By: Tim Seeley (writer), Daniel Leister (art), Mark Englert (colors), Crank (letters) & James Lowder (editor)
The Story: Cassie, Vlad and gang are back!
What’s Good: Tim Seeley does a great job of making this issue “new reader friendly” but without making his loyal readers feel like they’ve gone back to kindergarten. He pulls this off by giving us 2-pages of character synopsis (picture + 1 paragraph) for the major characters and then just having the characters do a little more exposition than is normal. All comic readers know that Seeley is walking a tightrope with this type of issue, but he nails it. New readers and old readers alike are going to love this.
If you’ve never ventured into the world of Hack/Slash, you should really check it out if you’re at all fond of 80’s slasher/horror movies. The main character is a young woman named Cassie Hack who, along with her monstrous sidekick Vlad, hunts and kills slashers. There is a lot of other goodness buried in the ~40 previous issues of Hack/Slash, but that’s the basic story: hunting and killing slashers in bloody ways and never being afraid to have the ladies wear revealing clothing. This issue has plenty of those staples as well as tons of comic relief courtesy of Vlad and his hopelessly naive sensibilities about women and the world. Toss in the fact that this creator-owned comic is doesn’t chase its own tail like Marvel/DC superhero comics and you have a winner.
This particular adventure is a classic as Cassie and Vlad are after a lover’s lane killer who isn’t all he/she seems. Plus, while we’re getting our arms around that pretty straight forward story, Seeley gets us up to speed slowly on everything else that is going on with the supporting characters. Bravo.
Daniel Leister’s art does what it needs to do. He draws a couple of horribly bloody scenes (with a strong assist from the colorist) and a couple of other really screwed up panels (one of the killers victims is half-dissolved in a hot tub of acid or lye or something). And he also draws the pretty ladies really well. That’s kinda what it takes to be the artist on Hack/Slash. It isn’t JH Williams, III type art, but it isn’t trying to be and nor should it be.
What’s Not So Good: In my reading of Hack/Slash I always find that I LOVE the Cassie/Vlad-killing-slashers part, but I’ve never been able to get quite as into the bigger Nef, Samhain, Black Lamp mega story. And I’ve never found the supporting cast back in Eminence (Pooch excluded, of course) to be anywhere near as interesting as Cassie and Vlad. I dunno why. Personal taste? Your mileage may vary, but I’ve never gotten bored with just watching Cassie and Vlad in the field. So, naturally this issue lags a bit for me with the part of the story that focuses on these other aspects of the story.
Mind you, that part of the story isn’t bad, but I just want to hurry up and get back to watching Cassie and Vlad set up a screwed up stake out of a lover’s lane.
Conclusion: A very strong first issue of the second volume of Hack/Slash. Friendly to new readers without making loyal readers feel dumped upon with the bloody/sexy art we’ve come to expect from the series.
Grade: B
-Dean Stell