Lady Death is a fictional

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes of s ...

appearing in American

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

s published by Coffin Comics. Created by

Brian Pulido Brian Pulido (born November 30, 1961) is a creator, writer and producer of comic books and films. Early life Growing up in Long Branch, New Jersey, Pulido first developed an interest in the horror genre after the release of ''Night of the Livin ...

, Lady Death first appeared in ''

Evil Ernie Evil Ernie, an undead psychotic killer, is a fictional supervillain created by writer Brian Pulido and artist Steven Hughes in 1991 and originally published by Eternity Comics. The imprint shifted hands in 1993 to Chaos! Comics and then Devi ...

'' #1 in December 1991. Lady Death then reappeared in the ''Evil Ernie: The Resurrection'' miniseries published by Pulido under his now-defunct company

Chaos! Comics Chaos! Comics was a comic book publisher that operated from 1993 until 2002, mostly focusing on horror comics. Their titles included ''Lady Death'', ''Purgatori'', ''Evil Ernie'', ''Chastity'', ''Jade'', '' Bad Kitty'', and ''Lady Demon''. Chaos! ...

in 1994. The character was also the subject of a full-length animated feature film released in July 2004 by

ADV Films A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. (known simply as ADV and also referred to as ADV Films) was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt Gre ...

. Incarnations of the character have been illustrated by such comic book artists as

Steven Hughes Steven Jay Hughes (February 12, 1954 – February 18, 2000) was an American artist for the Chaos! Comics company. Hughes provided the art for many of the company's comics, including ''Lady Death'', ''Evil Ernie'', and the short-lived superhero s ...

Mike Deodato, Jr. Mike Deodato (; born May 23, 1963), sometimes credited as Mike Deodato Jr., is the professional pseudonym of Brazilian comic book artist Deodato Taumaturgo Borges Filho. Early life Mike Deodato was born on May 23, 1963 in Campina Grande, Paraí ...

, Romano Molenaar,

Dheeraj Verma Dheeraj Verma (22 October 1967 – 7 June 2021) was an Indian comic book artist and creator. He is often credited with being the first Indian to enter the US comics industry. Early life Dheeraj Verma was born on 22 October 1967, in Delhi, In ...

and

Ivan Reis Ivan Reis is a Brazilians, Brazilian comics artist. He is known for his work on comic books such as Dark Horse Comics' ''Ghost (Dark Horse Comics), Ghost'', Marvel Comics' ''Genis-Vell, Captain Marvel'' and ''Vision (Marvel Comics), Avengers Icons ...

. Brian Pulido has optioned publishing licenses through various independent companies such as Avatar Press. , Lady Death was published by Pulido's Coffin Comics, LLC. In addition, Lady Death has been depicted in artworks by a number of well-known fantasy artists such as Dorian Cleavenger,

Gerald Brom Gerald Brom (born March 9, 1965), known professionally as Brom, is an American gothic fantasy artist and illustrator, known for his work in role-playing games, novels, and comics. Early life Brom was born March 9, 1965, in Albany, Georgia. As the ...

Boris Vallejo Boris Vallejo (born January 8, 1941) is a Peruvian-American painter who works in the science fiction, fantasy, and erotica genres. His hyper-representational paintings have appeared on the covers of numerous science fiction and fantasy fiction ...

Joe Jusko Joe Jusko (; born September 1, 1959) is an American artist known for his realistic, highly detailed painted fantasy, pin-up, and cover illustrations, mainly in the comic book industry. Jusko painted the 1992 Marvel Masterpieces trading cards, the ...

and

Julie Bell Julie Bell (born October 21, 1958) is an American fine artist, illustrator, photographer, bodybuilder and wildlife painter. Bell is also a fantasy artist and a representative of the heroic fantasy and fantastic realism genres. Bell has won Che ...

Publication history

Lady Death was originally published by

Chaos Comics Chaos! Comics was a comic book publisher that operated from 1993 until 2002, mostly focusing on horror comics. Their titles included ''Lady Death'', ''Purgatori'', ''Evil Ernie'', ''Chastity'', ''Jade'', '' Bad Kitty'', and ''Lady Demon''. Chaos! ...

and remains one of the best examples of the bad girl titles that took the

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...

industry by storm during the late

1990s File:1990s decade montage.png, From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War ...

. The earliest issues of Lady Death were written by Brian Pulido and illustrated by Steven Hughes. Lady Death was originally conceived as a violent

anti-hero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform action ...

, but subsequent iterations have toned down the more controversial aspects of the character. In August 2002, Chaos! Comics filed for

Chapter 7 bankruptcy Chapter 7 of Title 11 of the United States Code (Bankruptcy Code) governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States, in contrast to Chapters 11 and 13, which govern the process of ''reorganization'' of a debto ...

and the intellectual property rights to Lady Death were sold to

CrossGen Cross Generation Entertainment or CrossGen was an American comic book publisher and entertainment company that operated from 1998 to 2004. The company's assets were acquired by The Walt Disney Company in 2004, and designated to Disney Publishing ...

Entertainment. Pulido continued to work on Lady Death for Crossgen, creating a new series titled ''Medieval Lady Death'' that was released in February 2003. This version of Lady Death made substantial changes to the character in an attempt to capture a larger mainstream audience. Despite ''Medieval Lady Death'' enjoying reasonable sales, CrossGen Entertainment ran into financial difficulties of its own and filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

on June 18, 2004, in

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. During the bankruptcy proceedings, the rights to Lady Death were sold to Avatar Press. The other Chaos! Comics properties were sold to Tales of Wonder. In 2004, a feature-length animated motion picture based upon the original version of Lady Death was released. Produced by ADV films, the Lady Death animated feature premiered at Comic-Con International in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

on July 23, 2004. The film was poorly received and was not a major financial success. In July 2005,

Avatar Press Avatar Press is an independent American comic book publisher founded in 1996 by William A. Christensen, and based in Rantoul, Illinois. Avatar Press is most notable for publishing Bad girl art, bad girl comics, such as ''Faust (Avatar Press), Fau ...

unveiled a new version of Lady Death. Both ''Medieval Lady Death'' as well as the ''Classic Lady Death'' were published in separate series. Pulido wrote both series, which featured art by several Avatar Press artists, including

Juan Jose Ryp ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

, Daniel HDR,

Richard Ortiz Richard Ortiz Busto (; born 22 May 1990 in Asunción), is a Paraguayans, Paraguayan association football, footballer who plays as defensive midfielder for Primera División Paraguaya club Club Olimpia and the Paraguay national football team. Ort ...

, Ron Adrian, Di Amorin and Gabriel Guzman. In 2010, Avatar Press created a separate imprint, Boundless, to publish new comics starring the character later that year. Pulido and

Mike Wolfer Mike Wolfer was a comic book writer and artist. He attended The Kubert School for two years. He started his career in 1987 by forming his own publishing company, Ground Zero Comics, and self-published "Daikazu" (8 issues) and "Daikazu Vs. Gugo ...

wrote the ongoing series. In 2015, Pulido launched new Lady Death stories via

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

and later in April 2016, Pulido began publishing new stories under his company Coffin Comics, LLC.

Fictional character biography

The first Lady Death

Lady Death originated as a

hallucination A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the qualities of a real perception. Hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and are perceived to be located in external objective space. Hallucination is a combinatio ...

by a troubled boy named Ernest "Ernie" Fairchild. Ernie believed Lady Death was his dream girl: a violent, sexy supervillain. She promised to "love Ernie forever" in exchange for his loyalty and a vow to kill everyone on

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

. Initially, Lady Death's appearances in Ernie's stories were that of a muse and confidant. Eventually it is revealed that she is her own demonic entity. Her true intentions and her past remained a mystery. As Ernie's story progressed, Lady Death moved on and led her own.

Classic Lady Death

The setting for the original Lady Death comic was medieval

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The woman who would become Lady Death was born a mortal named Hope. Her father was a local nobleman named Matthias who was despised by the peasants as a cruel tyrant for forcibly conscripting peasants into military service as feudal levies. The exact nature of the war that Matthias was prosecuting is not specified, although evidence from the recent revision of the character by Avatar Press suggests that it may have been one of the

Northern Crusades The Northern Crusades or Baltic Crusades were Christianity and colonialism, Christian colonization and Christianization campaigns undertaken by Catholic Church, Catholic Christian Military order (society), military orders and kingdoms, primarily ...

(also known as the Baltic Crusades). Unknown to his innocent daughter, Matthias had a dark secret. Although congratulated by the Church for his work against the pagans and was outwardly pious, Matthias was secretly dabbled in black magic and demonology. He was actually a descendant of the fallen angels who had led the rebellion against

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

. By contrast, Hope's mother was a woman so pure and innocent that her bloodline reached Heaven. Hope's mother died when Hope was still in her late teens, and she was left to live with her father. Eventually, Matthias' cruelty triggered a peasant uprising. Matthias narrowly escaped death at the hands of the rebels by summoning a demon, but Hope was captured by the rebels and accused of witchcraft. Faced with the prospect of execution by burning at the stake, Hope uttered an incantation that she had overheard her father use. This incantation summoned a demon who offered her a bargain – he would rescue her from death if she would renounce her humanity and serve the powers of Hell. Hope accepted the bargain and was transported into the infernal realms. Once in Hell, Hope became entangled in a civil war that was raging between Lucifer and an army of renegade devils led by a powerful sorcerer. Hope was devastated when she learned that the ambitious sorcerer challenging Lucifer for the control of Hell was her own father. Gradually corrupted by the nature of her surrounding, Hope was tainted with evil. She allied herself with an exiled craftsman who forged weapons for the infernal armies. While speaking to him, she declared that the innocent woman she had once been was dead and that she would henceforth only be known as Lady Death. In her new persona, Lady Death led an uprising against the Lords of Hell. During the final battle, Lucifer cursed her never to return to Earth while the living walked. Lady Death swore an oath that she would circumvent Lucifer's curse by exterminating all life on Earth. Lady Death finally ended Lucifer's control over her by casting him through Heaven's Gate (a place where evil cannot go), and in doing so became the new ruler of Hell. Many of the beings living in hell believe that the ascension of Lady Death signaled the beginning of the age of judgment – the final battle between good and evil for the fate of the Earth.

Classic Lady Death at Avatar Press

Avatar Press began publishing ''Lady Death'' titles in 2005. Since they only have the rights to Lady Death alone, and not the rest of the Chaos! Comics characters that were intertwined with her original story, Lady Death has been given a new origin story, with notable differences to the story told at Chaos! Comics. Hope is the daughter of Mary and Marius. Marius is a crusader who has been waging endless campaigns against the pagans, always returning with only his most loyal soldiers, while the peasant levies were slaughtered. This angered the survivors. Hope, realising that her father has changed and is no longer the man he once was, follows him into the dungeons, with her mother close behind. The townsfolk meanwhile batter down the gates and invade the castle, intent on revenge. Hope discovers her father summoning dark wraiths, and sacrificing the

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

s of countless peasants in exchange for a kingdom in The Labyrinth. The wraiths refer to her father as Sagos. Sagos grabs hold of Mary, revealing that he has possessed Marius' body, and they disappear through the portal, leaving Hope behind. Cheated of their revenge, the villagers decide to burn Hope at the stake as a witch. Not wishing to die, Hope casts the spell she overheard her father cast, and summons the wraiths herself. The wraiths agree to transport her through the portal, if she forsakes her humanity and pledges her soul to The Labyrinth. Hope passes through the portal, her skin and hair turning albino in the process (the mark of all those who willingly choose to pass through the portal), and finds herself in the Blacklands. There she encounters Wargoth, who observes her uncontrolled and instinctive use of magic, and agrees to help her destroy Sagos and rescue her mother. He recruits the sorceress Satasha to teach Hope spellcraft. Wargoth also teaches her how to fight, but every weapon she wields melts in her hand due to her uncontrolled energy. Over the next two years, Lady Death and her companions fight through the Blacklands, hunting for Sagos. All the while Sagos' undead army destroys and converts the cities of the Blacklands. Eventually, Lady Death and her companions track Sagos down to a temple in Karrion, where they discover Sagos holding Lady Death's mother in chains. Sagos defeats them easily and brings the temple down around them. Lady Death digs herself out and is attacked by Nameless Wolves, slaying all but two of them. These two wolves become her companions. In the city of Asuwa, Lady Death recovers the sword Deathbringer, which was specially made for her by Satasha and The Silent One. Deathbringer is able to withstand her energies without being destroyed, and allows her to channel her magic through it. Lady Death then bathes in the Fanghorn river, which grants knowledge of elemental magic to those who survive the experience. She uses this power to save Satasha's home city from destruction, but learns that Sagos does not plan to just conquer the Blacklands, but to wipe out all life, and that he has the means to do it.

Lady Death comic series

Chaos! Comics

Series published by

include: * ''The Reckoning'' 1994 * ''Lady Death Swimsuit Special'' 1994 (pin-up edition) * ''Lady Death in Lingerie'' (1995 pin-up edition with various artists) * ''Between Heaven & Hell'' 1995 * ''Chaos Quarterly 1'' 1995 * ''Chaos Quarterly 2'' 1996 * ''Chaos Quarterly 3'' 1996 * ''The Odyssey'' 1996 * ''The Crucible'' 1996 * ''Death Becomes Her'' 1997 * ''Wicked Ways'' 1998 * ''The Harrowing'' 1998 * ''The Covenant'' 1998 * ''Dragon Wars'' 1998 * ''Retribution'' 1998 * ''Inferno'' 1999 * ''The Rapture'' 1999 * ''Judgement War'' 1999 * ''Armageddon'' 1999 * ''Dark Millennium'' 2000 * ''Tribulation'' 2000 * ''Love Bites'' 2001 * ''Mischief Night'' 2001 * ''River Of Fear'' 2001 * ''Alive'' 2001 * ''Last Rites'' 2001 * ''Lady Death/Chastity'' 2002 * ''Heartbreaker'' 2002 * ''Lady Death & Jade'' 2002 * ''The Gauntlet'' 2002 * ''Goddess Returns'' 2002 * ''Dark Alliance'' 2002 (final series from Chaos – incomplete)

CrossGen Comics

Series published at

: *''A Medieval Tale ''(2003) *''The Wild Hunt '' (2004; incomplete)

Avatar Press

Note:

publishes two versions of Lady Death: the Classic version (revamped slightly due to her separation from the

universe), and Medieval Lady Death (the all-ages version from "A Medieval Tale" published at

) * Classic Lady Death: ** ''Abandon All Hope'' 2005 ** ''Death Goddess'' 2005 ** ''The Wicked'' 2005 ** ''Dead Rising'' (*) 2004 ** ''Infernal Sins'' (*) 2006 (special art & previews of future issues) ** ''Lost Souls'' (crossover between Lady Death,

War Angel War Angel is a fictional character created by Brian Pulido for his new line of post-Chaos comics at Avatar Press. She exists in the same universe as the rest Pulido's new line including Lady Death and Unholy. Background War Angel is supposedly t ...

, Pandora, and Unholy) 2005–2006 *** ''Lady Death vs War Angel'' (sequel to ''Lost Souls'') *** ''Lady Death vs Pandora'' (conclusion to ''Lost Souls'' trilogy) ** ''Lady Death / Shi'' ** ''Sacrilege'' ** ''Annual 2006'' ** ''Blacklands'' 2006–2007 ** ''Origins Cursed'' 2012 ** ''Lady Death'' (Boundless) 2010–2012 ** ''Lady Death Apocalypse'' 2015 ** ''2005 Bikini Special'' (*) 2005 ** ''Leather & Lace'' (*) 2005 ** ''Swimsuit 2005'' (*) 2005 ** ''Fetishes'' (*) 2006 ** ''2007 Swimsuit Special'' (*) 2007 ** ''The Art of Juan Jose Ryp'' (*) 2007 ** ''Warrior Temptress'' (*) 2007 ** ''Pirate Queen'' (*) *** (*)=To be read in no particular order. * ''Medieval Lady Death'': ** ''Medieval Lady Death'' 2005 ** ''Medieval Lady Death/Belladonna'' 2005 ** ''Medieval Lady Death: War of the Winds'' 2006–2007

Coffin Comics

*''Chaos Rules'' June 2015 *''Damnation Game'' October 2015 *''Extinction Express'' April 2016 *''Oblivion Kiss'' November 2016 *''Merciless Onslaught'' August 2017 *''Unholy Ruin'' November 2017 *''Apocalyptic Abyss'' May 2018 *''Nightmare Symphony'' September 2018 *''Scorched Earth'' June 2019 *''Blasphemy Anthem'' November 2019 *''Malevolent Decimation'' May 2020 *''Treacherous Infamy'' November 2020 *''Cataclysmic Majesty'' June 2021 *''Sacrificial Annihilation'' December 2021 *''Hellwitch Vs. Lady Death: Wargasm'' March 2022 *''Necrotic Genesis'' November 2022

In other media

Lady Death: The Motion Picture

''Lady Death: The Motion Picture'' was released in 2004 by

. The movie begins in 15th century Sweden, where Hope, the beautiful daughter of Matthias, a skilled mercenary who is in actuality a demon, is accused of being the devil's consort. Sentenced by the town priest to be burned at the stake, Matthias, through his proxy, the jester Pagan, offers her life if she surrenders herself to him and joins him in Hell. Matthias's plan to corrupt her is met with unanticipated resistance, as Hope rejects his scheme and eventually finds herself transformed into the powerful warrior Lady Death, who challenges Lucifer for control of Hell itself. Many of the events from the comics are altered in the animated film. Instead of summoning a demon with whom she bargains for her life, Hope's spell summons a pair of flying demons that carry her physically to Hell (restoring her badly burned body in the process), dropping her in the court of her father, who intends for her to join him by his side. When she refuses, he casts her out, only for her to side with the master blacksmith Cremator, an escaped slave of his, and to lead an army of hellspawn creatures against him. In this continuity, her curse is to be trapped in Hell for as long as one of Lucifer's allies remains alive. Unlike in the comic, Lady Death is presented as more of a heroine whose goal isn't to destroy all life on Earth, but to liberate Hell from Lucifer's tyranny.

Accolades

The character was ranked 39th in ''

Comics Buyer's Guide ''Comics Buyer's Guide'' (''CBG''; ), established in 1971, was the longest-running English-language periodical reporting on the American comic book industry. It awarded its annual Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards from 1983 to circa 2010. The public ...

''s "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.

References

External links

*
Lady Death UniverseBoundless Comics
*
Avatar Launches Boundless At C2E2 – Brings Back Lady Death

Bleeding Cool Bleeding Cool is an Internet news site, focusing on comics, television, film, board games, and video games. Owned by Avatar Press, it was launched by Rich Johnston on March 27, 2009. Avatar Press also publishes an associated magazine, ''Bleeding ...

Creator of Lady Death Upends Traditional Distribution Channels, Wins Big , CulturePOPcornRelease note about Lady Death – Lost Souls
{{in lang, pt Comics characters introduced in 1991 Avatar Press titles Chaos! Comics titles Chaos! Comics characters Avatar Press characters CrossGen titles Fantasy comics Fictional avatars Fictional Swedish people Fictional Austrian people Fictional female martial artists Fictional demons and devils Fictional mass murderers Fictional characters with albinism Fictional queens Fictional warlords Comics characters who use magic Female characters in film Horror comics Mythology in comics Fictional personifications of death American comics adapted into films Comics adapted into animated films Female characters in comics