Cassie Hack is the lone survivor of an attack by a slasher called The Lunch Lady…a slasher that happened to be her mother! She traveled the world with her monstrous and friend Vlad, hunting down and destroying slashers wherever they found them. But then Vlad died and Cassie disappeared…
Hack/Slash: Resurrection #1
Written by: Tini Howard
Art by: Celor
Colors by: K. Michael Russell
Letters by: Crank!
Created by: Tim Seeley
Published by: Image Comics
Writing
I was always familiar with Tim Seeley’s Hack/Slash as a concept and wanted to check it out, but the initial series came out at a time when I had fallen out of comics for a bit. Still, its concept of a ‘Slasher Slayer’ was intriguing enough for me to keep tabs on it online. So now that I am once again immersed in the comics medium, I decided to get into the Halloween spirit and finally dive into this series and character.
Resurrection is a solid introduction to this series if you are a newcomer, and I can also tell it has plenty for dedicated fans. Tini Howard’s story opens with a secluded and isolated Cassie as she seems to be playing/testing video games for money. Her gaming is interrupted by a pair of zombies, which for Cassie seems more of an inconvenience than an actual threat. This sequence not only nicely sets up how skilled and experienced Cassie is at fighting monsters, it also kick-starts to the mystery of this story. Just what are these zombies and who sent them? We quickly start to get some answers as a creepy mad scientist in the Herbert West Re-Animator tradition is introduced.
Cassie also receives a call to help out at a camp for survivors of violent attacks. You don’t have to be a horror or slasher fan to appreciate that cleverness of the idea of a camp for final girls/boys. The ending here leaves it open for some great possibilities.
I also want to mention that there are some great references and jokes for horror fans. There’s an ‘Englund’ prison, a cat named Dario, and you should also check out the posters in Cassie’s room for a good laugh.
Art
Celor and K. Michael Russell create some decent art here, but they definitely need time to grow as a team. It’s not perfect and can be inconsistent but there are still some good panels and pages here. Their depiction of Cassie in a few panels is great, as her stylized look has always been part of the characters appeal. They do create some nice monsters, as the zombies and Vlad have a nice ‘EC horror comics’ vibe to them.
The art does get better as the issue progresses, so I suspect any unevenness will be gone by the time we get to issue two.
Conclusion
If you have been curious about Hack/Slash then this is a great jumping on point to this world. And if you are a superfan, you will no doubt enjoy this as well. This is such a unique and great concept that really is a must for horror fans. Pick it up and have some fun.
