Review by C.J. Bunce

While you me, he, her, them, and we are waiting for Bruce Campbell to launch a reboot of The Rockford Files (if you say it out loud enough times, it might just come true), you get to see Campbell’s image as Ash Williams–our favorite cyborg horror hero–in a new comic book series with the laughs and tone of the great Ash vs. Evil Dead television series.  Get ready for Army of Darkness 1979, written by Rodney Barnes and artist Tom Garcia, with colorist Dinei Ribero and letterer Troy Peteri.  These creators take Ash back from his current attempt to work in the great Pacific Northwest as a logger way back 42 years in pursuit of killing Deadites and laying his hands on the Necronomicon.  A strange new/old gang in the Bronx is standing in his way.

The first issue doesn’t give readers a lot to be able to predict where the series will go in subsequent issues.  The biggest need for any Ash series is to get the Bruce Campbell dialogue right, and Rodney Barnes accomplishes that in the first pages.  Why was Ash sucked into a vortex to 1979?  You’ll need to add this series to your comic shop pull list to find out.

Several variant covers are available for this series, from artists Jason Shawn Alexander, Arthur Suydam, Junggeun Yoon, and Stuart Sayger.

First, check out a preview, courtesy of Dynamite:

The first issue of Army of Darkness 1979 arrives in comic stores today.  For teens and up, it’s a must-read for Ash Williams fans.  Add this to your comic shop pull list now.