''Death Dealer'' is a 1973

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

painting by American artist

Frank Frazetta Frank Frazetta (born Frank Frazzetta ; February 9, 1928 – May 10, 2010) was an American artist known for themes of Fantasy art, fantasy and science fiction, noted for comic books, mass market paperback, paperback book covers, paintings, p ...

. 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 Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

of varying merchandise, including subsequent paintings of the warrior,

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

s, statues, a

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

series published by

Verotik Verotik is an American comic book company founded by heavy metal/horror punk Horror punk is a music genre that mixes punk rock and 1950s-influenced doo-wop and rockabilly sounds with morbid and violent imagery and lyrics which are often infl ...

and another by

Image Comics Image Comics is an independent American American comic book, comic book publisher and is the third largest direct market comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry by market share. Its best-known publications include ''Spawn (comics) ...

, and related '' D&D'' adventures, published by

Goodman Games Goodman Games is an American game publisher best known for the ''Dungeon Crawl Classics'' series of adventure modules and role-playing game, its science fiction offshoot ''Mutant Crawl Classics'', and ''Original Adventures Reincarnated'', a lin ...

. Frazetta later painted several other ''Death Dealer'' paintings, including ones to be used as covers for the comic book series.

In other media

Album cover

The painting was used as the cover on

Molly Hatchet Molly Hatchet is an American rock band formed by guitarist Dave Hlubek in Jacksonville, Florida in 1971. They experienced popularity and commercial success during the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s amongst southern rock and hard rock commun ...

's debut album in 1978. The painting was re-drawn in a more cartoon style for

Sweep the Leg Johnny Sweep the Leg Johnny was an American experimental rock band formed in 1996. The name is a reference to a line in the film ''The Karate Kid''.Crain, Zac (1999)Sweep the Leg Johnny ''Dallas Observer'', September 16, 1999. Retrieved January 26, 2014 ...

's final album ''Going Down Swingin''.

Anime

Raoh is a fictional character in the manga series ''Fist of the North Star'' created by Buronson and Tetsuo Hara. He is the eldest of four honorary brothers (including the protagonist Kenshiro) who trained in the ancient assassination art of H ...

and his horse Kokuoh from the ''

Fist of The North Star is a Japanese manga series written by Buronson and illustrated by Tetsuo Hara. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' for 245 issues published from 1983 to 1988 and initially collected in 27 volumes ...

'' anime and manga series are inspired by Death Dealer. One artwork featuring the two characters is directly referenced from the original Death Dealer painting.

Novels

''Death Dealer'' spawned a novel franchise, written by author James Silke. Four novels were published, in order: * ''Prisoner of the Horned Helmet'' (1988), in which the readers are introduced to the protagonist, who is given the name Gath of Baal. In the book he is a tribeless barbarian in a large forest that, after the end of the Ice Age, will one day become the Mediterranean sea. When the Mongol-esque Kitzaak Horde invade the forest, various parties try to recruit Gath's aid to defend against them. One of them, the beautiful sorceress Cobra, gives Gath a helmet possessed by the god of death. The helmet gives him godlike power but at the same time tries to break Gath to its will. With the help of the worldly traveling entertainer Brown John and the virtuous young woman Robin Lakehair, Gath manages to control the helmet and defeat the Kitzaak Horde. * ''Lords of Destruction'' (1989) * ''Tooth and Claw'' (1989) * ''Plague of Knives'' (1990) * ''Rise of the Death Dealer'' (2005) was an Omnibus edition containing the first two novels.

Statues and action figures

Sculptor Randy Bowen produced the first statues based upon the character.

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, manga and Artist's book, art book publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon, by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, O ...

published several statues of the character, both full-size and miniature.

Diamond Distributors Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of electricity, and insol ...

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.

Comic books

The first Death Dealer comic book series was published in 1995 by the company

. The four-issue series was written by musician

Glenn Danzig Glenn Allen Anzalone (born June 23, 1955), better known by his stage name Glenn Danzig, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actor, film director and record producer. He is the founder of the rock bands Misfits, Samhain, and Danzig. He ...

and illustrated by

Simon Bisley Simon Bisley is a British comic book artist best known for his 1990s in comics, 1990s work on ''ABC Warriors'', ''Lobo (DC Comics), Lobo'' and ''Sláine (comics), Sláine''. Early life Simon Bisley began drawing when he was six years old. He is ...

(issue 1),

Liam Sharp Liam Roger Sharp (born 2 May 1968) is a British comic book artist, writer, publisher, and co-founder/CCO of Madefire Inc. Early life Liam Sharp was born in Derby. He went to school at Brackensdale Junior then infants school, before moving to ...

(issues 2 and 3), and by

Arthur Suydam Arthur Suydam (; born May 18, 1953) is an American comic book artist known for his work on Marvel Zombies, Deadpool, Black Panther, and KISS Zombies. He has done artwork for magazines including '' Heavy Metal'', ''Epic Illustrated'' and '' Nation ...

(issue 4). Frazetta provided covers for the books as well. In 2007,

/Frazetta Comics published the ''Death Dealer: Shadows of Mirahan'' six-issue

miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

featuring Death Dealer in the first story fully approved by

. The book's creators are

Nat Jones Nat Jones (born July 24, 1976) is an American artist working primarily in comic books and film. Jones is best known for his work on Frank Frazetta's '' Death Dealer''. Bibliography Artist *''Crypt of Dawn'' (1996) *''The Crow / Razor: Kill the ...

Jay Fotos Jays are a paraphyletic grouping of passerine birds within the family Corvidae. Although the term "jay" carries no taxonomic weight, most or all of the birds referred to as jays share a few similarities: they are small to medium-sized, usually ...

, and

Joshua Ortega Joshua Ortega (born 1974) is an American author and journalist best known for his novel ''Frequencies'', as well as his comic book and graphic novel work on entertainment properties such as ''Star Wars'', ''Spider-Man'', ''Batman'', ''Star Trek' ...

. 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.

Military

Since 1985, the Death Dealer has been used as the mascot of

III Corps (United States) III Corps is a corps of the United States Army headquartered at Fort Cavazos, Texas. It is a major formation (military), formation of the United States Army Forces Command. Activated in World War I in France, III Corps oversaw US Army divisio ...

. A life-size metal statue of the Death Dealer stands outside the III Corps headquarters building in

Fort Hood Fort Cavazos is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. The post is currently named after Gen. Richard E. Cavazos, a native Texan and the US Army’s first Hispanic four-star general. The post is located halfway between Austi ...

, Texas. The statue was unveiled in September 2009 and was a nearly exact replica (except the shield) of a piece sculpted by Randy Bowen and produced by

in 2003. 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 Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 164 (VMM-164), is a United States Marine Corps tiltrotor squadron operating the MV-22B Osprey. Known as the ''Knightriders'', they fall under the command Marine Aircraft Group 39 (MAG-39) and the 3rd Marine Aircr ...

has the Death Dealer as their mascot.

Roleplaying

Image's ''Death Dealer'' comic inspired a series of ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

adventures An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme s ...

published by

. In 2009 the German publisher Bastei Lübbe gave the readers of the dime novel series

Maddrax ''Maddrax'' is a German science fiction series. It started in 2000 and is published by Bastei-Lübbe (Romantruhe) and Zaubermond. Maddrax is an end-of-the-world-scenario and has some similarities to ''Planet of the Apes'' or the DC storylines Kama ...

tabletop roleplaying game A tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG or TRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a kind of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech and sometimes movements. Participants d ...

. On the cover is shown the protagonist Matthew Drax as the death dealer. The Death Dealer was used in 1991 for the cover of the French

role playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, eith ...

Bloodlust, set on the fantasy continent of Tanaephis. Several other Frank Frazetta's paintings were used for the various game supplements.

Trading card games

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.

Movies

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 The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

series.

Precious metals

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.

References

External links

* * * {{cite web , title=SMA Preston visits Camp Victory 06.24.2010, website=

DVIDS The Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS), formerly the Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System, is an operation supported by the Defense Media Activity (DMA). It provides a connection between world media and the American m ...

, url=https://www.dvidshub.net/image/294506/sma-preston-visits-camp-victory Fantasy art 1973 paintings Paintings by Frank Frazetta Horses in art