Cinemusings - Rot Your Brain

HACK/SLASH - THE SERIES #11
Felix Vasquez Jr.

In "The Coldest Dish," the folks behind "Hack/Slash" bring us another one shot where Cassie and Vlad are still recuperating from their bout with the children, and are now looking to pick up the pieces. They're still questioning their own purposes and Cassie is still on the track of the man who may be her father, somewhere in the US. Fate intervenes when Georgia happens to be in the same town as the newest slasher, a masked man who eliminates his enemies with high powered machinery that brings about grizzly gory fates to whom ever he targets. But the real development is Cassie's ongoing bout with her
sexuality. Is she a lesbian? Is she bisexual? What then to make of her sizing up a guy in a restaurant? Is she just kidding herself? In the world of undead slashers, vicious talking dogs, and horror big guns crossing paths with Cassie, it's interesting that her struggles with her feelings for Georgia, and her sexuality is the most interesting thing in the book. While we're served one shot after one shot, the prevailing themes remain true. Cassie is still unsure what her true sexual feelings are. And she wants to find her father. Though the gore and gloom are present here, Seely prefers to serve up a more low key approach this time with a killer who actually has a purpose in his mind. This allows yet another self-reflection on the duo when Vlad wonders if what they do is as just as the killer convinces himself his deeds are. The killer here is really not so much undead evil as he is a conscious figure of vengeance.

Somewhat an allusion to Batman, he has a specific list of people to murder brutally, due to a horrible tragedy that befell his beloved wife years before, and cost him his left eye. So, not only he is not so evil, but he's murdering people who are, in fact, low lives worthy of murder. As Cassie and Vlad discover the witnesses to the murders are mildly protecting him, we begin to see a new perspective. Are the slashers who commit themselves to bringing justice to the people who wronged them justified? Are Vlad and Cassie just as much predators as they are? Seely sets us up for hard questions and also leaves Cassie to deal with a personal issue of justification in the name of right and wrong and the ends justifying the means. In his own subtle ways, Seely asks us to decide why a masked murderer getting back at the people who wrong him in evil, while Cassie and Vlad hunting these vengeful spirits is right. Stone remains the quintessential artist for the series with a great grasp of emotions and expressions for Cassie and Vlad, and gives this a truly humanistic touch that it needs. Adding a lighter tone, Seely sets out on a great sub-plot with Adam and Lisa who are on the hunt for Pooch, the hunting dog of the Neflords, and pet to Elvis, who is caught and may or may not serve a higher purpose. While I'm more interested in seeing if he'll just serve as an aide to Hack/Slash, Inc., I'm more inclined to believe that he has something to deliver, and it will not be pretty. Even though Seely serves up another self-contained story, I think there are bigger things working in this series that we'll soon discover. Seely is rarely ever about simplicity.

It's one of the reasons why I continue to be a hardcore fan of the mythos.

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