Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness #1

Genre horror Author John Layman Publisher Marvel Comics and Dynamite Entertainment External Links Official Marvel Website

The blending of two intellectual properties has been met with mixed results in the past. Both Alien vs. Predator and Freddy vs. Jason did reasonably well in the theaters, but were met by lukewarm to downright nasty reviews by critics. Still, these match ups were the dreams of many a junior high school student, incessantly arguing with their peers over who would be victorious. If you sweep aside that mainstream audience and reach out directly to that niche group through a medium like comic books, and you'll hear nothing but testosterone (and maybe in some cases a bit of estrogen) fueled hysteria over Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness.

To catch those not in the know up to speed about the two tales, Marvel Zombies is an alternate Marvel universe in which a zombie plague has swept the world, and taken the superheroes with it. What you have left is a zombie Hulk and Spider-man arguing over whom is going to eat the latest survivor found. Army of Darkness, as well as its two prequels Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 is about a bumbling yet charming man named Ash who is incessantly accidentally unleashing evil into the world, yet always narrowly saving the day. In Army of Darkness Ash traveled to the middle ages, and lately in his own comic book has been hopping all sorts of dimensional boundaries. His latest adventure as you may have guessed, throws him directly into the fray of a certain bunch of super powered zombies.

The original Marvel Zombies was written by Robert Kirkman, most notable for his zombie saga The Walking Dead. MZ vs. AoD serves as a prequel to the original, however writing duties have been passed over to John Layman (Xena: Warrior Princess). While Kirkman is still overseeing the project, the comic is still in very capable hands. Layman has demonstrated his ability to accurately write Bruce Campbell in his ongoing Xena book, and it carries over very well here. James Kuhoric reduced the character to a series of one liners and catchphrases in the AoD ongoing, and it is very refreshing to see the character act a bit more original. Layman also seems to have a good gauge on not only the denizens of the Marvel universe, but also on the dark humor that Robert Kirkman infused in the original series.

Fabiano Neves, who is paired with Layman on the Xena ongoing, is on pencils in this book as well. His down to earth and realistic style is very appropriate for this book, with a bit of darkness thrown in for good measure. When Ash first encounters Daredevil fighting Thunderball, gray tones and dark skies that abound suggest that this is not the Marvel universe we're familiar with. Neves can also draw one creepy zombie, which sets the mood just right for a horror comic. It takes a very special artist to be able to convey horror correctly in a comic, and fortunately Neves can deliver.

It will be interesting to see how Ash deals with this newfound and foreign evil in the next few issues. For the first time in awhile, I for one am excited about an Army of Darkness comic.