Posted in: Comics | Tagged: army of darkness, Comics, entertainment, jg jones, mark rahner, Reanimator

Mark Rahner Remembers When Ash Williams Met Herbert West

Published Thu, 05 Nov 2015 07:00:13 -0600

Dyanmite has sent over another interview with one of the writers who has worked on Army of Darkness for them. This time it's Mark Rahner. Cover art by J.G. Jones.

Dynamite: Mark, what was the greatest challenge you faced in working with your Army of Darkness book?

Mark Rahner: Challenge? I took to it like a duck to vodka!

I could write AoD until I started looking like a Deadite. I'm a lifelong horror freak, and it's also fun to write silly, slapstick, sometimes raunchy comedy in a comic book.

Apart from that, my goal with Vampirella/Army of Darkness was to make the preposterous team-up story fit seamlessly like a lost chapter from the movie, and not just fan fiction that repeated his catch phrases. "Wait, there was a whole wild segment with Vampi that got left on the cutting room floor? Holy crap!" It may be the most just plain fun comic I've written … for me, at least.

Dynamite: It was during your miniseries that Ash actually got together with H.P. Lovecraft's own Herbert West AKA Reanimator. So I wondered, why had no one thought of that before? Bringing a touch of Lovecraft to AoD. That must have been one fun script, eh?

MR: I wondered the same thing, since the book that unleashed all the evil and sent Ash into the vortex was the Necronomicon, which is a mainstay of Lovecraft's works. I'd faint from shock if Raimi, Campbell and the lot weren't Lovecraft fans. (Uhhh … fact-checker? Hello?) The idea for that one was to put Ash into the role of the narrator-assistant in Lovecraft's original 1922 story – and not the movie – and stick as close as possible to that story, adding Ash's buffoonery and coolness to the mix.

I think there's room for plenty more Ash in Lovecraft's universe, too. I floated another idea a while back that could pick up right after my Reanimator story, and maybe it'll have an earthly incarnation someday, depending on those soul-sucking monsters who make the editorial decisions.

Dynamite: Many of the AoD books have had gimmicks associated with the title (Ash in Space, with Vampirella, etc. etc.). If you had your way, what non- gimmick or circumstance would you like to give Ash to put him through his paces?

MR: I'd like to send him to the next GOP debate. With extra gas for his chainsaw. Ash for president, I say.

Dynamite: Mark, looking back, is there anything you would have liked to have done in your AoD stint that was not done/accomplished?

MR: Only one thing: more! Once you get the prune juice of Ash's voice in you, the ideas keep coming like high-velocity … you know.

If you want to read more of Dynamite's Army of Darkness, visit your local comic shop or check out the current Humble Bundle going on now that is exclusively Army of Darkness… pretty cool deal and for a good cause.

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