Slasher movies live and die by their rules, the final girl, the masked killer, the body count that climbs right on schedule. What happens when someone who’s memorized every single one of those rules decides she’d rather be behind the mask than in front of it? I just finished reading all five issues of The Slasher’s Apprentice, and this one is pure slasher fun from start to finish. Let’s talk about it!
The Slasher’s Apprentice
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios
Writer: Justin Richards
Artist: Val Halvorson
Colorist: Rebecca Nalty
Letterer: Buddy Beaudoin
Release date: April – September 2025
Written by Justin Richards with art by Val Halvorson, The Slasher’s Apprentice comes from the same creative duo behind Finger Guns (which I now absolutely need to read), and it turns out they’ve actually been friends and collaborators for more than five years at this point. Richards created and wrote Finger Guns for Vault Comics, has self-published A Silent Night and Everything Is Different Now through crowdfunding, and describes his own work as a mix of horror, satire, music, and emotional devastation, which honestly tracks completely with this book’s tone. Halvorson, who also illustrated Finger Guns along with anthology work like Dead Beats 2 and Grimm Tales from the Cave, wrote and drew his own short horror comic, Pareidolia, on the side. Colorist Rebecca Nalty, known for her work on Vampirella Red Sonja, and letterer Buddy Beaudoin, known for Corvus, round out the team, and the series even scored a variant cover from Trevor Henderson, the artist behind internet horror icon Siren Head and the Dead Mall series. Their work together really clicks and they brought us a very fun horror comic book here.
WhaT Is The Slasher’s Apprentice About?
Riley is a horror-obsessed podcaster who lives and breathes slasher movies. She knows every killer, every rule, and every cliché… and now she wants to join in herself. When she discovers the legendary Hopton Valley Killer, known for his lion mask and 125 confirmed kills, she decides to help him make a comeback. Literally. What follows is a mix of bloody encounters and Riley’s own twisted attempt to learn the craft of killing. She updates him on what’s changed since the 80s (“no more summer camps!”) and records their crimes like a true content creator gone wrong.
A Love Letter to Slasher Fans
This comic hit exactly what I hoped it would: it’s gory, clever, and surprisingly funny in a dark way. Riley is such an interesting main character, obsessed, confident, and clearly unhinged, but you can’t look away from her. The creative kills (spoiler alert, there’s one with a lava lamp) made me obsessed and laughed at the same time, which is a tricky balance to strike and this book nails it.
What really got me is how it plays with both nostalgia and modern horror at once. The Hopton Valley Killer is straight out of an 80s movie, silent and terrifying, while Riley brings all the influencer energy of today’s true crime world crashing into his. It’s genuinely a collision of two very different eras of horror, and it works better than I expected going in. It’s easy to see why this one gets compared to Hack/Slash and Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, it’s operating in that same self-aware slasher space, and it earns the comparison.
The ending came a bit fast, but honestly, that’s tough to avoid in a five-issue run. It still wraps things up in a satisfying way (even though we can see it coming), with enough chaos and blood to please any horror fan.
Final Thoughts
The Slasher’s Apprentice is pure horror joy for anyone who loves slashers, true crime, or stories that know exactly what they are. It’s sharp, bloody, and self-aware in all the right ways. Definitely one to check out if you like your comics with a side of carnage, the trade paperback is out now!
More Mad Cave Horror
If The Slasher’s Apprentice worked for you, we’ve covered a few other Mad Cave horror titles worth checking out. The Hexiles follows six half-siblings who discover their dead father sold each of their souls to Hell at birth, leaving them stuck serving demonic masters. Whisper of the Woods is a folk-horror graphic novel set in Romania’s most haunted forest, following a student searching for a missing friend. And Look Into My Eyes mixes small-town horror with a social media conspiracy angle and QR-code lore.
FAQ
Is The Slasher’s Apprentice worth reading? Yes, especially if you’re into self-aware slasher horror in the vein of Scream or Behind the Mask.
Do you need to read anything before The Slasher’s Apprentice? No. It’s a standalone five-issue miniseries with no required reading beforehand.
Who is writing and drawing The Slasher’s Apprentice? Justin Richards writes the series, with art by Val Halvorson, colors by Rebecca Nalty, and letters by Buddy Beaudoin.
Is The Slasher’s Apprentice a one-shot, miniseries, or ongoing series? It’s a five-issue miniseries, running from April to September 2025.
Is The Slasher’s Apprentice available in a collected edition? Yes, the trade paperback is out now.
