This Wednesday will see the release of Dynamite’s Army of Darkness #14. To find out what’s going with the series, I caught up with series writer Mike Raicht and artist Scott Cohn. I had the pleasure of meeting the creators at the recent Baltimore Comic-Con and from that meeting we were able to conduct this email interview.
Tim O’Shea: Am I correct in thinking that starting with issue 14, the focus will be a little less humor and little more horror? Or is humor too crucial an ingredient in any AoD story?
Mike Raicht: Starting with issue #14 we will be going a bit “darker”. However, Ash will still be Ash. His humor and outlook on being a Chosen One is crucial to the book and that will always remain. At least I hope. But the situations the book unleashes on Ash will be more horror oriented. The Book of the Dead has basically ruled Ash’s life for a long time now. So much so that Ash has kind of accepted his fate. He is the Chosen One and his job is to protect humanity from the horrors unleashed by the Necronomicon.
Up until now, Ash is kind of winning or at least earning a draw out of it. So eventually, like any nemesis, the book is going to cross a line and take things to another level. Now, I know most of you are asking, what can a book of the dead do to make things worse? Surprisingly, a lot. But you’ll have to read the book to find out.
This coincides with Ash’s new outlook on his Chosen One-edness. The only way he can think of to protect everyone from the book’s powers is to seclude himself. So in a way we’ll be returning to the stories roots. Seclude the book in the mountains and try to keep everyone away from it. The only problem is the book is more powerful than ever and the evil it unleashes will find everyone.
Scott Cohn: More horror!? Whoa whoa whoa, wait a minute. Right off the bat, I gotta say I was lied to here. I was told that Ash would regain his hand, start carrying the bible, get married, have car trouble, start going a little grey, and he’d be diagnosed with a little ibs. But I’m in this now, so I’ll play along…..!
O’Shea: Tell me how you landed on this series–and how much of a fan of the Army of Darkness universe (movies, etc) were you before starting on this book?
Raicht: Following some Marvel work, I was going back and forth with Dynamite editor and all around great guy Joe Rybandt on a couple of short stories for Savage Tales. At the time, the Army of Darkness writer, and my current co-writer, James Kuhoric of Jason vs. Freddy vs. Ash fame and the upcoming Dead Irons, was a bit swamped with work so they asked me to come in and co-write it with him. That began with issue #5 of the new series and has continued since. Working on the book together has been a lot of fun.
I’ve been a pretty big fan of the Evil Dead and Army of Darkness universe for a long time. My buddies and I rented Evil Dead 1 and 2 as teens. We were really into them. We thought Bruce Campbell was hilarious. We were pretty shocked when we saw Army of Darkness hit. We basically couldn’t believe they had actually gone through with it. And obviously we loved every second of that one. Who doesn’t?
Cohn: I had been in contact with Nick Barucci for about 2 yrs. I was busy, or nothing was available. Kind of like this Sergio Aragones drawing at the bottom of a Mad Magazine I saw when I was a kid, where 2 archaeologists are walking off after an all day dig, angry they found nothing. But in between the spots they dug was where was all the treasure was.
I’ve been a fan since college. A film friend of mine showed me Evil Dead and AoD, and it’s a cult classic. Campbell’s delivery and mannerisms are spot on. He has a very animated face, it’s almost cartoon like. The scene where he confronts the 3 books is hilarious. He doesn’t take himself too seriously, and it makes the film. Right person, right film. Of course, it seems to be as much Raimi as it is Bruce.
O’Shea: Given that there is movie continuity and general history to the AoD property, how much free license are you given or do you have to stick with fairly strict guidelines with the characters and surroundings?
Raicht: I haven’t gotten a lot of notes on the stories. Before I came aboard they killed the guy so I think things are pretty loose. I think Dynamite and the licensors just want to tell cool Ash stories. Hopefully we provide that.
Cohn: I gotta do my best to make it look like Ash, but other than that….. I have a TON of creative freedom here. Ash is about the only thing, past his the Necronomicon, his chainsaw hand and boomstick that I have to get accurate. The rest is up to Mike and myself.
O’Shea: How hard is it to write dialogue and give emotion (visually) to a talking book?
Raicht: I have to give credit to the letterer because they gave the book the funky font. Otherwise, I think it would read pretty plain. Writing the dialogue can be a bit dicey. Try to imagine what a book might say. Now try to imagine that book being really, really angry all of the time. I have to admit, I’m always happy when Ash puts something in the books mouth to keep it quiet.
However, as of issue #14, the book has gone completely silent. It might just be that it’s angry at always losing or it’s concentrating so hard on unleashing it’s next wave of evil that it can’t talk. Either way, it is most likely a bad sign.
Cohn: It’s no different than any other character in the book. Like Mike said, the book is always angry, so it always looks mean. If the dialogue called for something else emotionally, I would draw it’s “face” like anyone else. It’s already a talking book, so who’s to say if it can smile or not?
O’Shea: For both of you, one would assume Ash is the favorite character for both of you in the book, but after that who would you say is your favorite character (to write/draw)?
Raicht: I enjoyed writing Sheila quite a bit. I think she is Ash’s soul mate. She is his rock. As much as Ash would probably say she’s just a piece of ass. It’s pretty obvious she’s more than that.
So it should be interesting to see how he does without her around.
Cohn: I’m only 3 issues in, so I’m limited in who I like drawing. So far, Ash is the only consistent person I’ve drawn. Issue #15 has a new look for Ash, and I’m having a lot of fun with that. But the winter look won’t last forever, so enjoy it while you can! Other than that, I like drawing the peeps possessed by the book!
O’Shea: I’m not a major fan of horror comics, so I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy the approach on this book, as I think it’s for lack of a better term: whimsical horror. That being said, do you think the book succeeds in appealing to horror fans as well?
Raicht: I think whimsical horror is a great way to describe it because we do throw a lot of fantasy elements into the mix. And I think with our new direction that whimsy is still because Ash is still there throwing in his two cents. I think having him as our gateway into any story will always leave us with that whimsical horror vibe. Except maybe now it’s more horrorical whimsy instead. If that makes sense which it probably doesn’t.
We’ll know we’ve pushed Ash too far when we leave him speechless. That moment hasn’t hit us quite yet.
Cohn: I guess I’m not the person to ask, honestly. I’m too close to it. I think that’s more up to people buying the book. I’m doing my best to make things as dark and horrific as I can, while keeping those whimsical elements. I read once that Sam and Bruce we’re looking for a cross between “The 3 Stooges”, and straight up horror. I’m not really into intense gore to begin with. A movie like “Hostel” isn’t something I’m curling up with a bowl of popcorn to view. But a movie like “Dead Alive”, one of Peter Jackson’s (the Ring trilogy), is amazing. Gorey as all hell, but hilarious. It’s suspend your disbelief gore. Its cut from the same cloth as AoD. I highly recommend it! But I love movies like “Office Space” and “Trading Places” just as much as I do the original “Halloween”, or “The Howling”. Add to that my roommate and I make each other laugh out loud daily, while saying the most horrible thing known to man! So this book for me, feels like a great fit.
I will say, that while I’m not into all the intense gore, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to make things accurate. Case in point, in the issue I’m currently finishing up (#15), I had the anatomy wrong on a major injury. I showed my mom (I show her all my work) who’s a nurse, and my dad, who’s a doctor. Yes, they met in the hospital. Anyway, she noticed the anatomy wasn’t correct, so my crack team of medical advisors, let’s call them “my loving, liberal parents” looked up what would be consistent and accurate. So if you end up throwing up in your cheerios, don’t go blaming me!
O’Shea: For both of you, what do you enjoy most about getting to collaborate on this series. Mike what do you find to be some of Scott’s best storytelling assets–and Scott what do you think are Mike’s storytelling strengths?
Raicht: Working with Scott has been great. He is three issues in and his most recent issue is just kicking butt.
He loves Ash as much as I do. Just having him to talk with about the character and the things he likes to draw pushes me to get even more pumped up about the upcoming stories.
I love issues 13 and 14 but I have to say the pages I’ve seen on issue 15 are just beautiful. His greatest strength so far has been his character acting with Ash. He really gets his staging and movements and how he would react to a situation. He has surprised me a few times with really cool moments that completely enhance what we’re trying to do in the scene. Moments I didn’t think of. That makes seeing the pages a blast.
Cohn: It’s funny, because Howard Stern blasts all the Hollywood elite for “slathering” their co-stars with praise. That being said, working with Mike has been awesome! We talk about scenes, and what works best to serve the story. Things that happen in the issue we’re working on, and that’ll relate to upcoming issues. One in particular I’m looking forward to drawing. I’ve worked with scripts in the past where I’ve had no interaction with the writer, and I think something is always lost. Like a band who records all their parts separately.
Mike sold me on his writing with the first script I got. You never know when you work with someone new whether it’ll work out or not. But Mike “gets” Ash. There was one scene in #13 that had me laughing out loud. Ash asks Sheila to marry him, but does it over her brother’s grave because he thought she might like to have family present. He’s a well intentioned ass, and I think sometimes that can be a fine line. But Bruce had carved out such a character driven performance that it’s iconic. People still quote lines. So you can tell when the character is off. And I think Mike is most definitely “on”!
I think Mike is also great at set-ups, and devising fun scenarios to draw. And that’s important, ‘cause this is a visually driven medium!
Also, and I know Mike agrees with me on this (because he and I act like giddy little school girls when we get each issue), we think the colorist, (Ivan Nunes) is doing a phenomenal job. Colorists seem to get the shaft when credit is getting doled out, and I think Ivan needs to be given some read time.
O’Shea: Is there anything either one of you would like to discuss about AoD that I may have not asked you about?
Raicht: First off, issue #14 starts kicks off our Hellbillies and Deadnecks arc. Ash embraces his fate and heads into the mountains to protect the world from the book. As usual though, Ash’s intentions are much grander than his results. And when the book sees an opening, it takes it, leaving Ash to fight not only the evil the book unleashes, but also deal with the wrath of some who blame Ash for their current plight.
Due to the finale of the Hellbillies and Deadnecks arc, Ash goes through a bit of a life altering moment. From there we’re really gearing up to reveal a bit about what it means to be a Chosen One. More specifically, when and where the other Chosen Ones might have been from, as well as digging into the book’s history and the chaos it has wrought. As with all history, it can teach us where we have been as well as where we are going. So, Ash’s life is not headed down a very cheery road.
Cohn: Do you mean, besides the fact it’s what keeps the earth spinning on it’s axis, and any dip in sales slows it down considerably? I think this book is a lot of fun for us to work on, and I think it shows. It’s just about as opposite as it can ALMOST get from what I was drawing a year ago (Ben10, Samurai Jack, JLU). But drawing in those styles only benefits this book because of it’s humor. I think this new direction in the title is a great jumping on point for new readers too!