Hack/Slash, Omnibus 1-5 by Tim Seely, 1500 pages.

Hack/Slash is every slasher movie loving teen's wet dream.  Imagine a combination of Friday 13^th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Child’s Play (Chucky franchise), throw in a scantily clad Goth girl with a penchant for violence, copious amounts of blood, and you have the Hack/Slash series.

Hack/Slash follows Cassie Hack, and her disfigured sidekick Vlad, as they travel the world (and other worlds) tracking down twisted serial killers (known as Slashers), and dispatching them in the most gruesome ways possible.  In Cassie’s world, people that die full of hatred and malice return from the dead as “Slashers”.  These recently resurrected creatures have a simple agenda – to kill, maim, and spill as much blood as possible.  And it’s Cassie and Vlad’s goal to put them out of action.  But don’t’ worry horror fans, there’s plenty of blood and entrails, and a healthy dose of terrified teenage girls in lingerie to revel in before said Slashers are put six feet deep.

The series contains nods aplenty to the horror genre, with guest appearances by Jason Voorhees, Chucky, and Dr. West (from the Re-Animator movie), to make any horror fan happy.  H.P. Lovecraft and Chuthulu are also a big influence.  It also stays true to the tried and tested tropes of the horror genre- blood, guts, monsters galore, and sexy ladies making questionable decisions (Nope, you shouldn’t go check out what that noise in the basement was, especially dressed in that see-through baby-doll negligee).

As the series goes on, Cassie and Vlad venture further afield in their search for Slashers.  They visit other dimensions, travel to the future, and make trips to other comic worlds.  The series is crossover heaven, with Cassie killing Slashers alongside Ash from the Evil Dead series, killing monsters in the world of Archie (this issue is even done in the same art style as the Archie comics), and even hunting down a demonic Tinman, Scarecrow, and Cowardly Lion.

There are some deeper, more cerebral storylines to accompany the gore.  Cassie struggles with depression and her sexuality throughout the series.  Her disfigured partner, Vlad, helps the writers explore society’s acceptance (or lack thereof) of those who may be different than the norm, but mainly it’s just bad-guys, blood, and buxom ladies.

The Hack/Slash series can be a bit heavy on the gore, and might show a little too much skin for some readers (to be fair, this element draws from its inspiration – slasher movies), but for horror fans - these books deliver.  I’m not ashamed to say that the teenage boy in me grinned like a baboon from the first page, to the very last.