darkman vs army of darkness

Two classic Sam Raimi films unite thanks to the nuts over at Dynamite Entertainment.  Darkman, from the Darkman trilogy (Darkman, Darkman II and Darkman III: Die Darkman Die) and Ash from the Evil Dead Trilogy (Evil Dead, Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness) look to be teaming up to take on an out-break of Deadites in Darkman’s hometown.  It’s every horror fan’s dream come true.

The first issue has come out, and much to my surprise, it was really quite good.  Beat the hell out of Dynamite’s last attempted horror cross-over, the dreadful “Army of Darkness vs. Re-Animator”.  The first issue focuses almost entirely on Darkman and looks to take place before the second movie, as he keeps talking about the events of the first as if they’d just happened.  Not sure how the events relate to Ash in regards to Dynamite’s current Army of Darkness on-going series, though.

As the story goes, Darkman’s lost love, Julie, is closing the estate of a recently deceased man and comes into possession of the Necronomicon (the Book of the Dead).  Her assistant, Brynne, translates the pages, and when Julie speaks them allowed, the Army of Darkness invade the world of the living yet again.  The Deadites swarm the city and attack Julie and Brynne.  Julie becomes possessed, leaving Darkman only able to rescue Brynne.  Using the power of the Necronomicon, Darkman summons Ash, the Chosen One, to come to their aid.

The art by James Fry is quite good, getting Darkman’s grotesque features down perfectly.  The writing seemed a bit on the rushed side, though now that Darkman and Ash have been united, things should take a turn for the better.  At first I was expecting the two characters to throw-down, but then I remembered this was titled “Darkman vs. Army of Darkness”, not “Darkman vs. Ash”, so a team-up isn’t too disappointing.

If you’re interested in Darkman or the Evil Dead, you might want to pick this book up.

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