Evil Dead 2: Cradle of The Damned is a three issue miniseries published by Space Goat Productions in 2016. Written by Frank Hannah and featuring art by Oscar Bazaldua, the series is a sequel to Space Goat's previous Evil Dead 2 miniseries Beyond Dead By Dawn.
Plot Synopsis[]
Six months following their escape from Hell, Annie Knowby and the simulacrum clone of Ash Williams have been tirelessly working on rounding-up Deadites which they are responsible for unleashing, gathering the demons and harvesting their spiritual energy in an attempt to open a gateway into the Mirror Dimension and banish the Deadites once and for all. To speed up this process, Annie purchased an abandoned cat food factory in North Carolina, using the machinery to grind up the collected Deadites into minced meat and form, extract their energy, and store it until they've built up enough to open the gateway.
Another week of harvesting passes, and it is finally time for the ritual to begin. Annie reads the incantation from the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, and the remaining Deadites are drawn to the factory like moths to a flame. Ash fights off the creatures reaching towards Annie, but suddenly finds himself getting dragged into the portal. Annie realizes she forgot that the simualcrum Ash was made with the original's evil-infected hand, meaning he has Deadite blood inside of him. She grabs onto Ash in an attempt to save him, but the two are helpless against the pull of the portal.
The duo are launched out of the portal like a missile, landing in a barren desert where strange metallic geometric shapes hang and warp under a mint-green sky. As Ash and Annie try to get their bearings in this unfamiliar land, the dimension begins toying with them by showing each other ghoulish deaths and malformations on the other's bodies. The illusions come to an end when Annie and Ash shut their eyes, only for them to suddenly find themselves as surrogates for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. While the garden is tranquil at first, the ghastly illusions return, and a black ooze begins to creep around the duo. Before the obsidian haze consumes them completely, a bearded human man in a crimson cloak saves Ash and Annie from their ultimate fate and brings and end to the "death cycle" they've been forced to watch.
The man identifies himself as Regardie, a member a secret society in 19th Century England who had been betrayed by his organization and banished to the Mirror Dimension. Annie asks if there is a way out of the dimension, and Regardie informs the two that there is but one way. In a few moments, Ash is given a small knife by the trapped Englishman, telling him that he must cut Annie's soul out of her body and cleanse it before they can leave. Regardie purges the soul of transgressions, and Annie is free to leave, all they must do is find the passage back.
The two run across the desert wasteland until finding a narrow canyon, guarded by a black tentacle monster that snatches the two off the ground. A living manifestation of the fear and darkness within them, the monster shows Ash a twisted vision the first time he ever truly felt fear, back when he was a young schoolboy and forced to sing in front of the class by a mean teacher. Ash escapes the illusion and distracts the monster before it can consume Annie, offering himself (claiming to be the genuine Chosen One) in her place. Annie runs as the monster devours Ash, where she runs into Regardie's waiting arms. The ritual is complete, and Annie vanishes in a puff of smoke, finding herself back in the dark, empty cat food factory with nothing but the Necronomicon, Kandarian Dagger, and Ash's shotgun laying on the floor...
Cover Gallery[]
Main Covers[]
Variant Covers[]
Other Covers[]
Trivia[]
- The factory being located in North Carolina is a reference to the production of the Evil Dead II film, which was filmed entirely in North Carolina.
- Annie's description of The Dark Ones in issue one was taken verbatim from the Evil Dead Wiki's page on the characters as it appeared in late 2015.
- The transgressions of Annie's soul in issue three manifest themselves in the form of the Kandarian Demon as it appeared in the climax of the Evil Dead II film.
- The girl seated next to the young Ash in the flashback/illusion scene in issue three bears a strong resemblance to actress Christina Ricci's version of Wednesday Addams from the 1991 film The Addams Family.
Continuity Notes[]
- While this series is a direct sequel to the Beyond Dead By Dawn series, it takes place after the events of the Revenge of Hitler, Revenge of Dracula, and A Merry Deadite X-Mas one-shots, though those comics were published after the release of Cradle of The Damned.