Ash and the Army of Darkness #8 Review

By John McCubbin on Tuesday, June 10th, 2014

Will Ash and the Army of Darkness end on a high or will it rush to a conclusion to accommodate the up comics Army of Darkness: Ash Gets Hitched follow-on series? Read on to find out.

The official description from Dynamite:

FINAL ISSUE!!! Ash comes face to face with his own destiny as he discovers a possible clue to the
origin of the curse of the dead. But before he can get any answers he has to go through…Sheila. This is the final throw down in the haunted woods that leads to the beginning of the end for the Army of Darkness.

Ash and the Army of Darkness has had it’s downsides over the course of it’s eight issue run but it has also had some amazing story developments. This issue sees the end of the series but not the end of the story as Ash continues to try and save Sheila in order to marry her. Now the announcement and solicitation for Ash Gets Hitched leaves little question as to how this story concludes but it still manages to be exciting and entertaining nevertheless.

Steve Niles does a wonderful job of bringing this series to a close setting up Ash Gets Hitched nicely. It was however this part that left me slightly split opinion wise as though the build-up was superb being vastly needed I felt the Niles had to rush the possessed Sheila storyline to a conclusion. Despite this Niles did do a great job of giving excitement and energy to this final issue and though it may have been a little too fast of pace at times it was worth it considering the excitement it gave.

We also continue to get fabulous artwork from Nacho Tenorio with his art impressing me more and more with each passing issue. The lively nature of his layouts really help to enhance the energetic flow of the story with the intense action also adding to the excitement. Tenorio also did a wonderful job of showing the emotion and determination of both characters with the tension and atmosphere being wonderful throughout. The colourist for this issue was Kelly Fitzpatrick with her pallet bringing a bold and striking finish to Tenorio’s art.

Ash and the Army of Darkness comes to a terrific conclusion as though the latest story is rushed to it’s ending the set-up for Ash Gets Hitched and the overall excitement leading up to this made it a terrific read. Recommended.