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Hack/Slash: Back to School
A new chapter in the beloved horror series by Eisner nominated creator Zoe Thorogood (IT'S LONELY AT THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH) that's perfect for new readers and old fans alike!
Slasher hunter Cassie Hack is only just getting used to her man-monster partner, Vlad, when she's drawn into a new case involving a murderous bunny mascot, dead kids, and an entire squad of maladjusted teenage serial killer-hunters!
Collects Hack/ Back to School #1-#4
Slasher hunter Cassie Hack is only just getting used to her man-monster partner, Vlad, when she's drawn into a new case involving a murderous bunny mascot, dead kids, and an entire squad of maladjusted teenage serial killer-hunters!
Collects Hack/ Back to School #1-#4
112 pages, Paperback
Published June 25, 2024
7 people are currently reading
151 people want to read
About the author
Zoe Thorogood
46 books678 followersZoe Thorogood is an English cartoonist. While studying video game art at university, Thorogood began working as a freelance comic book artist. She achieved notoriety with her graphic novels The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott (2020, Avery Hill Publishing) and It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth (2022, Image Comics).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
June 20, 2024
A strange hyper-sexual slasher story. Set in the Hack/Slash universe (also my introduction to that). Great artwork on most pages, but I didn't really understand the world at all. It seemed very random.
The ending is very disappointing and makes the whole thing a tad pointless.
The ending is very disappointing and makes the whole thing a tad pointless.
June 18, 2025
Apesar da Zoe Thorogood já ter uma gama de fãs no Brasil e estar com obras consolidadas, Hack/Slash: De Volta à Escola é o meu primeiro contato com as obras da autora, e confesso que já estou apaixonado por sua escrita, e principalmente por seus desenhos, que conseguem transmitir sentimento e demonstram muito bem o que os personagens estão sentindo.
É importante ressaltar que a franquia Hack/Slash foi criada em 2004, nos EUA, por Tim Seeley, entretanto, esse encadernado foi a estreia da franquia de horror em território nacional. E embora esse universo já possua anos de desenvolvimento, a leitura dessa HQ pode ser realizada sem conhecimentos prévios, pois a trama se passa no inicio de carreira da Cassie Hack.
Dessa forma, acompanhamos Cassie Hack nos seus primeiros passos como caçadora de assassinos Slasher. De início, vemos o quanto ela é insegura e um pouco receosa sobre sua atuação nessa nova “profissão”, mas ao ser recrutada para uma academia de treinamento de meninas caçadoras de Slashers, notamos o seu amadurecimento. Além disso, vemos Cassie e suas amigas em missões e em momentos íntimos, o que mostra bem o desenvolvimento das personagens.
É notável o quanto Zoe consegue trabalhar, tanto nos roteiros quanto nos desenhos, cenas e diálogos que saem do horror e violência, para algo intimo e sensível. A roteirista consegue transmitir momentos caóticos envolvendo ação e o medo causado pelo confronto com os assassinos, bem como momentos de relacionamento entre as meninas, com um toque sensível e pontual, que consegue transmitir ao leitor todo o sentimento daquele quadro.
Apesar de ter gostado muito da HQ, ela sofre com alguns momentos frenéticos e falta de transição entre os quadros. Em determinadas cenas, parece que há uma ruptura brusca entre o que está acontecendo e o que vem na sequência, é um pouco estranho, mas nada que irá tirar a imersão, pois o desenvolvimento e amizade das personagens conseguem capturar o leitor de maneira bem orgânica.
Ademais, fiquei com vontade de ler mais histórias desse universo, a protagonista Cassie Hack conseguiu me conquistar.
É importante ressaltar que a franquia Hack/Slash foi criada em 2004, nos EUA, por Tim Seeley, entretanto, esse encadernado foi a estreia da franquia de horror em território nacional. E embora esse universo já possua anos de desenvolvimento, a leitura dessa HQ pode ser realizada sem conhecimentos prévios, pois a trama se passa no inicio de carreira da Cassie Hack.
Dessa forma, acompanhamos Cassie Hack nos seus primeiros passos como caçadora de assassinos Slasher. De início, vemos o quanto ela é insegura e um pouco receosa sobre sua atuação nessa nova “profissão”, mas ao ser recrutada para uma academia de treinamento de meninas caçadoras de Slashers, notamos o seu amadurecimento. Além disso, vemos Cassie e suas amigas em missões e em momentos íntimos, o que mostra bem o desenvolvimento das personagens.
É notável o quanto Zoe consegue trabalhar, tanto nos roteiros quanto nos desenhos, cenas e diálogos que saem do horror e violência, para algo intimo e sensível. A roteirista consegue transmitir momentos caóticos envolvendo ação e o medo causado pelo confronto com os assassinos, bem como momentos de relacionamento entre as meninas, com um toque sensível e pontual, que consegue transmitir ao leitor todo o sentimento daquele quadro.
Apesar de ter gostado muito da HQ, ela sofre com alguns momentos frenéticos e falta de transição entre os quadros. Em determinadas cenas, parece que há uma ruptura brusca entre o que está acontecendo e o que vem na sequência, é um pouco estranho, mas nada que irá tirar a imersão, pois o desenvolvimento e amizade das personagens conseguem capturar o leitor de maneira bem orgânica.
Ademais, fiquei com vontade de ler mais histórias desse universo, a protagonista Cassie Hack conseguiu me conquistar.
April 30, 2024
Zoe Thorogood's It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth is a masterpiece.
Zoe Thorogood's Hack/Slash Back to School is... a comic that exists. Good for her!
Zoe Thorogood's Hack/Slash Back to School is... a comic that exists. Good for her!
September 17, 2024
I was really enjoying it and then it just ended! Too abruptly, I felt like the setting and characters had more mileage. Loved the monster design, Frogboi and Boo's unhinged everything.
October 2, 2025
Noen ujevne tempo- og toneskift, men veldig, veldig stilig. Skal tvinge typen med på å cosplaye Cassie Hack og Vlad sammen.
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March 4, 2025Zoe Thorogood's debut The Impending Blindness Of Billie Scott was a success in ways you don't often see for an indie cartoonist; she followed that up with It's Lonely At The Centre Of The Earth, which was that rarest of things, a navel-gazing graphic memoir that actually deserved the mainstream critical plaudits. So I'm not sure anyone was expecting her next move to be a continuity-insert miniseries for long-running exploitation pastiche Hack/Slash. Not a comic I ever really got into, despite liking a lot of Tim Seeley's other stuff; self-aware or not, its gory Final Girl riffs just tended to come across a little tacky. Whereas somewhere between Thorogood's sheer skill at putting a comics page together, and my no longer needing to second-guess whether the layers of irony out-compete the male gaze, this can give us a scene with a group of young women going undercover while they hunt a slasher by claiming that they're strippers with a samurai schoolgirl schtick, and still have me convinced it's art – or at least near enough for plausible deniability. I still don't altogether know why it exists, but I'm glad it does.
February 2, 2025
I was not familiar at all with Hack/Slash before picking up this prequel (?) mostly because Zoe Thorogood's name was on it. So, I was a bit surprised when the book kicked off with a brutal murder by a monster in a bunny costume. Once Cassie Hack was settled into the school for serial killer killers (?), the book felt like it was on sounder footing.
Of course, until it wasn't. The dramatic fourth issue twist was a real rugpull for a neophyte like me. () The rest of Back to School was pretty fun, though, as the goofy classmates team up to take down some weird-as-hell killers. Thorogood's art is detailed and dynamic, a real highlight. The plot is scattershot, but mostly fun. Overall: super weird, pretty neat. I am not at all interested in reading more in the Hack/Slash series though.
Of course, until it wasn't. The dramatic fourth issue twist was a real rugpull for a neophyte like me. () The rest of Back to School was pretty fun, though, as the goofy classmates team up to take down some weird-as-hell killers. Thorogood's art is detailed and dynamic, a real highlight. The plot is scattershot, but mostly fun. Overall: super weird, pretty neat. I am not at all interested in reading more in the Hack/Slash series though.
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November 15, 2024Pourquoi avoir choisi cette couverture alternative et pas celle d’origine ?? Ici ce n’est même pas la personnage principale :((( trop dommage
Sinon comme j’adore ce que j’ai Zoé Thorogood j’ai forcément lu cette nouvelle sortie ! Du gore avec des jeunes filles qui apprennent dans une école à tuer les slashers. C’est surtout le trait de l’autrice que j’apprécie mais elle a aussi réussi à rendre ses personnages touchantes : plein de jeunes filles trauma par leurs passés mais qui se battent malgré tout. Il ne faut pas oublier que c’est un titre qui joue beaucoup avec le « sexy » et même si ce n’est pas mon truc ce n’était jamais too much je pense, en tout cas comme je savais à quoi m’attendre en le lisant ça ne m’a pas trop choqué
Sinon comme j’adore ce que j’ai Zoé Thorogood j’ai forcément lu cette nouvelle sortie ! Du gore avec des jeunes filles qui apprennent dans une école à tuer les slashers. C’est surtout le trait de l’autrice que j’apprécie mais elle a aussi réussi à rendre ses personnages touchantes : plein de jeunes filles trauma par leurs passés mais qui se battent malgré tout. Il ne faut pas oublier que c’est un titre qui joue beaucoup avec le « sexy » et même si ce n’est pas mon truc ce n’était jamais too much je pense, en tout cas comme je savais à quoi m’attendre en le lisant ça ne m’a pas trop choqué
July 13, 2025
4.3 ⭐️ This comic was utterly hinged, sapphic, and a tonne of truly messed up fun.
This is the first I’ve read in this world and did work well as a standalone. I went into this not knowing anything about the rest of the hack/slash novels and still enjoyed it thoroughly.
It follows a group of slasher hunters and isn’t short on the horror side at all. Some of the scenes are truly stomach turning.
I picked this up because I’ve loved everything by Zoe that I’ve read, and I’ll be happy to add this to the list of favourites I need to grab a hard copy of. Art? Superb. Story? So much fun. The gaming sequence was awesome.
Rep// White Sapphic MC, BIPOC Sapphic MC. Central romance is WLW/Sapphic.
TWs listed below, please skip if you don’t want vague spoilers.
TW// eye horror, heavy gore, murder, mass killings, animal harm, animal murder, parental abuse (past, hitting, on page flash back), nudity and WLW sex on page (brief), vomiting, blood, bodies, possession, mutilated corpses, loss of family, murder/harm of children and adults, spiders, demons, trauma.
This is the first I’ve read in this world and did work well as a standalone. I went into this not knowing anything about the rest of the hack/slash novels and still enjoyed it thoroughly.
It follows a group of slasher hunters and isn’t short on the horror side at all. Some of the scenes are truly stomach turning.
I picked this up because I’ve loved everything by Zoe that I’ve read, and I’ll be happy to add this to the list of favourites I need to grab a hard copy of. Art? Superb. Story? So much fun. The gaming sequence was awesome.
Rep// White Sapphic MC, BIPOC Sapphic MC. Central romance is WLW/Sapphic.
TWs listed below, please skip if you don’t want vague spoilers.
TW// eye horror, heavy gore, murder, mass killings, animal harm, animal murder, parental abuse (past, hitting, on page flash back), nudity and WLW sex on page (brief), vomiting, blood, bodies, possession, mutilated corpses, loss of family, murder/harm of children and adults, spiders, demons, trauma.
November 12, 2025
for all 4 issues.
September 1, 2024
Hack/Slash: Back to School
Having killed her own mother, who had become a Slasher, Hack wants to become a Slasher hunter. After a Slasher attack at a fast food place she was eating in, with her new, half human, half monster, companion, Vlad, she meets Darla, the teacher/creator of a school for young women who wants to become Slasher hunters and she instantly joins. On her first missions she goes with two other girls from the school, Boo and Sam and after seeing a gamer being cut in half and hang, they get sucked, by a portal on the pc, inside the game frog boy and they see its creator kill himself, due to his ungrateful fanbase. In the second case they investigate a strip club, where the new girls go in, but never get out and in the third and final case of this comic, a Slasher that had been killing happy families all around America comes to the school and the girls need to protect themselves.
This is my first Hack/Slash read and I decided to finally check one of these out because it's written and drawn by Zoe Thorogood, who's work I really admire. I'm really glad I decided to read this, because now I want to also read the original Hack/Slash stories, which wouldn't have grabbed my attention otherwise. Right from the first few pages this was way more interesting and violent than I expected, with beheadings of children taking place in the very first issue of the series. Now if that's not a great attention grabber I don't know what is! In general this whole comic was very fun, full of interesting characters and a lot of great action. At the same time though, Zoe Thorogood is able to explore some darker themes as well. The part with the creator of Frog Boy killing himself, because his fans never cared about him and just demanded more and more of his work is a simple yet interesting commentary on how fans don't really care about the artists, they just want them to create more and more from what they like. Earlier in the comic we can also see a splash page that clearly pays a tribute to the incredible manga "Chainsaw Man", so I can't help but to think about how a lot of the manga creators in Japan have to hide their identities, because their own fans are likely to be a threat to their lives, if they don't continue certain storylines in the way they want to or if they take too long to release new chapters. Besides this very interesting commentary, Zoe also explores trauma and how different people deal with it or suppress it. The most interesting example of this, from this comic, is Boo, who overly-sexualizes herself and obsessed about boys, in order to stay in this small bubble in her mind and avoid thinking about her tragic past. Furthermore, the comic has very nice narration, from Hack's diary and the ending was way more dramatic and tragic than I expected from such a fun comic, although I should've probably seen that coming.
Zoe Thorogood's artwork in this comic was gorgeous as always. The action scenes are dynamic and look awesome, the character designs are unique and fun and all the gore looks disturbing yet beautiful. In general I'm a big fan of her art style, so I really enjoyed all the artwork. If I had one complaint about it though, it'd be that some times she's trying to fit too many panels in one page, making it feel a bit crammed.
Overall, this was a very fun read, with a lot of funny moments and some extremely dramatic ones that inspired me to read more Hack/Slash.
9/10
Having killed her own mother, who had become a Slasher, Hack wants to become a Slasher hunter. After a Slasher attack at a fast food place she was eating in, with her new, half human, half monster, companion, Vlad, she meets Darla, the teacher/creator of a school for young women who wants to become Slasher hunters and she instantly joins. On her first missions she goes with two other girls from the school, Boo and Sam and after seeing a gamer being cut in half and hang, they get sucked, by a portal on the pc, inside the game frog boy and they see its creator kill himself, due to his ungrateful fanbase. In the second case they investigate a strip club, where the new girls go in, but never get out and in the third and final case of this comic, a Slasher that had been killing happy families all around America comes to the school and the girls need to protect themselves.
This is my first Hack/Slash read and I decided to finally check one of these out because it's written and drawn by Zoe Thorogood, who's work I really admire. I'm really glad I decided to read this, because now I want to also read the original Hack/Slash stories, which wouldn't have grabbed my attention otherwise. Right from the first few pages this was way more interesting and violent than I expected, with beheadings of children taking place in the very first issue of the series. Now if that's not a great attention grabber I don't know what is! In general this whole comic was very fun, full of interesting characters and a lot of great action. At the same time though, Zoe Thorogood is able to explore some darker themes as well. The part with the creator of Frog Boy killing himself, because his fans never cared about him and just demanded more and more of his work is a simple yet interesting commentary on how fans don't really care about the artists, they just want them to create more and more from what they like. Earlier in the comic we can also see a splash page that clearly pays a tribute to the incredible manga "Chainsaw Man", so I can't help but to think about how a lot of the manga creators in Japan have to hide their identities, because their own fans are likely to be a threat to their lives, if they don't continue certain storylines in the way they want to or if they take too long to release new chapters. Besides this very interesting commentary, Zoe also explores trauma and how different people deal with it or suppress it. The most interesting example of this, from this comic, is Boo, who overly-sexualizes herself and obsessed about boys, in order to stay in this small bubble in her mind and avoid thinking about her tragic past. Furthermore, the comic has very nice narration, from Hack's diary and the ending was way more dramatic and tragic than I expected from such a fun comic, although I should've probably seen that coming.
Zoe Thorogood's artwork in this comic was gorgeous as always. The action scenes are dynamic and look awesome, the character designs are unique and fun and all the gore looks disturbing yet beautiful. In general I'm a big fan of her art style, so I really enjoyed all the artwork. If I had one complaint about it though, it'd be that some times she's trying to fit too many panels in one page, making it feel a bit crammed.
Overall, this was a very fun read, with a lot of funny moments and some extremely dramatic ones that inspired me to read more Hack/Slash.
9/10
April 22, 2024
sort of had no idea about the hack/slash universe and yes the rest of it is absloutely ludicrious but in the most fun way. this was a great comic, i've never actually read other zoe thorogood works but her art pairs so well with the hack/slash universe. the banter between cassie and vlad was just chefs kiss in thorogood's hands.
July 6, 2024
I really enjoyed this, but it ends soo abruptly! I know it's a prequel to the Hack/Slash series (which I never read) but come on, this is so cool, it could have used an extra issue to give more gravitas to the ending and the characters relationships.
Anyway, if you like Junji Ito or horror manga in general you are going to enjoy this! Zoe rocks
Anyway, if you like Junji Ito or horror manga in general you are going to enjoy this! Zoe rocks
July 18, 2024
Lots of fun. Maybe not Thorogood's best narrative work, but we're here for the art. Lots of imaginative and gory kills, nightmarish monsters, and badass schoolgirls. A ton of fun and doesn't waste your time with pretensions of being anything more than what it is. Zoe Thorogood is a comics rockstar, can't wait for what she does next.
November 8, 2025
I already wrote an in-depth review of Hack/Slash: Back to School on Substack. I'm hopping onto Goodreads to address other Goodreads users' criticisms of the book's ending.
My review on Substack includes an analysis of Hack/Slash as a whole, images from Hack/Slash: Back to School and another Hack/Slash comic, photos, a quote from Zoe Thorogood, information from my CBR interview with Hack/Slash creator Tim Seeley and quotes from Hack/Slash: Back to School.
Here's an excerpt from the review, addressing the criticisms of this book's ending and why it's actually amazing:
"Cassie doesn’t remember the events of Hack/Slash: Back to School, but Vlad does. In many Hack/Slash comics, Cassie vents to Vlad about her psychological trauma, emotional turmoil and innermost thoughts. Hack/Slash: Back to School revealed the burden that Vlad is willing to carry for his best friend. This recontextualized the character and everything he says and does in subsequent stories.
Vlad wiping Cassie’s memory of the events of Hack/Slash: Back to School showed how much he already understood her before knowing her for very long. Cassie was already filled with guilt, blaming herself for her mother killing her school bullies. Knowing what she did to everyone at Hunters for Hire & Darla Ritz’s Academy for Girls could’ve been enough to break her. Besides, it would be weird if Cassie supposedly learned a lot from Hunters for Hire & Darla Ritz’s Academy for Girls but never once mentioned it before in 20 years’ worth of Hack/Slash comics.
The horrific reveal near the end of Hack/Slash: Back to School might make readers sink further into their seats as the gravity of the tragic situation weighs on them. Readers might not even realize how much they’ve grown to care about these characters until they’re abruptly and violently taken away. I cry a lot during movies, but I don’t usually cry while reading comics. However, I was bawling like a baby the first time I read Hack/Slash: Back to School #4.
The ending is all the more heartbreaking, considering why Cassie was susceptible to the Mother’s possession in the first place. Cassie felt normal for the first time in her life at Hunters for Hire & Darla Ritz’s Academy for Girls. She was able to get a good night’s sleep for the first time since slaying her own mother. Cassie felt like she belonged among young women who had experienced similar trauma. Her classmates became her found family who loved her, Darla became her maternal figure and Sam became her girlfriend. It was easy for readers to feel happy for Cassie, only for this to abruptly end with her possession and a bloody murder spree."
You can read the rest of my review here:
https://starvingauthor.substack.com/p...
My review on Substack includes an analysis of Hack/Slash as a whole, images from Hack/Slash: Back to School and another Hack/Slash comic, photos, a quote from Zoe Thorogood, information from my CBR interview with Hack/Slash creator Tim Seeley and quotes from Hack/Slash: Back to School.
Here's an excerpt from the review, addressing the criticisms of this book's ending and why it's actually amazing:
"Cassie doesn’t remember the events of Hack/Slash: Back to School, but Vlad does. In many Hack/Slash comics, Cassie vents to Vlad about her psychological trauma, emotional turmoil and innermost thoughts. Hack/Slash: Back to School revealed the burden that Vlad is willing to carry for his best friend. This recontextualized the character and everything he says and does in subsequent stories.
Vlad wiping Cassie’s memory of the events of Hack/Slash: Back to School showed how much he already understood her before knowing her for very long. Cassie was already filled with guilt, blaming herself for her mother killing her school bullies. Knowing what she did to everyone at Hunters for Hire & Darla Ritz’s Academy for Girls could’ve been enough to break her. Besides, it would be weird if Cassie supposedly learned a lot from Hunters for Hire & Darla Ritz’s Academy for Girls but never once mentioned it before in 20 years’ worth of Hack/Slash comics.
The horrific reveal near the end of Hack/Slash: Back to School might make readers sink further into their seats as the gravity of the tragic situation weighs on them. Readers might not even realize how much they’ve grown to care about these characters until they’re abruptly and violently taken away. I cry a lot during movies, but I don’t usually cry while reading comics. However, I was bawling like a baby the first time I read Hack/Slash: Back to School #4.
The ending is all the more heartbreaking, considering why Cassie was susceptible to the Mother’s possession in the first place. Cassie felt normal for the first time in her life at Hunters for Hire & Darla Ritz’s Academy for Girls. She was able to get a good night’s sleep for the first time since slaying her own mother. Cassie felt like she belonged among young women who had experienced similar trauma. Her classmates became her found family who loved her, Darla became her maternal figure and Sam became her girlfriend. It was easy for readers to feel happy for Cassie, only for this to abruptly end with her possession and a bloody murder spree."
You can read the rest of my review here:
https://starvingauthor.substack.com/p...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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July 21, 2024I think i would have liked this better if it wasn't a Hack/Slash story. The development was a little thin and Cassie was out of character (especially with her planning to run away and have a cookie cutter life with a character she didn't have THAT much chemistry with though there "relationship" was....fine) and at the end she gets her memory of all the events that happened in the book erased...
To me, in my head, this is a non canon story. I'm just not a fan of Cassie being quick to jump on board to go to this school surrounded by so many young adult girls, atleast have her struggle with it and be cautious at first. I wanted more Cassie and Vlad moments and I hated how another character was responsible for Cassie's infamous 'Kiss It' bat with nails. WHAT?! I understand that this was supposed to be the really early days of Cassie hunting Slashers but it feels too different from the Hack/Slash I adore. However, the art is really great, so nice to look at.
To me, in my head, this is a non canon story. I'm just not a fan of Cassie being quick to jump on board to go to this school surrounded by so many young adult girls, atleast have her struggle with it and be cautious at first. I wanted more Cassie and Vlad moments and I hated how another character was responsible for Cassie's infamous 'Kiss It' bat with nails. WHAT?! I understand that this was supposed to be the really early days of Cassie hunting Slashers but it feels too different from the Hack/Slash I adore. However, the art is really great, so nice to look at.
July 5, 2024
So this is a Hack/Slash book... I don't know why I expected something more (maybe because It's Lonely was so damn good). It's go the blood, the gore and overly sexualized chicks. It's B Movie galore !
Zoe Thorogood creates her own continuity, where Cassie's just starting out when the story starts and literally just met Vlad. She quickly gets recruited into an all girls school for slasher hunters. But she kind of undoes everything she's built by the end of it, through this lame deus ex machina, which was kind of a shame.
Art wise, she injects a little of her chameleonic schtick she did it It's Lonely. There's a bit where they're in a pixel game, which was fun. She really let's her horror manga influence loose in this one as well. But mostly I don't think I quite cared for the shenanigans that ensued..
Zoe Thorogood creates her own continuity, where Cassie's just starting out when the story starts and literally just met Vlad. She quickly gets recruited into an all girls school for slasher hunters. But she kind of undoes everything she's built by the end of it, through this lame deus ex machina, which was kind of a shame.
Art wise, she injects a little of her chameleonic schtick she did it It's Lonely. There's a bit where they're in a pixel game, which was fun. She really let's her horror manga influence loose in this one as well. But mostly I don't think I quite cared for the shenanigans that ensued..
November 28, 2024
Meh. Hack/Slash has been around for awhile and this miniseries takes place REALLY early in their continuity. Points given for making it easier on new readers to the gory stories. Point taken for it being even weirder than some of the later stories in the series.
It feels like it could have been something that got explored longer. With four issues, there is a massive rush just as the main character makes a life defining choice. It's memory wiped out of regular continuity which just makes is sooooooooo convenient. No ties to the future storylines just makes me feel like we're reading an alternate reality Hack/Slash and whatever the do/did has no effect on what we know is coming.
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Bonus: Check out the movie posters at the Academy
Bonus Bonus: We get it, trauma can do weird things to you...
It feels like it could have been something that got explored longer. With four issues, there is a massive rush just as the main character makes a life defining choice. It's memory wiped out of regular continuity which just makes is sooooooooo convenient. No ties to the future storylines just makes me feel like we're reading an alternate reality Hack/Slash and whatever the do/did has no effect on what we know is coming.
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Bonus: Check out the movie posters at the Academy
Bonus Bonus: We get it, trauma can do weird things to you...
May 26, 2025
I am a huge Hack/Slash fan and was excited to read a prequel of sorts. It starts out really good and then just ends on a weird note, but not in a good and interesting way. The ending feels very rushed leaving out much needed story elements. It is like they wanted to have more issues and it was decided at the last minute to just end it on issue four.
I did like that it showed Cassie's vulnerable side dealing with her mother being a slasher. Cassie becomes a bad ass later in the timeline but she did not start out that way.
This book is much better than the previous Resurrection volume 1, but a far cry from the hey day of the series.
The art is fine, however the colors are flat and boring.
I did like that it showed Cassie's vulnerable side dealing with her mother being a slasher. Cassie becomes a bad ass later in the timeline but she did not start out that way.
This book is much better than the previous Resurrection volume 1, but a far cry from the hey day of the series.
The art is fine, however the colors are flat and boring.
July 4, 2024
I'll read anything that Zoe Thorogood touches (I know I still need to read Rain and Life is Strange, btw).
I had read some Hack/Slash before and this definitely gives the vibe of if the older Hack/Slash comics had a kid with Zoe's other stuff. Overall, it was fun with some reflective moments but the ending gave me a rushed vibe. As if the publisher made the deadline sooner than intended and rushed the author. I feel like this could definitely be flushed out more if Zoe had more issues.
Nonetheless, Zoe is awesome, Hack/Slash is cool horror/action fun, and this was a fun quick read.
I had read some Hack/Slash before and this definitely gives the vibe of if the older Hack/Slash comics had a kid with Zoe's other stuff. Overall, it was fun with some reflective moments but the ending gave me a rushed vibe. As if the publisher made the deadline sooner than intended and rushed the author. I feel like this could definitely be flushed out more if Zoe had more issues.
Nonetheless, Zoe is awesome, Hack/Slash is cool horror/action fun, and this was a fun quick read.
August 5, 2024
I love Zoe Thorogood comics so much. The art here is fantastic. I had no idea about the hack/slash universe and while this comic did not leave me wanting to know more about the 20 years of hack/slash, I think the characters and overall story were very enjoyable. I wanted to know more about THIS particular Hack/Slash, these specific versions of the characters. The ending was quick, I think I understand what happened but it wasn't entirely satisfying.
Still, Zoe Thorogood is one of, if not THE best comic artist right now. I'll happily pick up any of her books
Still, Zoe Thorogood is one of, if not THE best comic artist right now. I'll happily pick up any of her books
June 30, 2024
Thorogood’s art is as great as ever, but I’m less a fan of her genre fiction writing here. I can still recognize her imagination and playful excess, but instead of those tendencies being directed at a poignant memoir or memoir-adjacent story, it’s a goofy mix of splatter horror and skeezy pin-up girl ogling and creepypasta fandom. This is might be a decent Slash/Hack comic, but I don’t have any interest in Slash/Hack and read this because Thorogood made it.
July 20, 2024
This is a very fun book and I recommend trying it! Without giving any specifics, the end is simultaneously built up and also feels like it comes out of nowhere. Like the story just needed to end, so it did. That said, I don’t think it really dampens the journey beforehand in any significant way. It just left me with a feeling like I wanted there to be one more chapter, which is still a good feeling.
November 21, 2024
I love Zoe Thorogood, so I did still enjoy this book! Mostly! Until the end, I guess. It's cute, it's fun, has some great moments, art is fantastic and I love every bit of that from the human characters to the monster designs, but it just sort of ends and feels like a weird elseworlds type of thing. Which isn't something I can really notice since I have no other familiarity with Hack/Slash but something didn't sit right with me.
August 24, 2024
Zoe Thorogood’s career is very eccentric but that’s fitting with her aesthetic and approach to comics. I know nothing about the Hack/Slash world but this drew me into that very well. The second chapter in which the girls dive into an indie video game was absolutely brilliant, close to Lonely at the Centre of the Universe level, but the rest was full of really funny gimmicks and over-the-top gore.
December 13, 2024
i loved this! the characters and art were so cute but i'm overall quite sad with how rapidly paced it was and how the ending turned out; i just wanted to keep spending time with the characters! the way it ended in order to service the overall hack/slash timeline is massively disappointing : (
June 20, 2024
This book is bizarre. It has a frenetic energy and rushed pacing, days pass without comment, urgency is up and down... But it's charming and weirdly engaging.
July 24, 2024
This fucking RIPPED. I loved it.
September 23, 2024
I wish I had a better review. Grotesque, unreal, perfect.
September 29, 2024
Bleak but wild and gay, and the ending (in several ways) leaves things open for more of this, which I’m down for!
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