Cassie Hack
Encyclopedia
Cassandra "Cassie" Hack is a fictional character
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 that appears in the Hack/Slash
HACK/slash
Hack/Slash is an ongoing comic books series, launched from several one shots of the same name, published by Image Comics ....

 comic books published by Devil's Due Publishing
Devil's Due Publishing
Devil's Due Publishing is an independent comic book publishers in the United States. Based in Chicago, Illinois, DDP is best known for its wide selection of genres, including licensed and original creator-owned properties that populate its monthly comic book series and graphic novels.Though...

. The character first appears in Hack/Slash: Euthanized (April 2004), and was created by writer and occasional penciller Tim Seeley
Tim Seeley
Tim Seeley is a comic book artist and writer known for his work on books such as G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe vs. Transformers and New Exiles.-Career:Seeley has illustrated a variety of comics, including Kore, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe vs...

.

Seeley has repeatedly stated that Cassie is designed to be a horror victim
Final girl
The final girl is a trope in thriller and horror films that specifically refers to the last woman or girl alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story...

 who has overcome her fears and decided to take revenge on horror villains, who are known in the comic as "slashers"
Slasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...

. However, despite her hardened exterior, Seeley has tried to show that "beneath [the surface Cassie] is still [a] lost, scared innocent girl".

In 2005, Stefani Bishop portrayed Cassie in a stage adaptation
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...

 of Hack/Slash called Hack/Slash: Stagefright. A film adaptation of Hack/Slash is also currently in development by Rogue Pictures
Rogue Pictures
Rogue is a subsidiary of Relativity Media. The company has about 25 titles in its library.- Background :In 1997, Rogue Pictures was formed as a division of PolyGram Pictures but the name was dropped in 2000 after Universal Pictures bought PolyGram...

 however the role of Cassie has not yet been cast.

Publication history

Cassie and her partner, Vlad, first appeared in the Hack/Slash one-shot (later renamed Hack/Slash: Euthanized) in 2004. This included a brief backstory called The Strange Story of Cassie Hack. Between 2005 and 2007 a series of further one-shots were released including a mini-series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....

: Hack/Slash: Land of Lost Toys. In 2007, Hack/Slash became an ongoing series.

Hack/Slash has included many crossovers
Intercompany crossover
In comic books, an intercompany crossover is a comic or series of comics where characters published by one company meet those published by another...

 with other franchises with Cassie and Vlad encountering Evil Ernie
Evil Ernie
Evil Ernie is a fictional character, an undead, psychotic killer with his own series, published by Chaos! Comics and Devil's Due Publishing. Originally, Evil Ernie was part of Eternity Comics. He made his debut in December 1991. He was created by writer Brian Pulido and artist Steven Hughes.-...

, Chucky, a horde of treehuggers
BUMP (comics)
BUMP is a 2007-2008 comic book limited series written and illustrated by Mark Kidwell with colors and letters by Jay Fotos.-Publication history:BUMP was initially published as a monthly four-issue comic book limited series by Fangoria Comics...

 and most recently Herbert West
Herbert West
Herbert West is a fictional character created by H. P. Lovecraft for his short story "Herbert West—Reanimator", first published in 1922. There have been several adaptations of the story including Herbert West as played by Jeffrey Combs in the 1985 Re-Animator movie and its two sequels, Bride...

 from the cult-classic Re-Animator film series
Re-Animator
Re-Animator is a 1985 American science fiction horror film based on the H. P. Lovecraft story "Herbert West–Reanimator." Directed by Stuart Gordon, it was the first film in the Re-Animator series. The film has since become a cult film, driven by fans of Jeffrey Combs and H. P...

.

Fictional character biography

Early life

Cassandra "Cassie" Hack, daughter of Dr. Jack and Delilah Hack, grew up in western Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

. Her father left soon after she was born, leaving Cassie with her overbearing, eccentric mother who worked as a cook at a nearby high school. A timid wallflower, plain-looking and unattractive, young Cassie was verbally and physically abused by her classmates. Never having a friend, Cassie was ostracized because she wasn't pretty and was poor and ill-dressed. This prompted her unbalanced mother, the "Lunch Lady", to kill every child at Cassie's school that had somehow hurt or insulted Cassie and serve them as the school food. Cassie, witnessing her mother's last killing spree, promptly called the police. She managed to save the life of her mother's last victim, but was forced to witness her mother's death when she committed suicide.

Cassie was placed in a foster home and attended a new school. She detested her fanatically religious foster parents, but endured, desiring to be accepted by someone. She began training in various martial arts and fighting techniques. In the meantime, she tried to find her father, utilizing the internet and whatever resources she could find. Two years later, children began disappearing once more, signalling the return of her mother, reborn as a vengeful "slasher" trying to continue its murderous spree. Feeling responsible for the deaths, Cassie confronted her mother once again and shot her. Driven by guilt and lacking any connection to anyone or anyplace, Cassie left her foster family and went on the road.

Solo adventures

Cassie became determined to seek out slashers and stop their rampages wherever she could. She also hoped that she might find a clue to the whereabouts of her father, but for a long time, found nothing.

On one of her adventures, Cassie came to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, where she hunted a killer known as "the Meatman", who was responsible for the deaths of several teenagers. She eventually encountered the Meatman, but discovered that he was not responsible for the murders. Cassie befriended the Meatman, a misshapen man named Vlad, and together they hunted down the actual murderer, a local minister/assassin with Mafia connections. The two began travelling together in a van bought with Cassie's inheritance, with Vlad acting as her bodyguard and muscle.

Cassie and Vlad, slasher slayers

Some time later, the pair investigate a series of murders around a veterinary clinic in Eminence, Indiana
Eminence, Indiana
Eminence is an unincorporated town in Adams Township, Morgan County, Indiana.-Education:Eminence is served by the Eminence School Corporation-Notable natives:...

. They rescue a vet, Lisa, from a slasher who was accidentally killed by Lisa's boyfriend. Later, they investigate a murder at a beach resort hosting a "girls gone naughty"
Girls Gone Wild
The Girls Gone Wild franchise, created by Joe Francis, is a video series by the production company Mantra Films, Inc., which is headquartered in Santa Monica, California.-Content:...

 event. While investigating the situation, Cassie becomes extremely drunk (when a boy drugged her ice tea with pure vodka) and having lost her inhibitions, flirts with a stranger and kisses a random girl. Despite being less than sober, she continues her investigation and encounters a crazed Catholic schoolgirl, Laura Lochs, who controls an undead preacher named Father Wrath. After a prolonged fight, Vlad kills Father Wrath and Cassie sets Laura on fire and leaves her for dead. Soon after, Cassie and Vlad, encounter a pair of slashers murdering writers and illustrators at a Philadelphia comic convention
Fan convention
A fan convention, or con , is an event in which fans of a particular film, television series, comic book, actor, or an entire genre of entertainment such as science fiction or anime and manga, gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and...

.

When Evil Ernie
Evil Ernie
Evil Ernie is a fictional character, an undead, psychotic killer with his own series, published by Chaos! Comics and Devil's Due Publishing. Originally, Evil Ernie was part of Eternity Comics. He made his debut in December 1991. He was created by writer Brian Pulido and artist Steven Hughes.-...

 awakens in the Hack/Slash universe he begins a killing spree, murdering six women near a strip club in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

. Cassie and Vlad investigate and track Ernie to a saw mill where he falls in love with Cassie, believing the two of them to be "two sides of the same coin". After escaping from Ernie, Cassie is distressed by the fact that she now has to kill the "one person who loves her". Vlad asserts that he loves her, but Cassie snaps and claims that he only thinks that because she's the only one who can stand being around him. Shocked by what she's said, she apologizes to Vlad and the pair resume their hunt for Ernie. Upon finding Ernie, he attempts to kidnap Cassie but accidentally banishes himself to Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...

.

A tip from Lisa, who has been staying in contact, leads Cassie and Vlad to investigating the circumstances behind nine children dying in their sleep. Their contact, Jason, concludes that the person responsible is Ashley, a Freddy Krueger
Freddy Krueger
Frederick Charles "Freddy" Krueger is a fictional, horrifying character from the Nightmare on Elm Street series of horror films. He first appears in Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street as a disfigured dream stalker who uses a glove armed with razors to kill his victims in their dreams,...

-esque slasher who can kill people in their dreams. After Jason is also killed, Cassie gets Lisa to knock her out with sleeping gas, so she can confront Ashley in his realm. Despite Ashley's best efforts, he is unable to kill Cassie and she soon turns her own past on him and Ashley is dispatched by Cassie's own worst nightmare: her mother. Afterward, Jason's ex-flatmate, Chris, begins a relationship with Lisa.

Later, while setting a trap for a slasher calling herself "the Acid Angel", Cassie and Vlad discover that a company led by ex-Miss America
Miss America
The Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...

, Emily Cristy, is capturing slashers in order to perform experiments upon them. Cassie discovers that the company is producing a regenerative drug that turns people into slashers. After the slashers escape, Emily ends up taking the drug to save her life, but has her skin burned off in an explosion, creating a new slasher: Ms. America. Soon afterward, Cassie teams-up with a possessed doll, Chucky, in order to confront Laura Lochs who has returned and stolen Vlad's body using a voodoo amulet. After a series of battles, they defeat Laura once again and Vlad regains control of his body. However, despite Cassie's trying to stop him, Chucky escapes.

Cassie is later captured by a slasher who used to be a psychologist who analyzes and tortures her. After losing two toes and remembering various events from her childhood, Cassie self-diagnoses herself as "really fucked up" and pushes him out of the window. However, later in the bathroom, Cassie's hard exterior falters and she cries. Several days later, after receiving a call from Chris, Cassie and Vlad travel to Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and estuary along the Gulf of Mexico on the west central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay."Tampa Bay" is not the name of any municipality...

 to investigate a string of disappearances coinciding with the tour schedule of a band called Acid Washed. Upon getting there, they meet a stripper called Georgia who offers to take them to the next concert. At the show, the band transport all the virgin girls, including Cassie and Georgia, to another realm to be sacrificed. While caged, Cassie talks to a local dog named Pooch, who tells her that the singer, Six Sixx, has made a deal with a demon. Afterwards, Cassie and Georgia flirt and talk about Cassie's undecided sexuality and the possibilities of escaping by "making each other impure"
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...

. However, Vlad arrives to rescue them and together they return to Earth and defeat Six.

Some time later, Cassie is forced to sell her mother's wedding ring in order to pay for better accommodation while Vlad recovers from a respiratory infection. Afterward, they travel to Stone County
Stone County
Stone County is the name of several counties in the United States:* Stone County, Arkansas* Stone County, Mississippi* Stone County, Missouri...

 and encounter a new Father Wrath, who turns out to be nephew of the original.

Search for Dr. Jack Hack

Cassie and Vlad's next adventure leads to a college in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 where a series of corpses have been discovered. Cassie and Vlad's relationship is somewhat rocky due to the amount of time Cassie has been spending on the phone with Georgia. After Vlad is attacked, Cassie begins questioning the local students and discovers that a number of them are lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

s who are involved in a cult surrounding the mythology of Elizabeth Bathory
Elizabeth Báthory
Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed was a countess from the renowned Báthory family of Hungarian nobility. Although in modern times she has been labelled the most prolific serial killer in history, the number of murders has been debated...

. After accidentally kissing one of the students (and thinking of Georgia at the time), Cassie interrogates her to find out more information about the cult. However, before the student can lead her to the cult's base of operations, Cassie encounters a government team working for her father. Cassie, Vlad and the government team are led to the cult's underground base where they are attacked by Ms. America, who has been stealing the blood and skin of students in an attempt to regain her original beauty. After a long battle, Vlad impales Ms. America. Afterwards, Cassie and Vlad reconcile, though Cassie is uncertain of her feelings towards Georgia.

Following the clues given by the government team, Cassie and Vlad search a cabin in Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

 in the hopes of finding information about Cassie's father. What they find is a series of journals detailing how a group of feral children were turned into "revenants" (i.e., slashers) using a drug. The children then attack and Cassie is forced to shoot them, much to Vlad's objections. Afterwards, Cassie and Vlad hunt down a one-eyed vigilante
Vigilante
A vigilante is a private individual who legally or illegally punishes an alleged lawbreaker, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to an alleged lawbreaker....

, Nathan, who Cassie believes is a slasher. However, he is actually a man seeking vengeance for the murder of his wife. After Nathan exacts his revenge (he's fatally wounded in the process) Cassie, still confused by her feelings for Georgia, asks him how he knew that he was in love. Afterwards, Cassie takes a break from searching for her father to investigate a series of killings in Hitchfield, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

 and encounter a horde of treehuggers
BUMP (comics)
BUMP is a 2007-2008 comic book limited series written and illustrated by Mark Kidwell with colors and letters by Jay Fotos.-Publication history:BUMP was initially published as a monthly four-issue comic book limited series by Fangoria Comics...

 and their puppet master, Eddie.

Not long after, Georgia contacts Cassie when several of the cast of a Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...

 remake turn up dead. However, despite being told to wait, Georgia investigates on her own and is almost killed by a psychopathic Tin Man. She is soon rescued by an angry Cassie who begs Georgia "not to die on [her, because] there's too much death in [her] life already". Cassie's search for her father soon comes to an end when she encounters Dr Herbert West
Herbert West
Herbert West is a fictional character created by H. P. Lovecraft for his short story "Herbert West—Reanimator", first published in 1922. There have been several adaptations of the story including Herbert West as played by Jeffrey Combs in the 1985 Re-Animator movie and its two sequels, Bride...

, who has been working with Dr Jack Hack in researching slashers. West succeeds in reviving Delilah Hack; however she reverts to her Lunch Lady persona and kills her husband. Disappointed with the results, West kills the Lunch Lady with an overdose of his serum. He then gives Cassie the opportunity to reanimate her father, but she refuses.

Losing both her parents once again leaves Cassie deeply depressed, prompting the worried Vlad into calling Georgia and asking her to talk to Cassie. Cassie confides in Georgia that she can't go on killing slashers and wants to live a normal life, thoughts which alienate Vlad. While going to the Mississippi police to tell them all she knows about slashers, Cassie is arrested due to her suspected involvement in homicides throughout the country, the authorities having been led to believe Cassie may be responsible for the murders due to tips from psychic Muffy Joworski (who is being manipulated by the returned Ashley Guthrie, which Cassie and Vlad piece together). While being transported to a detention center Cassie is broken out by the Society of the Black Lamp, who attempt to ritualistically murder her as punishment for destroying slashers. At the last minute Cassie is saved by the vigilante Samhain, who kills the Black Lamp members.

Skills and abilities

While Cassie has no formal combat training beyond childhood martial arts lessons, Cassie is a skilled close quarters fighter. Her weapon of choice is usually something light and swingable, such as her trademarked baseball bat. She is also adept at using a handgun and has killed many slashers with one. Cassie also has an eye for improvised weaponry and has been known to use all kinds of inanimate objects as makeshift weapons.

In other media

Film

  • In 2004, Tim Seeley expressed interest in featuring Cassie in a sequel to the film Freddy vs. Jason
    Freddy vs. Jason
    Freddy vs. Jason is a 2003 American slasher film directed by Ronny Yu. The film is a crossover between the A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th franchises...

    , however both franchises were decided to be taken in different directions.

  • In 2006, Rogue Pictures
    Rogue Pictures
    Rogue is a subsidiary of Relativity Media. The company has about 25 titles in its library.- Background :In 1997, Rogue Pictures was formed as a division of PolyGram Pictures but the name was dropped in 2000 after Universal Pictures bought PolyGram...

     secured the rights to produce a Hack/Slash film, however no casting has yet been announced.

Stage

  • In the 2005 stage play, Hack/Slash: Stagefright, Cassie was portrayed by Stefani Bishop. The production, by the New Millenium Theatre Company, was an adaptation of Hack/Slash: Euthanized and Hack/Slash: Girls Gone Dead.

Miscellaneous popular culture

  • Tim Seeley maintains a MySpace
    MySpace
    Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

     page for the Hack/Slash series, written in character as Cassie. This pages fleshes out the character with details such as her height, age and zodiac sign as well as her supposed favourite films and books.

  • In 2008, Tim Seeley created a SuicideGirls
    SuicideGirls
    SuicideGirls is a website that features softcore pornography and text profiles of goth, punk and indie-styled young women who are known as the "Suicide Girls"...

     profile for Cassie. Registered users were able to read a new story entitled Murder/Suicide (later printed in Hack/Slash Annual #1) as well as view Cassie's SuicideGirls "photo shoot
    Photo shoot
    A photo shoot is generally used in the fashion industry, whereby a model poses for a photographer at a studio where multiple photos are taken to find the best ones for the required brief...

    ", consisting of nude and semi-nude artwork of Cassie.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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