Army of Darkness: From the Ashes #1 (Dynamite – Kuhoric / Blanco / Nunes) – The adventure and the battle continues for everyone’s favorite S-mart employee Ash. Coming straight out of the fun and somewhat odd war in the Marvel Zombie Universe he makes it back to his Earth (or so he thinks), where his evil doppleganger has taken over and is almost clinically depressed because it was so easy with the Chosen One out of the way. Of all of the comic spinoffs of AOD, this one is closed to a direct sequel to the movie. The art and story flow with ease… this Dynamite team does a great job of channeling Bruce Campbell.
Grade: B+
The Book of Legion – Ultimate Print (Legion Press – Mojica / Helkowski / Thom / Kruse) – For those of you who have seen Legion Press around the convention circuit know that the first edition of The Book of Legion has been out for a while now… and perhaps have already picked up that first edition, you need to be aware this is not simply a re-print but a whole new vision for this horror anthology. No offense to the team that put together the first book, but it doesn’t hold a candle in content or design to the Ultimate print that comes out of the current head of Legion Press. This volume contained three stories and is one of the darkest books I have read in a long time. This is not a light-hearted book by any stretch of the imagination. My favorite story in the book was called “The Battle”. This mixed a great narration, good explosive art (without being over the top) with an Exorcist twist of an ending.
The Book of Legion will take you on a hardcore horror trip that will leave you feeling a bit disturbed, but instead of relying on the traditional gore or sexy models (not slamming either of those things), it focuses on storytelling. This is a great example for other “hardcore horror” books out there. That being said, The Book of Legion may be too intense for some lighter comic fans and is not for everyone, but perfect for those that take their horror seriously.
Grade: A (for the committed horror fan)
Maintenance (Oni – Massey / Rodriguez) – Maintenance is the story of two regular joes, Doug and Manny who just happen to be the maintenance workers at Terrormax Inc. Terrormax is the corporate think tank for mad scientists bent on world domination. Doug and Manny spend their days fixing blown up machinery, cleaning up toxic chemicals, shining up doomsday machines and just in general trying to stay out of trouble. Like every blue collar worker (at least fictional ones), it seems like their immediate supervisor Mr. Dorothy is out to get them at every turn… but then again, when you take the genetically engineered Shark-Man out drinking and mess up a long-term experiment perhaps some paranoia is expected. Maintenance has a well-paced story that is integrated with both fantastically dry humor and giggle-out-loud sight gags. Without a doubt – worth your time and money.
Grade: A-
