In 1993, Topps acquired the Friday the 13th comic book license. Their first release was a comic adaptation of Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. Then, in 1995, Topps released a crossover comic called Jason vs Leatherface.
The three issue miniseries featured the first meeting between Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th and Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The book was written by Nancy Collins and drawn by Jeff Butler.
The story is a little weird, as is how this comic is supposed to fit into the established chronology of either series. The story begins with Jason chained to the bottom of Crystal Lake where he was left after Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives. Jason is liberated by someone dredging the lake with the intent to drain it and build a corporate headquarters. The lake has been polluted with toxic waste by the company so the lake water is collected in giant steel containers and shipped by train to some disposal facility. However, en route, Jason escapes, gets off the train and starts killing people. He meets up with one of the members of the chainsaw family and is taken back to their house. At the house he joins the family for dinner and becomes friends with Leatherface. It’s a dysfunctional good time, but as always happens, there’s a disagreement, then a misunderstanding and so Jason and Leatherface actually fight. Jason winds up leaving and returning to Crystal Lake.
Like I said, it’s an odd story. And, also like I said, it doesn’t fit continuity. Since Jason begins this comic where he ended up at the end of Jason Lives, then the story should take place in the 90s. However, two of the family members Jason meets in Texas are “Hitchhiker” and “Cook”. The character “Hitchhiker” died in the first Texas Chainsaw Massacre which takes place in the 70s. The “Cook” character dies in the second Texas Chainsaw Massacre which happened in the 80s. Neither family member should have been alive when this comic happened. Another problem involves a flashback to Jason’s childhood. We see his father, Elias, who has only been mentioned in the Part VI novelization. We see Elias beat Jason and then Jason’s mother kills Elias to protect the child. That’s fine, I guess, but Elias calls Jason’s mother Doris for some reason when her name has been established since the first movie in 1980 as PAMELA. Weird. But I guess that just goes to prove that this is a horror “Elseworlds” tale.
I enjoyed this comic. The art was over the top and funny. Perfect for the story. The covers are really good, as you can see. It’s definitely a fun, interesting read. Give it a shot, but be prepared, because it’s a little on the goofy and weird side.
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Cavalcade of Awesome 