Hack/Slash : Comic Book Carnage

Somewhere in the beginning of the story, Cassie makes an observation : "Slashers love a good ironic kill... The smoker gets burned alive, the slut gets stuffed in the outhouse toilet, the cook serves the students as school lunch... Killing the horror writer in the shower, "Psycho" style... Well, it doesn't get more ironic than that."

And that love of irony seems to be the primary motivating factor behind setting this story in a comic book convention. Granted, this particular story works out best in a Comic Book Convention, the deranged fan killing off writers and artists who have decided to take a character, and in the words of Niles, "..Kinda throw a new dark angle onto the character... To introduce him to a whole new mature audience". But the problem here is that Tim Seeley hasn't used the setting to it's complete potential. The whole comic convention comes off as a private shindig thrown by Steve Niles, Robert Kirkman, Skottie Young, and Messy Stench (I've never heard of her. Infact, when I saw her name on the cover, I thought it just a joke, kinda letting us know what to expect inside. Lotsa blood and guts, a messy stench, that kinda thing. I've also never seen her movie "Death By Boobjob". Damn.), promoting the new Wunderkind comic by their Young Buck Entertainment company. The premise isn't really milked to it's fullest potential, and you get the feeling that these killings would have had the same effect if they'd been committed at a mall or any other generic setting.

The big reveal as to who the slasher is, kinda fell flat on it's face for me. There just wasn't enough dramatic tension or build-up to it. Ofcourse, you have the usual rabid fan around, accusing Young Buck of ripping off his idea, and vowing revenge, but that was a blatant and unsuccessful attempt at misdirection.

Nevertheless, as generic as the plot and setting is, it's the script that's the clear winner here. The book is peppered with some great one-liners, such as Cassie's "..Our diet is gonna kill us long before a slasher does.." and Vlad's "Hurrm... I am very popular today" at the convention; which pretty much had me in splits. Tim has got most of the characterisations down pat. Like when Carrie attempts to hit on Skottie, at first that just seems waaay out of character for her, but then you realise, even with all the hacking and slashing she regularly does, she's only eighteen (or somewhere closeby). Ofcourse, when it comes to Skottie Young and Robert Kirkman and the others, I'm no authority, but atleast they don't appear as caricatures.

The art by Federica Manfredi is another major plus point. It's pretty darn good. Though the perspective seems kinda off at times, Cassie, Vlad and all the other human characters are not only very expressive, but also greatly distinct from one another. She does it all, right from the youth of Cassie, to the macabre Slasher fiend. I'd really love to see her on a lot more mainstream project.

Hah, as for Whizzar world, I can seen why Tim didn't just use "Wizard World". They've been portrayed here as the worst example of P.T.Barnum's "The Show Must Go On" types. Shit, the two employees with that wide toothy grin were actually much more creepier than the Slasher at the end. Maybe Seeley will end up giving us a "The Walking Wizard Dead" eh? Or maybe Kirkman. Wait, he's dead. *Sign*. I'm so unfunny, Mark Millar should be writing about me...

THE END