The original Hack/Slash creative team of Tim Seeley and artist Stefano Caselli are re-teaming for a crossover series that brings together Cassie Hack and Jason Pearson’s Body Bags characters. The four-issue miniseries will begin in October.
Body Bags was originally published by Dark Horse and later moved to 12-Gauge Comics. The series starred two assassins, Mack Delgado, aka Clownface, and his daughter, Panda. Pearson passed away in December of 2022.
Seeley said he was a big fan of Body Bags, and he reached out to Keven Gardner, publisher of 12-Gauge Comics, about doing a crossover to honor Pearson’s creation.
“Tim reached out a little over a year ago via our mutual friend, Cully Hamner, one of Jason’s former studio mates at Gaijin Studios, with the idea to do this crossover,” said Keven Gardner, publisher of 12-Gauge Comics. “To be honest, before talking with Tim, my initial reaction was, ‘Probably not.’ This was about six months after Jason’s passing, his mom was in the middle of settling his estate—it just wasn’t something on her radar or mine. But, after I spoke with Tim it was immediately clear that he was a huge fan of Body Bags, that Jason’s work had been a strong influence on him, and that this was something he and Stefano really wanted to do. We talked about possible ideas, and I could see how this could be something special.”
The miniseries brings together the main players from both series for a bloody good time:
When slasher hunters Cassie Hack & Vlad roll into Terminus, Georgia in search of a killer… they’re instantly up to their asses in bounty hunters! Meanwhile, Mack “Clownface” Delgado needs to school his daughter Panda in the ways of Bodybagging, and it needs to happen quickly, which means a private school lock-in for baggers in training—and a teen-slicing slasher. Big knives, short skirts, and swear words will fly.
“Stefano told me about he and Jason got to be friends and would Skype sometimes when they were both at their drawing tables, and how he wanted to help Jason’s legacy live on by doing this crossover,” said Gardner. “As Stefano talked about why he wanted to do this and his friendship with Jason, it really got to me emotionally. All the concerns I had about doing this without Jason just went away; I knew Mack and Panda were in good hands. Plus, Tim’s idea for the story was so good—it’s set over one night in Terminus, right after the initial Body Bags story from 1996, Father’s Day, ends.”
Here’s a look at some of Caselli’s artwork for the first issue:
And here are the first issue’s variant covers by Seeley and Darick Robertson:
The first issue arrives Oct. 23.