THE Aliens franchise and the Army of Darkness franchise are two of the most iconic horror franchises, and they crossed over perfectly in a comic book tie-in where the adventures of fan favorites Ash and Ripley were expanded upon. The third Evil Dead film alone warranted an entire franchise of its own, revolving around Army of Darknessbranded comics.
Horror fans get the best of both worlds in the 2014 series Army of Darkness by Cullen Bunn and Larry Watts, where Ash pays tribute to Aliens after receiving the ultimate power upgrade. Some would say Ash couldn’t get more iconic after donning a chainsaw where his hand used to be, but he overcomes that by creating his own mech suit in the depths of outer space.
To better understand how efficient this AliensThe inspired power upgrade is for Ash, besides how this upgrade speaks to an overlooked ability that Ash possesses, it’s important to first delve into how Ash ended up in space to begin with.
THE Army of Darkness Comics give Ash the perfect Aliens-How to upgrade power
Ash goes to space in a comic book
Ash’s space odyssey begins in the miniseries Army of Darkness: Ash is hitched by Steve Niles and Nacho Tenorio and Army of Darkness #1992.1, a one-shot anthology featuring the story “Prelude to Ash in Space” by Bunn, Watts, Kelly Fitzpatrick, and Marshall Dillon. After completion of Ash is hitched, Ash finds himself falling into a space-time vortex just before what would have been his honeymoon.. He finds his way to the dark ages, where he encounters an astrologer, Artemus Vrill, who has acquired the book of the dead, Necronomicon, completely corrupt. They then land in 21st century Florida during a space shuttle launch.
Vrill escapes in the ship, with Ash chasing him, and inexplicably, the two men (and the book) are launched into space with the ship. Upon falling into orbit, the space shuttle astronauts are infected, becoming Deadites. While Ash meets the surviving astronauts and cuts down Deadites, the text of the Necronomicon is being loaded into the shuttle’s supercomputer. The Necronomicon’s evil manages to infect his robotic hand before separating from Ash.
The robotic hand manages to get an upgrade of its own, manifesting in the return of a cybernetic version of Bad Ash (aka Evil Ash, the most powerful Deadite). In Army of Darkness #3 by Bunn, Watts, Aikau Oliva and Dillon, Ash and the last surviving member of the crew (especially when another turns into a Deadite) realize how defeated they are in this fight. To combat Robo-Ash Ash takes a look at the trash scattered around the ship creating a robot battle suit that closely resembles the one Ripley wears in Aliens.
Ash creates a new Aliens-Like the Robot Suit, but how efficient is it?
How Ash’s costume behaves in battle
Army of Darkness #4 by the same team immediately shows the costume in action. The first thing Ash does is blast a hole in an astronaut with his chainsaw mechanical arm, lifting him into the air and slamming him back down to the ground while reciting lyrics to classic rock songs (although Bad Ash confuses the genre with glam rock, which Ash is quick to criticize). He then quickly discards two more before moving on to his mirror image.
Although Bad Ash is a more formidable opponent, there is a moment early on when it seems Not even the most powerful Deadite can handle what this battle suit is capable of. The fight begins with Bad Ash attacking Ash, the protagonist, with the latter immediately using his mechanical robotic arm to grab Bad Ash by the throat. Bad Ash in his hands, it seems the fight is over before it even begins – until Bad Ash throws his evil hand at Ash. The hand grows spider-like limbs and a monstrous mouth on Ash’s exposed face.
The efficiency of his suit shows how skilled Ash is as a craftsman and creator.
Ash throws the spider hand at Bad Ash, who cuts it off before running the chainsaw into Ash, basically picking up where they left off Army of Darkness film via hand-to-hand combat. They reach a stalemate before Ash realizes that the Necronomicon’s Ex-Mortis power is trapped in Bad Ash’s chest. As soon as Ash interrupts him, Bad Ash is weakened. Now that the suit has served its purpose, Ash exits the suit, kicking Bad Ash’s lifeless body and walking away with the Necronomicon in hand.
Army of Darkness‘Ash is the MacGyver of the horror genre
Ash can make anything with any material
Aside from how obnoxious Ash’s tribute to Ellen Ripley’s battle suit is, the effectiveness of his suit only shows how skilled Ash is as a craftsman and creator. It’s a skill that’s been on display since the beginning of evil Dead franchise when he took advantage of his lack of hands to use a chainsaw as a tourniquet and weapon. That was in Evil Dead II: Dead at Dawn; then, in Army of Darknesshe manages to make a real metal hand (better known as the Mechanical Gauntlet or Metal Gauntlet) with the help of the local blacksmith.
Keep in mind that in the latter case, he’s using technology and resources dating back to 1300 AD, and still manages to make something useful out of practically nothing. He does the same in this story “Ash in Space”. Although the technology he finds on the shuttle is much more advanced compared to what he encountered in medieval times, he is using leftover junk, much of which probably doesn’t even work anymore. Yet, he essentially makes something out of nothing when he makes what appears to be a high-tech suit with low-quality weaponry.
It is even more impressive if readers consider the possibility that the Aliens The nod isn’t just a tribute from the creative team. It’s possible that in-universe Ash actually tries to model his costume after the one seen in the Aliens sequence. In this case, he was able to model an almost exact replica of recycled space junk. Ash has a gift for making great crafts from unused trinkets. There are few examples of horror characters who can do the same, but it’s a MacGyver-style skill that can’t be overlooked, especially when given the Army of Darkness star the perfect Aliens suit.
2014 Army of Darkness is now available from Dynamite Entertainment.