Die!Namite Lives #001

Die!Namite Lives! #001

Dynamite Entertainment 2021

Written by Fred Van Lente

Illustrated by Vincenzo Carratù

Coloured by Kike J. Diaz

Lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

The hit series returns, because you can't kill a never-ending army of zombies...you can only hope to beat the ---- out of them! After tragically losing their first Chosen One against the zombie plague, Vampirella, Miss Fury, and what remains of the Project Superpowers look for a new saviour -- but Ash Williams is an even more reluctant Deadite hunter than usual! This time, the Army of Darkness has ray guns, super powers and a brilliant new general: Evil Sonja, who takes her role of Queen of Hel quite seriously!

I really loved this issue as it centred on Ash Williams and boy is that all kinds of fun, Fred really nails what we feel about Ash perfectly. To be it feels like classic Ash and that’s precisely what we need to see now that he’s got a Deadite infestation at work. The whole time we see him there is utterly amazing and brilliantly done and it makes you laugh and worry, so in other words you are invested in and engaged in the book from a very early start.

I am loving the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see though how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see is spot on thanks to the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances that they encounter. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story we’re pulled into this in some really great and strong ways.

I am very much enjoying the way that we see this being structured and how we see the layers within begin to emerge and grow. It’s in these layers where we see the characterisation as well where the character meet up and it’s all the little bits that are created to work within the bigger picture. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it constantly moves the story forward is exceedingly well achieved. We even get that amazing cliffhanger ending that we as readers love to see.

The interiors here are pretty bloody brilliant if I may say so. The linework is exquisitely laid down and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level and quality of detail work is astonishingly well done. That Ash looks like a young Bruce Campbell is so utterly amazing to see. There are iconic poses throughout that feel like they are in the most perfect spots. The utilisation of backgrounds makes me happy and how we see them work within the composition of the panels to bring us depth perception, a sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope to the book is flawlessly rendered. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show such a masterful eye for storytelling. The colour work is gorgeous as well. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is so well rendered. From gradation to colour blocking what we see is so well laid down and makes such an impact to the story its bloody brilliant.

This may be a new part of the story but if you’ve not read the previous arc then don’t worry you don’t have to have. This is a great introduction to not only this series so you don’t feel as if you have to read it and that’s great, though after reading this you are going to want to read the previous one. This is so intelligently written and brilliantly illustrated and a pure and utter joy to read.