Hack/ Slash # 20
“Closer part III”
Story: Tim Seeley; Art: Kevin Mellon; Colors: Mark Englert; Letters: Crank!; Design: Sean K. Dove; Edits: Mike O’Sullivan
For some foolish reason, Cassie, besotted by her make out session with Georgia and her determination to retire from slasher-slaying, heads to Pott Camps police department in Mississippi to volunteer information related to her cases. Given that the psychic dreams of Muffy Jorowski have given the police the idea that Cassie herself is a murderer, Cassie’s timing could not possibly be worse. After being arrested, Cassie calls Vlad for help.
Vlad has just had an intense encounter with Georgia about what’s going on between her and Cassie and where Vlad fits into all this (he thinks not at all). Cassie’s lawyer finds Muffy’s visions absurd and believes that she’ll be out in 48 hours. Cassie just has to be moved to a detention center in Raymond, Mississippi overnight. Before she leaves, she’s visited by Vlad, and the two deduce that Ashley Guthrie, a slasher they’ve dealt with who can influence dreams, must be behind Muffy’s visions.
En route to the Raymond facility, the police taking her there are slain and Cassie drugged unconscious, only to awaken cuffed and tied to a tree and greeted by (from Cassie’s thought captions): “Forest. Smell of burning wood. Vintage eighties camp counselor uniform. Expertly trimmed to be more provocative. Alcohol. Drugs. Condoms for that premarital sex… Porn. And some really big plastic dicks. I know what this is. I’ve done this before. I’m slasher bait”. No one can accuse Tim Seeley of not being an authority on his chosen genre.
Cassie’s kidnappers are a group called the “Society of the Black Lamp” and wish to make Cassie pay for dispatching slashers. Ever resourceful, Ms. Hack wrangles her way free even while still drugged. But she is saved by the masked slasher-slayer Samhain from the previous issue. Samhain makes short work of the group Cassie thinks are “amateurs. All of them… They’ve all got desk jobs I bet. Never been in a fight”.
I enjoyed Kevin Mellon’s art a bit more this issue. Englert’s colors were done in a much higher contrast style and not so pervasively grey. The cover by Shane White, rendered in what appears to be plain oldschool India ink with a brush, is beautiful. Tim Seeley’s story continues to juggle the gruesome and the hilarious and crackles along with crisp, flowing dialogue. I’m pleased with the deeper characterization work being done on Vlad, Georgia, Pooch, and, of course, Cassie herself, which adds more depth and dimension to what is already one of the most unique indie comics out there.