The following is a transcription of an article originally written by Cliff Biggers appearing in Comic Shop News #1058 from September, 2007. It is presented here for easier online access and historical preservation. Minor spelling mistakes from the original print article have been corrected here.
...And Three To Gore
If Ashley Williams is earning frequent flyer miles for all of his cross-continuity travelling, he should have one heck of an account balance! A trek into the world of Darkman, a journey through the realm of Marvel Zombies, and now a visit to the home of two horror icons as Ash crosses paths with the villains from Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday The 13th in a six-part limited series, Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash.
How'd the intrepid hero of Army of Darkness end up crossing over into the WildStorm world of New Line Cinemas' most famous horror stars? "With a little help from my pals! (Is this too much of a Young Guns reference?!) Anyway, I believe that I pitched Scott Dunbier and Hank Kanalz about the idea," Dynamite publisher Nick Barrucci said. "Now, Scott and Hank are great guys and great friends, but when I pitched them, they asked that we wait a while (a polite way of saying no), as Wildstorm was working on their own launches of the series.
"In the meanwhile, we were fortunate to create a Marvel Zombies Vs. Army of Darkness crossover—which, thankfully, was very successful—and then I believe Scott was pro-active and called us and said 'still want to still do this?' One guess what our answer was!...
At that point, Scott brought in Hank, and Hank was also pro-active in making this happen. He spoke with New Line while we spoke with MGM, a lot of negotiating happened (which trust me, the fans don't care about, they only care about getting the best damn story possible!), and finally, we were able to put this together."
Was it tough to sell two competing studios on the idea of a crossover project from two different publishers? "It would have been tougher, but thank God, the treatment was there courtesy of Jeff Katz. Hank let us review it, and it was up to New Line and MGM if we could use it, as well as Wildstorm and us. All four of us had to agree. Jeff had knocked it out of the park, and it laid out all of the groundwork for the story. This was the cross-over/sequel that all fans would want. It's a dream project, and it comes along once in a lifetime! I know it sounds like I'm being overly nice, but it's true."
How did Army of Darkness writer James Kuhoric end up scripting the series? "The proposal was so great, originally Wildstorm wanted Jeff to write it solo, but he was just going into Fox and was busy as heck. Fortunately, James was willing—honestly, he was a fan of the idea from all of the online fan discussions—and was able to jump in and really sink his teeth into it. We're lucky we had all of the right pieces falling into place."
Exactly what is the premise of the crossover series? "The basic idea here was to take Freddy and Jason and match them up against a hero that was worth their while," Jeff Katz explained. "I think in both franchises, the characters have been at their best with a strong hero to take on—for Freddy it was Nancy or Alice or the Dream Warriors, and for Jason it's Tommy Jarvis and Tina the psychic.
"In this case, there was only one hero who made sense and that was Ash. It just so happened that he fit perfectly into existing Freddy Vs. Jason continuity with the presence of the Necronomicon in Jason Goes to Hell, the film that set up Freddy Vs. Jason."
Katz explained how he became involved in the project to begin with. "The genesis of this, at some level, dates back to my time as an intern at New Line. When I first started there my two goals were to make Freddy Vs. Jason and find a way to bring Evil Dead/Ash back. So even before Freddy Vs. Jason came out, the Ash idea was being tossed around.
"A few years later I suddenly found myself working on the film, which is really what launched my Hollywood career. After the film opened and was a success, Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash was our clear first choice for Round Two. At that point, I was asked to get a concept on paper, which ultimately grew into the fully fleshed out treatment that inspired this series. I'm from the same small town as Sam Raimi and went to the same high school that Sam, Bruce, et al did. So in many ways, even though we were decades apart, I viewed this as something of a Groves High School class project."
For Katz, producing a book like this was a natural. "For me, there was no homework required. I was—and still remain—a massive horror film junkie. I knew each of these franchises in and out and have probably seen each entry at least ten times. I can name each of the Dream Warriors, sing Alice Cooper's 'He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)' from Friday The 13th Six by heart and recite the full 'Boomstick' speech from Army of Darkness. Yes, I'm that level of fanboy nerd..."
Does the story tie in to established continuity for all three concepts? "The project is extremely respectful towards existing continuity," Katz said. "As has been stated from the beginning, this was planned as a legitimate sequel for all three franchises. The whole idea was to make something that fit these three universes organically."
Are there any limits to what can be done with the three horror icons, or will Katz be able to significantly impact the continuity of any or all of these characters? "The beauty of doing this in comics is that all bets are off," Katz said. "But make no mistake, the entire idea here was to create a story that affected, fed off of, and created new pieces of the existing continuity for the three franchises. I'm hopeful that most fans will see this as a love letter to these three great characters. Everyone involved in this thing is a real fan, from the top down. And that's a real pleasure to be a part of. Everybody is involved for the right reasons and I think that will come across in the finished product."
Are the production logistics on a four-way project like this more demanding than the average licensed project? "Mostly yes, they are," Barrucci said. "Understand, we are all working together. There are levels of approval that take quite a bit of time as you have at least four opinions (and two approvals that supersede us all!), which can be the biggest pain of all—but it pushes us all to think about it more and do a better job.
"Again, we're fortunate. We have a solid base, and have great creators, beginning with Jeff Katz, James Kuhoric, Jason Craig, Tom Mason, J. Scott Campbell (on the first cover) and (rounding out the covers) Eric Powell. We think we've hit this one out of the park—and ultimately, the readers will tell us if we're right."
As for Ash—well, he's just embarking on his next odyssey, but the folks at Dynamite are already looking into the character's future. "I think he wants a vacation, but where to send him to next?" Barrucci said. "Maybe we'll make it hot as 'hell' for him. Time will tell!"
Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash #1, a $2.99 comic by Jeff Katz, James Kuhoric, & Jason Craig, is scheduled for November 7th release. The book will be offered with three adjoining covers by J. Scott Campbell, each featuring one of the main characters.
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| BONUS: Advertisement from Dynamite Entertainment featured in CSN #1058. |
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