Broken Frontier

He’s tough as nails and never at a loss for words, but can Ash keep his sanity in check when he’s forced to face his past once more?

I have always been a major fan of the Evil Dead movies. The first film was the bloodiest entry of the series, while the second film played down the gore in favor for more comedy. The third film kicked the series into high gear set against a Harryhausen inspired background, and much of this serves as the sounding board for the comic book adventures of Army of Darkness.

The series continues the shenanigans of Ash, as he battles endlessly the hordes of Deadites. This issue picks up from the previous story arc that saw Ash go toe to toe with Herbert West (Re-Animator) in an all-out battle at Arkham Asylum. He narrowly escaped with his life intact, but that didn’t come without casualties. Ash’s thirteenth century girlfriend Shelia was sucked into the Deadite dimension and now he’ll do anything to get her back, even if that means going back to where it all started. Yes, you heard it right folks, good ol' Ashley decides to go back to the cabin where he first confronted the Necronomicon. The only question that begs to be answered here is will he survive?

That’s a good question and I think it’s safe to say that Ash will respond in the only manner he knows how and that is to fight tooth and nail. He’s lost his girlfriend(s) and hand and maybe writer James Kuhoric can invent something else to get poor Ash’s goat. I really like the story he crafted here and this story arc was off to a good start. He really seems to understand Ash’s uniqueness and I thought he nailed him down with a good blend of smart-ass dialogue the character’s known to spout off.

This issue also allowed new artist Kevin Sharpe to strut off his talents, and judging upon his work I think he’s a tremendous penciler. He managed to capture the same devilish flair often seen in the movies, and his rendering of Ash throughout the story was dead-on (pardon the pun). His pencils were quirky enough to handle the gross-out action scenes, and he was able to balance that in scenes where Ash was given the opportunity to shoot off his mouth. I totally dug that, and surprisingly I think I am game for another go around with the chainsaw wielding maniac.

So if you’re a fan of this movie trilogy or a fan of horror in general then I think this series is for you. The kind people at Dynamite Entertainment have trotted out a faithful product to the series and this issue is a start of an excellent homage to the original. So all you old school fans, it’s time to rejoice!