Lady Death as we know her now is the outcome of a one-shot re-imagining, in which she was given a complete makeover. Her roots, on the other hand, are in the iconic black-and-white prints of ‘Evil Ernie.’ Hughes, on the other hand, struck gold with his concept of showing the gorgeous, strong-willed villain-supreme in Chaos Comics.
To do her credit, we will start at the beginning – with the villain of the ‘Evil Ernie’ comics. It did not give the super-villain a backstory; in fact, it was her first appearance in print. She stoked Ernie’s desire to go on a murder rampage in order to obtain Megadeath.
Ernie initially dismissed her as a figment of his imagination. That was far from the case, as the conspiracy unraveled to expose the Queen of Hell, who had chosen Ernie to carry out her heinous mission in the world of mortals.
We learned about her origin tale thanks to a series dedicated to her that was released long after.
LADY DEATH: Introduction To The Comic Universe
Bryan Pulido’s brainchild Chaos Comics came into existence from his desire to remain a principal writer. It may sound like a huge, selfish risk but to imagine characters like Lady Death never coming to light as she did is a thought that readers won’t be willing to entertain.
The development and exploration that was required for the existence of such unique rogues could only be done in independence. Steven Hughes – the artist – gave Pulido’s vision of Lady Death a form in print, and he did a wonderful job as his long-time collaborator otherwise too. At first, she was merely a fictional goddess in a Coffin Comics America series, until in December 1991 when Pulido had her debut alongside ‘Evil Ernie’. Her recurring appearance was marked by the mini-series ‘Evil Ernie: The Resurrection’.
Evil Ernie gave to us, Lady Death in all her villainous glory. She was thought to have been a mental vision at first – and the circumstances and form she appeared in may have given that impression. A troubled boy by the name of Ernest Fairchild, a.k.a. Ernie truly believed that she was his dream girl who would “love him forever” if he did her bidding.
She was Ernie’s confidant, his muse for all intents and purposes…but her true self soon came forth as each aspect of her character arc peeled off like onion skin, one after the other. The demon in her was only in hiding – none of her “love” for Ernie seemed real at all. That bit was cleared when the comics went on to reveal Lady Death’s origin story.
In medieval Sweden, Hope was born to nobleman Matthias and his wife. Matthias was a violent, autocratic human who enjoyed the idea of torturing poor peasants. His idea of torture was to force them into military service as a form of tax payment. Matthias was also quite the secretive devil-worshipper, even though his loyalties on the outside were with the Church.
The Church had in fact, at some point even applauded his devoutness and work against pagans. In reality, black magic to support calling upon demons was his one true dedication. As much as Matthias was a servant of the devil, his wife was just as pure. However, when Hope was a teenager, her mother passed away leaving the little girl to grow up around a descendant of fallen angels; a rebel against God himself.
Reminiscent of Matthias’ ancestors’ rebellion against God, the affected peasants rose into a movement against Matthias. Matthias escaped after a demon he summoned helped him, but Hope was taken captive by the peasants. On seeing the devil, they believed Hope to also be one of her “father’s kind”, that is, a witch.
Panicking at the thought of being burnt at the stake as witches were supposed to be, Hope chanted a mantra that she had once heard her father make use of. Calling upon the devil came with a price – Hope would have to renounce all of human life and humanity and be willing to serve Hell and its Ruler. Saving herself from imminent death was an idea Hope could not let go of, and she agreed. The give-and-take here was what changed Hope’s life forever.
As expected, nothing in Hell was okay. The moment Hope stepped in there, she was met with a Civil war. Lucifer was up against a sorcerer and his army of devils who had betrayed Lucifer. The torture for Hope did not end there – she came to learn that the said sorcerer was her father, Matthias. Like all good apples in a basket being affected by a rotten one, Hope’s pure self too was tainted by what and who was around her. Evil seeped into her character and she established close contact with a craftsman, Cremator who was responsible for furnishing weapons for the army of infernal.
In conversation with that exiled worker, she finally accepted that her innocent self was long gone and she would now be associated with Hell forever – as Lady Death. Lady Death established her ways around Hell, eventually heading her own army against Hell’s rulers. When the war was close to being over as her victory was imminent, Lucifer laid a curse upon her. As she sent him to be molded through the Gates of Heaven – literally not a place for any evil to exist – to get rid of his remaining control on her, she remained quite composed.
Lady Death was unfrazzled when presented with the challenge of not being able to set foot on Earth as long as mortals lived. She merely took an oath…a swear that she would break that curse and get rid of all life on Earth and make that her kingdom of Hell just the same, even if it meant mass murder of all humans, wiping them off of the face of the Earth.
Avatar Press acquired Lady Death’s character in 2005 and started their own publications. Since she could no longer be linked with the rest of the cast of Chaos Comics – she was the only one bought by Avatar Press. Her tale was altered right at the beginning, and then entirely via Avatar’s (mostly) original story.
Some similarities were quite notable though. Hope remained the daughter of Matthias and Mary, but Matthias was already up in arms against pagans. He went to these wars with innocent peasants in tow as his soldiers, their lives holding no value to him whatsoever.
Matthias only cared about the few most devoted soldiers of his and Hope hated who her father had become. Bearing what seemed to be the pain of losing the loved ones Matthias had mercilessly slaughtered, Hope and Mary one day followed him into the dungeons of the castle they lived in. What they saw there was enough to make their skin crawl. Matthias had been possessed by – or rather, had taken the form of – devil Sagos, and was bidding the arrival of dark spirits to aid him in securing a kingdom in The Labyrinth.
The cost of that ownership was the sacrifice of innocent souls. Sagos noticed Hope and Mary eyeing him, and with no warning whatsoever, caught hold of Mary and left the place from the same portal that the wraiths had come in from. Hope, left alone on the scene, was met with angry villagers instead, who declared her a witch and decided she must die as their way of revenge.
Once again, the desire to live at all costs overpowered her, and she chanted the same incantation as she had heard her father do. The dark forces were once again summoned, and they agreed to rescue her from the jaws of death on the condition that her soul too, would be the Blacklands’ bidding. When she was passing through the portal having accepted the give-and-take offer, she turned into an albino – marking her as another one of those who had willingly taken that path.
In her new life after going through the portal, she met Wargoth. Her magic skills at that point were quite uncontrolled, and she had instinctive bursts of force. Wargoth agreed to help Hope end Sagos and reach her mother, starting with training her for fights. Satasha, another sorceress of Wargoth’s knowledge came into the picture to assist Hope in learning spell-craft. The only issue was that every weapon or arm she ever brandished melted in her hands.
On observing that, Lucifer came forth and gave her a sword, and clothes that could sustain the energy she was giving off. All of the remaining shred of humanity in Hope kept dying as she spent more time where she did, and it showed in her pale skin and pearly white eyes. She was taller and stronger, but at what cost? The cost was Hope’s transformation to Lady Death.
Their hunt for Sagos through the Blacklands continued henceforth. Sagos had an army of the undead to do his bidding, and he managed to destroy and overpower several cities there. After a battle fought over a prolonged period, a temple in Karrion was where they managed to track Sagos down. Lady Death saw Mary being held there, bound in chains. Not powerful enough for Sagos just yet, Sagos managed to earn a victory over Lady Death with ease, and made sure that the temple crashed around them.
Unbeknownst to Sagos, Lady Death managed to dig herself out of the rubble, only to be attacked by the entity of Nameless Wolves. The two wolves she didn’t kill became her cohorts in a way. A goal still set in her mind, Lady Death forged ahead and reached the city of Asuwa. There, she managed to get hold of her gift from Satasha – the sword ‘Deathbringer’. Deathbringer was the kind of weapon Lady Death could make the best use of.
She could use it to direct the magic contained in her and it would remain largely unaffected by her energies. She went on to gain knowledge of fundamental magic after taking a successful bath in the Fanghorn river, complete with its challenges. Lady Death showed no hesitation in saving Satasha’s home from Sagos’ ventures right after, but that also brought her to the realisation that Sagos had bigger plans – including finishing off Earth altogether – and he was powerful enough for it.
This plot turns against Lucifer too, with Lady Death’s insatiable desire to be the undisputable Queen of Hell, comfortably basking in the aura of ruthlessness. All it takes is one instance of combat and Lucifer lay defeated. Going back to the similarity with her previous story, Lucifer played that all-to-familiar “can’t set foot on earth until the mortals walk on it” card again. With Lucifer out of her sight, out of her mind, Lady Death made Hell into the Endless Graveyard she always wanted, where she would bury each life and soul from the Earth when it came to her as a sacrifice.
LADY DEATH: What Makes Her So Powerful?
AS it may have become clear so far, lady Death indeed went through several transformations. Each avatar had varied powers that were given to it to assist during quests. Of course, she can use magic at will, and an “energy arcane”. Magic primarily enhanced her ability to stand against foes by giving her strength and speed to a standard much greater than normal. She had quick reflexes and all her senses were heightened too. She even healed better and quicker than those around her, aside from being durable otherwise. Trained in hand-to-hand combat and armed combat, she was a force to be reckoned with.
Additionally, beyond normal human capacity, Lady Death had the powers of telekinesis as well as transmutation. She could project her energy onto weather as well, changing it at will – not that she needed to though, her being was incapable of feeling a change in temperature at all – but it was a useful distraction tactic. She could communicate with the dead and quite literally, “touch to kill”. When assisted by equipment, she could teleport, take the form of a spirit, manipulate dimensions and souls, control Hellfire, and was even capable of siphoning powers.
Speaking of equipment, Lady Death has never disappointed, her gear being as magnificent as the vibes that came from her. Originally, she had a sword crafted by Cremator, called ‘Darkness’. To defeat Genocide, Brock followed Odin’s orders and made a ‘Nightmare’ for her. Cremator also made ‘Apocalypse’ for Lady Death, and it was solely for her use. In the story where she became an incarnation of Reaper, she received the ‘Death Scythe’.
LADY DEATH: The Movie
Up next for Lady Death after her long run with comics, was the world of animation in July 2004. She appeared in the full-length feature film under the ADV Films banner, adapted from the story of ‘The Reckoning’ comic. If you are a “read the book before you watch the movie” kind of person, this adaptation might not be your cup of tea; her entire origin, as well as her persona, were changed vastly. Then again, writer Pulido himself approved of the changes because, in his words, the only change he ever wanted to make to the story contained in The Reckoning was the character’s back story. So, the movie complied with that suggestion.
However, that does not take away from the fact that she remained an impactful super-villain – or was she? Let’s continue to find out. Lady Death surely made her presence known; her territory marked. Christine M. Auten lent her voice to the character and let her be known to the world. Overall, it seemed to be a fair attempt at making an anime-esque adaptation of a reasonably well-known comic book character.
In the said representation on screen, Lady Death was the daughter of Satan himself and sought vengeance against him. 15th century Sweden clearly wasn’t the best place to be. One saw a young, beautiful, and innocent woman Hope accused by the townspeople of being one of the Devil’s own. Her father Matthius was the Devil indeed, but she was not aware of that. Right as she was to be burnt at stake, Matthius offered to save her, but she would have to do his bidding throughout the rest of her life. Wanting to live, Hope agreed to join her father in Hell.
What Matthius did not know was how much all the good and pure that remained in Hope would cause him to struggle in his plans to change her. Hope became Lady Death soon enough, but her aim was not aligned with Lucifer’s at all – she simply wanted to overthrow Lucifer altogether, and take control of Hell for herself.
Yeah, they made her a hero.
How? We will leave the details for you to discover.
LADY DEATH: Closing In
Stringing together some words of the wild place that this world is, “Bad girls go to Hell… REALLY bad girls conquer it!” And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the most accurate description of Lady Death. Ending up as one of the most recognizable faces in the world of comic books despite her foundational series not lasting long, truly shows the potential that the character holds.
In some opinions as far as the comics and the movie is concerned, Lady Death’s tale was too violent for the target audience. However, as things change and the world becomes more desensitized, it is perhaps fair to say that the audience may be ready for a fairer, more modern re-adaptation. One can only hope it does not become a shout into the void as Lady Death might be a Queen in the Land of Fire and all things bad, but she could leave a mark on the Earth just as well!