Hack/Slash issue #4 Written by Tim Seeley, Art by Daniel Leister, Colors and Letters by Crank! and Published by Image Comics
Review Written by Shaun Daniels and Edited by Sharon Wong
With all of the horror elements in this book, the one thing often overlooked is the action. This is the last issue of the opening salvo of the ongoing series since it was reincarnated at Image. Right from the first page, this comic will have you at the edge of your seat all the way to the end which will leave you breathing into a paper bag.
When we last saw Cassie and Vlad, they were hauling ass across the state to help Chris and the gang. Of course in true Hack/Slash fashion, it’s not that simple; the stowaway is none other than the Acid Queen. Using her newfound powers, she once again places Vlad under her control and a kick-ass fight ensues in the Hack/Slash battle wagon. On the brink of losing the fight, Cassie pulls out the one trick up her sleeve. To snap Vlad out of his acid daze, Cassie motorboats him…yes, the same motorboat made famous by Vince Vaughn in Wedding Crashers. Vlad, back on Cassie’s side, brings the battle wagon to a screeching halt at the “Intelligent Design Museum” (much like the Westboro Baptist Church’s “Haunted House”). The duo take care of the Acid Queen in the most fitting way as can be; let’s just say it involves Jesus riding a dinosaur and an explosive. Meanwhile, Chris and the gang are fighting off hordes of undead animals. Samhain dukes it out with Bobby Brunswick and a few things are revealed about Samhain. Sheriff Reilly makes a choice between her friends and the Black Lamp Society but at what cost is to be determined. The status quo is back with Hack/Slash if it could even be called status quo especially when your job is hunting and exterminating Slashers.
Month after month, Seeley makes us forget he is a superb artist by turning in fun exciting comic scripts we want to read. Whether its his love for these characters or the horror genre, it shows in the writing. Seeley mixes the interpersonal relationship of Vlad and Cassie, with Vlad being Cassie’s anchor to humanity, while the action and suspense makes this book more than just tits and blood.
Leister deserves a round of applause for balancing horror, action and complex dichotomy that is Vlad and Cassie’s relationship. The man even makes the Acid Queen, the deadly slasher that she is, but also a being comprised of terror and pure sexiness.
If you are not reading this comic, you must not like fun.
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