HACK/slash vs. Chucky

Written by: Tim Seeley
Art by: Matt Merhoff

Believe it or not, but this isn't a kids story. I know that the title might remind you of a happy Disney book, but this isn't one of them. Parents Beware. heh

I hate to admit this, but I am not familiar with the Hack/slash characters, so I am sure that there is a lot of back story that I am missing out on. With names like Hack/slash, I thought it would be a, um, slash-fest following the normal comic style of meeting, fighting then teaming up to do lots more destruction. I was a bit off on this theory.

Even knowing nothing about half the characters I still had to pick this one up. How can you not like Chucky. I mean, who doesn't enjoy reading about homicidal maniacs trapped in the bodies of toys? I think that may be one of my favorite types of literature and has been sadly overlooked in the past. :-(

The story revolves around a heavily bandaged woman named Laura who trades bodies with the Vlad half of Hack/slash using a mystical amulet stolen from Chucky. Once the bodies are traded the now evil Vlad heads out to go on a killing spree with Chucky and the Cassie half of Hack/slash in hot pursuit. Chucky being who he is can't help but cause issues along the way ranging from sexual advances at Cassie to trying to kill a store attendant.

From here we find that Laura has kidnapped all of the people that Cassie and Vlad have saved and is planning to kill them in various nasty ways. Here we get to see people being whipped to death by devils, ritual satanic style murders and something involving surgical instruments. Does it get any better than this? Actually, yes it does. The violence gets even more graphic as the heroes and Chucky try to save the innocent victims.

In the end 'they all lived happily after." Not really. I flat out lied. I guess technically they lived as happily as anyone ever does at the end of a slasher movie. Some people live, lots of people die and even the ones that lived aren't in very good shape.

The book does end with an announcement of a new Chucky limited series starting in April. There is also an ad for an ongoing Hack/slash book starting in May. I'll wait for the Chucky series to come out in trade format. I hate buying individual issues if I know that they will be collected a few months later.