Hack/ Slash # 22
“Mind Killer part II”
Story: Tim Seeley; Art: Emily Stone; Colors: Mark Englert; Letter: Crank!; Production: Sam Wells; Edits: Mike O’Sullivan
This issue begins with Cassie having a nightmare of being mocked by Georgia and beating and killing her. She awakens at a police station in Laurel, Montana to find that the creatures from the close of last issue have tied up Muffy, Muffy’s husband, Vlad, Georgia, Gertrude, Six Sixx, Cassie and a cop and tentacles are sprouting from the creatures’ eyes, feeding on the fears of those they capture. Six Sixx, having served the Neflords, is the most immune, and gets free, though they claim that he will always be theirs. A sudden tentacle to the temple brings nightmarish horrors to Sixx’s mind but he makes one last play for his enchanted guitar but ends up in Nef (where Cassie’s ally Chris Krank’s pet Pooch is from) and is confronted by the Neflords, namely Arkovascar the Eater.
Arkovascar wants Ashley, the obnoxious child slasher who has been controlling Muffy’s dreams, to nourish them with nightmares he reaps. The Neflords call Ashley a “dreamwalker” and he seems to be at the nexus of their plans to gain power and revenge on (as they always call her) “the hated Cassandra Hack”. The Neflords want Sixx to bring them Cassie and they will impregnate her to bear the “finest nefspawn”. Sixx returns to the police station but begins destroying the “dread drinkers” (his name for them, a fairly literal appellation), all while singing a song (presumably impromptu) most fitting of the occasion. Cassie (literally) stamps out the last “dread drinking” tentacle and Sixx, who has lost an eye during the melee, kills Muffy’s Ashley-possessed body and takes it with her.
Cassie informs Sixx that she will never go with him and that she is not afraid of death or of the Neflords. Sixx replies that he knows, and opens a gate to who knows where. After a policeman, Hazelwood, agrees to cover for Cassie, my two questions from the end of last issue are answered: Vlad and Gertrude indeed “have the sex”; and Cassie resolves not to quit going after slashers. Georgia, disappointed, professes her love for Cassie and wants to make love. Cassie question if she’s even “into girls” and if the whole thing with Georgia was a mistake.
In the issue’s coda, we’re left with a dangling thread as to the fate of Six Sixx, and it’s a most satisfying one. I didn’t hold this character in much regard prior to this issue beyond the metalhead satire expected of such a character. But his semi-heroic turnaround while wailing a ridiculous rocker and his refusal to turn in Cassie won me over. I hope the pieces of his storyline will be picked up at sometime in the future, if possible. This issue ends yet again with Tim Seeley’s solo strip “Lovebunny and Mr. Hell” in “Mr. Hell’s Gude to Proper Manners”, which was good for more chuckles than has been par for these strips. This issue bids farewell to semi-regular artist Emily Stone, whose work began rather impeccably crafted but has gradually loosened as her inks grew more dynamic.
Related articles
- Hack/ Slash # 22: “Mind Killer part II” (comicsforge.com)
- Hack/ Slash # 21: “Mind Killer part I” (comicsforge.com)
- Hack/ Slash # 18: “Closer part I” (comicsforge.com)
- Hack/ Slash # 19: “Closer part II” (comicsforge.com)
- Hack/ Slash # 14: “Over the Rainbow” (comicsforge.com)
- Hack/ Slash # 20: “Closer part III” (comicsforge.com)
- Hack Slash Number 14 by Tim Seely (comicsforge.com)
- Hack/Slash #31 (comicsforge.com)
- Hack/ Slash: Revenge of the Return Part 4 (comicsforge.com)
- Hack Slash Vol. 1: First Cut (comicsforge.com)
