***THIS REVIEW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE NERD BLITZ PATREON***
This is a book I got in 2017 on Free Comic Book Day simply because, as I’m sure you all know by now, I fuckin’ love me some good old fashion Evil Dead, gang, no matter what form it may come in.
In that time, I’ve made it a personal mission to be a Johnny Appleseed of sorts for this book, spreading the word far and wide as I go.
But is it as good as I initially thought?
Could it possibly be the fun Christmas horror book I’ve spent years pimping to within an inch of it’s gore soaked life?
Let’s find out!
As always, this is your spiffy and official ***SPOILER ALERT***
Cover By…Vincenzo Riccardi? I’m not sure, no real credit is given for the cover: I fuckin’ love it!
Ash vs a horde of Deadites is vintage Evil Dead, though these aren’t exactly in line with the movie deadite looks, and the Bruce likeness is pretty damn good as far as cartoony Bruce’s go.
The little details like the nails in the lead Deadite’s head and having The Classic on the roof of the comic shop really pop out and make me chuckle.
Only downside is the lack of blood. *wink*
Art By Vincenzo Riccardi: Now I’m fairly certain Vincenzo did the cover, because the interior art looks close enough to the cover.
I dig it.
His mixing of some classic Christmas imagery with a Kandarian demonic twist is pretty slick.
The action looks dynamic and more detailed than I expected as well.
Story By Georgia Ball: After a walk around town with Annie Knowby, Ash is showering when a spectral visitor tells him of a Deadite infestation at a local “Christmas Year Round” theme park called Santa’s Secret Snowy Garden.
Ash and Annie head out to cleanse the park and run across 2 kids holding their own against the horde, they team up and take out a bunch of the monsters.
But a secret villain has plans for an ultimate showdown…
I remember why I dug this so much, it feels exactly right.
It has the humor, gore…though in a different flavor than I anticipated…, and violence you want from the Evil Dead franchise in buckets.
Like I said though, it’s not exactly what I anticipated, because I feel like this can pass as gore and violence you could put on TV.
It’s not heads exploding in a fountain of blood, brain, or sinew, this is giant demonic gumdrops and underworld gingerbread men being ripped to shreds.
And it is goddamn GLORIOUS!
The 2 kid characters border on stereotypical “street wise toughs”, but it actually works pretty well against Ash and his shtick.
The brother, a swearing axe swinger, protected his little sister when the infestation began, so I’m happy to report these aren’t whiny little shitheads that save the day due to an overabundance of pluck either.
And that’s a positive for most of the new characters here, they all seem to mesh well with the world we know and love.
The thing I think I dig most is the juxtaposition of Christmas with Horror.
Yes, it has been done a shit ton, though, mostly, it hasn’t been done to my liking.
But when you add a little Bruce, or even some facsimile of the chin, I can get on board with your nonsense.
Probably adds to the quality that this happened in a comic as well, because trying something this out there on screen could have made it feel a bit cheap and killed a bit of the mood or enjoyment.
Is this as good as I recall?
Pretty damn close, gang.
My spreading of the word shall continue: Despite some alleged questionable buisness practices, I highly recommend you dive into your local comic shop’s back issue bins and try to snap up a copy of this, or any of the other books this company pumped out, if you dig the franchise.
I don’t know how big the print run was, but I’m sure there are copies to be had somewhere, and I can hope that this would help chase away those winter blues a bit.
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Until next time, stay safe out there, gang.
