"HackSlash: Omnibus Volume 1" by Tim Seeley (published 2010)

I picked up a library copy of Hack Slash Omnibus Volume 1. Someone had recently returned it, and I couldn’t help but notice the striking cover: a girl, possibly in her late teens to mid-twenties, staring fiercely with her intense blue eyes at something, her shoulder length straight dark brown hair covering her right eye. And yes, she is wearing revealing clothing, but there’s nothing uncomfortably sexual about it (from my subjective perspective) – the girl, whose name is Cassandra Hack, is sitting in a position that isn’t very ladylike. Her legs are spread, knees up, and her right arm rests on her right leg, this hand holding baseball bat that hangs downward with the words Kiss It etched on it. She’s wearing plaid knee-high socks, a black pleated skirt with a belt of steel with the emblem FaQ at the buckle. Her midriff shows, and she’s wearing a short, netted halter-top. Her arms are covered up to the elbows with long striped tube socks, which she has made into fingerless gloves. Her white skin is tan and she looks fit and strong. She’s wearing black combat boots. Next to her right leg is the head of an evil looking clown, its mouth still clenched on a cigar. It seems that she might have been the one who beheaded that clown – although it’s hard to tell if she reveling in her prowess or pissed off that she was the one who had to do it. The backdrop has the words HACK/SLASH in uneven lines written in bold red and maroon. This looks so f&^%$#@* cool, I thought to myself when I first saw this cover. Why? The illusion is that this girl seems to not give a sh*# about anything, except what she has to do to survive. But, this doesn’t explain her clothing. Many people might type this clothing as “goth”. I’ve never personally connected to that particular subculture but I’ve always been intrigued. Here’s how I’m reading this cover photo - Cassandra’s fashion in particular. Her skirt and knee-highs seem a nod to the Catholic school uniform of a rebel, someone who wasn’t (and still, it seems, isn’t) taking all the religious lessons seriously, for whatever reason. The boots may signify that she’s ready for a fight and lots of travel, and the arms covered by tube socks are not decorative – they are possibly there to protect her arms from cuts and scratches, and the bat she’s holding may be obvious - to attack whatever bad and evil things that may come her way. Her top is perhaps that only thing that seems she wore to be stylish. Perhaps she hasn’t given up completely, perhaps she still feels that she can still be a girl. Her makeup suggests this also. The colors are bold, the lines are bold, and I really like this look. I want to know her story.

As for the traditional comic books directed at boys, which feature physically strong men that fight within and outside of themselves for a personal, social, or political plight – this might be a book explicitly aimed at girls, given that it proposes the same idea: an expression of power, the difference being for the opposite sex. Cassie Hack is an outsider, someone who has been made fun of in her youth for being different. Seeley suggests that her difference may arise from her nerdy as well as lower class look. Young Cassie wears hand me down clothes, with the hint of them still being dirty – in the first comics all these panels were colored with a tinge of brown. Young Cassie also has huge eyeglasses a little too big for her face. Her mom is the lunch lady at the school she goes to, and, seeing as her daughter is being harshly teased, it’s this overbearing mother that takes revenge. There is no mention of Cassie’s father. The comics also suggest that Cassie was very shy as child. This story might be applicable to a large audience because of its generalities, but I think it is even more applicable because of how Cassie handles the situation. She becomes self-aware, and instead of conforming to the masses she finds her identity by her choice to do something positive in the world (to kill murderers known as Slashers, which are basically a different form of zombies) in order to save innocent people. Not only does she choose this, but she chooses this without losing her dark and bleak outlook on life, which is expressed in her fashion sense, wry humor, and unaffected personality.

Everything I’ve described above is exquisitely rendered in the artwork. All the suggestions and hints are developed mainly without having to read the dialogue – it’s body language and facial expressions that really set the scenes in Hack/Slash. This trade paperback includes fifteen comic book stories about Cassie and her sidekick named Vlad. Tim Seeley wrote all of the stories, but a different team of artists drew and colored each one. I personally freaking loved this. Each artist was so unique in their renderings of the action and story, and all the characters were so much fun to look at. Anyone would know from “a mile away” what photos belonged to a Hack/Slash story after reading a compilation such as this. That is impressive, because it means that the characters are strong and different. I’m not saying that a person wouldn’t be able to recognize Superman from a mile away, but for an indie comic book, I think it means that Cassie’s style is iconic. The transition from different teams of artists throughout the omnibus was like looking at the same picture through different lenses and/or filters, which is just so, so cool. I believe that other comic books compilations do this, but I’m not sure if it works as powerfully as it does here.

Cassie’s stories kind of run like a series of early Buffy The Vampire Slayer TV shows, with all the camp. Cassie and her monstrous but gentle friend Vlad find out about different mysterious happenings (by seeking them out through the newspaper or TV), and try to solve the mystery of how these events began. Who’s killing all the girls on Spring Break and why? Why are all these people dying in their sleep in some small town? They encounter different people, make friends and enemies, and always end up fighting the Slashers, who are undead victims of crime themselves – but have all died without a peaceful soul. These stories are very descriptive. Seeley does not just build on the main characters, but also expands on the details of their nemeses, which are gleefully ugly and horrific. Cassie, in this series at least, always wins out in the end, though she does have many close calls.

Hack/Slash Omnibus Volume 1 is a perfect start for someone who has never read comics. If the descriptions above seem appealing, do pick this graphic novel up. It easily gives the reader the power of magical thinking, something that comic books are well-known for, where seemingly terrifying and unexplainable happenings and situations become the norm and actually allow the reader to imaginatively relate and put them in a real-world context. The character of Cassie herself allows for magical thinking, teaching that anyone can rise above personal struggles and make something of themselves. This is one of those reads that I will continue to look for until I can’t find it anymore, and then will re-read over again. 

"Driven by guilt, and lacking connection to anyone or anyplace, Cassie turned her back on a 'normal' life, and became a hunter of killers. It was on one of these hunts that she met the man known as Vlad, a misshapen, gentle creature that she mistook for a slasher. Vlad became Cassie's traveling companion, offering his fierce, monstrous power to her cause. Together they hunt down and destroy 'slashers'... wherever they may be, whatever form they may take." - from Hack/Slash: Euthanized