Like peanut butter and chocolate together.
Creative Staff:
Story: Mark Rahner
Art: Jethro Morales
What They Say:
During his time trapped in the England of 1300 A.D., Ash listened to the terrified primitive screwheads tell of a horrific flying Deadite similar to the one he blasted out of the air when he arrived – but much deadlier. At the same time, a raven-haired temptress wants to give him some sugar – as his last meal! The horror mash-up you’ve been waiting for, from Mark Rahner (Twilight Zone, Army of Darkness/Reanimator) and Jethro Morales (Hack/Slash)… full of bloody chainsaws, fanged vixens, demon possessions, and boomsticks aplenty!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
At this stage of the game, I’ll easily try anything with Vampirella in it, though it’s often hit or miss with what works. Bringing Vampirella into the world of Army of Darkness feels like the kind of easy no-brainer, and one that should work well with the Evil Dead world getting the extra boost later this year with the show TV series. I was never a fan of the original Evil Dead films though I really enjoyed Army of Darkness, but they’re works I’m familiar with. And Dynamite has drawn me in a good deal the last couple of years with a good range of Vampirella books that keeps showing new ways to interpret her while sticking to some of the core aspects of her.
With this series, she has a largely minor role that comes in more towards the end, but that works out fine overall. The main focus here is on Ash as we get introduced to how things are set up for him in the year 1300 or so where he’s biding his time to get to the Necronomicon and dealing with whatever Deadites that are out there. In fact, in all his usual drunken and boorish ways, he’s overly confident about the new, larger, Deadite that’s out in the wilds these days, as even the Wiseman goes on about how it’s not going to be easy, no matter how many gauges he has on his shotgun. Ash is definitely interesting to watch in this context because he is wholly a character of the late 70’s in so many ways, and there’s a real Man’s Man kind of mentality that pervades his entire persona. That can be hella off putting to be sure, but you also know he’s going to get his ass handed to him a few times because of it.
A lot of the book has him just ambling about from scene to scene because of his drunken nature at the moment, and we see the way the local rulers have little true respect for him but understand that he can do things nobody else can. What changes the dynamic is the arrival of Vampirella in the castle, who doesn’t seem her normal self for those reading other books of hers, because she’s got a hunger that must be sated and is looking for meals in the castle. She gets one along the way, which sets off the general alarm for everyone, but it’s when Ash comes across her that the real fun begins. He’s oblivious to what she really is at first, more trying to make amends for his poor words in regards to her as he at least tries to be a better man in his dealings with women, but that all falls by the wayside as the real bad stuff starts happening, leaving a wonderful little cliffhanger for us.
In Summary:
Vampirella/Army of Darkness does the usual routine here in bringing together two well-known properties to see how they’ll interact. With the opening issue, it’s mostly about Ash, which writer Mark Rahner does a solid job of bringing to life, especially since I can mostly here Bruce Campbell’s voice coming out of him. Jeff Morales does a solid job with the artwork and this is a refreshing change of pace to see Vampirella in this form since most others tend to be a bit sleeker in a sense. Bringing her into this world gives a new view of her, though we’ll see how she is when she regains some actual personality. Most of what we get here is all about the establishing of the time, the place, and the people, and it does it well enough. I imagine Ash fans will be glad to get a new book with their favorite character while Vampirella fans may not get much out of it and might be a bit turned off by him. But the potential for some crazy fun is there and I think this team will be able to pull it off as the book gets into gear.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: July 8th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
