If you aren’t familiar with Image’s Hack/Slash, do yourself a favor and get familiar asap. Tim Seeley’s original series is a surprisingly smart horror comic and an absolute gem of a read. Up there with the likes of Spawn, Dark Horse’s B.P.R.D and IDW’s 30 Days of Night, Hack/Slash is exactly what you think it is and thankfully a hell of a lot more than that too. What I’m saying is that this is a title known for being everything you think it is: gory, action packed, shocking, as well as supremely smart and emotional. Now, what we have here is a new ongoing, not written but overseen by Seeley. Does Son of Samhain stand up? Or does it fall short of delivering on the promise that title makes?
I won’t keep you in suspense long: Son of Samhain is absolutely killer so far. Not unlike the aforementioned B.P.R.D, Hack/Slash shows that a book can indeed continue being as stellar as it was under the command of its original creator. In this case, writers Michael Moreci and Steve Seeley are clearly major fans of the original! But thankfully, they’re skilled in their own craft, and Son of Samhain genuinely feels like a sequel and not a retread.
Everything about Son of Samhain has that feeling of continuation and escalation over the original run. Having wrapped up the Slasher epidemic that constituted H/S’ inaugural run, we now face something just as grotesque in Son; monsters. And not men as monsters, but genuine subterranean monsters. Standing for the same things humans do at their absolute darkest, but not afraid to embrace what makes them monsters. Particularly page 11 comes to mind, an absolute stunner of a page where our main villain talks about the real difference between man and monster.
I cannot praise this book enough for its mastery of the fundamentals. Emilio Laiso’s art is absolutely perfect for this book. Every panel has mood, every character has expression and genuine life on the page. The writing is just as stellar, dialogue feels natural for both man and monster characters. The pontificating feels natural, the scenarios bleed pure cinematic flair, it’s a real well put together issue. Admittedly confusing for new readers (it is issue #3 after all) the pacing still doesn’t alienate. Clearly an escalation of both H/S’ original story, this issue is full references to long-standing character Samhain and the Black Lantern society from the original run that never feel terribly confusing to a new reader. It’s a master-class in cinematic story telling through comics, and an absolute blast.
In short, what we have is a movie-sequel of a book; in all the right ways. But most importantly, it still has the heart. The second half of this issue has Cassie sharing a heart to heart with monster-human hybrid child Ocky. Both of them can kill, and have. But that doesn’t make them evil people, it doesn’t make them monsters. What matters is how they live now what they can do. Cassie lives decision to decision, and does her absolute best to make good decisions no matter how hard they are to live by. I can’t stress the heart of this book enough.
On that note please check out this book, check out Hack/Slash in general. You’ll be glad you did.
