Hack/Slash Omnibus Vol. 3

Hack/Slash #O3

by Tim Seeley, Bryan Baugh (Illustrator), Kevin Mellon (Illustrator)

An utterly defeated Cassie must overcome the death of her father if she's gong to escape a run-in with the police, a host of vengeance-seeking enemies, and a whole bunch of new slashers! Will Vlad be enough back up, or will the slasher-hunting duo need to turn to some unlikely allies? Collects HACK/SLASH #18-34, plus the ENTRY WOUND one-shot.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Horror, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Fantasy, Paranormal

461 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 7, 2010

About the author

Tim Seeley is a comic book artist and writer known for his work on books such as G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, The Dark Elf Trilogy, Batman Eternal and Grayson. He is also the co-creator of the Image Comics titles Hack/Slash[1] and Revival, as well as the Dark Horse titles, ExSanguine and Sundowners. He lives in Chicago.

Reviews

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

[#ReadAllTheBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to say that there's something about this series that is addicting to the point where I ended up purchasing the first 4 omnibus editions despite feeling lukewarm about the first two when I initially read them. I like the series, but I'll admit that it's a mixed love. For every one thing I've loved about this series, there are at least as many things about it that irk me.

First, the stuff I loved. This volume keeps up the habit of having some pretty interesting artwork that runs the gamut as far as art styles go. There are some I prefer more than others, but for the most part this helps keep the series rather fresh and I like seeing how different people draw the different characters. Especially Vlad. Some draw him looking nearly normal while others play up him up to look more monstrous. I'm not sure which I prefer, to be honest. There are also some decent stories in this volume. Anything that brings back Gertrude, the greatest groupie ever, is a good story arc in my book. I also like that there isn't as much name dropping as there was in the first two volumes. Mentioning specific artists or the roster of the Suicide Girls website might be fun if you're more familiar with those people, but if you're not then they just fall flat because the story assumes that you're already aware of them.

Unfortunately there are just as many parts that sort of feel just "meh". There's a return to the Archie parody world, which I was somewhat excited about, only for it to fizzle more than sizzle. We also have trouble in paradise for Cassie and Margaret, which didn't really sit right with me. (slight spoiler) I know that there wouldn't be any running off into the sunset for the two of them, at least not anytime soon, but this just felt like it could have been handled better.

This is still fun and I'm enjoying the omnibus editions, but this is still a rocky road for me as far as the series as a whole goes. I'll keep reading, but this still remains one of those series that I'm forever undecided on whether or not I should keep collecting it or let it go.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I dig this series, (I wouldn't have bought 3, omnibus editions at over 30 bucks each if I didn't enjoy it) I didn't enjoy this third volume as much as the first two.

While the series is still full of the delightful ultra-violence with a pleasant dash of clever. I'm getting a little tired of three things.

1. Previously defeated baddies coming back again. And again.

I know it's appropriate for a series about slasher-killers like Jason Voorhees and Michael Meyers. But this comic is about a young girl who actually *kills* these guys, right? That's the whole shtick. It kinda undermines the core concept when it turns out she doesn't really kill them.

2. A few too many one-off guest appearances.

I'll admit I got a kick out of seeing a cameo from Milk and Cheese, and the storyline where Chucky showed up was kinda cool too. But too many of these unrelated side stories makes me feel like the overall narrative is getting sidetracked, if not outright ignored at times.

I know this isn't Sandman or Transmetropolitan. It's a story about a scantily clad young woman who kills people. It's bound to be rather episodic at times. And I'm willing to go along with a certain amount of interesting diversion. I'm no slave to plot, as anyone who has read my books knows very well.

But still, I'm in this for the narrative. I want me some character development and overall story progression. If I don't get that, I feel cranky.

Am I picking nits? Yeah. A bit. Note that I still like it 4/5 stars. And I'll still buy the next omnibus when it comes out.

[Wing Kee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A step back. 2.5.

World: The art was mostly fine. But I did find the artists for this arc not to my taste. There is the overly cartoony Betty boop flavor to the book which I'm not a fan of. The world building is steady and solid. There are aspects which I adore, especially the character moments. The idea of the Superhero crossover is good on paper but I felt it was not really done all that well and a wasted opportunity.

Story: I felt that the small emotions and moments are still good but this arc had two things which didn't really grab me: Black Lamp, and Superheroes. The cameos were less well known and the tension and drama less hard hitting making it only standard par for the corse fare for Hack/Slash. I did not really connect with Samhain either which yeah...spinning the wheels.

Characters: After the great last arc the continuation of Cassie and Vlad's story was a bit of a let down. It's expected but it's a let down. I wanted more diving into the last but we got some interesting character. I did not really care for Samhain though which was crucial to this arc.

A step back.

Onward to the next book!

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pfft, this one is a tough one to review.

Well, okay, it's not. Hack/Slash volume 3 isn't actually that good. I was a huge fan of the first two volumes but this omnibus and its stories pushed me away from the franchise. Basically, the omnibus takes some of the flaws of the previous volumes and then exaggerates them a great deal before adding a few more.

The premise of Hack/Slash is Cassie Hack is a young beautiful Goth girl who is the daughter of a Slasher. Slashers are human beings with homicidal impulses who, if killed, resurrect from the dead as unstoppable revenants. Traveling with her deformed but pleasant-mannered friend, Vlad, she attempts to wipe out all Slashers everywhere. This basically being the case of a Final Girl and a good aligned Jason Voorhees versus an endless horde of horror movie villains.

This volume is filled with a lot of returning "favorites", crossovers, and the introduction of the Black Lamp Society that I have issues. I was a big fan of some elements like the introduction of the character Samhain who is a pretty transparent homage to the character Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The thing is, if you're going to take inspiration from other works for your wn then you should take from the best.

In general, the omnibus shows there was perhaps just a little too much effort to appeal to older fans as well as try to gain crossover potential. One of the appeals of Hack/Slash is its a violent R-rated antihero comic book with a high body count. Cassie Hack kills her opponents and they should, if not stay dead, at least have a pretty big interlude between appearances. New varieties of slashers should be created since it shouldn't be like Spiderman with the same villains popping up again and again.

I'm also not a fan of the Black Lamp Society or how it comes not only to dominate the story but the entire mythology of Hack/Slash. The origins of the Slashers are revealed to be an ancient Greek sex-hating cult that is misusing a sacred flower of an African tribe to create an endless army of murderous Michael Meyers types. How do I feel about this revelation? Roughly the same way that If did about Michael Myers being controlled by a secret cult of druids. It is a silly origin no one really needed for the monsters.

Samhain is a good love interest for Cassie and I admit I kind of like her a bit more than Georgia Peaches (though I don't like her). I know how this story ends, though, and I feel like they could have gone deeper with the relationship between our heroine as well as our Jack-o-Lantern themed killer.

4/10

[Matt Piechocinski · Rating 1 out of 5]

This went from "meh" to awful.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this volume, but not quite as much as the first two. For one thing, this volume moved a little too much into superhero territory. While I love superhero comics, that's not why I read this series and really it doesn't fit in with what's been established. It's still a good read and it's not like a total direction change, but I like it better when it focuses on horror rather than adding in superpowers.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hack/Slash goes from strength to strength despite starting with what felt like a slightly weaker story, following up the events at the end of the last collection with Cassie's family. However, it does tie up a few loose ends and then we get the return of some older characters back to cause more trouble in a fun story.

This collection also introduces the Black Lamp Society and Samhain who provide a different direction to the nature of the revenants/slashers. I quite enjoyed this new twist and Cassie and Vlad get to develop their characters a little more. Possibly at the expense of their back up team who get less time throughout despite their own parallel story that fades out.

There's a lot of fun pop culture references scattered throughout (Buffy, Hellboy, Marvel Zombies), the team ups are entertaining and the T&A element is really emphasised a lot more than previous (except for Cassie's Suicide Girls spread). The artwork remains variable depending on who's holding the pencils but it really comes down to what you like. The realistic issues are better in my opinion but the cartoony ones are visually arresting and good fun. Swings and roundabouts.

Definitely going to keep reading with this quality.

[Maddoganchorite · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Omnibus had alot of humor, and had alot of twists and turns. I had a certain problem with this volume storywise but other than that it was an entertaining volume. The art each issues has alot of differences. There's references to H. P. Lovecraft, which is fine by me. The dialogue between characters are constantly great. The art is constantly amazing. I love how one of the issues looks like the old Archie comics I used to read. So far, the comic hasn't really disappointed me. Overall, a good comic volume.

[Randy Lander · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really like this series, but a lot of the art in this book is just not up to par. Cassie Hack has always been somewhat sexy, but the cartoony cheesecake art of the latter 1/3 of the book just reminds me of Josh Howard's less-interesting Hack/Slash type book, which was all about pixie cute girls in the Dini/Timm mode, and Hack has generally been more interesting than that.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent volume of adventures featuring Cassie Hack, Vlad and Pooch. Cassie and Vlad even manage to destroy the Jersey Devil and his mom while reconnecting with The Living Corpse. Highly recommended.

[OmniBen · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review) 2.75
Easily the weakest collection of stories so far. I've stated before that the dreaded 'f' word is cancerous to me when it comes to my comic books. If the first thing you think to describe a book as is 'fun', then for mine, it doesn't have a lot going for it. Fun is usually just a kind way of saying poorly written. Now don't be confusing entertaining with fun. Entertaining is fine. Entertaining is the least a creator should be aspiring to. Fun... Fun is simply not good enough. Now, it won't surprise you to hear, that the first thing I thought to describe this book as, was fun. And when this book was firing on as many cylinders as it could muster, it wasn't an entirely bad thing. When the art was serviceable. When the writing wasn't weak and haphazard. When the story was actually going somewhere. It was certainly... fun. Unfortunately for me. The art was absolutely awful sometimes, and when it improved, it was barely sub par for a lot of the time as well. The writing, was occasionally interesting, though for the most part it was disappointing. And I'm not sure who thought it was a good idea, but putting superheroes in a slasher comic was about as welcome as a pair of sandpaper underwear. And to think I'm only halfway through this series. It would wanna get its act together pretty god damn quick, because an occasionally well drawn pair of Cassie's tits isn't enough to keep me thumbing through over 400 pages of this. 2.75/5


OmniBen.

[Jameson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love the characters, like the stories, mostly hate the art. There are a few exceptions but for my money this omnibus has the spottiest art. Too often it’s the kind that looks like horrible CGI. Cass and Vlad deserve better. I’m hoping there will be a complete story illustrated well buried somewhere in one of the other omnis.

As for the whole overarching story… I blame DS9 for this. DS9 did this so well that creators became embarrassed to tell done-in-one stories. Not all stories need an overarching storyline. This series became too convoluted too fast. I’d rather we got to see more of Cass/Vlad vs fun slasher. The lore is complicated and not interesting.

[Abhinav Vuppalapati · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book took me a while to read, there was lots of material to get through but it’s Hack/Slash, it’s so fun to read and a very good way and a fun way to pass some times, being in quarantine is really boring and these books are helping me get through it and deal with the stress of everything, Hack/Slash is so cleverly written that when you read the stories you are focused on the story and completely forget about everything you were stressed about, it’s overall one of my favorite comics to read, I love these, they’re great! Definitely at the top of my list of favorites!

[Ezma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still enjoying the series. Not sure how we feel about the Black Lamp stuff, though, especially since it’s so vague what they’re actually doing. Apparently they make slashers but can also make human sex dolls??? Samhain’s a fun character in the mix. Thought the Sidekick Sleepover Slaughter was the weakest arc since the Evil Ernie crossover. Felt less like Hack/Slash and more like a Millar-esque lame superhero deconstruction, complete with a “there’s no place for teen superheroes IN THE REAL WORLD” line.

[Ridley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series is addicting in the way that bad, cheesy horror films are. I didnt enjoy this volume as much as the last two though.  I feel the whole "Archie parody world" was a little unnecessary, and instead of a whole new bunch of villians, we find a rehash of old baddies and storylines. But the violence and humour more than made up for that, and so did the addition of the slasher cult.

[Rubén · Rating 3 out of 5]

Supera el conflicto interno e introduce una fuerza enemiga que desata más (aún) las posibilidades de una historia simple pero efectiva. Se introducen nuevos personajes, unos interesantes y otros no tanto.

[Clare · Rating 3 out of 5]

The series loses its way a bit in this omnibus but don’t worry! It picks up again!

[Lenore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the art suffered this volume, and perhaps too many silly storylines. Otherwise good.

[Lizzylocks · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can definitely tell the writer/art team switch ups for special issues, but decently consistent. I enjoy the dark, sexy silly humor & homage to old movies, & stories

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

I described this today as “like B horror movies, but as a comic,” and... four stars. There are flaws, sure, but I love it all the same.

[Ron Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

The tone is a little too offbeat for me. Fantasy, superheroes, conspiracies, comic crossovers. Samhain seemed to be a wasted opportunity. But I did thoroughly enjoy Pooch, the derpy derp demon dog.

[Adrian Bloxham · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories expanding but still as gorey and silly as ever, great comic

[Phil Zimmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Defintely a step down in quality here. Hope the next one is better.

[Johan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't finish the book. I liked the first omnibus, but after that it was just more of the same. I have better books and graphic novels to read.

[Alana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ugh, that Jersey Devil story.

[Iman Dugeno · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok so this should most likely end my foray into this genre.

[k0rp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was I ever going to rate this anything less than a perfect score? Never. ♡

[Tyler Mickelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's Cassie Hack and Vlad, need I say more?

[Matthew Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

So dumb, but so fun!