Broken Frontier

Ash must be starting to feel like the Godfather, because as soon as he thinks he’s out…the Necronomicon pulls him right back in.

Why can’t this poor guy catch a break? Having just returned home from another adventure through the Necronomicon and eliminating any Deadite threat, Ash has to go see his boss about the damage incurred by his store, S-Mart, during the battle. And of course, right after hearing the bad news, the Deadites show up to cause some more damage. So with the help of a few co-workers Ash once again attempts to end any Deadite threat, do as little damage to the store as possible, and save both his girlfriend and her opponent for his attentions. But before he can do that, Ash is forced once again through the Necronomicon and into a rather unusual setting.

The stories of Ash are a little formulaic. Ash complains, the Deadites show up, the Book of the Dead causes havoc, and he kills lots of zombies, most of the time with a chainsaw. This isn’t to say that there’s anything wrong with that. In fact, it provides for a lot of fun opportunities for quirky situations and even funnier dialogue. And James Kuhoric once again proves up to the task. His characters, lacking the need for total three dimensional characterizations, provide some very witty dialogue. Ash is a very easy hero to root for. No ifs, ands, or buts about it, it’s fun to watch him kick ass and take names. The rest of the characters provide nice sounding boards for him as well. His girlfriend Sheila’s words are intentionally out of time to the point of being hysterical, and the random co-workers that show up in the story each provide unique viewpoints. The only problem within this book is the sudden sharp change of setting it takes. Moving along at a fairly quick pace, the sudden change two chapters in will leave you a little disjointed. It may be a standard for these stories to do something like that, but it seems like the book would have worked better if it had stayed in the store the whole time. Also, on a personal note, it was a little disappointing to learn the fates of his coworkers. But again, I don’t think we could call this an Army of Darkness story without it happening.

For some, when they see two different pencillers on a book it turns them off. The artwork doesn’t match and it only serves to really break up a sometimes good story. For anyone worried about that here, let your fears be put away. Because in this book, unless you’re actively looking for it, you won’t be able to tell there was a change. Both Nick Bradshaw and Sanford Greene use almost the exact same style here. Once again the artwork pushes more into cartooniness, to focus on the humor of the situation. The artists get to have a little fun with caricatures and spoofs in the store of S-Mart, and their depiction of each character is dead-on. Even the demons and deadites look like they should. They keep up with Kuhoric’s good pacing, and even, when the story provides, get to have some fun with their storytelling and page design. And neither falters at all when asked to illustrate an action scene. Vibrant and alive, the images are incredibly gory, but drawn so well you can’t help but stare.

As a finished product, this book really only suffers in that major detour it takes. Fans of the character and series probably won’t be disappointed. But for someone looking to check out this franchise for the first time, you may want to read up with some of the other books first.