Review: Army of Darkness/Bubba Ho-Tep #1

Okay first of all when I heard this book was coming out my fanboy senses went off the scale, straight past tingling into full-blown tremors. I mean anything with Bruce Campbell attached to it is already must-see material, but when you put Evil Dead and Bubba Ho-Tep in a single title, well boys you’ve just crossed the line from cool slam into deep freeze. To do this review properly we have to look at each element that makes up this insane -in -the -best -possible -way comic book beginning with Evil Dead’s Deadite dusting hellishly handsome hero, Ash Williams. Brought to life in the now legendary Sam Raimi films by the also now legendary actor, Bruce Campbell. Then in the year 2002 Campbell shows his amazing range and brings the King, Elvis Aaron Presley back to life by portraying him in all his sideburned glory in the cult classic film, Bubba Ho-Tep. Enough backstory, as the King would say let’s TCB baby, take care of business.

This issue is built upon the classic road film paradigm as it begins with Ash heading to Texas in his classic ’73 Oldsmobile Delta-88, however the goal of this road trip is quite different from any we’ve seen before. Ash is in search of the living King of Rock and Roll, Elvis, thank you very much. Based on nothing more than a hunch and a torn out page from an article proclaiming Elvis Lives! Ash drives and dives headlong into a universe spanning and expanding adventure complete with elements of both these beloved b-movie franchises. Writer Scott Duvall nails the dialog dead bang, so much so I dare anyone to try to read this without hearing the iconic voices of Elvis and Ash, both ala Bruce Campbell of course. For a first issue this is not very exposition or set up heavy, that is not to say Duvall doesn’t illuminate the terrain for us before deployment, he just doesn’t hit us with huge info dumps that can suck the life out of a story faster than a 4,000 year old rancid smelling mummy. This book is straight ahead, pedal-to-the-medal fun. Duvall manages to not only capture the tone of both films, he brilliantly weaves them into something greater than the sum of their already glorious parts.

There is a built-in audience for this book, in fact there are at least two, however going beyond that obvious appeal this book is solid comic book craft. Duvall’s sense of comedic timing and fighter jet fast pace progress the plot with more urgency than a legion of wildlings attacking the wall at Castle Black, and it hits with as much force. This is the fastest 32 pages to hit the racks in quite some time my friends, you can almost feel the wind in your face and smell the hot asphalt of the road running through any town Texas, USA.

Vincenzo Federici’s artwork is a pitch perfect match full of the same kinetic energy as Duvall’s script. His take on the characters made famous by Campbell’s rakish good looks come to life with just enough realism to make it work. There are no unwelcome easily identifiable traced images like those found in some of the other licensed properties, no there is just solid sequential art storytelling. The pages pulsate with energetic images exploding from one panel to the next in a cacophonous concerto of chaos, all that’s missing is a raucous Rob Zombie soundtrack. Michele Monte’s colors are vivacious, almost violently vibrant, every sequine on Elvis’ jumpsuit sparkles with the promise of a little less conversation and a little more action. 4/5!

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Writer- Scott Duvall
Art- Vincenzo Federici
Colors- Michele Monte
Letterer- Taylor Esposito