It’s a tricky thing to be a fan of Army of Darkness, particularly as – before the comic books, at least – there isn’t a whole lot of it. There’s the movie, of course, and you could say there’s even two more (Evil Dead, and Evil Dead II), though the Venn diagram of Evil Dead fans and Army of Darkness fans doesn’t always intersect, weirdly enough, given AoD is the third movie in the series.
But then there were the comics, and for a time, they were good. Dark Horse collaborated with Evil Dead creator Sam Raimi to release a graphic novelization, and then later there was a semi-ongoing series of linked minis. Later still, Army of Darkness crossed over with Marvel’s then popular Marvel Zombies franchise, somewhere in there the title moved over to Dynamite Enertatinment, and hero Ashley J. Williams even saved President Obama from undead comic book fans.
At this point, shockingly enough, Army of Darkness comics have been published since 1992. Meaning that, at this point, the adventures of Ash in comics far outweigh the amount of time he’s spent on screen. With that also comes a large degree of continuity, of course, and particularly at the end of the last series, the fun of watching a guy with a chainsaw for a hand quip and hack at dead things was getting mired in prophecy, additional “team” members, and a general muddying of the franchise.
Enter the newly rebooted Army of Darkness #1, written by Elliott R. Serrano, with pencils by Marat Mychaels. Serrano actually wrote the shockingly hilarious and way better than it needed to be given the cash-in title Ash Saves Obama, and so its good to see him given a chance to bring Ash to basics. Only there’s a twist, which Serrano nicely builds to on the first page, but is spoiled by the cover, so here we go:
For most of the run time of the comic, the hero isn’t Ashley J. Williams… It’s Ashley K. Williams, a female version of Ash from a parallel universe who has a similar origin story. What Serrano does in this issue is simply and effortlessly dovetail our Ash’s origin with this new one, playing on expectations. Even if you have no experience with AoD though, you should have no trouble jumping right in, as Serrano did exactly what was needed: gave us an Army of Darkness #1 that honors the continuity of the previous comic, while making the story easily accessible for new fans.
That’s no mean feat, and credit where it’s due, Serrano sets up her origin, a sidekick for Lady Ash (who we’re going to assume was played by Brucella Campbell in this other universe) that is simultaneously gross, weird, and very funny, and even a big bad villain. What it’s missing though, is a sense of electric excitement you need from a first issue. Serrano spends – by necessity – so much time introducing this new world, we’re left until next issue to really let things kick into high gear. There’s certainly a nice little tease of that, both on the cover and the last page; and given Serrano has experience with the franchise, and the excellent build of Ash Saves Obama, I’m going to cut the title a little slack here. First issues are hard, and the writer acquits himself more than admirably here.
On the art end… Well, Mychaels style gets the job done, and his design work on Lady Ash’s sidekick is a lot of fun. I also wonder how much the design of Lady Ash was dictated by the upcoming Evil Dead reboot movie (they’re currently casting very skinny, pretty, redheaded women to play Ashley Williams), because it would have been nice to get someone more unconventional as a model. There’s a chance for a winky “casting” bit there, like Simon Pegg in The Boys, and it feels like a missed opportunity. I also wish the monsters were a bit more terrifying… They look like slightly ‘roided out humans most of the time, or generic corpses. Maybe there’s more coming up, but potential new readers aren’t necessarily going to look at the Deadites here, and see why they’re a threat to all life.
That aside, Army of Darkness #1 is a fun book, and a nice new start to a franchise that – by now – has eclipsed the thing that spawned it. It may not be giving us sugar yet, baby; but this new series still has a chance to make us hail to the king.
Army of Darkness #1 hits comic book stores from Dynamite Entertainment on February 15th, 2012.
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