Lady Death

The incomparable, unforgettable Lady Death is a woman of contradictions. A lot of which have to do with the fact that the blood of both angels and demons flows through her veins.

The setting for the original Lady Death comic was medieval Sweden. The woman who would become Lady Death was born as a mortal named Hope. Her father, Matthias, was the 666th generation descendant of the fallen angels. Unknown to his innocent daughter, Matthias had a dark secret. Although congratulated by the Church for his work against the pagans, he was despised by the common folk as a cruel tyrant. Matthias was outwardly pious, but secretly dabbled in black magic and demonology. Mthias, who was 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 (also known as the Baltic Crusades).

On the other hand, her mother, Marion, was a woman so pure her bloodline reached Heaven. Marion 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.

Hope found herself with no choice but to renounce her humanity and enter 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. When she(Hope) refuses(Lucifer's side), he casts her out. Her curse is to be trapped in hell for as long as Lucifer  remains alive or the living walk the Earth. Lucifer's goal had been to take a child so pure and filled with light, and mold her into a child of darkness. Needless to say, he succeeded. She had become Death. 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.

Lady Death swore an oath that she would circumvent Lucifer's curse by exterminating all life on Earth, for to circumvent Lucifer's curse she sent Evil Ernie on his mission of Megadeath, the destruction of 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, or so she thought.  With Lucifer's 'death' the curse should have been lifed, yet she could not return to Earth. We learn that Lucifer cannot be Destroyed, that in fact he has the power to create life not just manipulate it. During the Final Battle of Armageddon, both the armies of Heaven and the Legions of Hell appear on Earth.  Lady Death's curse is Lifted as Ernie achives megadeath. Lady Death and the Rest of the CHAOS! Universe converge to battle Armageddon, Heaven and Hell with the souls of the people of Earth as the Prize.

Many hellspawns (beings living in hell), including Pagan, the Court Jester of Hell, believe that Lady Death's appearance over 500 years ago signaled the beginning of the judgement era.

Publishing history
Lady Death was originally published by Chaos Comics and remains one of the best examples of the 'bad-girl' titles that took the comic book industry by storm during the early 1990s. The earliest issues of Lady Death were written by Brian Pulido and illustrated by the late Steven Hughes. Lady Death was originally conceived as a violent anti-hero, but subsequent iterations have toned down the more controversial aspects of the character.

At first, Lady Death was extremely popular and sold strongly. In a recent interview, Brian Pulido revealed that the high point of Lady Death's popularity was in August 1995, when Chaos comics sold approximately $980,000 worth of Lady Death merchandise in a single month. However, sales declined rapidly in the later half of the decade due to broader changes in the comic book industry. By the middle of 2001, it was obvious to industry observers that Chaos Comics was in serious financial trouble.

In August 2002, Chaos Comics filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and the intellectual property rights to Lady Death were sold to CrossGen Entertainment. Brian Pulido continued to work on Lady Death for Crossgen, creating a new series entitled 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.

Although Medieval Lady Death enjoyed reasonable sales, CrossGen Entertainment also ran into financial difficulties of its own and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 18 2004 in Tampa, Florida. During the bankruptcy proceedings, the rights to Lady Death were sold to Avatar Press.

Comic Timeline:
First appearance: Evil Erinie #1 (December 1991 Eternity Comics)

Chaos! Comics
The Reckoning 1994
Between Heaven & Hell 1995
Lady Death 1/2
All Hallows Eve
The Odessey 1996
The Crucible 1996
Death Becomes Her 1997
Wicked Ways 1998
The Harrowing 1998
The Covenant 1998
Dragon Wars 1998
Retribution 1998
Inferno 1999
Vampirella/Lady Death [Harris comcs 1999]
Lady Death vs Vampirella: Dark Hearts 1999
The Rapture 1999
Judgement War 1999
Armageddon 1999
Lady Death vs Vampirella: The Revenge  2000
Dark Mellennium 2000Tribulation 2000
Lady Death vs Vampirella II 2000
Purgatori vs Lady Death 2001
Love Bites 2001
River Of Fear 2001
Alive 2001
Last Rites 2001
Lady Death / Chastity 2001
Lady Death / Bad Kitty 2001
Witchblade / Lady Death 2001 [Top Cow]
Lady Death / Medievil Witchblade 2001
Heartbreaker 2002
The Gauntlet 2002
Lady Death/Chastity/Bad Kitty: United 2002
Lady Death / Bedlam 2002
Goddess Returns 2002
Dark Alliance 2002 (Final Series from Chaos - Incomplete)

CrossGen Comics
A Medieval Tale 2003
The Wild Hunt 2004 (Incomplete)

Avatar Press
Note: Avatar Press publishes two versions of Lady Death: the Classic version (revamped slightly due to her separation from the Chaos! Comics universe), and Medieval Lady Death (the all-ages version from "A Medieval Tale" published at CrossGen).
In July 2005, Avatar Press unveiled a new version of Lady Death. At the time of this article, it remains to be seen how well this version will be received by the comic-reading public.

Medieval Lady Death: Medieval Lady Death (2004)
Medieval Lady Death/Belladonna
Medieval Lady Death: War of the Winds

Classic Lady Death: Abandon All Hope (2005)
Blacklands
Cursed
The Wicked Death Goddess
Dead Rising
Infernal Sins
Lost Souls

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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 on 23 July 2004. The film received only lukewarm reviews and was not a major financial success.

"Lady Death The Animated Series" begins in 15th Century Sweden, where Hope, the beautiful daughter of Matthias, a skilled mercenary who is in actuality Lucifer, is accused of being the devil's consort. Sentenced by the town priest to be burned at the stake, Hope is visited by the malevolent Pagan. Unable to think clearly, she accepts Lucifer's offer of life in Hell over a hideous death ... only to discover that there are far worse fates than dying. Lucifer's plan to corrupt a soul of pure innocence meets unanticipated resistance, as Hope rejects Lucifer's scheme and eventually finds herself transformed into the powerful warrior Lady Death, who challenges the Lord of Lies for control of Hell itself.

Lady Death's origin is considerably different in the animated movie; she is not the daughter of a sorcerer seeking to overthrow Lucifer but the daughter of Lucifier and a pure-hearted noblewoman. Instead of summoning a demon whith 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.

Lady Death Full Movie (2004) [English]

Spoiler:

Avatar Press was the third comic company to obtain rights to Lady Death. Everything the was previously done by Crossgen was now being done by Avatar Press.

In 2005,Avatar Press created a separate imprint, Boundless, to publish new comics starring the character later that year. Pulido and Mike Wolfer wrote the ongoing series. The Avatar Press series acts as the prequel to the Boundless series. There was a creative dispute between Pulido and Boundless after issue #18 which caused a gap in publishing after issue #25. This has been resolved and they were allowed to finish the story which had stopped abruptly with a concluding chapter - Apocalypse.

Unlike Crossgen, Avatar Press published more Lady Death comics despite the gap it had. The company was first founded in 1996, and was already making "bad girl" comics before obtaining rights to Lady Death. This gave oppurtunities for Lady Death to do cross over specials like with Avatar's leading heroine: Pandora.
Reference: http://www.avatarpress.com/ladydeath/about/

Comics
Abandon All Hope 2005
Blacklands 2006-2007
Cursed (yet to be released)
The Wicked 2005
Death Goddess 2005
Dead Rising 2004
Infernal Sins 2006
Lost Souls 2005-2006
Annual 2006
Dark Horizons 2006
Sacrilege
Medieval Lady Death 2005-2007
Masterworks 2007
Queen of the Dead 2007
Warrior Temptress 2007
Pirate Queen 2007
Lady Vs Pandora 2007

Losing all of the established characters (Cremator, Purgatori etc) due to the IP being bought by Dynamite after Devils Due went bust, the (2012) Boundless series is a complete re-imagining of the character because it had to remove practically all the characters in the main story in order to fit within the licence it had. However it is directly linked to Avatar Press run which all act as prequel to this series. In time the list will be re-order and mix with the Origins comics at the begining of this post to provide a better build up to this series.

*March 2007 - March 2012: No publications
Reference: https://leagueofcomicgeeks.com/comics/series/104613/lady-death

Comics
Lady Death #26. Jan 21st, 2015
Lady Death #25. Jan 23rd, 2013.
Lady Death #24. Dec 5th, 2012.
Lady Death #23. Oct 31st, 2012.
Lady Death #22. Oct 10th, 2012.
Lady Death #21. Sep 5th, 2012.
Lady Death #20. Aug 15th, 2012
Lady Death #19. Jul 1st, 2012.

In 2015, Pulido launched new Lady Death stories via Kickstarter and later in April 2016, Pulido began publishing new stories under his company Coffin Comics, LLC. With Lady Death back in the hands of her creator and Boundless left to conclude its run, the character is now set for a glorious re-launch - www.ladydeathuniverse.com

Coffin Comics
Lady Death: Revelations (Pin-up book)
Lady Death is a tale of innocent betrayed and then reborn as a powerful force capable of challenging the very roots of evil itself. Her legend dates back to the dark ages. She was a beautiful young woman named Hope, but tricked by demons, she renounced her humanity to save her mother's soul and was condemned to Hell. To survive, she harnessed the darkness within and forged herself into a warrior dreaded by all who cross her path. To know her is to know a woman cursed, but to oppose her is to know eternal agony.

Lady Death
Chapter 01: Chaos Rules
Chapter 02: Damnation Game
Chapter 03: Extinction Express
Chapter 04: Oblivion Kiss
Chapter 05: Merciless Onslaught
Chapter 06: Unholy Ruin
Chapter 07: Apocalyptic Abyss
Chapter 08: Nightmare Symphony
Chapter 09: Scorched Earth
Chapter 10: Blasphemy Anthem
Chapter 11: Malevolent Decimation
Chapter 12: Treacherous Infamy
Chapter 13: Cataclysmic Majesty
Chapter 14: Sacrificial Annihilation*
*Sacrificial Annihilation will first ship to Kickstarter backers in December 2021. Comic Shop Market Editions will follow later in 2022!

Lady Death: Zodiac (Pin-up book)
Lushly illustrated by Nei Ruffino and written by Bob Vardeman, explore the twelve signs of the Zodiac and their astrological meanings and characteristics from a pagan perspective with the diva of death front and center. It's the Zodiac as only Lady Death could present it: dark, diabolical and dangerous.