Army of Darkness #8-13

Army of Darkness #8-13

Originally released in 2006

Written by James Kuhoric

Art by Kevin Sharpe (#8-11), Fernando Blanco (#12-13)

Evil Dead is a franchise that I only have some familiarity with, but I've greatly enjoyed what I've seen of it. (Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness) The series, or at least these instalments, follows Ash Williams, a convenience store employee who is constantly haunted by the Necronomicon Ex Mortis (the Book of the Dead) and the undead monstrosities that it summons. The series shifts between horror and comedy with how much it focuses on either depending on the movie/show.

Naturally, the first issue in this collection involves Ash Williams fighting Dracula. (And mummies, werewolves, and Frankenstein's monster - the classics) The nice thing about Dracula is that he's a public domain character so anyone can use him, and as a character, he's so hammy that it adds entertainment value to just about every story, no matter how monstrous he gets.

Of course, any sort of serious or dramatic tone that Dracula might establish is undercut by Ash, who rarely takes anything seriously. As Ash is the Chosen One, evil forces are drawn to him like a magnet, trying to kill him before he can end their threat. Naturally, this rarely works out for the evil forces, as his chainsaw, boomstick, or sheer dumb luck allow him to triumph over seemingly insurmountable odds.

The rights to the Evil Dead movies are, or at least were, unnecessarily complicated, to the point where the TV show Ash vs. Evil Dead couldn't refer to the events of Army of Darkness during its first season, and the Evil Dead video game had about a dozen logos in the intro because of all of the companies that had to be involved.  The situation is simpler now, with everything but Army of Darkness belonging to one company, but it severely limits what they can do or reference, leading to Evil Ash (a demonic doppelganger from Army of Darkness) inexplicably showing up as one of the mummies because he seems to be closest that Ash has to an arch-enemy aside from the Necronomicon itself.

The writing for the most part feels true to the film, especially when it comes to Ash's flippant remarks, though a bit of the sleaze that was common in early-to-mid 2000s comics creeps in from time to time. There are a few gags that seem true to the series, but others that feel out of place, like when the woman that Ash is traveling with (who is only referred to as "Sugarbaby") dresses up like, in her words, a hot dog-themed stripper. (While the Evil Dead movies had some nudity or sexuality, including an infamous scene with a tree, it was played for horror rather than titillation, with the nudity generally being provided by rotting corpses)

While trying to investigate why Ash is the chosen one and who chose him, he encounters several Deadites who appear to be leading the conspiracy, which ties back to my concern about the creators being limited to the events of Army Of Darkness. Deadite versions of various supporting characters from that movie appear; apparently, they've gone through their own adventures in other comics, with Sheila (Ash's medieval love interest) apparent being a Chosen One herself, though I don't have access to those comics so I have to go off of summaries.

Ash is the latest in a long line of Chosen Ones, with a new one arising to face the forces of the Necronomicon. In order to get him out of the way, the Deadites begin a ritual to banish his soul from his body and replace him with Evil Ash Prime. (What makes him different from other Evil Ashes is unclear)

However, Ash isn't dead despite the Deadites believing otherwise.  Instead, he's been sent to another universe - one which has some very familiar heroes. (Who can't be clearly shown in this issue for legal reasons) The introduction of the collection that contains these issues gives away that this crossover is happening immediately, but it's a shame that the follow-up issues don't appear to be available digitally.

'Nuff said, true believers!