Writer: Tony Fleecs
Artist: Pop Mhan
Colorist: Brad Simpson
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Editors: Joe Rybandt & Marshall Hoyt
Cover Artists: Bjorn Barends, Arthur Suydam, Tony Fleecs & Chris Burnham
Publisher: Dynamite Comics
Price: $4.99
Release Date: September 4, 2024
The copy of the Necronomicon Ash calls "Sucky" carries him from 2093 to 1993 to fight Evil Ash. Then, it transports him and Evil Ash to meet Lady Shiela and the Evil Lord Ash in 1300. Ash finds Lady Shiela in the Dark Forest, but Evil Ash impales him with a sword. Is this the end for Ash and Lady Shiela? Let's grab our shotguns and chainsaws, leap into Army Of Darkness Forever #11, and find out!
Story
Lady Shiela has many reasons to mourn. Duke Henry killed her brother. Lord Arthur, his wiseman, and everyone she knows in her castle home became a Deadite. Her lover abandoned her to play Sleeping Beauty in a cave, but true love's kiss won't wake him. Now, Lady Shiela watches him die in the dark forest.
Ash reassembled the scattered pages of the Necronomicon in 2093, only for it to reform into two books and a baby. Nikto may be as endearing as Mary in Three Men and a Baby, but the Necronomicon-Baby likes carnage. Lady Shiela might not cry for Ash if she knew he killed all 244 Deadites in her castle, but Baby Nikto laughs. Ash wasn't sure if the baby was on his side or just stuck by him because Ash killed so many Deadites and Droidites. But Baby Nikto declares what side it is on when it heals Ash’s ouchie in Army Of Darkness Forever #11.
Tony Fleecs packs his story with combatants and confrontations. Lord Arthur's wiseman serves Evil Lord Ash, and his devotion to the Necronomicon Ex Mortis hasn't lessened his wizardly ways. Evil Ash grew out of Ash like a zit and spread like cancer across the world in 1993. There are three copies of the Necronomicon in 1300 in addition to Baby Nikto and the two Ash nicknamed Sucky and Bitey. Fleecs services all his characters, reminds us of the power of the Necronomicon, and makes an interesting comment on the power of evil when the wizard's magic turns against him. The central theme of Army Of Darkness Forever #11 is that grief is a parasite that robs people of their humanity. Lady Shiela’s shield is her refusal to give into grief. She may feel it. She may endure it. But she will never let grief consume her.
As for Ash, he is too stubborn to give into grief. The Necronomicon may have ruined his life, but he'll keep fighting for the life he wants. Ash and Lady Shiela seem destined to keep on fighting forever. If only Ash wanted Lady Shiela!
Art
Lady Shiela cradles Ash’s head on her lap. With a mace attached to the stump where her hand used to be, she now shares another similarity with her true love. Yet blood fountains from Ash’s beautiful abs as life flees. As the wizard joins Evil Ash to observe Ash's demise, Baby Nikto touches Ash’s stomach. Ash floats above the ground like Sigourney Weaver in Ghostbusters, while inset panels show characters shielding their faces from radiant Ash.
Brad Simpson lavishes a limited palette on Pop Mhan’s fanciful art in Army Of Darkness Forever #11. Bold, contrasting colors highlight standoffs and fighting. Ash and Evil Ash wear blue shirts on a blue battlefield, while Evil Lord Ash and the wizard wear red. Turquoise and magenta often fill the backgrounds of panels on gray pages, but both change as the fighting intensifies until pink seeps into the sky as the wizard declares his allegiance.
Troy Peteri conjures large uppercase letters into white and colored dialogue balloons and narrative boxes in Army Of Darkness Forever #11. Words grow bold for inflection, enlarge and change color to convey volume, and rarely shrink. Sound effects help us hear laughter fill the battlefield, Ash’s axe clang against Evil Ash’s sword, and Baby Nikto becomes a flamethrower that another Ash could have used to protect Sigourney Weaver in Alien. Thanks to Dynamite Comics & MGM for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
Ash thought his travels through time were over when he and his three Necronomicons arrived in 1300. Lady Shiela thought Ash’s life was over when Evil Ash from 1993 killed Ash. But with six copies of the Necronomicon, four versions of Ash in one time and place, and a handful of hand-sized Ashes, Lady Shiela and Ash’s headaches become migraines in Army Of Darkness Forever #11.
Rating 9/10
For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
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