HACK/SLASH #12
Felix Vasquez Jr.

 

“The Van is, As you say, An Island of Shit in the Turd Sea.” - Vlad

Bump, Milk and Cheese! Three of the oddest guest stars I’ve ever seen in a horror comic. It’s almost like Xena meets Ash! Oh yes, they’re colliding.

Either way, we’re at a point in the series where everyone is going to eventually cross paths with Cassie Hack, and I’m enjoying her appeal as a heroine who bashes in to others in the horror verse. Granted, when we think horror we don’t think of Milk and Cheese, but we’re allowed to have some more fun by mixing it up. As long as Tim Seeley and co. continue giving us interesting reasons for these clashings, then all’s good in the hood. Minor Spoiler Warning: Milk and Cheese are not the central storyline, nor are they the villains, but Seeley integrates them in a way that’s memorable and quite deceitful. Overall, the hyped guest spot is great. As for Issue 12, we follow Hack and Vlad in their lowest, as the famous white van in which they travel has conked out on them. This issue is typical “Hack/Slash,” a wonderful hybrid of dark humor, great horror and gore by the barrel with another arc leading into what’s hopefully a bigger scheme at hand.
 

Seeley piles on sub-plot after sub-plot with thankfully enough sense to pull back when he wants and the search for Cassie’s father is sidetracked a bit. When environmentalists are slaughtered at a wooded area planned to be destroyed, Cassie and Vlad arrive to investigate and are met with a pompous celebrity pundit who wants to exploit the situation. While there, they’re attacked by carved creatures who want in to their new RV to exterminate them and now they have to find out who is controlling them. The dialogue is rich with zingers and one liners that make issue 12 a fun ride with some classic panels. Cassie’s reaction to the mutilation DVD, as well as the “is she or isn’t she?” lines of dialogue Cassie chucks in reaction to a woman pulling her top off are memorable.

There’s also Vlad’s great interaction with Hack as for once he seems to be more determined to solve this case than Cassie is. This is the firs time I’ve seen Cassie slacking off a bit while Vlad is just devoted to finding clues and may seem to be a step ahead of her. Vlad is coming in on his own as a detective and Cassie seems to be pulling him down inadvertently. Seeley’s own individualization of Vlad is looking to be a great conflict of minds as Cassie and Vlad will likely fight for control of the team, soon. I hope we continue seeing them work together though, because they work well as a partnership, and their battles with the wooden creatures makes for some great action with Seeley and Stone adding a needed blast of flair. The cliffhanger will create problems with Cassie, but then what else is new?
 

 

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