Army of Darkness vs. Re-Animator by James Kuhoric

The story is poorly executed and lacks the charm that made each character's respective franchise so great, then it cops out in the end and essentially admits that it lied to you from the very beginning.

The characters that the comic uses for marquee value don't get near enough time for vital chemistry, and one of which is so horribly written that it's insulting to fans. Be it against one another or working together, this crossover could've been fascinating. Also, imagine the possibilities for combat.

I mean, imagine all the possible exchanges of dialogue between the two. Two vastly different characters with vastly different personalities from remarkably similar films clashing or uniting in one package? Ash's suave and nonchalant barrage of one-liners crosses paths with the scientifically-minded West, who lacks all manner of social graces? The force of Ash with or against the brilliant and unhinged mind of West? All this adds up for what could have been truly epic. This crossover had tons of potential from the get-go. Even if I were to accept that they were using the West from what most fans would agree is a far inferior film, I couldn't accept that character trait overwriting everything else that makes him such an interesting character. In the comic, he has a god complex that hadn't shown itself until the latter end of the second movie. That's a subtle but important difference between the Combs version and what we get in the comic. He'd do anything with no concern for how it affected others, but it was always in accordance with the advancement of his work. He was wholly committed to his research, but he never displayed signs of malice. The Herbert West of the first film was a lovable antihero with psychotic tendencies. He has all of maybe four appearances throughout the story, and his personality is horribly represented even in those precious few sequences. With that in mind, they really dropped the ball. That's all well and good, because I absolutely adore that West.

Lovecraft story where he originated, but the West they're using here is clearly intended to represent the Jeffrey Combs version. The other character of note, and the one that truly sunk my rating for this, is Dr. Here, a lot of the slapstick seems to be missing. The Ash of the third film was already much more of an indestructible James Bond kind of character than the first two 'Evil Dead' movies, but he still seemed to get hurt quite a bit. I'd say he's represented fairly well here, but he seems a little bit too overpowered. I haven't read any of the other 'Army Of Darkness' comics, so I can only compare this Ash to the Bruce Campbell version. It honestly hurts to give this such a low rating, as I'm really a huge fan of both franchises but, I was totally disappointed in this from start to finish, in no small part because of its disservice to one of my all-time favorite characters.

Army of Darkness vs. Re-Animator by James Kuhoric