Freddy's Dead: a comic book adaptation.

The very worst of the NOES movies (to date) becomes the very worst NOES comic in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, a comic book adaptation that's truly terrible even by those already terrible standards. I'd like to say that this is the worst comic book adaptation I've ever read - but then, I own Jason Goes to Hell too - and nothing can beat that particular turd. The best comic book adaptation of a movie, incidentally, is Northstar Comics' Leatherface. Unlike most, the team couldn't give a fuck about the movie and just basically make up their own last half. It's demented, poetically scripted, disgustingly violent and just plain beautiful. Stop reading this review, and go hunt down Leatherface instead.

Freddy's Dead is completely faithful to the movie's plot, which is perhaps the comic's biggest mistake. Everything is as you remember it, only depicted via the medium of terrible artwork. The characters look weird and half-finished; the colours are garish and completely unsuited to the subject matter. Admittedly, movie Freddy was hardly scary himself by this point, but his comic book self is even worse - all primary colours and no menace whatsoever. Like the movie, the final issue is presented partly in 3D. And it's done just as badly as everything else so far. As soon as it switches to 3D, all the colour is drained out and the whole thing is illustrated in blue-and-white. Freddy's 'final' death is not only still shit, but now completely drained of colour. Little wonder he was pissed when he came back in New Nightmare.

"Fucking ebay. The seller didn't even send the 3D glasses. Look, I had to buy my own. Fucking ebay. They should have pictures of Freddy Krueger on the side, but I had to buy stupid fucking white ones that don't even match the comic I'm reading. Fucking ebay."

Because the medium has changed, everything that was good about the movie has been completely stripped out. The lack of Robert Englund's performance strips the story of its soul, and the cameos from Alice Cooper and Johnny Depp are gone. The kill scenes are ruined - with decent, scary artwork, they might have come into their own - and all that remains are the considerable faults of the source material.

Innovation Comics filed for bankruptcy shortly after the publication of Freddy's Dead, which goes to show that even in the 90s', people still had a modicum of taste. Life ain't all bad though - for some decent Kreuger comics, seek out some Wildstorm work ('Copycat' is particularly good), or Freddy vs Jason vs Ash. If you have any respect for your eyes, you won't bother looking for Freddy's Dead, since it really, really isn't worth your money.