It’s almost been a year since I last talked about Hack/Slash, the awesome comic about a serial-killer killer, and in that time, it’s had it’s ups and downs. Of particular note, the creation of Mary Shelly Lovecraft (MSL) as a reality altering villain that was banished from her own dimension. Now, MSL broke the rules of the established story and concept. Until her arrival, the story generally stuck to Cassie Hack (main character) killing freshly resurrected fiends, which obviously can’t be the only thing that occurs in the series… And for awhile there was the introduction of an idea that these “slashers” were being created by a secret society as well as the idea of a “slasher redemption” in one of the recurring killers. These were good things. And then there was the “Godbox” storyline… And honestly, I was greatly disappointed in that arc. While it was certainly cool that Tim Seeley (Creator and Writer) introduced Fantomah (The First Female Superhero from back in 1940) as a part of the history of the series, it also introduced superheroes… The idea was that Godbox was actually a siphon created to steal the various powers of Fantomah and imbue them into regular folks. Now, by all means, that’s a cool idea, and its one that I think could’ve made for it’s own series, but I feel that it took away from the magic of Hack/Slash. So imagine my delight, when it was announced that Hack/Slash would be moving from Publisher DDP to Image Comics and the first order of business would be to go back to Cassie’s beginnings to establish her to a new audience.

Now, this isn’t a reboot… I believe that whatever has happened in the various minis and main series still count as canon, so that’s a plus and it let’s anyone who hasn’t yet read the series to be able purchase the trades and not feel like they’re wasting their time. So then, what is this new #1? Well, Hack/Slash: My First Maniac, follows our main character immediately after she kills her own murderous resurrected mother and the aftermath of the murder spree at her high school. Cassie is still a mousy loner and she’s still being picked on by her “peers”. What we get to witness here, which was only glossed over in the past, is her transformation from geek to badass. First, by training her body and dealing with her bullies and eventually abandoning her foster parents and home to hunt down her first slasher that isn’t her mother. And that’s just in issue one.

Anyway, we’ve got some solid art from Daniel Leister (Return to Wonderland), great colors from Mark Englert (Capes) especially for the more gruesome stuff. Plus there’s some interesting crayon drawings within the journal narrative of the book which looks to have been done by whom I can only assume is Mark Englert’s daughter, Beata Englert. Nice touch. And with the move to Image, Seeley uses that to his advantage, using one of Image’s flagship characters as a means to suggest that there may possibly be a crossover with the character… Although, I hope not…. Or at least, not in the mainstream Image continuity. Keep it simple. But that aside, My First Maniac brings joy to my inner horror fiend. Tim Seeley is knows what he’s doing, so trust him, pick up the book, buy it, then wait for the next one. Repeat. See ya.

-Fleet

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