more horrific in nature, but with the pretty aspects, it could be easier to get people to let him in. Of course, the blood, the yellow eyes, and his dialogue help to push that unsettling aspect a bit more.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve ever wondered about what a Slasher Film Final Girl would be up to in her future, It Killed Everyone But Me #1 is a great example.
