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Death Dealer is a 1973 fantasy painting by American artist Frank Frazetta. It depicts a menacing armor-clad warrior with a horned helmet, whose facial features are obscured by shadow, atop a horse, holding a bloody bearded axe and shield. The image eventually led to spin-offs of varying merchandise, including subsequent paintings of the warrior, novels, statues, a comic book series published by Verotik and another by Image Comics, and related D&D adventures, published by Goodman Games.
Frazetta later painted several other Death Dealer paintings, including ones to be used as covers for the comic book series.
The painting was used as the cover on Molly Hatchet's debut album in 1978. The painting was re-drawn in a more cartoon style for Sweep the Leg Johnny's final album Going Down Swingin'.
Raoh and his horse Kokuoh from the Fist of The North Star anime and manga series are inspired by Death Dealer. One artwork featuring the two characters is directly referenced from the original Death Dealer painting.
Death Dealer spawned a novel franchise, written by author James Silke. Four novels were published, in order:
Sculptor Randy Bowen produced the first statues based upon the character. Dark Horse Comics published several statues of the character, both full-size and miniature. Diamond Distributors published a series of Frank Frazetta action figures in the form of statues. Among the works were the original Death Dealer and one of the future renditions. Filmswords.com has created a helmet based upon that of the Dealer. Death Dealer continues to expand through the online brand, Frazetta Girls and the most recent action figure was made by Incendium Online. The Shifflet Brothers are in the process of sculpting Death Dealer based on Frazetta's artwork, titled Death Dealer II, which will be released in 2022.
The first Death Dealer comic book series was published in 1995 by the company Verotik. The four-issue series was written by musician Glenn Danzig and illustrated by Simon Bisley (issue 1), Liam Sharp (issues 2 and 3), and by Arthur Suydam (issue 4). Frazetta provided covers for the books as well.
In 2007, Image Comics/Frazetta Comics published the Death Dealer: Shadows of Mirahan six-issue miniseries featuring Death Dealer in the first story fully approved by Frank Frazetta. The book's creators are Nat Jones, Jay Fotos, and Joshua Ortega. The story was written by Jones, Fotos and Ortega, with pencils and inks by Jones, and colors by Fotos. The story tells of an ancient land, and two warring nations fighting in an epic war. The Death Dealer appears on the field of battle and slaughters both sides. When the two kingdoms forged an alliance, the Dealer disappears for years but returns years later.
In 2022, Opus Comics published Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer written by Mitch Iverson, with pencils by Stefano Martino and colors by Luis Antonio Delgado. [1]
Since 1985, the Death Dealer has been used as the mascot of III Corps (United States). A life-size metal statue of the Death Dealer stands outside the III Corps headquarters building in Fort Hood, Texas. The statue was unveiled in September 2009 [2] and was a nearly exact replica (except the shield) of a piece sculpted by Randy Bowen and produced by Dark Horse Comics in 2003. [3] Two full-size painted resin statues are on display in the atriums on the III Corps Headquarters. During III Corps' 2009-2010 deployment to Camp Victory, Iraq, one of the painted resin statues was shipped and joined the unit at Al Faw Palace and was on display in the rotunda. Also, the United States Marine Corps helicopter squadron VMM-164 has the Death Dealer as their mascot.
Image's Death Dealer comic inspired a series of Dungeons & Dragons adventures published by Goodman Games. [4]
In 2009 the German publisher Bastei Lübbe gave the readers of the dime novel series Maddrax a tabletop roleplaying game. On the cover is shown the protagonist Matthew Drax as the death dealer. [5]
The Death Dealer was used in 1991 for the cover of the French role playing game Bloodlust, set on the fantasy continent of Tanaephis. Several other Frank Frazetta's paintings were used for the various game supplements.
In March 2022, it was announced that the Sorcery: Contested Realm Kickstarter Alpha set would include the Death Dealer art as well as several other cards with Frank Frazetta Art. When the Alpha set was released in May 2023, the Death Dealer II art was featured on the extremely rare curio versions of the Death Dealer card. As the Frazetta art pieces were only licensed for the Alpha set, alternate art from other artists was used for the Beta printing released in November 2023.
In November 2022, Wizards of the Coast announced the Frank Frazetta Secret Lair drop for Magic: the Gathering , which featured the original Death Dealer art for Midnight Reaper and Death Dealer II for Seize the Day. [6]
The essence of the Death Dealer can be found in the animated motion picture Fire & Ice by Ralph Bakshi; both Darkwolf and Larn seek to avenge Juliana the Witch of Icepeak for destroying their homes in the Firekeep rainforest. Twice in the film, Darkwolf sits atop a horse in Death Dealer's iconic pose.
The antagonist Gar the Draikian in the film The Archer: Fugitive from the Empire is inspired by Death Dealer's axe-wielding image astride his horse.
Death Dealers are Vampire warriors featured in the Underworld series.
In 2022, the American Mint Golden State Mint added The Death Dealer design to multiple rounds in silver and copper as part of a series of rounds that pay tribute to Frank Frazetta. [7]
Eddie Campbell is a British comics artist and cartoonist. He was the illustrator and publisher of From Hell, and the creator of the semi-autobiographical Alec stories collected in Alec: The Years Have Pants, and Bacchus, a wry adventure series about the few Greek gods who have survived to the present day.
Frank Frazetta was an American artist known for themes of fantasy and science fiction, noted for comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers, and other media. He is often referred to as the "Godfather of fantasy art", and one of the most renowned illustrators of the 20th century. He was also the subject of a 2003 documentary Painting with Fire.
David Chester Gibbons is an English comics artist, writer and sometimes letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries Watchmen and the Superman story "For the Man Who Has Everything". He was an artist for 2000 AD, for which he contributed a large body of work from its first issue in 1977.
Simon Bisley is a British comic book artist best known for his 1990s work on ABC Warriors, Lobo and Sláine.
Vincent Patrick Deighan, better known by the pen name Frank Quitely, is a Scottish comic book artist. He is best known for his frequent collaborations with Grant Morrison on titles such as New X-Men, We3, All-Star Superman, and Batman and Robin, as well as his work with Mark Millar on The Authority and Jupiter's Legacy.
Gerald Brom, known professionally as Brom, is an American gothic fantasy artist and illustrator, known for his work in role-playing games, novels, and comics.
witzend, published on an irregular schedule spanning decades, is an underground comic showcasing contributions by comic book professionals, leading illustrators and new artists. witzend was launched in 1966 by the writer-artist Wally Wood, who handed the reins to Bill Pearson from 1968 to 1985. The title was printed in lower-case.
Roy Gerald Krenkel, who often signed his work RGK, was an American illustrator who specialized in fantasy and historical drawings and paintings for books, magazines and comic books.
Verotik is an American comic book company founded by heavy metal/horror punk musician Glenn Danzig. The comics are aimed toward adult readers as they often contain imagery of a sexual and/or violent nature.
Charles Vess is an American fantasy artist and comics artist who has specialized in the illustration of myths and fairy tales. His influences include British "Golden Age" book illustrator Arthur Rackham, Czech Art Nouveau painter Alphonse Mucha, and comic-strip artist Hal Foster, among others. Vess has won several awards for his illustrations. Vess' studio, Green Man Press, is located in Abingdon, VA.
Dave Lee Stevens was an American illustrator and comics artist. He was most famous for creating The Rocketeer comic book and film character, and for his pin-up style "glamour art" illustrations, especially of model Bettie Page. He was the first to win Comic-Con International's Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award in 1982, and received both an Inkpot Award and the Kirby Award for Best Graphic Album in 1986.
Liam Roger Sharp is a British comic book artist, writer, publisher, and co-founder/CCO of Madefire Inc.
Dan Jolley is an American novelist and comic book writer. His comics work includes DC Comics' Firestorm and Graphic Universe's Twisted Journeys, a series of interactive fiction or gamebooks in graphic novel form, and his novel work includes the young-adult science fiction espionage series Alex Unlimited along with his international best selling novel, The Gray Widow's Walk, which is his first book in the Gray Widow trilogy that he publishes through Seventh Star Press. He created the character Jason Rusch with ChrisCross.
Gregory Capullo is an American comic book artist and penciller, best known for his work on Quasar (1991–1992), X-Force (1992–1993), Angela (1994), Spawn, Batman (2011–2016), and Reborn (2016–2017). He also drew the DC Comics company-wide crossover storylines Dark Nights: Metal and Dark Nights: Death Metal. As part of his DC work, he co-created the characters, The Batman Who Laughs, Mr. Bloom, and the Court of Owls.
Rick Remender is an American animator, comic book writer and television producer who resides in Los Angeles, California. As a comic book creator, he is best known for his work on Uncanny X-Force, Venom, Captain America and Uncanny Avengers, published by Marvel, as well as his creator-owned series Fear Agent, Deadly Class, Black Science and Low, published by Image. In video games, he wrote EA's Dead Space and Epic Games' Bulletstorm.
Death Dealer may refer to:
Shelby Robertson is an American comic book illustrator, known for his distinctive style pinup renditions of attractive fictional female characters. His detailed rendering of heavily muscled figures has been compared to that of Frank Frazetta and Michael Turner. He describes his style as "part Marvel, part DC, and part old school Image".
Nat Jones is an American artist working primarily in comic books and film. Jones is best known for his work on Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer.
Joëlle Jones is an American comic book artist and writer, best known for her work on Lady Killer, a series published in 2015–2017 by Dark Horse Comics, for her cover work on various Marvel Comics series, and for her work writing and illustrating DC Comics series including Batman and Catwoman.
Egyptian Queen is a painting by Frank Frazetta, made in 1969 for the cover of the horror-comic magazine Eerie. It depicts a near-nude woman leaning against a column, accompanied by a leopard on the floor and a bare-chested man in the background. The painting is among Frazetta's most famous and has been popular as a poster. The woman's face on the original magazine cover is different from later reproductions after Frazetta chose to repaint it. The original painting was sold in 2019 for 5.4 million U.S. dollars, which set a new world record for comic art.