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Writing Ash's Evil Twin – Nancy Collins Talks Army Of Darkness: Furious Road

Published Mon, 04 Apr 2016 15:00:21 -0500

Nancy Collins talks Army of Darkness: Furious Road #4 (of 6), on sale in June from Dynamite. Cover is by Gabriel Hardman.

BYRON BREWER: Nancy, as issue #4 approaches in June, how has it been to write that great horror and soap opera trope, Ash's "evil twin"? (lol)

NANCY COLLINS: It was pretty fun. I have a lot of experience writing "evil twin" storylines and dialog, since my character Sonja Blue's most dangerous foe is her own demonic alter-ego, known as The Other. I also reintroduced Vampirella's evil twin sister, Draculina, when I was writing for the monthly series from 2014-2105. Did I mention twins run in my family?

BB: Can you compare and contrast Ash with The General for us?

NC: The General is essentially the same evil spirit that possessed Ash's hand, only now dressed in a supernatural clone of Ash's body. Of the two, I would say The General is a little smarter and/or shrewder than Ash, but still shares some of his weaknesses—especially the tendency to celebrate prematurely. They both display a great deal of tenacity as well. The biggest difference between the two is how they view and treat their compatriots. The General uses the Deadites under his command as cannon fodder. He doesn't care how many of them "die" following his orders, since they're dead already. Life has no value to him, and death is meaningless. On the other hand, although Ash often comes across as a dick, he will risk life and limb to help others, even those he doesn't necessarily get along with, like the werewolf Gnarly. It is the essential difference between a hero and a villain.

BB: You have done a great job at breathing new life into and making seem "different" iconic franchise characters. How challenging were the Deadites?

NC: The Deadites were fairly easy to work with. As in the movies, they're more demons than zombies, which allows me to have them speak and interact with the cast. They're a lot more devious than your garden variety walking dead, and they love to play mind tricks. They don't just want to take over your body, they want to destroy your soul as well.

BB: How fun is it to write a werewolf motorcycle gang? Shades of Marvel in the '70s!

NC: One of the first things I asked my editor when I took on the assignment was: "Can I have a werewolf biker gang?" Because what's the point of a supernatural apocalypse without one? They were super fun to write. The Goners were based, in part, on a 1970s exploitation movie called Werewolves on Wheels, about a gang of Hell's Angels that get bitten by a werewolf. (Believe me, the lobby poster and the coming attractions were way better than the film itself.) The first time I saw Kewber's pencils of the Goners roaring out to do battle, I grinned so hard my face hurt.

For more information on Army of Darkness: Furious Road, click here.

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