Review – Ash and The Army of Darkness #1

Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Writer: Steve Niles
Art: Dennis Calero
Release Date: 30th October 2013

Army of Darkness has had so many comics and crossovers over the years I have no idea what sort of continuity we’re looking at these days, but it’s safe to say that ‘Ash & The Army of Darkness’ is still just as enjoyable as anything that has gone before.

This story sees our hero Ash trying to go about normal life, but his trouble with reciting strange phrases means things aren’t as normal as he had hoped. Cue undead hordes, fistfuls of boomstick, and a wit and sarcasm that might be terrible in any other comic book, but is highly entertaining here.

You don’t NEED to have watched the Evil Dead movies to get the gist of this book, although it will help in appreciating the type of humour used, and some story beats may rely on you having at least seen ‘Army of Darkness’, but having said that, writer Steve Niles does a good job of clueing the reader in without crowbar-ing in any backstory, and although Dennis Calero’s art isn’t groundbreaking, it does the job just fine, and more importantly, it complements Niles’ dialogue in regards to ‘feeling like the films’.

I guess it’s unlikely you’d be buying this book without some previous knowledge of the franchise, and if you’re already a fan, Ash & The Army of Darkness will certainly entertain, but if you’re a noob looking for something fun to read, you could do a lot worse.