REVIEW: Evil Dead 2: Beyond Dead By Dawn #1 and Vampirella/AOD #1

Two weeks ago, Space Goat Productions finally released the first part of its licensed Evil Dead 2 comic, and the result was magical. 

Painted in cool blue tones and popping reds by Chris Summers (and drawn in a refreshingly non-sexualized manner by Barnaby Bagenda and Oscar Bazaldua), the comic takes a right fork from Annie Knowby’s fate at the end of Evil Dead 2.  Surviving her stabbing-by-magic-dagger-and-severed-hand, Annie and the rest of the cabin fall together through the earth and into hell, and that’s where the fun begins.

The best and most important thing to note about the series is that it’s one hundred percent about Annie, her ego, her struggle with death and her ultimate decision to rescue her parents from an eternity in hell.  This isn’t Annie-as-Ash’s accessory; she’s a flawed, well-written and intelligent character overall.   The demons she must battle are designed in a fun way, and her determination seems very true to the Annie we get in the movie.  She’s intellectual and science-minded in general; how she eventually resurrects Ash after he’s sucked into the past via porthole is inspired and funny.

The issue does have a certain number of flaws.  There are several bobbles in Annie’s speech that make her sound like Ash, and she refers to him as her ‘savior’ more than once; it’s unlikely she’d feel that way about him, though I can see they’re trying to work up a relationship between the two characters that might possibly end in romance and so need to give us a sense of vulnerability on Annie’s part.  Overall, it’s a couple of notches below Ash and the Army of Darkness in quality, but serves as a good third runner up in the derby for best Evil Dead comic ever.

Far from that finish line sits Vampirella/AOD #1. The issue’s characterization of Ash falls on the asshole side of his stock portrayal, with him slapping Sheila on the rear end in front of the whole castle (it’s a cardinal characterization misstep that Sheila buys his excuse for this faux pas.  She hit him in the head with a rock for less) and making dirty jokes about her in front of the men.   There are some funny moments, mostly revolving around Ash’s hatred of the royalty’s love of grapes, and the elastic art provided by Jeff Morales captures the spirit of the movie without being overly on-model.    But Vampirella barely appears before the issue ends, leaving the audience feeling vaguely ripped off versus anticipating more.