Army of Darkness Forever # 11 // Review
It’s 1300 AD and Ash is dying from a wound to the stomach. There’s a little demon sitting next to him that seems concerned. Actually--it’s not really a demon. It’s more sort of...a self-aware copy of The Necronomicon in humanoid toddler form. And it’s not alone there are like...three other copies of the book in the immediate vicinity. Things are about to get pretty messy in Army of Darkness Forever # 11. Writer Tony Fleecs and artist Pop Mhan continue to playfully riff on a beloved fantasy horror movie with the aid of colorist Brad Simpson.
The little Necronomi-kid doesn’t want to see Ash die...not when there is at least one other less-than-cool Ash wandering around making a mess of things. And so it is that Ash is sort of...resurrected from near-death to call on his own Army of Darkness for a big showdown between the Ashes. Between multiple Ashes, a few different Necronomicons and a whole lot of dead warriors, things are bound to get really, really confusing and chaotic. Throw-in some time travel, an infestation of mini-Ashes as the whole conflict gets very, very pleasantly weird.
Fleecs cranks-up the complexity in the story quite a bit with the 11th issue. The author seems quite aware that, for the most part, the bulk of the readership of the series is going to be people who love the movie and have watched it a million times. He seems quite comfortable with layering what could easily be the plot for like...three or four sequels into the same issue of the same series and tosses it all into the narrative blender. It’s fun stuff, but it would be absolutely indescribable for anyone not already familiar with the original movie.
Fleecs’ desire to cram the issue with a whole lot of different visual gags is fun, but it’s a bit of a challenge for the artist to really capture the full visual potential of any one moment without having it all come crashing down into a jumble. The multiple Necronomicons visual could really have been amped-up in so many ways of Mhan had ben given a chance to work with it. As would the infestation of Ashes or...really just about any ONE element in the issue could have been really fun and weird and vaguely unsettling if it was allowed to play-out with a bit more space on the page.
Given the kind of momentum Fleecs is giving the series, there’s really no reason that it couldn’t keep going for years. In order for it to run with the kind of longevity it’s capable of, Fleecs is really going to need to slow the pacing and allow the weirdness to emerge with a bit more class and substance. This would also allow new readers and people not already as familiar with the franchise to get into it on a panel-by-panel basis that could expand the reach of both the property AND the comic book.
Grade: B-
