Woman Warrior Wednesdays #22 by Kate Krimson

Review of Hack/Slash Meets Zombies vs. Cheerleaders #1


From Moonstone Comics for $3.99


4 out of 5 stars.



 Summary:


Vlad and Cassie Hack are sitting in café in Seattle. Vlad is enjoying a mocha latte and Cassie is waiting for an email reply on her laptop from a man named Chris. Cassie calls Chris, who tells her to investigate a local high school where some students have recently gone missing.


Cassie and Vlad enroll themselves into the school. Cassie gets in trouble for calling her physics teacher a douche bag, because he said there are no other dimensions. Then she gets recruited to the cheerleading squad, because they need to diversify. Amber, the head cheerleader, isn’t happy about it, but is forced to put Cassie on the squad by Coach Moore. Cassie freaks out at the lunch lady, because of her past with her crazy mom, who was also a lunch lady. Because of this outburst, she is sent again to the principal’s office. After their first day of school, Vlad goes to football practice, while Cassie goes to cheerleading practice.


Later that night, while hanging out in their van, they see the football coach named Campbell dragging a football tackling dummy late at night and ask him what he’s doing. He tells them to go away. After they leave, it is seen that inside the dummy was a dead girl, who he cuts up into pieces and feeds to his zombie son.


The next day Vlad talks to Coach Campbell, who wants to know how Vlad is pulling off his somewhat normal look, considering his huge size, great strength, and greenish skin. Campbell thinks Vlad must have a connection to something that may help Jacob, who apparently took a human growth hormone, HGX, which turned him into his zombish self. Campbell shoots Vlad with a dart so he can get a sample of his blood. As Campbell reveals to Vlad his zombie family that he has locked up, Cassie comes to save the day. The zombies chase after them and the whole scene disrupts cheerleading practice. Cassie gets one with a hockey stick, while the cheerleaders kill the rest. Coach Campbell gets away, but they are sure they won’t have to worry about seeing him again. Now all Cassie wants is a good cup of coffee.


Writer (Steven L Frank): Frank gives us quite an interesting tale, filled with plenty of violence and zombies, while also providing us with an interesting take on the problem with performance-enhancing drugs in sports.


Illustrated (Benjamin Glendenning): Glendenning’s illustrations bring the true horror of the situation to life. The zombies are blood thirsty, red-eyed, and green-skinned monsters coming after their prey with jagged fingernails, which seem more like claws. Coach Campbell though is probably the bigger monster when it comes to depictions. Watching him saw through a dead girl, so his zombie family can eat, shows that this man has very little of humanity left in him. We also see the zombie within when he holds Vlad at gunpoint in order to find out his “secret”.