Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors

Plot

A group of government agents led by Director Gordon Russell excavates Crystal Lake for the Ex-Mortis Necronomicon , which they plan to use for “Project Black Book”. As Russell leaves with the book, the remaining agents go underwater to retrieve the body of Jason Voorhees , who awakens and kills them. Prompted by Freddy Krueger posing as his mother, Jason leaves Crystal Lake in search of Ash Williams . Six months later, in July 2009, Ash is living in Franklin, Michigan with his girlfriend Caroline , believing in his days of fighting monsters are behind him. While preparing to host a backyard barbecue Ash is visited by Doctor Maggie Burroughs, who tries to convince him to join a group started by herself and the doctor Neil Gordon . Annoyed by his visitor, Ash sends to the party, leaving Caroline alone. Elsewhere Stephanie Kimble and Alice Johnson experience Jason and Freddy’s visions, while Jason attacks and kills Caroline. Meanwhile, at the Pentagon , Russell reveals his plan to create an army of demonic soldiers using the Necronomicon .

After discovering Caroline’s body, Ash flees the scene as the police arrive, not noticing a man in a hummer spying on him. At his headquarters, Russell uses a combination of modern technology and the Necronomicon to pull an unburnt and seemingly powerless Freddy Krueger out of Deadites’ realm to Earth. Ash boards a train to Baltimore , Marylandto look for Maggie and her group and Jason follows him by stowing away in the boxcar vehicle . Stephanie, her father Steven , Alice, and her her Jacob show up at Maggie’s and Neil’s house, where Tina Shepard and Rennie Wickhamare already living. When Ash arrives, Maggie gets everyone settled and talks about her and Neil’s goals. They are interrupted by Jason, who comes crashing through the door and kills Steven. As Ash arms himself, the man in the hummer drives through the wall of the house and rams into Jason. Everyone escapes, and their savior introduces himself to Tommy Jarvis .

Government agents show up at Maggie’s and Neil’s house and take Jason down with bullets and missiles. Meanwhile, the survivors take refuge at a motel and Maggie suggests they visit his father, Gordon Russell, to use the Necronomicon to defeat the killers. Unimpressed, Tommy breaks away from the group and goes solo. At the Capitol, Jason is in a cell holding full of Deadites. He is mentally visited by Freddy, who proposes that they team up to kill the world. Jason accepts when he hears that his old enemies-including Tommy-will be coming for them. Freddy appeals him to the general of his Deadite army, repairs his body, and back to life he was killed by Tommy. Meanwhile, the group (minus Stephanie and Jacob, who are staying at the motel) also arrive at the Capitol and are locked up, with the exception of Maggie, Neil, and Rennie, who Russell takes to visit Freddy. Freddy transforms back into his burned, demonic form, and reveals that he has dropped with the Necronomicon and possesses all of its powers. Russell attacks Freddy with his own glove, but Maggie turns the blades back on him and kills him. She reveals her true identity as Freddy’s daughter, Kathryn Krueger, and Neil and Rennie’s attacks. Tina feels the psychic impact of Rennie’s death, and uses her telekinesis to break out of her cell. As she, Ash, and Alice escape, Jason and his army of Deadites goes down on Washington.

Ash, Tina, and Alice fight and destroy a Freddy-controlled robot to acquire the Necronomicon . Meanwhile, Tommy confronts Jason on the streets of Washington as he and the Deadites cut a swath of destruction across the city. While opening fire on his nemesis, Tommy is attacked by winged Deadites, who will take him to Freddy. Back at the motel, Jacob and Stephanie fall asleep, and Freddy possesses the latter. Stephanie / Freddy Seduces and Attacks Jacob, forcing him to call out to his mother. Alice hears her dreams and uses her Dream Master powers to transport herself, Ash, and Tina into Jacob’s nightmare. Immobilizing Ash during the fight, Freddy flaysStephanie alive and escapes with Jacob. Still in the dreamscape, Tina and Alice put Stephanie’s skin back on and she wakes up physically unharmed. At the White House , Tommy and Jacob are held hostage by Freddy, Jason, and Maggie. Disguised as the President , Freddy addresses the nation, describing his new policy “no kid left alive” and the carnage he plans to cause all over the globe. Having seen Freddy’s broadcast, Ash and the girls break into a pawn shop for weapons and head to the White House.

As it literally rains blood in Washington, Ash, Alice, Tina, and Stephanie plan their way into the White House. Upset by Ash and Alice’s bickering, the traumatized Stephanie wanders off alone. The group is providing the distraction they need to get to an army. Tanks, helicopters, and fighter jets battle the Deadites, but the sufferers suffer heavy losses and Freddy manifested in the clouds to blast the helicopters out of the sky. Elsewhere, Stephanie goes out and finds herself back in the dream world. She arrives at a church and meets Freddy posing as a priest; he informs her that, as a member of the Voorhees family, it is her destiny to become a murderer like Jason. Clad in a hockey maskStephanie leaves the church to fulfill her birthright and kill Jason. Back at the White House, Maggie and Jason in a break, but are interrupted by Ash, who drives a tank into the middle of the room , killing Maggie, much to Freddy’s anger. As Ash rescues Neil, Jacob, and Tommy, Alice confronts Freddy face-to-face. She reveals that she is so weakened, so allows Freddy to kill her so she can pass her power over to Jacob. As she dies, she releases the souls of the people Freddy has killed over the years. Furious at his mother’s death, Jacob declares he is the Dream Master now, surrounded by the spirits of Amanda Krueger and the Dream Warriors .

Amanda and the other souls successfully destroyed the Deadite army, but Freddy quickly turned to their connection to Earth by deadly wounding Jacob. As Tina tends to Jacob and Ash battles Freddy, Tommy takes it on himself to deal with Jason. In a closely matched fight, he taunts Jason for never being able to kill him. Stephanie appears and impales her uncle with a machete; This distraction provides Jason with a shard of glass. However, Freddy exploited this victory by absorbing Jason’s soul to increase his own power. As Neil struggles to read the Necronomicon ‘s passages to banish Krueger, he is joined by the spirit of Nancy Thompson ; together Neil and Nancy recite the wordsto open the Deadite’s dimension. Freddy resists the vortex, until the Necronomicon itself declares him unworthy and strips him of his power. The human Freddy begs for forgiveness, but Ash mercilessly blasts him into the vortex with his shotgun, citing his own lack of a ‘storybook ending’. At the same time, Nancy leaves Neil to join the other spirits. Around the same time, we pan to Jason’s Mask (which Tommy split in half with a rock) and Mrs. Voorhees’ voice telling Jason that he can never die. The next morning, Ash bids farewell to Tommy, Tina, Neil, Jacob, and Stephanie, Tommy adding the new captain of the “Nightmare Warriors”.

Later, Wesley Carter -who had been sucked into the Necronomicon’s vortex-finds himself in the Springwood Police Department on Freddy’s arrest, and impulsively signs Freddy’s search warrant when he finds the file on a desk in front of him, altering history.

Development

Writing

Co-writer Jeff Katz HAD Plans for The Nightmare Warriors as soon as the first Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash moved from movie to comic book medium. He says, “I know what I want to do to get to the top of the Vs. ” trilogy “, so to speak. as a fan? “And as a fan of these franchises, what I appreciate more than anything is a sense of continuity.” Katz claims that these horror franchises were always best when they were filmmakers, and that the love of Nightmare Warriors was “about tying everything together”. The subtitle, The Nightmare Warriors , A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors , Katz’s favorite entry of that series. ^[2] Kuhoric feels the title is fitting since Nightmare Warriors is a survivor’s story. ^[3]

The writers’ biggest concern was making sure the voices felt accurate. James Kuhoric says, “I’m a fan, I can not stand picking up any book that reads like the writer did not watch it’s sad to say, but The writers held several discussions debating how the characters should act in certain scenes. Jeff Katz asserts that Freddy and Ash are “defined by their tones”, so getting their voices right was crucial; he feels the success of the first Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash came from their accurate characterization. However, artist Jason Craig feels that “it’s a tightrope to walk”; he enjoys Freddy’s wisecracks but prefers the character to be darker, stating “People forget he was a child killer.He was a very sadistic man.” Discussing the relationship between Freddy and Ash, Craig says that “it’s almost like watching two stand up comedians try to kill each other”. ^[1]

Katz points out that, after two previous confrontations, “Freddy and Jason are extremely familiar with this point. While Jason wants personal revenge on Ash, Freddy’s goals are “a bit bigger or ambitious in scope”. Katz says, “[Freddy] ‘s looking to clear the board of any threat or nuisance before he launches his final gambit.I can promise relationships will evolve in some very interesting ways in this one. He compares Ash’s story in the series to Lieutenant Frank Drebin ( Leslie Nielsen ) in Naked Gun 33: The Final Insult ; “The trusty old chainsaw is mounted on the mantle over the fireplace at this point.He is very much retired.But he’ll learn very quickly that the Chosen One will never be able to withdraw It’s an eternal quest, really. ” However, Katz says that “it is not alone in this battle” and that it is the other way around the world, “with the help of Freddy or Jason”. He asks, “who does not want to see Ash and Tommy Jarvis fight for the alpha male slot? That’s too rich an opportunity to pass up.” ^[2]

Katz describes Tommy as “the wild card in our group”. His sole priority is to kill Jason and “[e] verything else is incidental”. The writers enjoyed developing the “natural rivalry” between Ash and Tommy; Craig compares them to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid , “These two men, who when together are completely at odds against one another, two alpha males, but when things get tough, the two find themselves working side by side”. Kuhoric believes Tommy is a “Chosen One” like Ash, with “a different approach to his supernatural calling”. He compares Jason’s relationship to Tommy to that between Captain Ahab and Moby Dick ; “it is Tommy who has escaped from Jason”

Kuhoric describes the returning survivors of the movies as “a huge part of the overall story arc”. He explains, “See, there is something special about people who manage to survive encounters with Freddy and Jason.” They have an inner strength that makes them more powerful to their maniac killers. , especially the ultimate F13 survivor, Tommy Jarvis. ” According to Kuhoric, the characters of The Nightmare Warriors are all “chosen ones”, “by the one true Chosen One, Ash Williams”. Katz says, “Exploring the dynamic between all of these things has a lot of fun and it’s something I think the fans will hugely enjoy”, while Craig reveals “One of the things we’re trying to get all the dots and bring all three storylines together in one linear history “. ^[1] Jason Craig describes the story as ” X-Files meets horror,” due to the government’s involvement. He point out how this vaguely foreshadows Jason X , set chronologically after- Nightmare Warriors , in qui Jason has-been captured by the government, Who wish to turn His regenerativeabilities into a weapon. Craig says, “This is a story that gets out of camp grounds, or cabins in the woods, and takes place at our nation’s capital.” ^[4]

The Nightmare Warriors was originally designed as a 12-issue maxi-series, and it was up to Kuhoric to condense it to six issues. Katz was pleased with the result, claiming “all the major beats are there everyone gets their time to shine. [Kuhoric] ‘s terrific at retaining the tone of these characters, which is not easy to do when you’re juggling so many voices. ^[2] Katz summarizes The Nightmare Warriors has a “labor of love”, and a “love letter to these characters as well as the survivors we’ve come to know and love over the years”. the labels being “for fans, by fans” ^[1] Craig labels it has “fan boy’s wet dream “, ^[4] saying ” Crisis of horror. This is the movie they could never afford to make “. ^[1]

Visuals

The Nightmare Warriors is drawn by Jason Craig, Who Previously Worked on the first Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash and Wildstorm’s Nightmare on Elm Street comics . Craig was concerned with capturing the physical likenesses and manners of the characters. He Explains, “Freddy is not Some man that slashes maniacally like a super villain, He Has plume. Robert Englund Told ounce me que la character moves in dance steps, foot over foot, very elegant, it’s Fosse moves. Remove His glove and add Fred Krueger, he’s Fred Astaire . ” Craig compares Jason’s body language to that of a shark, “turning into a head and body, keeping in line with something better along”. He says that he has begun to understand the characters’ manners, he started to see them come to life on the page. ^[4]

Craig tried to maintain consistency with his work on the original Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash comic, but says that he was “not really experimenting as much as having fun and trying things I would want to see”. He based the characters’ looks on the Freddy vs. Jason movie, but also quotes Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood as an inspiration for Jason’s appearance. According to him, “Freddy’s never had a consistent look, and Ash is always Ash, so it really goes back to focusing on the look of the first series which was a continuation of the FvJ Ronny Yumovie.” ^[4] In The Nightmare Warriors , Jason still bears the wounds he suffered in the first Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash series. His mask is shot in half, showing his teeth, and his left arm is cut off with a machete imbedded in the stump. Craig claims it was difficult to keep track of these panel-to-panel injuries, but was especially proud of the “half mask” look, a design he would like to see joined on the Friday 13th movies one day. He says, “It’s a way to show Jason’s emotions under the mask while still keeping him mysterious, and it’s also a way to give him that Grim Reaper look especially when you see him in shadow. ^[3]

Discussing the level of gore in the story, Kurhoric says, “Jason Craig is scary when it comes to the amount of detail he puts into his death scenes. . ” He describes the Nightmare Warriors as “a blood bath of epic proportions”, and says that the creative team took the “big screen” approach to increasing the action and violence. Katz elaborates, “Like any good sequel, the mantra is bigger and better.” We’re looking at the ante and top ourselves. ” Using the MPAA rating system as an analogy, Katz labels Nightmare Warriors has a hard-Rin terms of gore “, saying” we’re hardly scrimping on the red stuff. It’s just presented on a much larger canvas this time. ” ^[1] In contrast, Craig claims that the gore was” toned down maybe just to be compromised with the Army of Darkness franchise. “He explains that the Evil Dead / Army of Darkness movies “on the road to the gore” which makes it easier to swallow the nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th kills, which are “grounded more in reality.” His artistic aim was to “show the brutality with showing some of the intense gore yet still leave you with that feeling that you saw something horrible “.

Reception

Describing # 1 as “predictable and a fair bit cheesy”, IGN ‘s Jesse Schedeen is a lot of dislike about Nightmare Warriors , “but only if you approach it from the wrong mindset”. Provided readers expect no more than a “camp romp”, he is convinced that the issue is fun and humorous. Schedeen also praised Craig’s “snazzy pencils”, stating “as long as the story is going on the road goofball, there’s no reason the art can not follow suit”. ^[5] Mike Fish of Fangoria felt that # 1 signaled an improvement over the “mediocre” first series, as the writers dropped the “cut and paste a movie” formula and replaced with a “refreshing start to an intriguing matchup”. Fish praised the initial focus on Jason and Ash and the more “mature” writing from Katz and Kuhoric. He described the drawings as “kick ass”, since it resembles the movies without looking photocopied. However, he noted that Craig’s Ash seems to be based on Bruce Campbell in Bubba Ho-tep , which “disrupts the characterization of Ash a little bit”. ^[6]

Total Sci-Fi Online’s James Skipp believed that # 1 struggles to balance its three main characters, with the Freddy story coming across as “a little intrusive and confusing”. He also criticized Ash’s characterization, believing that he was “more of a straightforward hero here […] than the self-deprecating fellow of the Evil Dead movies”, but admitted it was hard to capture the character’s “idiosyncratic charm” without Bruce Campbell. Skipp that the issue was adequate for its concept. ^[7]

References