Story & Art: Zoe Thorogood
Color Assists: Sarah Mitrache
Flats: XLudwigX
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: November 22nd, 2023
Cassie Hack has her first day at Hunters for Hire & Darla Ritz’s Academy for Girls in Hack/Slash: Back to School #2. There are some good things (researching demonic serial killers, having a kick-ass headmistress with an eye patch and chainsaw, delicious lunches) and some bad (the weekly rundown meetings and yeah, facing down masked and horribly disfigured serial killers). The miniseries deftly mixes comedy and brutal horror as Cassie, along with classmates Boo and Sam, hunt for a killer who slices their victims in half, leaving horribly divided corpses (from head to toe) in their wake. It’s another terrifying, fun and fantastic issue of the miniseries.
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The Story
In the world of Hack/Slash, violence can come at any moment. And man, it comes a lot in this issue. Writer/artist Zoe Thorogood starts the issue with a flashback to Darla Ritz’s past, where we see she was a Marilyn Monroe-type glamorous Hollywood star. Even in the flashback though, there’s violence, as we see the gory events that lead to Darla losing her right eye and how she barely escaped a murderer to live another day. She seems to have nightmares frequently like this, where she relives her past, but having her handy chainsaw nearby always gets her through the night.
The bulk of the issue focuses on Cassie, Sam and Boo chasing after a serial killer linked to a video game named “The Sad and Unfortunate Adventures of Frogboy”. What they find is as they push further into the video game is bone-chilling and the trio’s trip through the video game world is wonderfully full of dread. Cassie is written spot on, her usual reserved self who’s wary of everything and everyone. Sam is unwavering, nothing effects her. She always keeps her sword sharp and in her hands. She and Cassie are constantly at odds over Sam barking orders at everyone.
Boo, the most delightful of the three, is a ditzy blonde with an razor-sharp edge. She’s like Chrissy from “Three’s Company” if Chrissy had grown up with a perfect loving family who just happened to be psychotic killers. She’s cute, sweet and chipper but fascinated by darkness and monsters, reminiscent of Sheri Moon Zombie’s character Baby from “The Devil’s Rejects”, but tilted more towards doing good than doing evil. If the Manson family had a member who was a cheerleader, it would have been her. I’d love to see her spun off into her own miniseries or series, that’s how fun and interesting she is.
Writer Zoe Thorogood is brilliant with horror. She builds heavy atmosphere throughout the book and when things hit the fan, the monsters are as twisted and grotesque as something out of H. P. Lovecraft’s nightmares. The thing I love most about her story here (as well as in Creepshow #3) is how over the top the violence in her books is, which really amps up the horror. Here, killers appear out of nowhere, administering a cold steel blade to any eye socket or cutting someone in half from the shadows. It really makes reading the book nail-biting because something could happen at any moment, in any panel. It’s a horror comic with teeth, not like many other horror comics out these days that have no bite to them. I look forward to see what twisted brutal nightmares Ms. Thorogood will deliver next issue.
The Art
Zoe Thorogood’s art on Hack/Slash: Back to School #2 is her usual fantastic work. She’s my favorite artist working these days, able to combine cute and horrific on a level that matches Junji Ito’s work. Her art style changes in the video game section of the story, perfectly capturing the look and feel of an old-fashioned video game before jettisoning back into the beautifully nightmarish “real world” again. Beautiful work.
Final Thoughts
Hack/Slash: Back to School #2 is another fantastic issue, bone-chilling from beginning to end. We learn more about Hunters for Hire & Darla Ritz’s Academy for Girls, Darla Ritz herself, and Boo continues to be one of the best supporting characters in a book I’ve seen in a long time. Highly Recommended.