Death is often personified in Fantasy stories, and for some reason, always as a woman. Probably because she is swift and merciless. Well, in comics, Death appears as well. We have the one by Marvel, who is known to be romantically involved with Thanos, and at the same time for having a thing with Deadpool. There is also Death from DC Comics, brought to us by Neil Gaiman and well known from the Sandman(Nya will know more about this topic). And then we have this sexy Swedish woman who is known as Lady Death, created and brought to ‘life’ by Brian Pulido. For me, she is the true personification of Death and I will explain my point by retracing her history.
How Lady Death Was Brought to Life
It all begins with Evil Ernie, an undead psychotic killer brought to life by Brian Pulido and originally published by Eternity Comics in 91. The link? At first, Lady Death was this sexy and violent hallucination of Ernie. She has promised to love him forever in exchange for his loyalty and a vow to kill everyone on Earth. In the beginning she was just eye-candy and didn’t have any background or purpose. But with time, they’ve detached herself from Ernie, got her her own story, and even changed her status from villainous to heroic. It’s easy to imagine her as the mother of Harley Quinn in some way. After having started as the Joker’s sidekick, Harley Quinn got her own story and has also achieved some sort of heroic status later. Let’s not mention the incredible popularity she just got after Suicide Squad thanks to Margot Robbie. But back to our Lady Death, who even after following her own path, still kept her twisted romance with our friend Ernie.
The Story of The Real Lady Death
Before being a goddess, Lady Death was a mortal. And she was Swedish. Back in the Medieval times, she was known as Hope. After this common beginning, depending on the publisher, some differences are notable. The one in Boundless Comics is the one I will focus on, since it’s the one being reviewed. First of all, Brian Pulido has never abandoned his baby, no matter the publisher. And it’s nice to have him following his character no matter what. In Boundless Comics, Hope (future Lady Death then), is worried about her father Marius. He leads crusades, but every time he comes back from the battlefield, he comes back alone. At some point, villagers start wondering where are their fathers and sons who left for the war. As Hope is concerned and suspects something might be wrong, she decides to spy on her father along with her mother. They realize that the man they love is an evil being. As they learn that Marius, husband and father, is possessed by an evil entity named Sagos, he vanishes after kidnapping Hope’s mother. Villagers rebel when they find out the truth and since Hope’s parents are gone, they focus their anger on Hope herself. They capture her and decide to burn her alive on the stake. She recites a few words she has heard from Sagos, and the wraiths for who he is working for appears to her. She pledges to them to renounce her humanity and join them. She then passes through a portal where she acquires powers and her skin and hair turn to pale white as she becomes Lady Death.
Where Is Lady Death at Now?
In Boundless Comics, we follow her getting trained by Wargoth and Satasha as they walk into the Blacklands to chase Sagos. Lady Death is motivated by the quest of retrieving and rescuing her mother. We see her evolving, learning and even getting her famous sword Deathbringer which is the only that can hold her powers without melting. Unfortunately, I couldn’t continue after the Volume 2 as the 3 is not available anywhere. I’ve been searching and searching, without any luck, and the only information I’ve managed to get is that it has been cancelled without any specific reason. I had been aware of Lady Death since my childhood, and I think she got this independent and cult status. She is a typical and oversexualized character, but with a strong background. She has evolved from scratch and got her well deserved popularity. Most importantly, she is not a dumb and useless character. On the contrary, she is fierce, brave, and she doesn’t need anyone. She might look oversexualized in appearance, but she is a strong and independent woman, and you don’t want to mess with her, at all. And she is not a teenager or a young adult, she is a mature woman. In her early era, she was part of a whole cast of evil characters, she was also evolving in this style of comics that was following a story but over episodic issues. Brian Pulido tried to make her fit into this new era of comics, and it was going in the right direction. So what happened?
Where Is Lady Death Going?
Brian Pulido is trying to get her back through Coffin Comics. There was an issue, Damnation Game #1, that I got a few months back. But I can’t get any information about a second issue coming, and nothing from the official website either. Only that another issue #1 is going to be released but this time titled Revelations. It’s a little bit of a mess, and it feels that Brian Pulido has been trying a little bit of everything to get her back on track properly. To be honest, I don’t think Lady Death fits into this era anymore. Even though she is a strong woman with an amazing personality and depth, the oversexualization is something that will make all feminazi cry. Lady Death is only for the small community and the few old fans who are still following her. It’s a shame because among all the crap, this cult character deserves her place every month on the shelves. She even got an animated movie that I will be curious to watch. Overall, that’s also what gives this charm to this character, is that you know her story but manage to read through anything you’ll find. That’s what I do, I gather any issues I can find about her, and follow her into those issues, collecting them step by step. The most amazing with Lady Death is that Brian Pulido kept her under his wing the whole time until now, and he’s not giving up on her. The art has evolved from the 90s of course. And she sometimes went through some art style changes I didn’t like. But the writing has never changed, as Brian Pulido has always been faithful to the main traits of the character. We never lost those beautiful lines that characterize this personification of Death. She entertains adults through her epic adventures with brio, and I can only hope that she will continue to bring Death her way. Brian Pulido seems to be willing to keep her alive no matter what, so there’s only hope.
Final Verdict:
To me, this is Platinum.
Fenrile
French geek. Let’s get this straight. I’ve put my ass in front of a computer at the age of 4 or 5. I couldn’t even read but I could put a password on the family computer. My first videogames were Pacman/Galaga/Pole Position trio (& Dig Dug for the bonus). I’ve always been a gamer. Aging, I’ve started expanding my horizons.
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Originally published at louderthansilver.com on November 13, 2016.
