Writer: Tony Fleecs
Artist: Pop Mhan
Colorist: Brad Simpson
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Cover Artists: Bjorn Barends, Arthur Suydam, Tony Fleecs & Chris Burnham
Publisher: Dynamite Comics
Price: $4.99
Release Date: April 17, 2024
Ash assembled the scattered pages of the Necronomicon Ex Mortis. Lord Arthur’s wizard—appearing as a hologram—instructed him to say the magic words. After traversing the world and killing legions of Deadites, Ash knew the words by heart. Yet when he uttered the incantation, the wizard disappeared, and a demon-baby replaced the pages in his hands. Did the wizard trick him? Will Ash ever get home? And who will care for the baby with big black eyes and wings? Let’s grab our shotguns and chainsaws, leap into Army Of Darkness Forever #7, and see what happens!
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Story
Ash may not be the wisest man Lady Shiela ever met. Still, losing her friends and kingdom in 1300 A.D. forced Lady Shiela to do the one thing her beloved advised: bury the hatchet with Duke Henry. After borrowing Ash’s shotgun while he sleeps in the cave, she hopes to wipe out the Deadites once and for all.
Army Of Darkness Forever #7 covers the wise man’s role in this centuries-spanning triple-shot of Deadite madness. Lord Arthur’s wizard learned how to make Ash’s sleeping potion from the Necronomicon Ex Mortis. After sending him off to sleep away the centuries, the wizard wondered what else he could learn from the book. But the Necronomicon isn’t just a book bound in human skin. It’s a person that bespells those who desire its power. Transformed by its influence, Lord Arthur’s un-wiseman headed into the woods to resurrect the Deadite Lord. Somehow, the Deadite wizard in 1300 saw that the pages in Ash’s hands turned into a baby in 2093. Now, the wizard wants what Lady Shiela stole from him in his time zone: the Necronomicon.
Tony Fleecs intersperses confrontations between characters across three time zones. Ash shares his thoughts eloquently throughout without a hint of swagger. Ash’s realization, tinged with despair, is that people can never use the Necronomicon Ex Mortis. It will always use them. Then he turns his back on his robot companions in Army Of Darkness Forever #7. They can take care of the baby if they wish. Ash washes his hands of it all. He wants nothing more to do with wizards, robots, or cursed books.
Art
In Army Of Darkness Forever #7, Pop Mhan takes over the penciling duties. In 1300, Mhan shows Ash pausing atop his horse to bid Lady Shiela goodbye. The wizard gazes on from a doorway, hiding the Necronomicon Ex Mortis behind his back. A two-page panel shows evil Ash leading an army of skeletons toward soldiers standing before tanks amid the burning city in 1993. His opening for 2093 shows Ash standing on a mountain peak. Ash raises the chainsaw above him and clutches the baby demon by the arm. This homage to the movie poster also evokes Moses raising the tablets containing the Ten Commandments. But then, the child is the Book Of The Dead reborn.
Brad Simpson colors the skies in 2093 with bright pink and purple. Scenes from 1300 take place at night. Blue and green dominate, while the Necronomicon betrays its power with intense green light. Orange fills backgrounds in 1993 as the Army Of Darkness clashes with the U.S. Army on U.S. soil. Simpson’s colors in the 1993 clash show great nuance, and the textured glow of the fires in the double-page confrontation evokes John Bolton’s artistry in Dynamite’s Army Of Darkness Movie Adaptation.
Troy Peteri casts large black uppercase letters into white and colored dialogue balloons and narrative boxes in Army Of Darkness Forever #7. Words grow bold for inflection and enlarge or shrink to convey volume. Stylish banners introduce eras. Sound effects help us hear the Necronomicon Ex Mortis attack Lord Arthur’s Wiseman, and soldiers and tanks fire a barrage at Evil Ash’s skeleton army. And let’s not forget the baby demon, who does something noisy and “cute” to one of Ash’s robots. Thanks to Dynamite Comics & MGM for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
As Mordor’s shadow across centuries of Deadite infestation in Army Of Darkness Forever #7, Ash realizes a truth he never suspected that night he ventured into the woods and said the magic words he hoped would send him home.