Army of Darkness

Army of Darkness #1

by Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi, John Bolton

This book presents the complete adaptation of the Army of Darkness feature film! Featuring 88 pages of non-stop Ash action, this is a must-have for your reading collection! Also features an interview with Bruce Campbell by writer Kurt Busiek who also provides the forward.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Paranormal, Fantasy, Zombies, Graphic Novels Comics

96 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 2004

Reviews

[Drew Canole · Rating 3 out of 5]

A faithful adaptation, ripped right from the screenplay, by John Bolton. There are some differences but I think the film deviated from the script in parts. Really fantastic artwork.

Most of my enjoyment of the movie came from Bruce Campbell's outrageous performance and physical humour. So kudos to Bolton for making a comic book version work!

There's a bit more narration from Ash in this than I recall in the movie, especially near the end that explains some of his actions and adds some humour.

The ending is quite different - apparently this was the original ending. It's fantastic, on the level of how Evil Dead 2 ends. Makes for a great set up for a fourth film.

[47Time · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ash previously destroyed the evil by sending the Necronomicon into the middle ages. Unfortunately, he was also sent to that time. He is sentenced to death, but kills the monsters that were meant to carry out his sentence. He is then viewed as the chosen one, so he alone must recover the Necronomicon which can defeat the evil in this age and send him back home.

As far as I can tell the story follows the movie to the letter. Unfortunately, it does little else. There are plenty of funny comments from Ash that are completely inappropriate for the time and place, but that's humor for you. Ash handles everything with a stoic attitude and a one-liner. Some of the one-liners have a 70's feel, but they work for Ash, especially if you can imagine them with his delivery from the movie - all spunk and misogyny.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's fine. Completely unnecessary, but fine. This comic probably won't make a lick of sense unless you've already seen the movie, nor is it funny unless you can read it with Bruce Campbell's voice and delivery in mind. I like John Bolton's artwork, but I'm less enthused about him as a writer. Stick with the dialog from the film. The internal monologue stuff gets old fast.

[Jesse A · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fine quick little GN adaptation of a great movie. Nothing special or complicated.

[TK · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a graphic novelization of Army of Darkness. Not really much more than that. The plot is rehashed with a quicker pace, it tries to be funny but the slapstick doesn't always land well in graphic novel form. I mainly read this because I heard they kept the original post-apocalyptic ending but then I was disappointed to learn that the subsequent comic series reverted back to the alternate ending where Ash ends up back in his time. At least some of the interviews were cool *Shrug*

[Linnea Gelland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great artwork and faithful to the movie.

[Saint No Stopping Us · Rating 3 out of 5]

Six out of ten. CBR format.

A comic-book adaptation of the movie. Decent but only as an addition to the film.

[Hal · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 - 3 Stars
Basically the same as the movie just with more time in Ash's head and a sorta new ending

[Robert O. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad. I am of course a huge fan of the movie, and of Bruce Campbell's other work (Brisco County Junior, Burn Notice...). I love a good graphic novel, and I enjoyed this very much. It was also a very fast read, not taking me more than forty minutes or so. However, that being said, it was not everything I had hoped for. It certainly tweaked some things and made some alterations that I did not like as much, such as using the original ending that was cut for the movie ("I slept too long!"). It also shortened the "boomstick" line and even took out a couple of great quotes. On the other hand, the artwork was brilliant. John Bolton did a stellar job of capturing the characters, doing wonderful renditions of Bruce Campbell's and Embeth Davitz's facial expressions. Overall, I'd say it was pretty good--could have been better, but very entertaining nonetheless. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a rather gory, darkly funny comic adventure. If you are a fan of the movie, I would say go ahead and give this a go. Just keep in mind that it will change some things.

[Keith Irwin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I haven't actually seen the movie (although I did see Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2, so I'm fairly familiar with the character and the ideas), so I can't rate it on accuracy. But on the whole, this was a fairly enjoyable read. It felt a little compressed. The action sequences didn't feel all that actiony, most of it feeling more like a series of still frames taken out of an action sequence. On the whole, though, it was alright.

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5. I don't have particularly fond memories of AoD, and I haven't seen it in quite a few years, but this book was quite entertaining. The art looks great, and the story is a particularly silly brand of entertaining.

[Anna]

I don't know why I read this...

[Erick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent. It's the movie adaption so it's note for note with the film. Still would have been cool to get something extra.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant

Great comic adaptation. Well worth the read. I've always been a massive evil dead fan and I was not disappointed

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do not like the art much, though it's one of the best Ash comics

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth reading.