Something Is Killing the Children #50 is bringing a physical-card surprise to its blind-bag edition. BOOM! Studios and Tiny Onion have confirmed that every sealed blind bag will contain an exclusive trading card featuring Erica Slaughter. More significantly, that card is the first officially disclosed piece connected to an as-yet-unrevealed game set in the series’ universe.
The confirmation gives the October 7 issue an extra role beyond its story significance. It is a 48-page, $6.99 return to Erica’s present-day narrative following the Tribulation saga, while the blind-bag version also serves as an early tangible tease for Tiny Onion’s continuing tabletop ambitions.
There are still major limits to what has been announced. No rules, format, player count, release timetable, product line, or explanation of how the card will function in the forthcoming game has been detailed. For now, the Erica card is confirmed as a guaranteed inclusion in the blind bag, not as proof of any particular gameplay system.
A guaranteed card, with variable cover art around it
The distinction between the card and the comic’s cover is important for anyone considering the blind-bag edition. The Erica Slaughter trading card is guaranteed, meaning it should be present in each blind bag. The cover artwork, meanwhile, comes from a range of possible covers. In other words, buyers are not taking a chance on receiving the card itself, but they will not know which cover version is inside until the sealed package is opened.
A blind bag is a sealed retail package that conceals at least part of its contents before purchase. In this case, the format creates two separate points of interest: a known bonus item—the Erica card—and an unknown comic cover. That is different from a standard single-cover release, where a reader can choose the specific exterior artwork from the shelf.
The packaging reportedly also uses a protective card layer for the items inside. That practical detail matters because the comic and its bonus card are different kinds of paper collectibles with different handling concerns. A 48-page comic is usually read, bagged, boarded, or displayed; a trading card is more often placed in a sleeve, rigid holder, binder page, or other card-focused protection. The protective insert signals that the bonus is intended to arrive as a distinct collectible rather than as a loose promotional handout.
What is known about the secret game—and what is not
James Tynion IV has characterized the blind-bag program as a milestone treatment for issue #50, pointing to both the assortment of possible covers and the included card for the concealed Something Is Killing the Children game. Tiny Onion narrative director and editor-in-chief Eric Harburn has also said that the company wants to expand its work in tabletop gaming with BOOM! Studios.
That establishes intent, but not the exact nature of the project. “Tabletop” is a broad term that can encompass card games, board games, role-playing games, miniatures games, and hybrid products. The available information ties the Erica card to an unannounced trading-card game set, but it does not yet establish how players build decks, whether cards are randomized in later products, or whether the #50 card will have an in-game effect.
That uncertainty is worth keeping intact. Promotional cards can be many things: a playable card, a special variant, a preview of a design style, or simply a commemorative item associated with a future game. Until the project is formally shown, collectors and prospective players should treat the card’s confirmed status as a first reveal, not as a complete roadmap for a new game line.
The move nevertheless makes thematic sense from the details Tiny Onion has shared. Harburn pointed to the setting’s recognizable characters and monsters as material the team has long wanted to translate into tabletop form. A world that includes Erica Slaughter, the Order, and a monster-hunting conflict provides obvious visual and narrative building blocks for cards, whether the eventual experience centers on combat, story progression, collecting, or another structure entirely.
Issue #50 returns to Erica Slaughter’s present-day story
The comic itself is not merely a packaging vehicle. Issue #50 shifts back to the present after the Tribulation storyline. Erica is described as distraught following her encounter with Cutter and the death of Gabi, and she is fleeing the Order.
Her route takes her to the Valmont Mountain Lodge, a location presented as formative in her life. The issue’s central tension is therefore built around both memory and immediate danger: Erica returns to a defining place while on the run, and the story asks what—and who—will be waiting there.
James Tynion IV writes the issue, with art by Werther Dell’Edera. Their names are central to the milestone’s appeal because the blind-bag bonus and cover possibilities are being attached to a chapter that continues the main narrative rather than a detached promotional one-shot.
For readers who only want the next Erica Slaughter chapter, the basic purchasing question is straightforward: #50 carries the present-day story and arrives October 7. For readers who also want the card, the blind-bag edition is the relevant version, since that is the edition confirmed to include the exclusive Erica Slaughter trading card.
Why the card matters to comic and card collectors
Comic-book milestone issues often use variant covers, expanded page counts, or special packaging to mark the occasion. Here, the additional card creates a crossover item: it belongs to the comic’s release but also acts as the first public artifact for a separate, not-yet-explained game initiative.
That overlap can attract several audiences at once. Existing readers may see the card as an extra tied to issue #50. Card collectors may be interested in the earliest disclosed item from a prospective new franchise. And tabletop players may view it as the initial signal that the series is being adapted beyond the page. Those interests are related, but they are not identical—and neither are the handling priorities that come with them.
Anyone opening a blind bag chiefly for the card should plan ahead. Open the sealed package carefully, avoid bending the comic or card while removing the protective layer, and keep any included packaging elements only if they matter to your own collection. Because the reveal does not provide card dimensions, stock details, print quantity, serial numbering, or future set configuration, there is no factual basis yet for claims about rarity, scarcity, or market value.
That last point is particularly useful amid a broad trading-card calendar that is already full of products and special releases. The October Pokémon TCG schedule, for example, shows how product announcements can lay out concrete packs, decks, and variations. The Something Is Killing the Children reveal is at a much earlier stage: one confirmed promotional card, a guaranteed placement in a comic blind bag, and an unrevealed tabletop project.
Practical expectations for October 7
Confirmed:
- Something Is Killing the Children #50 goes on sale October 7.
- The issue is priced at $6.99 and runs 48 pages.
- James Tynion IV writes it and Werther Dell’Edera provides the art.
- The blind-bag edition includes a guaranteed exclusive Erica Slaughter trading card.
- Blind bags offer a range of cover artwork.
- The card is tied to a still-unannounced game in the series’ world.
- The story returns to Erica’s present-day timeline after Tribulation and brings her to Valmont Mountain Lodge.
Not yet confirmed:
- The game’s title, rules, and release date.
- Whether the Erica card is playable, and if so, how.
- Any card rarity, numbering, print run, or alternate-card information.
- The full list of blind-bag covers and the distribution of those covers.
- Any additional tabletop products connected to the project.
For a landmark issue, that is a deliberately intriguing split between the immediate and the unknown. Readers can pick up a new chapter in Erica Slaughter’s story on October 7. Blind-bag buyers will also receive a confirmed Erica card that may become a notable early piece of the franchise’s tabletop expansion. Everything beyond that—the game’s shape, the card’s purpose, and the scope of the wider set—remains under wraps for now.
