Army of Darkness: Ash Gets Hitched #1

Published by: Dynamite Entertainment
Released on: July, 2014
Writer: Steve Niles
Artist: Nacho Tenorio
Cover artist: Jae Lee

Ash's big battle with Evil Sheila resulted in a number of things: a matching severed hand for Sheila, Ash asking for Sheila's hand in marriage, and Ash's decision to remain stuck somewhere in time as a stranger in a strange land. No more wasted years, he's going to decimate the Deadites and defeat the evil once and for all right there in medieval times. He's got power, the respect, and the hot babe…why go back to his old life at S-Mart. No reason at all.

Another thing that happened in the last series “Ash and the Army of Darkness” was Ash's meeting with a grove goddess (not groove, as in “groovy”) and her giving him a name, “Faceless Man”. Utter the name three times, she says, and he will be summoned, and that is not a good thing. Memory fails this brain, so the purpose of telling Ash a name and then telling him NOT to say it three times is lost, but at any rate he said “ Faceless Man” three times and nothing happened. Until now.

A Deadite being held for questioning splits the scene in fear after merely seeing the name in writing, and the old man mage knows a thing or two about the legend of the Faceless Man. His information puts Ash out on the road to look for whatever seems amiss, and along with him goes his bride to be Sheila and the wiseman/mage…whatever he is. King Eric the Red and King Arthur stayed behind to wait for the aide of armies from two other kingdoms to continue the war on the Deadites, each army to support one or the other king. But those two armies meet up and stumble across someone (or something rather) they did not expect. Hail to your NEW king, baby.

This newest story arc/mini-series in the Dynamite library of Army of Darkness comics continues right where the previous one ended, so if continuity and the like is your thing, the story doesn't skip a beat. If you're new to reading the comic franchise and didn't read the last series, like with most Army of Darkness comics you can pretty much pick it up wherever, and Niles is good with filling in the blanks you might have without smothering you with re-hashing and awkward explanatory dialogue. The art gets the job done with a moderate amount of detail and plenty of splash page opportunities. Nacho's art is good stuff, it just doesn't shine. And speaking of doesn't shine, observe the Jae Lee cover. His art is usually amazing, but that has got to be the worst cover he's ever had published. Why, Dynamite, why?

It's a fun book, a fun character, and it will no doubt be just as entertaining, though forgettable, as the previous series. Dead things, blood and guts, and cheesy bravado stuff is never something to turn away from and this comic certainly delivers all that. These books continue to entertain as so long as they do, they deserve some attention.