Hack/Slash, Vol. 1: First Cut [Paperback]

Tim Seeley (Author), Stefano Caselli (Author), Federica Manfredi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 11, 2007

In every slasher movie, there's one girl who makes it all the way to the end. She's the survivor... the last girl. Meet Cassie Hack, the lone survivor of an attack by a vicious slasher called The Lunch Lady. Now Cassie, along with her monstrous partner, Vlad, travel the country, hunting down other slashers before they can leave a trail of blood and terror.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Slashers are "Bad" because they're icky grotesques who hate people, especially horny teenagers, and like to butcher them. On the other hand, cute goth Cassie Hack and her huge, deformed partner, Vlad, must be "Good" because they go around the country killing slashers in various messy ways. Cassie, last survivor of the Lunch Lady killings, is aware enough of genre conventions to make sarcastic comments as she does her thing, but action is pretty standard. Seeley's scripts are efficient enough, and Caselli and Manfredi's dark, dark art gets the job done. In "Comic Book Carnage," set at a commercial comics convention, Cassie and Vlad really do get involved with their surroundings; for the first time, the supporting characters become slightly more than slasher-movie stereotypes, so that it matters somewhat whether they live or die. The question is whether writers and artists in a book like this can get past awareness that they're essentially doing a variation on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and go on to do fresh, original work. Based on the amount of development shown here, the answer is a firm, confident maybe. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Devil's Due Publishing; illustrated edition edition (April 11, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932796878
• ISBN-13: 978-1932796872
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 6.7 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #355,158 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Violent, sexy fun for horror-movie fans!, October 26, 2005

By 

Edward Vertigo "Eddie Vertigo" (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hack / Slash Volume 1: First Cut (v. 1) (Paperback)

Alright, the book description and tagline on the cover "The slasher victim slashes back!" sums it up pretty well, so I'll offer some helpful details if you're still on the fence as to wether this is for you.

First off, the artwork is very high quality. One team illustrated the first story, while another team illustrated the remaining two stories. The style in the first story is dark and sketchy, with a painted look to it. The other two stories share a crisp, animated television show look to them. So both styles are different, but very good. The artists and colorists have really captured the expressiveness of the characters, the proper mood for various scenes, and the right amount of bloody gore.

Not only are the visuals fun, but the writing is good, too. Yes, it's B-movie horror stuff, but it's really good B-movie horror stuff. The origins of the monsters are creative, the dialogue is funny and inventive, and the characters themselves are actually interesting, especially the main character Cassie Hack. She could have easily been a one-note character, but instead has a surprising amount of depth to her. Yes, she can be a kick-ass, sarcastic killing machine, but she also has her moments of doubt, fear, and even embarrassment. She even opens up a couple of times to her friend Vlad about why she does what she does. So these two characters, who I thought would be simple and generic, end up being surprisingly likeable and easy to relate to.

So the artwork and writing are fun, so what about everything else not mentioned? Like what ages could this be for? There is violence and cursing, but no graphic nudity or sex, so it's somewhere between the PG-13 and R-rated areas of entertainment. In other words, it'd be fine for teenagers, but not kids, in my opinion. Then there are the bonus materials. The art gallery and sketches are a nice bonus, plus pictures & info of the play that was performed by the Millennium Theatre Company are pretty cool! On a personal note, I love the fact that on the back are pictures of the main creators of the graphic novel. It's nice to see what these talented people look like. Tim Seeley (creator/writer), Stefano Caselli (co-creator/artist), Sunder Raj (colorist), Federica Manfredi (penciler/colorist), and the rest of the team did a really great job, because I really enjoyed reading this.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars good ideas but clunky execution, August 26, 2008

By 

R. Barnes (Philly) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hack/Slash, Vol. 1: First Cut (Paperback)

I have just read the first TPB of Hack/Slash and though I enjoyed reading it, I did have some issues with the book. The art is good by mainstream comic book standards. However, I disagree with other reviewers that the art is spooky or sinister. The action moves so fast that there is no chance for the artwork to create a spooky ambiance (unlike say 28 days of night). The concept behind the book has promise (a post-modern take on the slasher genre with lots of self-referential comments and humor) but the writing is clunky. As a for instance, the author wants to tell reader about the history of the main character. There are subtle ways to do this and it could have been drawn out(in order to draw the reader in to the story). However, the author just has the buddy of the main character ask her, "so why do you do what you do?" The main character then goes off on a monolog that tells us all we need to know. The background is actually kind of funny, but the way it spills out in the monolog flattens the humor somewhat. Also, the clunkiness of the dialog grates at times. There are other examples of plodding exposition where the material in the exposition could have been delivered in a more interesting way and in a way that didn't upset the flow of the story. The book makes for a fun hour's reading, but it is not a great comic.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A SLASHER OF A GOOD TIME!, November 22, 2005

By 

Tim Janson (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Hack / Slash Volume 1: First Cut (v. 1) (Paperback)

With a genuine appreciation of slasher films of the 1980's comes Hack Slash: The First Cut from Devil's Due Publishing. Filled with all of the great clichés of those camp classics, Hack Slash is a fitting tribute to this favorite horror genre. Collected here are the stories of "slasher hunter" Cassie Hack, herself the daughter of a slasher known as "The Lunch Lady", who spends her days hunting down these serial killers accompanied by her hulking, misshapen partner Vlad. The book is filled with equal parts horror and humor as the pair hunt down a trio of gruesome killers. While the book may appear from the cover to just be another "scantily clad hot chick kicking butt" it's not...well it is, but it's not.

Writer Tim Seeley's irreverent tone keeps the stories moving at breakneck speed. In the first tale, Cassie and Vlad journey to a town where a mysterious figure is using undead animals to attack the locals. We soon find out that the figure is, or was, Bobby Brunswick, a mentally retarded employee at a vet's office that was the source of bullying by other locals until a prank went horribly wrong. Now Bobby is back from the grave with a legion of euthanized pets all ready to do his bidding and help him get revenge.

In the second tale, a goody-two shoes college girl whose boyfriend had an affair with another girl over spring break has used a dark book of magic to gain control over a true fire and brimstone, not to mention dead, man of the cloth to carry out her vendetta against the tramps and trollops of spring break. The third tale takes Cassie and Vlad to the "Whizzer World Philadelphia" convention where a serial killer is stalking comic creators Steve Niles, Skottie Young and model/artist Messy Stench. With a few well placed barbs at Wizard Magazine...and their show employees, this story dredges up the most loathsome serial killer yet. And yes...Steve Niles dies!!! Violent, but amusingly so.

Hack Slash was a truly a treat to read. It's not too often you find a graphic novel that is just plain fun to read these days. Any fan of slasher films will certainly enjoy the book. The art by Stefano Caselli and Federica Manfredi is very good without trying to go over the top. The book features an excellent pin-up gallery as well.

Reviewed by Tim Janson