In this review of Fall of the House of Slaughter #4, the true nature of the monster is revealed and the House of Slaughter’s new Dragon is chosen.
Fall of the House of Slaughter #4
Writer: Tate Brombal
Artist: Adriano Turtulici
Main Cover: Sam Wolfe Connelly
Variant Covers: Werther Dell’Edera, Jena Cha, Dani, Sam Wolfe Connelly, Max Fiumara, Patricia Martín Samaniego
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: August 26, 2026
This review contains spoilers
Fall of the House of Slaughter #4 starts off with Cecilia venting at Maxine about how rather than basking in all she’s worked for, she’s stuck at this freaking school. But Maxine reveals that she saw what the monster was before the report was burned: a Mytho-Duplicitype, created when rumors about a real person take on a life of their own. And it turns out that the kid, Tyler, was bullied a LOT.
The Violets are preparing to put the House on lockdown for the vote, with or without Cecilia there for it.
When Cecilia regroups with Paris and Tybalt, she informs them of what the monster is, and the prospect of having to kill him if they can’t kill the monster itself comes up. He, of course, takes great exception to this.
Maxine bumps into Victor, who’d been requested by the Old Dragon to listen to his stories. The Old Dragon also gives Maxine an envelope to give to Erica, and Maxine (being the only remaining Black Mask) is meant to put her vote in.
Cecilia, before the lockdown is supposed to begin, is informed that Colin had planted an envelope on her desk, before she goes to face the monster…
At the House, just before the vote begins, Colin rushes to his office for a pen…only to find a monster head there. And Cecilia. She tells him that she’s got everything on a flash drive, and that he’s going to suggest her for the Dragon position. As he informs the others of her return, she makes her way to the Old Dragon and claims the teeth for herself.
Cecilia’s established herself as being ruthless, but holy hell, does she outdo herself here. I have nothing for her but pure respect for that classically-dramatic reentrance at the end. How far was the school from the House? How’d she get there so fast? I’m not sure I even need the answers to those questions and can assume she was moving at the speed of pure awesome, because that’s what her whole confrontation with Colin translates to: Pure. Awesome.
I do wonder what doing things her way would look like, and that looks like it’s going to be picked up on in the main series. And how many would dare challenge her authority after a while? I get the feeling, still, that she wouldn’t have been the Old Dragon’s first choice.
Had some lovely facial expressions for this one. We’ve got Cecilia’s growing frustration as she realizes she could lose everything she’s built, the chill look (and pose!) Maxine has after hanging up on Cecilia, and of course, Cecilia’s whole vibe when she, covered in (hopefully) monster blood when it’s clear that she’s won. So wonderfully handled, there.
Victor fascinates me. He seems like an outsider to the House (and perhaps another possible candidate for Dragon, had Cecilia not come back). After all, he’d been brought in specifically to speak with the Old Dragon, and what better way to succeed someone than by picking their brain for everything you’d need to know for the job?
I could definitely sympathize with Tyler, here. The monster was created from all the mean crap the other kids threw his way on a daily basis. He mentions how horrific the bullying’s been. There’s even a teacher’s note about it. And in this world, bullying like that can soon become EVERYONE’S problem.
Final Thoughts
The new Dragon has been crowned in such an awesome way in Fall of the House of Slaughter #4. It’s a good, solid ending to the story, with one hell of an entrance for Cecilia.
