Jason Pearson Remembered In ‘Hack/Slash: Body Bags’ From Tim Seeley And Stefano Caselli

by Olly MacNamee

Writer/artist Tim Seeley will be re-teaming with original Hack/Slash artist Stefano Caselli to bring the late and legendary Jason Pearson’s Body Bags characters back into comics with the just-announced Hack/Slash: Body Bags four-issue miniseries crossover.

“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.”

Keven Gardner, friend and former Publisher to the late Pearson, Keven Gardner, explained how this crossover came about in the first place:

“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. 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.”

Caselli added:

“Jason’s Body Bags is one of the biggest reasons I’m a comic book artist today.”

Seeley also said:

“Body Bags was my favorite comic of the late 90s, and its influence on Hack/Slash is probably pretty evident (see Vlad). We’re so proud to bring Jason’s characters back, and re-introduce them to old and new fans.”

Gardner concluded:

“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. 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.”

Hack/Slash: Body Bags #1 Cover A by Caselli
Hack/Slash: Body Bags #1 Cover B by Darick Robertson
Hack/Slash: Body Bags #1 Cover C (1:25 copy incentive) by Seeley