Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Dynamite, san diego comic con | Tagged: army of darkness, Tony Fleecs

Army Of Darkness Creates Sequel To The Movie's Original Ending

Dynamite is publishing an Army Of Darkness series by Tony Fleecs and Justin Greenwood that is a direct sequel to that original movie ending.

Published Tue, 18 Jul 2023 12:00:13 -0500

by Rich Johnston

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Army Of Darkness was the first comic book that Dynamite Entertainment published in 2004, and have included Marvel Zombies Vs. The Army of Darkness, the New Line Movie that never happened, Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash, the Danger Girl Cross-Over, and more. Now, for the 30th Anniversary of the movie, they are getting even more meta. By creating a comic book sequel to the movie's original, deleted, and replaced ending.

Originally at the end of Army Of Darkness, using a passage from the Necronomicon, the Wise Man tells Ash to swallow six drops of the potion to return to the present day. Distracted by falling rocks, he takes too much and travels to a post-apocalyptic London where human civilization is destroyed, and leaving Ash screaming that he slept too long. You can watch it here.

The studios objected to this ending, and demanded the more positive and optimistic Supermarket ending that ended up in the movie and had another fight scene. You can watch that here as well.

But now, Dynamite will publish a new Army Of Darkness series by Tony Fleecs and Justin Greenwood that is a direct sequel to that original ending. Starting this October, Army of Darkness Forever #1 begins to explore what could've been. With covers by Francesco Mattina, Arthur Suydam and Nick Dragotta.

The story picks up immediately after the events of the beloved film, jumping between three fun timelines. The Techno Army of Darkness of 2093, the S-Mart aisles of 1993, and the middle ages chaos of Castle Kandar, all three get the spotlight in this series. Superstar creator Tony Fleecs, from the best-selling series Stray Dogs and contributions to other franchises like My Little Pony, Gargoyles, returns to the franchise following covers for Army of Darkness vs. Reanimator: Necronomicon Rising. He's setting out to give fans of Ash Williams the ultimate story they've always wanted!

If you haven't seen the alternative ending, writer Tony Fleecs explains it, "It's one of the great, all-time alternate takes. Instead of Ash ending up back in 1990s Michigan, fighting deadites at S-Mart, he wakes up 100 years after the end of the world in 2093. I remember the first time I saw it on DVD, my mind just exploding at the possibilities. Ash vs. the post-apocalypse?! But then the theatrical ending has that iconic action scene and last line: "Hail to the King, baby." So, you don't want to lose that either."

Fleecs also talked about collaborating with artist Justin Greenwood, "Justin's one of my best friends in comics. We always wanted to find a thing to work on together and this came along at the perfect time. He's a great storyteller, that's obvious to anyone who's read Stumptown or Crone or any of his books. But the thing that he does that really works for this book in particular is, he's great at attitude. He's one of the funniest guys in person. A real raconteur. And that comes through in the way he draws Ash. They both feel like blue-collar guys with interesting jobs to do."

In addition to that, they're publishing a special 30th Anniversary Edition of the original movie adaptation by Sam and Ivan Raimi with painted artwork by John Bolton. And an Army of Darkness 30th Anniversary trading card series too.