By Dustin Cabeal

The concept of Samurai Slasher is an enjoyable one to movie and comic fans. The idea is that the character of the Samurai Slasher can be dropped into any story. He’s Freddy and Jason, without the baggage. A new slasher, from a bygone era, that you can tell original stories without repercussions. It’s what made the first comic in the series so enjoyable.

It sucks to say this as a reviewer, but I don’t think I quite grasped Late Fees. Maybe I did and, so I’ll lay it out here in the review, but if I didn’t, then I acknowledge that as well. The thing is, the concept this time around is different from the what I just described to you. It’s one person’s story and their connection to the Samurai Slasher.

It starts off with a young boy hanging out with his father. His parents are divorced, and his dad is the classic, “spoil you while you’re in front of me” type of dad. They rent the movie Samurai Slasher because that's also what’s great about this concept it can be both real and meta. After that, he’s hooked on the Slasher, and this is where I have to start guessing. The boy either projects himself into the world of the Slasher, making his dad his idol and himself the protégé or something I missed entirely. From there we follow the boy as he grows up and has his own kid, but there’s all this imagery of him being the Slasher and fighting evil. There are moments interjected with the father, but the blending of the two worlds is something that I think I understood but didn’t quite work out.

Which is a shame because the writing and overall intent of the story are excellent. It tells you on the first page that not every story ends happily and that’s to warn you, but also plant the seed. Even though you know it’s coming you end up looking for it which subconsciously builds the moment in your mind.

My problem isn’t the art either. I’m very familiar with the artist, and this is some of his best work to date. It looks like the 80s, which is where the story is taking place. The gore is entertaining and never too much to handle. The artwork does an incredible job of hinting at what I think the story is doing. It’s just that part of me wondered if this dude was really crazy and running around with a sword cutting down people he deemed evil. I constantly wondered that due to how everything was presented and, so I was left with confusion.

Late Fee is a good read, but it could be a great read if that one aspect were just a bit clearer. Maybe I got the idea and just read into it too much or again, I could have missed it altogether. That’s the rub, I know that there’s a deep story here with the potential of being great, but there is a disconnect somewhere that I can’t place leaving me on the outside looking in. Please read it for yourself and see if it’s just me or if you get the same sense I do. It’s rare that I ask that of readers because my job as a reviewer is to figure it out and present it to you, but this one has me stumped so much that I can’t get to that for you. All the confusion aside, it’s still an entertaining read.

Score: 3/5

Samurai Slasher – Late Fees
Self-Published