Welcome back to Butcher’s Block, our “Hack/Slash” column. There are two new releases this month, but for certain reasons, we will only be discussing the first of them, with the second, coming out this coming Wednesday (June 26, 2019), to be discussed next month along with the release coming then. The first, on the other hand, largely consists of a re-release of older content. As such, we will only be going over the newer elements brought forward on that front, along with discussing the makeup of the collection itself and how it is structured.
Other works were re-released in the sixth omnibus collection, namely every “Hack/Slash” comic written at Image Comics since the end of Omnibus 5 (plus one story that hadn’t been collected), but for sake of concentrating on what is new, we will only briefly mention each.
For the record, this does mean that there aren’t a lot of images to share, so this slab will be rather word heavy.
Furthermore, for sake of clarity: “Hack/Slash” is a mature comic book series. As such, many images may not be suitable for younger audiences, and quotations and/or panels may include liberal curses and mature content such as profanity, violence, or sexual imagery.
New Issues
Leaving Scars: A Hack/Slash Timeline from 2004-2019
Technically speaking, this element is not an actual issue or collection. However, it is the newest released information to come out of Image Comics’s “Hack/Slash Omnibus 6,” and as such is worth mentioning.
… okay, so there is also a motive from me as the one who compiled it in the first place when requested, but hey, it’s a way to discuss the reasoning behind the specific choices.
The entire image is a double-page spread, so it may be difficult to see. For a closer image, see Tim Seeley’s tweet announcing it in the first place on Twitter, seen here.
For some terminology, “Volume” means individual trade compilation, and “Omnibus” means the overall collections, as listed on the two different orders above.
Technically, there are two timelines listed. The first, which is in the top two rows, is of the original collections and uncollected materials. The second, in the third row, is of the omnibus collections only. Personally, the omnibus collections seem to have (with exception of the sixth) a more understandable chronology, whereas the uncollected material, as listed in the longer line, is better organized for those, so using both in tandem seems like the best way to go.
Before going into it all, it seems best to note that the timeline does not include in-issue flashbacks. With them, the order would be a lot more complex, going down to years (with the rough estimate on Cassie Hack’s age). Such an organization is more or less doable (and was actually asked if necessary when organizing as is), but hardly helpful for incoming readers as “Leaving Scars” was meant to be. A closer inspection of the timeline can be provided in text form, for those who are eager to know more. In effect, consider this timeline to be the stories in the order that Cassandra “Cassie” Hack experienced them, including being told about events that happened long ago, or having traveled back in time.
Several of these decisions came from an intricate analysis of the events going on in any one issue. Rather than just give a wall of text, it seems best to separate it out into a list, with the individual stories in question in bold.
- The concluding panel of both “My First Maniac” and “Me Without You” are the exact same event from two different perspectives, so they would, logically, be happening at around the same time. Technically, the beginning of “Me Without You” takes place twenty-three years before the two met (and six years before Cassie herself was even born), but for sake of organization that element can be called a flashback.
- “Nailbiter / Hack/Slash” occurs before the Dysfunctional Duo of Cassie and Vlad had allowed others into their lives on a regular basis, a dynamic that went away for quite a while from Volume 2 until Volume 9, meaning that it seems best placed where it is. Given that Cassie addresses her resurrection as happened about a week ago in “Land of Lost Toys,” meaning “Hack/Slash: The Final Revenge of Evil Ernie” would be the event just before said limited series, arranging its position relative to “Nailbiter / Hack/Slash.” Continued below
- “Hack/Slash / Nailbiter” is explicitly stated to be before issue 12 of the original ongoing series, meaning that, from the perspective of the Volumes, it would need to be between Volumes 4 and 5.
- The Neffish hellhound Pooch is a member of the Hack/Slash, Inc. crew in “Bomb Queen vs. Hack/Slash,” but Hack/Slash, Inc. itself had not moved away from Chris Krank and Lisa Elsten yet, meaning that story would have to have occurred between Volumes 7 and 8.
- Similarly, Lisa is pregnant during some of the stories in “Trailers Part Two: Thirteen Tales of Naked Fear,” but the couple are still being called upon for help, meaning it would also need to be in that same time frame.
- Lastly, Cassie and Vlad discuss having shut down Hack/Slash, Inc., and have not seemingly begun working with Catherine “Cat” Curio yet, in “Hack/Slash/Eva: Monster’s Ball,” meaning it would need to be between Volumes 9 and 10.
Other events were identified through discussion with the writers. Specifically, Tim Seeley and Shawn Aldridge stated that “Hack/Slash vs. Vampirella” took place between the Devil’s Due Publishing and Image Comics “Hack/Slash” ongoing runs.
Interestingly, some of these chronological analyses helped to open up new insights into the characters behind the scenes.
In “Hack/Slash vs. Vampirella,” Cassie and Vlad are still using the van rather than the hearse, despite the former having been destroyed during ‘Foes and Fortunes’ back in Volume 7. Taking into account their need to stay under the radar coupled with their new, rather wealthy friend Anjelica Castellini, it seems likely that they rented out or borrowed such a vehicle for the time being for their vacation. On a similar note, the fact that we get direct confirmation in “Army of Darkness vs. Hack/Slash” that Cassie lost her virginity at age 20, along with the knowledge that she was 19 in the Devil’s Due Publishing series, seems to indicate that said vacation could easily have been some kind of birthday present from Anjelica, but that’s more pure speculation.
Speaking of “Army of Darkness vs. Hack/Slash,” the placement of the earliest time period shown as 190 BCE seems more than a bit suspect. Akakios of Panopolis is stated to have begun his research approximately 2500 years before the modern day, which would place him at roughly the 490s BCE, and he had not yet even created the first of his “paladins,” only having begun his research, considering Britt Cilento is identified as, chronologically speaking, the first slasher in existence. The solution to this discrepancy is actually rather simple: Ashley J. “Ash” Williams is wrong. It wouldn’t be the first thing he doesn’t have a clue about, as shown by his… creative word choice when trying to talk to people in languages other than English.
Hack/Slash Omnibus 6
The collection itself deserves some elaboration. Unlike the first five, this one on some level required the aforementioned timeline due to some organizational eccentricities.
While each of the omnibus collections of “Hack/Slash” are in chronological order (at least as far as Cassie Hack’s relative timeline, as mentioned above), they each are intrinsically limited by a legal issue: the various stories’ publishers. The first three collections encompass the stories written and published through Devil’s Due Publishing, while the latter three are those written under Image Comics. The only stories that tend to be excluded are those in the collections of other comics, such as “Bomb Queen vs. Vampirella” being included in a “Bomb Queen” collection, or “Nailbiter / Hack/Slash” being in one for “Nailbiter.” While this organizational method makes perfect sense from a purely logical standpoint, it tends to leave out those tales that are released through other publishers.
As a whole, Omnibus 6 includes the Image works from 2015 to 2018, so long as they were not included in another comic’s collections. As such, it excludes “Nailbiter / Hack/Slash” and “Bomb Queen vs. Hack/Slash,” despite the latter having importance to the ‘Interdimensional Women’s Prison Breakout’ arc from Omnibus 4. “My First Maniac” is excluded, but for an unrelated reason: Tim Seeley prefers it be kept as a standalone volume to draw in new readers. While the story does have importance in the ‘Final’ arc, its exclusion from omnibuses isn’t too much of a problem either. The other stories still being left out of the omnibus are from “Trailers Two: Thirteen Tales of Naked Terror,” an anthology written by a host of other writers and artists that was a charity project, and thus would be a bit of a headache to figure out where the money from sales should go for each individual contributor.
Continued belowNormally, this situation wouldn’t be a big problem. After all, Tim Seeley tended to keep his “Hack/Slash” adventures to one publisher or another for the most part between 2004 and 2013, excepting the “BUMPed” crossover in collaboration with the since-dissolved Fangoria Comics (whose issues are distilled to just the elements written by Seeley in collected editions, but enough digression). However, shortly after the release of Volume 13’s final issue, things got a bit more complicated. With “Army of Darkness vs. Hack/Slash,” publication became split between Dynamite Entertainment and Image, meaning the stories in only one of them would be in the newer omnibus collections. The same can be said of this month’s IDW Publishing story.
As the epic has expanded, some trickier logistical issues come up. With decisions such as including “Me Without You” (which connects most closely to ‘The Good Son’ arc in Volume 12) followed immediately after by “Son of Samhain,” the effect can be somewhat disorienting for readers without the chronology also included. Without “Army of Darkness vs. Hack/Slash,” the sequel hook of the last few panels for ‘Final’ (in which a man with a chainsaw and a black gloved hand comes to visit Cassie and Margaret’s Chicago home) is left without on-page closure. Lacking the context afforded by “Hack/Slash vs. Vampirella,” the ‘Return to Haverhill’ arc in “Resurrection” can appear rather odd, from Cassie’s friendship with Vampirella to Vlad’s romantic attraction to the alien vampire.
None of this commentary is to say that the sixth omnibus is badly handled. It is done the best it could be, and the stories are still amazing, whether Seeley is behind the writer’s desk or the director’s chair. However, it all goes to show why, of all times, adding in a timeline was relatively important for this particular installment, providing much-needed context and organization for a sprawling tale.
See you all next month, when we will go into the newest project by Tim Seeley in the ongoing epic, one that he had been hoping to accomplish for some time (and was alluded to in the previous slab).
Want to know more about the series? Interested in any other questions about the chronology, such as a bit more in-depth information on ages and the like (so far as can be told)? Feel free to ask away in the comments below.
