This is the first issue of this series that made me say “meh”.  All the elements of the Hack/Slash world are here: brutality, good vs evil, violence, and comic relief.  In most cases the comic relief supplements the story, but in this issue the comic relief was the most interesting part.  It feels like Seeley is losing focus on Cassie.  In each issue she expresses different emotions that do not seem to relate to each other or an overreaching arc.  It feels forced; as if there is a hat with her emotional keywords, and each issue a different keyword is picked.  The lack of exploration on any one of these emotional threads has served to make Cassie two-dimensional.  This 2 issue arc is the most prevalent example.  The book even ends with the worst possible ending; Cassie and Vlad shrug their shoulders and with an “oh well” attitude just leave and do not search for the slasher.  The saving grace for this issue is the story of Cassie’s two friends.  If you think having a pet watch you have sex is creepy, just imagine how much worse it would be if the pet talked.  This segment ends with the emotional scarring of one of the characters that made me laughing for pages after.

If you are Hack/Slash regular reader then pick this up.  If you are new to Hack/Slash or have taken a hiatus previously, this is not the one to pick up.  Read the issues from 1-10, and pretend #13 doesn’t even exist.