Review: Evil Dead 2: Revenge of Dracula
Halloween: That time of year when monsters prowl, trick-or-treaters roam the lands, and comic book publishers release their most appropriately timed horror-related titles. And who better to celebrate All Hallows’ Eve with than Ashley Williams, chain-saw-wielding, shotgun-blasting deadite killer and star of the Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, and Army of Darkness films, as well as the cable-TV sensation Ash vs. Evil Dead, the second season of which is soon to debut?
The spooky season is exactly why publisher Space Goat Productions has a trio of Ash-related comics now on sale. For now, let’s take a look at one of them: the one-shot special Evil Dead 2: Revenge of Dracula, written by Scott Peterson (Batman: Gotham Adventures, Scooby-Doo) and illustrated by Horacio Domingues (Wildcats: Nemesis, Welcome to Tranquility) with Yvel Guichet (Trinity of Sin, Aquaman).
Before we begin, an explanation is in order, for the ED fans out there who might be confused by the comic’s title. Since Space Goat has the rights solely to the movie Evil Dead 2 and not Evil Dead (whose rights are over at Dark Horse Comics) or Army of Darkness (those are held by Dynamite Entertainment); and since, as you might remember, Ash was sucked into a time portal that dumped him in 13th-century England at the end of ED2, which led to the events of Army of Darkness, the Space Goat Ashley Williams is a mystical, two-handed clone created from the hand he severed in ED2. (This process was covered in Space Goat’s initial miniseries, Evil Dead 2: Beyond Dead by Dawn, which I reviewed here.) In this manner, Space Goat has been able to craft an ever-growing number of new adventures for Ash, without conflicting with film continuity.
Everything clear, now? Good. Then let’s proceed.
In Evil Dead 2: Revenge of Dracula, Ash comes face-to-fang with…well, exactly who the title promises, right from the first page. The lord of vampires has been resurrected by the notorious spellbook called the Necronomicon ex-Mortis—the same grimoire used to create Clone Ash, and which Ash allowed to slip into the hands of a beautiful woman with nefarious plans. (An occupational hazard, where Ash’s libido is concerned.) But Dracula isn’t the only monster Ash has to contend with, and the newcomer is a threat so big even the lord of vampires might be willing to side with Ash to put it down…
As a creative team, Peterson gives readers the wise-ass Ash fans have come to know and love, and a Dracula who’s as pompous as Ash is sarcastic, while Domigues’s art matches the lighter tone that Evil Dead fans have come to expect from the franchise. They make for a good combination.
Bottom line? A done-in-one story that features Ash fighting Dracula? Sounds just like the kind of story Evil Dead fans might get a charge out of, doesn’t it? So go haunt your local comic shop and check out this groovy special.
Evil Dead 2: Revenge of Dracula
Written by Scott Peterson
Art by Horacio Domingues with Yvel Guichet
Main cover art by Yvel Guichet and Joe Rubinstein
Publisher: Space Goat Productions
32 pages • full-color
$3.99 U.S.
Now on sale
About the Author
Steven Roman Steven A. Roman is the author of the Saga of Pandora Zwieback novel series and the graphic novels Lorelei: Sects and the City and Sunn, and the bestselling author of the novels X-Men: The Chaos Engine Trilogy and Final Destination: Dead Man’s Hand. Follow his adventures in publishing at StarWarp Concepts.
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