Wednesday is Comic Day!

Writer: Tim Seeley Artist: Stefano Caselli and several others Publisher: Devils Due Publishing Price: $34.99

The provocative cover and then the title caught my attention, first. What the heck is this? I asked. 300 pages later, I think I know. Hack/Slash is the story of Cassandra Hack. Cassie's mother was a school lunch lady that killed several kids for bullying her daughter. Confronted by the police, the mother killed herself. Cassie was moved to another school, but of course the story got out and she was again mistreated. More students began to die, and it was discovered that Cassie's mother had returned from the dead to kill some more. Cassie learned that her mother was a "slasher". A slasher is a person that is very hard to kill and seemingly lives to kill. We're familiar with many of these people: Jason Voorhies and Michael Myers being two such examples.

Cassie decides it is her destiny to kill slashers to stop their terrorizing. On one of her early adventures she met a large man with a disfigured face. His name is Vlad and he becomes her assistant/companion.

Hack/Slash is currently an ongoing series. This first omnibus contains the several one-shots that preceded the series as well as the mini-series "The Land of Lost Toys".

This isn't Shakespeare. I don't think it pretends to be anything other than what it is - fun horror stories. Hack/Slash is the creation of writer/artist Tim Seeley. He crafts a cheeky and adventurous tone that is both funny and exciting.

Two of the stories, including the first, are illustrated by Stefano Caselli. His style is beautiful and perfect for this material. Unfortunately he is currently being wasted on material like Avengers: Initiative and Secret Warriors for Marvel. He is one of Marvel's new "Top Guns". Since most of these stories were one-shots, there are a lot of artists (15) showcased in this omnibus.

One innovative thing that Seeley did was to include several well know comic artists and writers as characters in a couple of the stories. Writers and artists have made appearances before, you might say, that isn't new! Yes, but did they die horrible deaths? They do here!

Other appearances include Evil Ernie and the psychotic killer doll, Chucky.

I found this to be a fun read. I hear that a second omnibus is forthcoming. I plan to get that, too.