Written by: Chad Bowers, Chris Sims
Art by: Mauro Vargas
Colour by: Triona Farrell
Letters by: Tom Napolitano
Cover by: Nick Breadshaw
Published by: Dynamite Entertainment
The Evil Dead movie trilogy has built an insane cult following since the release of the first film in 1981. Haven’t seen the films? Seriously? Not to worry. Chad Bowers and Chris Sims dedicate the first three pages in their script to catching you up. In a flurry of narrative exposition, every major event from all three films is thrown at the reader.
It all started with that damn book…
Catch all that? Good. Moving on. Here we are, in storyline present, seven days after the events of the first Evil Dead film. Ash is sitting in a disciplinary meeting with one of the S-Mart human resources team. He’s in deep. Lost a week of work without calling in. Shot a customer point blank with a shotgun on his first day back. Seven times. Fired? Oh, yes.
Bowers and Sims are clearly fans. They brilliantly capture Ash’ deadpan delivery of smartass quips. They have such a bead on the dark humor of the source material, I found myself reading Ash’ lines in Bruce Campbell’s voice. There are also loads of callbacks and Easter eggs peppered throughout the script for the Evil Dead faithful to find.
Mauro Vargas’ clean lines and Triona Farrell’s bright, over-the-top color choices fit the satirical nature of this story nicely. They’re able to bring us from a sanitized office, to a dumpy apartment, to a possessed high school without missing a visual beat. The three-page flashback that kicks off this book is especially impressive, tipping the art team’s hand at what we can expect from some of the upcoming horror sequences.
This zero issue does its job brilliantly, setting up the timeline for hardcore fans of the source franchise, but also bringing new readers up to speed. With innumerable comic series written in the 36 years since Evil Dead hit the theaters, it’s important to let readers know exactly when this series takes place and where we’re headed.
If you’re a fan of the original movie trilogy, the 17,000 comic titles that followed, the roleplaying game, the Vegas musical, or just like goofy, campy horror, be sure to check out this 99 cent issue. You should also try to find Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash, because that exists, and it is glorious.
Overall: 7.5/10
