Creation
Maxine Slaughter first appears in Something is Killing the Children #13 by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera
Major Story Arcs
Archer’s Peak
Maxine and her team of White Masks went to Archer’s Peak when House of Slaughter Black Mask, Erica Slaughter, failed to contain the situation. While Maxine’s superior, Cecilia, attended to Erica, she was put in charge of the White Masks who were not only responsible for slaying the Oscuratype monsters but also the townspeople, to keep the existence of monsters a secret.
She broke into the gym, where most of the townspeople had gathered for safety. She demanded they turn over their phones and then maneuvered them all to the center of the gym. However, one of the townsfolk decided to take the blame for all the killings. Maxine did not much care, but she was stopped by Cecilia, who accepted the man’s plan to take the fall, thus keeping the monsters secret.
Black Mask
After the incident in Archer’s Peak, Erica abandoned the house and Aaron Slaughter was killed, leaving the house with no black masks. Seeing how Aaron’s death affected Maxine, Cecilia offered her the chance to be the house’s new black mask. She explained to Maxine that white masks need a coldness to shrug off the loss of a pack member. After some introspection and some research, Maxine took the offer, donning Aaron’s blood-stained mask.
Cecilia said she’d have to be trained at The Butcher Shop, the New Orleans chapter house, as there were no Black Masks at House of Slaughter to train her. She was forced to deal with Louis Boucher, who was particularly prickly. He lived out of The Butcher Shop’s training facility in the swamp. Maxine doubted how useful any of his training was. He spent most of his times being hands off constantly reminding her to read. He would send her out to hunt a particular monster that always evaded her and never attacked. She complained often to Cecilia about it, but once she started digging into the books, she started enjoying her stay.
She confronted Louis when she realized the swamp monster wasn’t in any of the books. She admitted to Louis that she didn’t want to hunt it, and Louis agreed, since it wasn’t hurting anyone. Louis was trying to teach her that the only thing in the book is what the writer’s wanted her to know. She had to learn to read between the lines and realize that there exists monsters that don’t need to be hunted.
Powers and Abilities
Monster Hunter: Maxine is a well-trained monster hunter. She is able to track and has keen deductive reasoning. She is handy with most bladed weapons and is an Olympic-level athlete.
Rite of Trepanation: Maxine has undergone a ritual that allows her to continue seeing monsters beyond her 18th birthday.