Comics
Review: ‘Hack/Slash’ #24
Hack/Slash #24 has the right amount of action to keep readers excited. As the slasher slayers make their last stand, no one will be left unscathed from battle. With just one issue left, horror fans should give the “Hack/Slash” series a look.
WRITTEN BY: Tim Seeley
ART BY: Elena Casagrande
PUBLISHER: Image Comics
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: February 27th, 2013
A poisonous black liquid has been injected into a recent shipment of refreshments. With the clock ticking, Vlad and Cassie have to stop the soda trucks before they reach their destination. With just one sip, innocent lives will suddenly turn into psychotic killers. With Vlad captured and Cassie being hunted by the local cops, the slasher slayers are far from each other to call out for help. The slasher slayer are the ones who can stop the Black Lamp from making this nightmare come true. As Vlad watches the destruction from his skybox, he realizes the final hour is upon them.
Knowing the ending is near, writer Tim Seeley grounds the issue in suspense and packs in tons of action. With Cassie and Vlad in danger, Seeley lets readers join in on the guessing game. Will one of the slasher slayers not make it to the final issue? If it’s dodging a bullet or being stabbed from behind, Seeley throws his protagonists in deadly situations. What’s interesting here is that Seeley doesn’t hint at a happy ending for the slasher slayers.
Though there is a lot of foreshadowing, Seeley sneaks in a very clever idea into the story. In the prison-like maze, Margaret uses a stylish guitar as a weapon. Like a rock star, Margaret strums the chords and watches as lasers turn her captors into dust. Seeley has fun with this hilarious idea, letting Margaret use the guitar more than once.
With just the opening pages, artist Elena Casagrande will have readers hooked with her illustrations. As Vlad is bruised and bloody, his kidnapper is holding a baby hostage. In just one swift move, Vlad tackles his kidnapper, while the baby is flying in the air. Casagrande keeps the close-ups on Vlad’s tied wrists as he catches the falling baby with his legs. Readers will be rooting for Vlad after seeing this well-constructed action sequence.
Casagrande builds the gore and mayhem as she depicts the poisoned soda addicts running around the rock concert. In wide shots, Acid Angel is calmly walking across the grass, while the poisoned drinkers are screaming, “Stab!” Keeping the fast pace flowing, Casagrande illustrates Cassie sliding over the hood of a car while being shot at. Casagrande keeps Cassie and Vlad occupied in their own situations, making sure readers know they are at their most vulnerable.
Your jaw will drop once you read the last page of “Hack/Slash” #24. Longtime fans will definitely be talking about this. Because I have my own ideas about what’s going to happen in the last issue, I am very anxious to read what actually happens.
4/5 Skulls
Reviewed by – Jorge Solis
IDW Dark and Paramount recently joined forces to launch limited comic book tales set in the worlds of Smile and A Quiet Place, and we’ve learned today that they’ll continue hanging around in those franchise universes with two brand new limited series tales.
Entertainment Weekly has exclusively revealed this afternoon that IDW Dark’s Any Given Smile debuts in September, while A Quiet Place: Rising Tides arrives in November.
First up, from writer Stephanie Williams and artist Pablo Collar, Any Given Smile puts a football-themed twist on Parker Finn’s successful Smile movie franchise.
The five-part limited series is “set in January 1995, during the American Arena League football championship game in St. Augustine, Florida. The rising superstar of the Sharks, backup quarterback Dupree, is feeling the pressure from his teammates, the fans, and also the city’s gambling underworld, to whom he owes a considerable debt. Meanwhile, a sports journalist investigates a string of suicides that may be connected to the big game. At the very least, they are connected to a sinister entity that preys on the minds of its victims.”
From writer Declan Shalvey and artist Luke Sparrow, A Quiet Place: Rising Tides will also be a five-issue limited story. The comic book tale “brings the creatures to the Florida Keys, where a father-daughter duo attempt to survive on water in a houseboat.”
EW further details, “This tense family reunion coincides with the arrival of the vicious creatures that hunt through sound. Grace and her dad find safety on the open ocean, but she’ll have to make landfall sooner or later; the father’s oxygen tank and their supplies are running low, while a hurricane swiftly approaches.”
Learn more about both comic books over on Entertainment Weekly.
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