With a trilogy of movies, new television show and cult status, Ash Williams returns — but this time in comic book form to go slaughter some zombies. Okay, okay but why is Williams teaching history to a bunch of high school students? Clearly this isn’t going to be your average Evil Dead blood, guts and carnage experience but it still carries the Army of Darkness name. Just how carnage will this comic book be and how much terror is Mr. Williams going to put his poor students through? More importantly, this many years after the movie can this creative team recapture all the elements that made Evil Dead and Army of Darkness great in the first place?
Written by Chad Bowers and Chris SimsCover by Tyler Kirkham
Illustrated by Mauro Vargas
Colored by Triona Farrell
Lettered by Tom Napolitano“The name is Ash, but you can call me Mr. Williams!”
Ash found out the hard way that major corporations frown upon the dismemberment of Deadites on company property. Go figure! But a change in career won’t stop him from being The Chosen One!
Writers Chad Bowers & Chris Sims and artist Mauro Vargas put Ash Williams exactly where we need him…in the public school system!
Ash Williams is a lot of things but he’s not particularly nice. Chad Bowers and Chris Sims seem to understand the character incredibly well. Even after Williams’ has been humbled by impossible tasks a number of times it never sticks and he always sort of regresses into the dull man child that he is whenever creators pick up with the character after the events of the first Evil Dead film. I’ll be damned if this trick doesn’t work everytime and give the creators of whatever medium Williams is in the chance to deliver some witty one-liners and show off some character progression along the way when Ash finally rises up and becomes better than the angst that he’s chock full of.
This issue tries something remarkable with Williams that no other property (to my knowledge) has done this far, Bowers and Sims throw the main character in a classroom setting. They juxtapose his character with students, showing how Williams is kind of stuck in the past and not so willing to adapt. The high school kids that he teaches in this book bring out some of the most selfish and annoying elements of the character. However, when Williams finally rises up and saves the day, it makes his heel turn all the more worth celebrating. When Bowers and Sims roll their sleeves up and reveal why Williams is there in the first place, the real fun starts to begin.
Artist Mauro Vargas delivers a looser take on the property than I’m used to seeing but with this particularly light-hearted adaptation of the franchise the art seems all the more appropriate. The loose lines and exaggerated expressions that Vargas doubles down on in this comic really shows off how malleable this property is as a whole. Thanks to Vargas, this property is striking a different tone than it ever has in the past, going for an even later take on the franchise than the final two movies. At the end of the issue Vargas delivers some horrific elements and it will be interesting to see just how far the light tone of this comic cans stretch into the horror genre. With some of the lenky characters designs and more realistic costume design, Vargas adds a really nice casual feel to the tone of this comic that I came to appreciate more as the quick page of the issue begins steps into gear.
Bowers and Sims have a lot of work to do in this comic as the writing duo decided to give Ash a new status quo instead of just taking him into the familiar world of Army of Darkness and picking up the pieces right after the film. The duo spend just enough time establishing the premise and study the main character to keep things interesting and still throw out a couple jokes into the audience. Going forward I would love to see the pair continue utilizing the students but also throw in some more familiar aspects of the franchise to keep the genre fans that love everything “Evil Dead” a reason to stick around for more.
It should be a tired property by now but somehow “Ash Vs. Army of Darkness” rises up against a low tide and delivers something truly remarkable with Williams. The full team on the book have utilized the franchise to show off an aspect of the character that no other creator has tapped into before. Even though this series has a few obvious influences and is based on a franchise a couple of decades old, “Ash Vs. The Army of Darkness” #1 delivers a wonderful take on the character and promises that some horror elements are on the way. if that wasn’t enough, Bowers, Sims and Vargas show an advanced understanding of this character and have a clear journey to take Ash on in future installments of the series.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – “Ash Vs. The Army of Darkness” #1 finds a brand new aspect of Ash Williams’ personality and style while delivering the hits even if it is a little light on the chainsaw hands.
