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BD Pick Of The Week: ‘Hack/Slash My First Maniac’ Issue #1 PLUS A 5 Page Preview/Review!

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After an absolutely abysmal week for new comics (Hey don’t blame us for no pick of the week, because frankly, there was nothing worth recommending) last week due to the holiday, comic book fans can rejoice as the Summer push is finally upon us, and this week you will have plenty of great titles to choose from. However, if you are looking for a sure fire way to drop $4s and feel great about it afterwords, then look no further than our BD Pick Of The Week this week, “HACK/SLASH: MY FIRST MANIAC”! Inside you can read the first 5 pages and also read our official review of the book that awards it with a rare 5 Skulls! How’s that for a ‘why you should care’? Read on for the skinny!

WRITTEN BY: Tim Seeley
ILLUSTRATED BY: Dan Leister

“HACK/SLASH: MY FIRST MANIAC explores Cassie’s first case. 16-year-old Cassie Hack has just been forced to kill her mother, the undead murderer known as the Lunch Lady. Now faced with overwhelming guilt, she must decide if she can make a life with her foster parents or use her new-found slasher killing skills to save other screaming teenagers. But does the apple fall far from the tree? A perfect jumping-on point for new readers and a previously untold tale for old fans!”



WHY YOU SHOULD CARE (MINOR SPOILERS FOLLOW)

“MY FIRST MANIAC” is just how it sounds. The story begins with a young Cassandra Hack having just killed her mother, the vicious murderess known as “The Lunch Lady”. At this point in her life Cassie is just a socially awkward teen who listens to My Chemical Romance and crushes on the cute boys at her school who won’t give her the time of day. After the murder Cassie finds herself living with her foster parents Shannon and Karen, two very ordinary, but caring individuals who offer the girl some semblance of normalcy. It is important to focus in on this aspect of the story itself because it just might be what sets “MY FIRST MANIAC” apart from every other issue in the series thus far. Very rarely has Tim Seeley allowed himself to explore the depths of inner pain and struggle for his character, and while reading this issue you will wish that he didn’t. Everyone who reads Tim’s work knows just what kind of writer he is when it comes to being slapstick and pouring on the black humor, and in that capacity he is one of the best in his field. (After all, why else do we read “HACK/SLASH”?…Get your heads out of the gutters you perverts!) However, with the first issue in “MY FIRST MANIAC” Tim Seeley has done something he has only dared to do before, something that he has always teased but never fully shown to us, and that is to become quite possibly the best writer in horror comics today.

It can be very hard to write true human emotions, especially that of a teenage girl. (I’d imagine that it is the comic book equivalent to climbing Everest) But what makes this issue so entertaining to read is the fact that you are allowed to see Cassie as a human being, as something weak, something vulnerable. By taking the armor off of Cassie we are able to look past her barbed wire wit and tough as nails persona and see what it is that makes her tick. Why does Cassie feel the need to do what she does? Is it a psychosis, a super power, a calling from within? These are the things that readers are allowed to chew on as Tim has thrown his audience a very juicy bone, and everyone should find it to be quite the treat.

Layering has always been something that “HACK/SLASH” has seemed to be pencil thin in, opting to go the ‘fun and goofy’ route by way of ‘gore and boobs’ to capture the attention of its decidedly desensitized audience. To put it in lamens terms, “HACK/SLASH” is more the equivalent of the “FRIDAY THE 13th” franchise as far as content than anything else. That is why it is nice to see Tim finally allowing himself to stretch his creative legs and truly run with the character that has made him such a well known name in the industry. None of this is to say that the old formula doesn’t work, on the contrary I have never read an issue that hasn’t thoroughly entertained me, but diversity is important, especially in writing. You honestly get the feeling of growing with Cassie through her ordeal, and by the time she decides to leave her life behind for the life we know her for we get the sense that we have a true understanding of what it is that she is thinking.

On the art side of things we have series veteran Daniel Leister. There isn’t a whole lot that can be said about Daniel that hasn’t already. His artwork has become the true face of what “HACK/SLASH” is. When you see a depiction of Cassie and her signature bat, you see it drawn by Daniel. The art is fresh, fluid, and clean. Each panel meshes well with the one before and after it, and the transitions are all done perfectly. There are plenty of money shots (including one very bloody page that serves as the issues’ intro) and there is even a very cool layout that is used to replicate a young girls journal. One of the most impressive things about the art aspect of Daniel’s work on “MY FIRST MANIAC” is the facial expressions that he has put on each of the characters. Being handed such an emotionally heavy workload as he was with this issue it would have been a rough endeavor for any illustrator to tell the story at hand, and if it would have been any other artist they might not have had the same results, but for a man who has been doodling this character for so long you get the sense that he was the only artist for the job.

When all is done and read, “HACK/SLASH: MY FIRST MANIAC” is the best issue of “HACK/SLASH” that Tim and Co. have ever put out. There is nothing about this story that fans of the series, both new and old, should find fault with. Any reservations that you might have had about the series being moved or of Cassie’s ‘origins’ being revealed can be tossed out the window. “HACK/SLASH: MY FIRST MANIAC” is a triumphant return to the characters roots that is not to be missed. Let it be known: “HACK/SLASH” is back, and it is better than ever. If you want to try and argue, well, to borrow a line…”kiss it”.

5 Out Of 5 Skulls

“HACK/SLASH: MY FIRST MANIAC” Issue #1 Drops June 9th From Image Comics! (MSRP-$3.99)

Comics

[Review] Graphic Novel ‘Tender’ Is Brilliant Feminist Body Horror That Will Make You Squirm & Scream

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Tender Beth Hetland Graphic Novel

Beth Hetland’s debut graphic novel, ‘Tender,’ is a modern tale of love, validation, and self-destruction by way of brutal body horror with a feminist edge.

“I’ve wanted this more than anything.”

Men so often dominate the body horror subgenre, which makes it so rare and insightful whenever women tackle this space. This makes Beth Hetland’s Tender such a refreshing change of pace. It’s earnest, honest, and impossibly exposed. Tender takes the body horror subgenre and brilliantly and subversively mixes it together with a narrative that’s steeped in the societal expectations that women face on a daily basis, whether it comes to empowerment, family, or sexuality. It single-handedly beats other 2023 and ‘24 feminine horror texts like American Horror Story: Delicate, Sick, Lisa Frankenstein, and Immaculate at their own game.

Hetland’s Tender is American Psycho meets Rosemary’s Baby meets Swallow. It’s also absolutely not for the faint of heart.

Right from the jump, Tender grabs hold of its audience and doesn’t let go. Carolanne’s quest for romantic fulfillment, validation, and a grander purpose is easy to empathize with and an effective framework for this woeful saga. Carolanne’s wounds cut so deep simply because they’re so incredibly commonplace. Everybody wants to feel wanted.

Tender is full of beautiful, gross, expressive artwork that makes the reader squirm in their seat and itch. Hetland’s drawings are simultaneously minimalist and comprehensively layered. They’re  reminiscent of Charles Burns’ Black Hole, in the best way possible. There’s consistently inspired and striking use of spot coloring that elevates Hetland’s story whenever it’s incorporated, invading Tender’s muted world.

Hetland employs effective, economical storytelling that makes clever use of panels and scene construction so that Tender can breeze through exposition and get to the story’s gooey, aching heart. There’s an excellent page that depicts Carolanne’s menial domestic tasks where the repetitive panels grow increasingly smaller to illustrate the formulaic rut that her life has become. It’s magical. Tender is full of creative devices like this that further let the reader into Carolanne’s mind without ever getting clunky or explicit on the matter. The graphic novel is bookended with a simple moment that shifts from sweet to suffocating.

Tender gives the audience a proper sense of who Carolanne is right away. Hetland adeptly defines her protagonist so that readers are immediately on her side, praying that she gets her “happily ever after,” and makes it out of this sick story alive…And then they’re rapidly wishing for the opposite and utterly aghast over this chameleon. There’s also some creative experimentation with non-linear storytelling that gets to the root of Carolanne and continually recontextualizes who she is and what she wants out of life so that the audience is kept on guard.

Tender casually transforms from a picture-perfect rom-com, right down to the visual style, into a haunting horror story. There’s such a natural quality to how Tender presents the melancholy manner in which a relationship — and life — can decay. Once the horror elements hit, they hit hard, like a jackhammer, and don’t relent. It’s hard not to wince and grimace through Tender’s terrifying images. They’re reminiscent of the nightmarish dadaist visuals from The Ring’s cursed videotape, distilled to blunt comic panels that the reader is forced to confront and digest, rather than something that simply flickers through their mind and is gone a moment later. Tender makes its audience marinate in its mania and incubates its horror as if it’s a gestating fetus in their womb.

Tender tells a powerful, emotional, disturbing story, but its secret weapon may be its sublime pacing. Hetland paces Tender in such an exceptional manner, so that it takes its time, sneaks up on the reader, and gets under their skin until they’re dreading where the story will go next. Tender pushes the audience right up to the edge so that they’re practically begging that Carolanne won’t do the things that she does, yet the other shoe always drops in the most devastating manner. Audiences will read Tender with clenched fists that make it a struggle to turn each page, although they won’t be able to stop. Tender isn’t a short story, at more than 160 pages, but readers will want to take their time and relish each page so that this macabre story lasts for as long as possible before it cascades to its tragic conclusion. 

Tender is an accomplished and uncomfortable debut graphic novel from Hetland that reveals a strong, unflinching voice that’s the perfect fit for horror. Tender indulges in heightened flights of fancy and toes the line with the supernatural. However, Tender is so successful at what it does because it’s so grounded in reality and presents a horror story that’s all too common in society. It’s a heartbreaking meditation on loneliness and codependency that’s one of 2024’s must-read horror graphic novels.

‘Tender,’ by Beth Hetland and published by Fantagraphics, is now available.

4 out of 5 skulls

Tender graphic novel review

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