Slasher hunters Cassie Hack & Vlad are hanging out at an Awful House. They’ve just arrived in Terminus, Georgia. They’re looking for a killer by the name of Edgelord. Cassie misses the days when they would get targets with names like “Wendel Tarkleton.” Things have gotten worse and they’re about to get dangerous in Hack / Slash = Body Bags #1. Writer Tim Seeley opens a new miniseries with the art team of Steve Kurth and  Stefano Caselli. Color is draped across the page by Kurt Michael Russell. It’s a dark entry into brutality as a couple of body baggers enter a city filled with all kinds of danger.

Cassie rolls into the bedroom of someone who has lost his right hand. He’s living in West Terminus with his grandpa. He’s calling for him. He wants more hydrocodone. What he GETS is a visit from someone who is looking for Edgelord. The kid doesn’t know a whole lot, but she IS able to get some important intel from him while subbing him against his will. Edgelord is a tough guy and now she knows a little bit more about what she’s up against. Maybe that knowledge will help her out in the longer run. Meanwhile, Mack Clownface knows that he needs to keep his daughter safe and the only way that he can think of to manage that is going to involve making certain that she’s familiarized with the fin art of body bagging. There’s a danger descending on everyone these days...

Seeley balances the story pretty tightly between action and investigation. There is quite a bit of personality, pouring off the page. Quite a bit of attitude as well. Everything is over-the-top in a way that would become as little surprise to people who are familiar with the characters in question. There are a few scenes in the issue. Some of them really hit. Overall, there are a few personalities that assert themselves quite strongly amidst the craziness of the situation. The real challenge with one of these titles is always maintaining the strength of certain personality is in the world that's essentially very crazy. Seeley manages to nail the right balance this issue.

Kurth and Caselli give the world of the series a very familiar look that fuses the style of dark superhero Indy comics, with something that feels much more familiar to the world off the page. action across the page with great grace. Occasionally narrative, slowest things down just enough to allow for some delivery of a degree of serious drama. There’s a delicious grunginess about much of it that feels suitably impressive. Russell does an excellent job of casting the action in the right mood with dark colors that occasionally radiate with sinister warmth. 

There is quite a lot going on in the first issue. However, Seeley and company manage to keep it all moving with the right amount of momentum and everything feels more or less perfectly poised to crash together in future issues as the series continues.

Grade: B