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Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer #1 (of 6)
“Shadows of Mirahan”
Book Released: 11 April 2007
Posted 11 Apr 2007
Writer: Joshua Ortega, Story; Nat Jones and Jay Fotos, Plot
Artist: Nat Jones, Pen and Inks
Letters: Jason Hanley
Colors: Jay Fotos
Publisher: Image Comics, Inc
4.00 out of 5 Stars
Reviewed by J. W. DeBolt Jr.
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(Spoiler Alert!)
One of the most iconic images of the 1970s has to be Frank
Frazetta’s 1973 painting “Death Dealer.”
You’ve seen it, and other views of the character, whether on a
poster, book cover, album cover, graphic novel, calendar, as an action
figure from Eight Ball Studios, on a Zippo lighter and as statues from
Dark Horse Comics, as a tattoo by Stacey Sharp, and lampooned and
imitated by countless pretenders to the fantasy art throne.
“The interior art is excellent, and detailed with a quality and style that I’m sure Frazetta approves of (and I’m sure because the advertising says he does).”
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Now, in case you’ve ever wondered what the story is behind
this figure — and the image is too memorable not to create a
story around it — and you haven’t read the series of
novels or graphic novel based on it — Image Comics has now
brought to life the Death Dealer in a six-issue miniseries.
In the land of Iparsia, in a time long past, wizards of a secret
order brought forth the Death Dealer, in the midst of a war between
Oro and Edani. Now, in the contemporary time of the story, villages
are being laid waste by a marauding team of horsemen who seem more
demon than human. Two star-crossed lovers, Adelia the Duke’s
daughter and Haden the woodsman, narrowly miss being run down by the
horde when they find the Grandmother Tree, the alleged source of all
trees. Yet, the group of killers turns back to find them. Haden sends
Adelia to hide in the roots of the tremendous tree while Haden
single-handedly holds off the attackers for about one page. He
falls, axe in hand, his blood seeping into the Grandmother Tree. And
you can guess what happens next.
On the first reading, I became confused about DD’s origin,
because at the beginning of the book, in a small, typical,
fantasy-genre village, a father is telling the above tale of the
Death Dealer to his son; then bad things happen and, with the help of
the magic tree, the Death Dealer is born. But this is a new DD who
will apparently continue the legacy of dealing out death when needed
to bring peace to two warring sides.
The interior art recalls Corben a bit, at least in
characters’ faces. The interior art is excellent, and detailed
with a quality and style that I’m sure Frazetta approves of (and
I’m sure because the advertising says he does).
Nat Jones (30 Days of Night) and Jay Fotos (Sam and Twitch) do
a good pastiche on Cover B of the issue, a wraparound, of
Frazetta’s character and the demon horde approaching him. The
one-in-25 cover by Frank
Frazetta is a reproduction of the original Death Dealer painting,
but at the moment that issue going for $80 on eBay (just wait a
bit; the price will come down). My Comicbook Guy didn’t have one
on the shelf, so you probably only have a good chance of getting that
issue in the shop if it orders twenty-five or more copies, which isn’t
likely. I can understand creating an intentional shortage to drive
fan-atacism, but the bulk of profit on that will go to resellers,
so Image may want to rethink that strategy.
If you’re like me (and you know you are), you think half the
fun of reading the Edgar Rice
Burroughs books featuring Tarzan, Pellucidar and John Carter of
Mars (a film of which has been in pre-production, by the way), was
to turn back to look at the cover after every chapter and just think,
“Wow” and let the image soak in your mind to flesh out the
story within. Thus, despite the prototypical fantasy plot (compare to
over 100 films with the same Hero’s Journey structure here), you’ll
want to check out the series. Then, when you look at the original
Death Dealer painting, it will have that much more resonance in your
mind.
—CCdC—
Cover image used without explicit permission in accordance with the "Fair Use" provision of US copyright law.
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