Archive
Hack/Slash (2010 Series) #10
December 17, 2011
Title: Interdimensional Women’s Prison Breakout Part 2
Writer: Tim Seeley
Art: Daniel Leister
Colorist: Mark Englert
Letterer: Crank!
Cover Artist: Tim Seeley
Editor: James Lowder
Publisher: Image Comics
Bomb Queen has leapt universes, landing in the world of Cassie Hack and her partner Vlad. But Vlad is sick and getting worse, and Cassie is going to need somebody else to help her out if she’s going to survive her second battle with the Bomb Queen… a former ally she never thought she’d turn to again. Together with Samhain, Cassie and Bomb Queen face off for the next round of battle.
Although Bomb Queen isn’t the sort of slasher movie enemy that Cassie usually does battle against, she’s certainly twisted enough to inspire terror when she’s played straight. She’s usually used as such a parody in her own title, mocking the conventions of superhero comics and their treatment of villains, that you can actually root for her just a little bit, despite the horrible things she does. That isn’t the case here. Bomb Queen is a killer and a lunatic, and Cassie – and through her, the reader – takes her as a serious threat. Plus, we do get a few genuine monsters thrown into the book as well, a sort of Killer Whale creature up front and a different kind of killer later on. All of these elements come together and make for a solid story that works both for Cassie and for Bomb Queen, which is a nice feeling.
Rating: 8/10
Hack/Slash (2007 Series) #12
June 10, 2008
Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: Bumped Part One
Cassie faces the wood-demons of Hitchfield!
Writers: Mark Kidwell & Tim Seeley
Art: Tim Seeley & Emily Stone
Colors: Milen Parvanov & Courtney Via
Letters: Brian J. Crowley
Editor: Scott Licina & Mike O’Sullivan
Cover Art: Tim Seeley
Publisher: Devil’s Due Publishing
This two-part story was originally supposed to be a standalone miniseries crossing over with the Fangoria comic Bump, but when Fangoria went belly-up, they added a few pages to keep the ongoing subplots going and shifted the story to the main Hack/Slash title. I’ve never read Bump, but that didn’t really hurt the book at all – it reads like any other slasher that Cassie and Vlad would have to deal with.
Cassie and Vlad roll into the town of Hitchfield, where a group of 32 college students were brutally murdered at an environmental protest. As they investigate the murders, a snoopy reporter winds up hooking up with our favorite duo, and the three of them have to fight for their lives when a league of horrifying woodcarved monsters attacks them.
This reads just fine as an issue of Hack/Slash regardless of the crossover trappings. Bump creator Mark Kidwell, who wrote most of the issue, handles Cassie and Vlad’s voices just as well as the series creator Tim Seeley, who provides most of the artwork. The gore this issue may be even harsher than a usual issue, with things like a face being bitten off to provide plenty of blood for those of you here for that sort of thing.
Rating: 8/10
Hack/Slash (2007 Series) #11
May 30, 2008
Quick Rating: Great
Title: The Coldest Dish
Cassies’ newest target reminds her too much of herself.
Writer: Tim Seeley
Art: Emily Stone
Colors: Courtney Via
Letters: Brian J. Crowley
Editor: Mike O’Sullivan
Cover Art: Tim Seeley & Jeremy Roberts (Cover A); Jamie McKelvie (Cover B)
Publisher: Devil’s Due Publishing
For too long now, Cassie Hack’s approach to slasher killers has been to stab first, ask questions later. Rumors of a new killer – a man with a gaping hole instead of an eye – draw her to Portland. When she encounters the suspected slasher, however, she finds someone that seems disturbingly familiar.
Most slasher movies are pretty simple – fight, fight, stab, blood, boobs, dead teenagers, roll credits. There is rarely much character development, and almost never any real depth to the story. Hack/Slash manages to take the concept of the slasher and use it in really unique ways. Cassie’s moral dilemma here is something you’d never see in a “typical” slasher flick, where the bad guy is your average killing machine with a blade and no personality.
The supporting cast gets to have a little fun this issue too. One of the Hellhounds sent to track Cassie has gone astray, and Chris is sent to investigate. This is a really funny little subplot, one that shows us how Earth may be Hell for a denizen of the depths.
There’s the usual great artwork by Emily Stone and Courtney Via. The Hellhound alone is a great visual, but the baddie of the day has a unique look all his own, something a lot creeper than most of the usual bad guys. As always, this was a really solid issue.
Rating: 9/10
Hack/Slash (2007 Series) #7
March 2, 2008
Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: Tub Club Part Three
Rating: MR
The queen of the “Tub Club” makes her big move!
Writer: Tim Seeley
Art: Rebekah Isaacs
Colors: Andrew Dalhouse
Letters: Crank!
Design: Sean K. Dove
Editor: Mike O’Sullivan
Cover Art: Tim Seeley & Wes Dzioba (Cover A); Emily Stone (Cover B)
Publisher: Devil’s Due Publishing
The “Tub Club” storyline reaches a rousing conclusion this issue (pun intended). Cassie has managed to track down one of the girls involved in the bizarre blood cult that has resulted in a brutal killing on the campus of Franco-Belle University. Cassie winds up joining a fairly impressive strike force in hunting down the demonic enemy that has headed up the “Tub Club,” intending nothing more than to use the girls to further her own power.
This is what I love to see out of Hack/Slash – a great horror movie put to film. While the book still keeps the flavor of the sort of goofy slasher flicks that served as its inspiration, this story (for all its T&A) has been far more vicious than your typical slasher movie these days. The parent genre has become engulfed in self-parody. Hack/Slash is bringing it back to its roots.
Rebekah Isaacs’s artwork really is the perfect compliment to Tim Seeley’s story. She handles all the requisite horror movie elements with aplomb – the monsters, the gore, the shapely young females… all of it. Seeley himself contributes one of this issue’s two covers, and while both are good, I think I prefer his to Emily Stone’s, which is a nice image of Cassie and Georgia in a sort of yin-yang pose. Seeley’s cover has more energy to it, though, more of a sense of menace, and that really works well for this book.
Another fine issue, with a nice, bittersweet ending. I continue to love this book.
Rating: 8/10
Hack/Slash (2007 Series) #8
January 22, 2008
Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: Tub Club Part 2
Cassie cuts off her friends, even as new ones come to light.
Writer: Tim Seeley
Art: Rebekah Isaacs
Colors: Andrew Dalhouse
Letters: Crank!
Editor: Mike O’Sullivan
Cover Art: Tim Seeley & Wes Dzioba (Cover A); Mike Bear & Jean-Francois Beaulieu
Publisher: Devil’s Due Productions
As Vlad recovers from his blow to the head last issue, Cassie begins to fear allowing any new friends into her life, including the exotic dancer named Georgia. As Cassie tries to cut out the friend who may be more than a friend, she finds evidence that the goings on of the “Tub Club” may be connected to an old foe.
This story really is delivering on several levels. On the most obvious level – let’s face it – this is a story that’s titillating for the dominant male reader that’s going to be picking it up. There’s plenty of gore here, and the cheesecake quotient is about as high as you can get without actual nudity. However, like Bomb Queen (another book heavy on the T&A), the more prurient aspects of the title don’t overwhelm the more universal aspects. Both books are about strong female protagonists, and while Queen’s story is a comedy about a villain, this darker story is really about Cassie Hack figuring out who – if anyone – she really is beneath her monster-slaying veneer. People who get the book purely for the hot girls will find a surprising amount of intelligence and depth.
Rebekah Isaacs’ artwork, of course, nails the cheesecake and the gore. Her girls are undeniably shapely, and will more than please the readers who get the book for those reasons. She also handles the quiet moments exceedingly well – a scene that features Cassie on the phone with Georgia is very good, with a lot of strong expressions and dynamic “camera angles” that help develop the mood.
Simply put, this book has always been so much more than it appears on the surface, and it’s one of those books I can’t wait to read every month.
Rating: 8/10
Recent Reviews: July 20 Releases
So today I’m back from a lovely wedding for some friends in Maine, followed by an excruciating 23-hour ordeal of trying to get the hell home despite US Airways’ best efforts to prevent that from happening. Unfortunately, I was a bit tired today and didn’t get to knock out the last few reviews for the July 20 releases. But here are the comics I reviewed over at CX Pulp before I left for Maine.
Hack/Slash Meets Zombies Vs. Cheerleaders #1
June 14, 2011
Writer: Steven L. Frank
Art: Benjamin Glendenning
Colorist: Joseph Baker
Letterer: Bill Maus
Cover: Mike DeBalfo
Editor: Steven L. Frank
Publisher: Moonstone Publishing
Cassie Hack and and her pal Vlad get word of a high school suffering from a monster attack in Seattle. They go undercover as new students, with Cassie falling in with the cheerleaders (quite unwillingly) and Vlad joining the ranks of the football team. Together, though, they find themselves pitted against a family of zombies. This is a little different from your typical Hack/Slash story, even a crossover. It’s played lighter, even having a few fourth wall-breaking jokes pop up once or twice. The versatility of the concept, fortunately, makes it easy for Cassie and Vlad to join in the battle against virtually any kind of horror movie killer. Dropping them into a high school makes for a lot of humor in its own right, as Cassie finds herself rebelling against her own high school memories, while Vlad is plopped into a world he’s never been part of before. Benjamin Glendenning is a really good choice for this book, making Cassie and Vlad a little more cartoony so as to fit in the Zombies Vs. Cheerleaders world, but still keeping them very recognizable as the characters they are. All in all, the book works well enough for fans of Hack/Slash.
Rating: 7/10
Recent Reviews: June 22 Releases
I usually try to do this on Tuesdays. I forgot on Tuesday. I hope this didn’t ruin anybody’s day. Anyway, here’s the comics from last week that I reviewed at CX Pulp.com:
The Living Corpse Annual #1
April 18, 2009
The Living Corpse Annual #1 (Zenescope Entertainment)
By Ken Haeser & Buz Hasson
I’ve read The Living Corpse before, but I’m not a regular reader. I had to pick up this annual, though, to see his interaction with our old pals from Hack/Slash, Cassie and Vlad. As our favorite slayer-killers make their way to the northeast to seek out the brutal beast called the Jersey Devil, the encounter the sentient zombie who has been sharing their mission to send the brutal dead back to the grave. We get the typical “heroes misunderstand each other then fight” scene, only to be followed up by a pretty surprising revelation about Cassie and the Corpse having a shared past. I rather wish Haeser had dealt more with that idea, as the main story from there is kind of run-of-the-mill. Misunderstanding ends, heroes team-up, fight the monster, repeat. The artwork is a little iffy as well. It works for the Corpse, and even to Vlad when he’s got his mask on, but Cassie doesn’t really look right in this style. It’s not bad, but I wouldn’t say it’s a must-read for Hack/Slash fans.
Rating: 7/10
Hack/Slash/Eva: Monster’s Ball #1
June 1, 2011
Title: Monster’s Ball Part One
Writer: Brandon Jerwa
Art: Cezar Razek
Colorist: Salvatore Aiala
Letterer: Marshall Dillon
Cover: Tim Seeley
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment/Image Comics
Eva (sometimes called the Daughter of Dracula) and her pal Michael (also known as the Frankenstein Monster) believe themselves to be on a mission from God to destroy the monsters that plague the world. Cassie Hack and her partner Vlad have a similar mission: the elimination of the “slashers” that rise from the grave to kill and kill again. Inevitably, they would come together for a common mission. A trap set by Eva’s old foe Praetorious draws in Cassie and Vlad, and the two groups find themselves fighting a new breed of monster.
I am, as you may know, a big fan of Tim Seeley’s Hack/Slash, but this is my first encounter with Eva. The thing that strikes me immediately, I must admit, is just how similar the characters are. Young women, driven to slay monsters, accompanied by a gentle giant that can be viewed by some as a monster in his own right… honestly, it’s almost too close for comfort. But I applaud the creators for finding a way to make those similarities work together rather than cry Copyright Infringement. The characters don’t actually come together until the last few pages of this first issue, but that’s okay. It’s four issues long, and we expected some set-up. Brandon Jerwa nicely combines their respective worlds into one that easily works as a home for both groups, and we can see quite simply how the heroines can complement each other.
I don’t know if this is enough to make me run out and buy an Eva comic, but I’m more than satisfied with this first issue of the crossover. It gives me just what you want in a book of this sort.
Rating: 7/10
The Back Issue Bin 