Like every good Evil Dead fan, I picked up the book. I’m only vaguely familiar with the other Army of Darkness comics, so I will admit, the “Volume 3” aspect of the new series was a little intimidating.
It seemed simple enough at the start. Starting off with images that we’ve come to know being fans of the film series, but then things got weird. We were introduced to the main character of the comic, Ashley Williams!
But wait!
This is not the Ashley Williams that you think you know. It is an Ashley Williams that the name is appropriate for, because it is a girl. She resided at one point in an alternate universe, presumably parallel from the “real one” that the male Ashley also resides in.
“BUT THIS ISN’T WHAT I PAID FOR!? THIS ISN’T MY ARMY OF DARKNESS!!”
Hold on, give it a chance first, buddy. Let’s read the comic and then make an assessment.
There is a lot happening in this comic. The back story and set up of the new Ashley seem to move way too fast in terms of the pace for the rest of the story. We get the basic gist of her “abilities” quick and concise, but it seems like the second and third act are mashed together into some weird storytelling hybrid that just doesn’t feel complete. The story feels like there’s years-worth of continuity like the books over at Marvel and DC that I should have known before I got into this. I’m hoping that this will all get cleared up in future issues though.
I will say that the new Ashley (it seems so weird to say such a thing) isn’t without her charms. She’s a pretty strong character on her own, and I feel like with a broader emphasis put on her story and not trying to meld her reality with the reality of Ash. I realize the major focal point of this new series is to see the parallel universe blending of these two worlds, but this might have been cool territory to explore first before we just get right down to smashing these characters together.
The art, done by Marat Mychaels, isn’t the most impressive that I’ve seen. It seems to fit into the style of Army of Darkness comics of the past. Things don’t really get consistent, visually, until the last couple of pages, when all the madness starts to go down. He does know how to draw the grotesque really well. The festering wounds, Deadites and weird bug aliens all look great and are a very interesting contrast to the beautiful things that surround them.
After the initial shock wave of the first 12 pages chock full of so much information, very little of it familiar, I got settled into the story. I can tell big things are being planned for this series, and with the abilities that our new protagonist has it will be very interesting to see the dynamic between her and Ash (which we get a light tease of in the beginning). I didn’t think I liked it after my first reading, but it did what most comics should make you want to do…long to read the next one.
