Army of Darkness/Evil Dead Comics Discussion Thread!

To be honest, I'm glad that it never came into fruition. Freddy vs Jason makes sense to me, but adding Ash to the mix would just be kinda off.
 
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It seems as though Dynamite's Diamond troubles are far from over, as they are now so strapped for money that they cannot make the payroll for next week for the 30 EMPLOYEES that run the entirety of Dynamite Entertainment. They are currently trying to get the courts to hurry up the lawsuit with Diamond so they can get the money they're owed (now at over one million dollars) to start paying employees.
There is currently no word on how this will effect the actual distribution of Dynamite's comics, but I wouldn't be shocked if we're hit with another delay in releases. I will continue to monitor the situation, and will report on if RSvsAOD #3 actually comes out next week.

EDIT: Dynamite's attempt at getting the lawsuit sped up has failed. Dave Avallone (writer of Dynamite's Elvira and Bettie Page books) has said that, although he is not an employee of Dynamite, he was expecting a check from them this week and it has yet to show up. Now some are speculating that Dynamite was/is intentionally withholding checks to creators and employees to generate sympathy from the courts.
A quick update on the Diamond/Dynamite drama that is having a serious effect on Dynamite's backstock. Apparently Diamond is selling off all the assets within their warehouses in an effort to pay back the dozens of publishers they owe money to... but there is just one problem: they don't own the product itself... the publishers do. The even bigger problem: they've done this without telling the publishers who actually own said product. Dynamite owner Nick Barrucci has sent out an email to several other publishers and companies with product in Diamond-owned warehouses warning them about what is going on.

TL;DR Beware if there's suddenly some seriously good deals on Dynamite trades or back-issues online in the next few days... you may get wrapped up in this lawsuit... or you may not get what you ordered at all...
 
After a full month of delays, it seems as though Red Sonja vs. Army of Darkness #3 will 100% absolutely be in stores TOMORROW (July 16th, 2025)!
In other good news, Dynamite has announced that they've struck a deal with major publisher Simon & Schuster to start distributing trade paperbacks/hardcovers to "Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, treasured independent bookstores, library systems, other non-comics specialized brick and mortar or online retailers that sell physical books, as well as Amazon." Traditional single issue comics (as well as the paperbacks/hardcover trades) will still be sold to comic specialty shops through Lunar Distribution.
 
Man, I left for a little bit and suddenly there's lawsuit drama AND Diamond Distributors Drama?! I need to check and see if my local is still doing single issues for them.
 
Preview pages for Red Sonja vs. Army of Darkness #4 (out TOMORROW!)
I really admire the ballsyness of this series to so blatantly lift moments from ED2 (like with Henrietta appearing in issue one), and now we have an ED2 Linda cameo.
ALSO... if Tim Seeley was serious about trying to make this a sequel to AOD Forever, he's doing a really bad job at it. He should know that Evil Ash was the one in the "return to S-Mart" scene (as depicted in this here flashback), not regular Ash.
RedSonja-Vs-ArmyOfDarkness-04_Page_1.jpg
 
Is issue #5 the last issue, or will there be more to come?
 
Is issue #5 the last issue, or will there be more to come?
Issue #5 is indeed the last, and I think it's coming later this month (27th maybe?). No word on any new AOD series after this (all Dynamite really announced at SDCC last week was more Warner Bros comics and Buffy The Vampire Slayer, so maybe we'll hear something by NYCC in October).
 
Preview pages for Red Sonja vs. Army of Darkness #4 (out TOMORROW!)
I really admire the ballsyness of this series to so blatantly lift moments from ED2 (like with Henrietta appearing in issue one), and now we have an ED2 Linda cameo.
ALSO... if Tim Seeley was serious about trying to make this a sequel to AOD Forever, he's doing a really bad job at it. He should know that Evil Ash was the one in the "return to S-Mart" scene (as depicted in this here flashback), not regular Ash.
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Something tells me that if AvED tried to blatantly reference AoD like that, Universal would sue them in a second.
 
Something tells me that if AvED tried to blatantly reference AoD like that, Universal would sue them in a second.
I talked with someone who worked on the office production side of things for AvED and they said that they got sent a very strongly worded legal notice from one of the AOD owners (probably Universal, but it could have been MGM, I didn't think to ask) by the end of Season 1 just for saying "Boomstick" in the second episode. That's why most of Season 2's more blatant AOD nods were crammed in at the end of the season and were mostly physical callbacks. By Season 3 they (meaning AvED production) just didn't care anymore since they figured it was going to be the last season anyway.
 
Preview pages for Red Sonja vs. Army of Darkness #4 (out TOMORROW!)
I really admire the ballsyness of this series to so blatantly lift moments from ED2 (like with Henrietta appearing in issue one), and now we have an ED2 Linda cameo.
ALSO... if Tim Seeley was serious about trying to make this a sequel to AOD Forever, he's doing a really bad job at it. He should know that Evil Ash was the one in the "return to S-Mart" scene (as depicted in this here flashback), not regular Ash.
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Considering how non-complimentary Sam and Bruce are about Dynamite, that's a shocker- blatent ED2 imagery!

It looks like there won't be an AOD comic out from Dynamite for October this year, to my shock.
I talked with someone who worked on the office production side of things for AvED and they said that they got sent a very strongly worded legal notice from one of the AOD owners (probably Universal, but it could have been MGM, I didn't think to ask) by the end of Season 1 just for saying "Boomstick" in the second episode. That's why most of Season 2's more blatant AOD nods were crammed in at the end of the season and were mostly physical callbacks. By Season 3 they (meaning AvED production) just didn't care anymore since they figured it was going to be the last season anyway.
Oho!
 
Red Sonja vs AOD #4 is out.
I'm not really sure how I feel about this issue. It's kinda falling into that classic Tim Seeley trope of "crossover characters falling in love" and/or "one crossover character simps really hard for the other". It's a muddy mix of when Seeley had Evil Ernie fall for Cassie Hack in The Final Revenge of Evil Ernie, or (what really came to the forefront of my mind) when Ash fell for Cassie in Army of Darkness vs Hack/Slash. Ash is simping hard for Sonja in this issue, and it's a bit jarring... like 90% of his thought box dialogue is about how great she is. Really strange, but again, it's a Seeley staple.
Not too much else to say. The actual story isn't bad (the guy at the comic shop even told me when I checked out that this has been one of the better Sonja titles in the past few years) and the art is great. Looking forward to see how it all wraps up in the final issue.
 
I wouldn't mind this quirk of his if it didn't either sound incredibly fanservicey every single time or unnecessarily split up canon couples (in Hack/Slash vs AOD, Cassie's girlfriend was spoken about right before she and Ash did the nasty FFS)
 
I wouldn't mind this quirk of his if it didn't either sound incredibly fanservicey every single time or unnecessarily split up canon couples (in Hack/Slash vs AOD, Cassie's girlfriend was spoken about right before she and Ash did the nasty FFS)
Hey now, Ash didn't split up Cassie and Margaret... they just... had an affair whilst they were trapped in time (not that that's better, but I just wanted to clarify). In the time since that post, I also remembered Vampirella simped really hard for Vlad in both Vampirella & Hack/Slash crossovers, too, so that's thrice that I know of!
 
I talked with someone who worked on the office production side of things for AvED and they said that they got sent a very strongly worded legal notice from one of the AOD owners (probably Universal, but it could have been MGM, I didn't think to ask) by the end of Season 1 just for saying "Boomstick" in the second episode. That's why most of Season 2's more blatant AOD nods were crammed in at the end of the season and were mostly physical callbacks. By Season 3 they (meaning AvED production) just didn't care anymore since they figured it was going to be the last season anyway.
Wow.
 
Hey now, Ash didn't split up Cassie and Margaret... they just... had an affair whilst they were trapped in time (not that that's better, but I just wanted to clarify). In the time since that post, I also remembered Vampirella simped really hard for Vlad in both Vampirella & Hack/Slash crossovers, too, so that's thrice that I know of!

Wasn't the additional plot caveat that they both forgot about it afterward? I remember it was so ridiculous. My least favorite crossover which sucks because I obviously like both franchises.
 
Wasn't the additional plot caveat that they both forgot about it afterward? I remember it was so ridiculous. My least favorite crossover which sucks because I obviously like both franchises.
No, they very much remember at the end.
AOD-HS-Ending.jpg
 
Reminder that the final issue of Red Sonja vs Army of Darkness will be out on August 27th!
Dynamite has released their October and November solicitations, and there is no new AOD content. They seem to be putting a heavy emphasis on the Disney and Warner IPs they've got (heck, the only non-licensed IP title coming in October and November is Vampirella), so I wouldn't be surprised if AOD is gonna go on hiatus for awhile.

In other news, I had previously brought up Dynamite's issues with Diamond Distribution (who was responsible for a lot of the delays in recent years), where Diamond planned to sell off merchandise in their warehouses to pay back their debts. The only update with that is that the court pumped Diamond's breaks, saying they absolutely 100% CANNOT do that since they do not own the product, and that the case has been put on pause until September 30th.
 
Surviving a distribution shake-up and constant delays throughout it's run, the final issue Red Sonja vs Army of Darkness has arrived.
I'll put more detailed thoughts behind a spoilers, but overall, I thought it was a great. Great art. Great plot. Even with my aforementioned lack of knowledge on the Red Sonja side of things, there was still plenty of stuff to satisfy me as an Evil Dead fan, and it seemed to be a pretty fair balance of the two franchises over all five issues. I dare say that this is among the best of the AOD crossovers (maybe in the top five best, perhaps?) in my humble opinion.

Alright, random spoiler thoughts:
* Another Seeley trademark shows up in this issue: the hero being naked for a good portion of the story. I distinctly remember that being a thing that happened a couple of times in Hack/Slash, but it was a real big shock to see it here.
* I guess someone at MGM licensing has it out for poor Arthur, because the dude has been killed quite a lot. He died in this series, decapitated in AOD Forever, KISS/AOD, and the King For A Day issue from the second ongoing.
* Ash using possession to fight the possessed was a neat idea.
* Again, Seeley has the tenacity to say this is a Forever sequel, but then has Ash and Sonja arrive in 1300 AD RIGHT AFTER Ash leaves the first time, completely negating anything that would have happened in Forever. Come on, dude... it bothers the hell out of continuity-freaks like me when you do that! PS: Thank you Seeley for not actually mentioning the events of AOD vs Hack/Slash and causing even more continuity headaches (even though you did threaten to do so in that one video interview).
* I am a sucker for when they bring Sheila to the present time in the comics. Not sure why, but I just do. So it's nice that it's happened again.
* It's nice to see London show up in a good future in an AOD comic for once.
 
No, they very much remember at the end.
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See, I totally erased that from my brain!

I too love it when Sheila goes to the modern era so I'm kind of excited for this

And guess what's afoot? An AOD and Archie Comics crossover! Loosely skedded for release in January or February!
 
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