"Arm yourselves yes? The woods are alive." – Vlad

It's a threesome crossover as the Hack & Vlad team crossover with Fangoria's Bump, plus an odd appearance by Evan Dorkin's Milk & Cheese. Part one of this two part story leads the Slasher hunters to Hitchfield, Georgia to investigate the slaughter of thirty environmental protestors (aka tree huggers).

While looking around, Cassie runs into the infamous reporter Phil O'Grady of the O'Grady Files. He is doing his own snooping around and instantly has the hots for Cassie. O'Grady gets his hands on a home video that shows the gruesome murders, just in time for the strange creatures to attack.

Meanwhile, the psychic Muffy Joworski (introduced in Hack / Slash #10) makes another appearance in what may lead to major problems for Cassie and Vlad in the near future. Also, Cassie's father, Jack Hack, who is somehow involved in research about Revenants (the scientific name for Slashers) and was recently discovered to be still alive, has yet to be found. But, Cassie is OK with that, because she isn't sure that she wants to find him anyway.

I love, absolutely love, this series. When I first heard about the concept of Hack / Slash I knew it would be an instant classic. It has been my favorite Devil's Due book to date and is definitely in my top favorite creator owned books currently out. I'm so glad that Devil's Due turned Hack / Slash into an ongoing series.

If you somehow haven't heard of this book it is basically about this girl, Cassie Hack, whose mother turns out to be a Slasher, the so-called "Lunch Lady." (Slashers are all those masked supernatural killers from movies like Halloween and Friday the 13th.) Anyway, she turns the tables and kills her mother. This "horror film survivor" decides to travel across the country slashing the Slashers. She gets help from Vlad, a muscular, disfigured man who wears a gas mask and is exceptionally talented with knives.

I know very little about Bump (of which you can find free downloads on http://www.wowio.com) or Milk & Cheese, but I think it is great to see Hack / Slash getting these crossovers. It wasn't that long ago that Hack / Slash had their Chucky and Evil Ernie crossovers and I'm still waiting for Army of Darkness, Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th to have a crossovers with them (wouldn't that be sweet).

I have really enjoyed this ongoing series as it has further developed the mythology of the setting. We have recurring characters like Chris, Lisa, Georgia Peaches, psychic Muffy Joworski, that weird skinless devil dog thing and occasionally a Slasher trying for a sequel. This new larger story arc with the government researching Revenants and Cassie's father's connection has added some really interesting layers to the series.

This crossover was originally going to be its own standalone miniseries, but after Fangoria went out of business the story was melded into the ongoing series. The story works with typical Hack / Slash humor mixed with a bit of gory horror. Mark Kidwell, creator of Bump, wrote most of this issue and he did an excellent job handling the voices and feel of Hack / Slash. I'm looking forward to the next issue and where the subplots of the psychic and Cassie's dad are leading us.

Another excellent issue of Hack / Slash, now if they could just hurry up and get that feature film finished.

Final Word: If Joss Whedon and Wes Craven had a baby, it would be called Hack / Slash. If you love '80s and '90s slasher horror, then this book and the whole freaking series is a must read.

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