"New Reader Halloween Treat"

Plot: Cassie Hack is the lone survivor of an attack by the Slasher known as the Lunch Lady. Now she travels the world hunting down and destroying Slashers wherever she finds them.

Comments: Tim Seeley (G.I. Joe, Loaded Bible) pens this let’s-get-you-up-to-date story about that inevitable female survivor at the end of every slasher movie (normally because she is hotter or bookish. Cassie Hack was both, by the way). What makes Hack/Slash different, is that the ongoing story follows this girl after she has survived her slasher attack. Now she’s got a thing against them and has decided to go out and hunt down every last one of them, with the help of a rather large, rather ugly, machete wielding monster by the name of Vlad…I know, that’s why I picked it up. As far as writing this New Reader story goes, it didn’t take much creative genius to put together, as essentially it is just a recap of what drove to go on this long, bloody road, inter-spliced with short sections designed to give you an idea of what reading this comic may entail.

Before we go onto the tidbits of this issue, let’s look at the artist. Emily Stone (Jom Henson‘s Return to Labyrinth, Savannah: The Ride). The girl can draw, you gotta hand it to her. Her pencils are great - not too Marvel, no too DC. She’s her own artist and it shows in her work. This issues Slasher’s alarming appearance is handled extremely well, as well as keeping Vlad looking cool and Cassie looking…Cassie.

Back to those tidbits I was talking about. As this is an issue designed to draw in new readers, the vast majority of this one shot is bringing us up to date as far as Cassie’s back story and motives are concerned. The smaller part of this story is set in the present day and is designed to let us new readers know what exactly happens in your standard Hack/Slash comic. For those of us who have already met Cassie and her lovely assistant Vlad, they have added a little something extra. There is a page that deals with the changes taking place within the slasher movie genre, as the Slasher explains how the way the slasher movie works is changing. There’s also a whole load of Freudian psychoanalysis. Honest. Let me say that again: Freudian psychoanalysis. Roles off the tongue. There are two "ominous ending" pages, as I like to call them. One that sets up the next story, and one that makes you say, "Ooooh." Not a sigh of pleasure, but a kick in the nuts, "Ooooh." But in a good way. Bad news for Cassie story, good story for us.

Final Word: Worth picking up if you want someone to introduce you to Cassie. Good cover, good art, good writing. Blood, goth chick in her underwear, violence, torture, a little more blood, goth chick in her underwear. A lovely yarn. Just lovely.

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