This one is legendary, folks. Image Comics and Valiant Comics teamed up to create an intercontinuity comic crossover with all their greatest characters in a six-part series. You would expect something amazing - titans of the industry slugging it out, heroes and villains all facing off in a blaze of glory. Instead, we got a series so bad it destroyed Valiant Comics, and caused a severe downturn in the comics industry itself. Incomprehensible story, 90's EDGE, and Rob Liefeld himself at peak Liefeld-ness. This is Deathmate. Enjoy.
>>94073049
Previous Threads:
Day 1:
>>94011836 → → (Marville)
>>94015371 → → (Trouble)
>>94013505 → → (The Unfunnies)
>>94017323 → → (Nemesis)
>>94014562 → → (Joker's Daughter)
>>94017305 → → (Amazons Attack)
>>94015704 → → (Change)
>>94024786 → → (The Surface)
>>94017795 → → (Earth-2: World's End)
>>94016653 → → (Countdown pt. 1)
>>94021468 → → (Countdown pt. 2)
>>94026850 → → (Countdown pt. 3)
Day 2:
>>94036625 → →(The Rape of Ms. Marvel)
>>94033336 → → (Jade Street Protection Service)
>>94037347 → → (Liberality for All)
>>94037063 → → (Champions)
>>94036764 → → (Nightwing: Brothers in Blood)
>>94035400 → → (The Deal/God’s End)
>>94038108 → → (America)
>>94040156 → → (Thoughts on Being a Girl in Elementary School and a few other zines)
>>94043883 → → (Cry for Justice)
>>94041770 → → (Marvel Mangaverse: Ghost Riders)
>>94044426 → → (Rich Johnston’s The Avengefuls)
>>94047152 → → (Sonichu pt. 1)
>>94055034 → → (Sonichu pt. 2)
>>94048652 → → (Phoenix: Legacy of Fire)
>>94048655 → → (Rise of Arsenal)
>>94051730 → → (Batgirl: Redemption)
>>94050809 → → (Chaos by Ithiliam pt. 1)
>>94051195 → → (Countdown pt. 4)
>>94055444 → → (Countdown pt. 5)
Day 3:
>>94066681 → → (US War Machine 2.0)
>>94064494 → → (Extreme Comics)
>>94067801 → → (DIESEL)
>>94068942 → (Civil War II)
>>94071692→ (Crash Bandicoot Retold)
>>94050809→ (Chaos)
>>94073113
This isn't the same page, it has different text on it.
>>94073049
I can get behind this...thanks, OP.
>>94073245
Those are some tiny feet there Rob.
Bump to keep this horrible shit alive until the Jim Lee issue.
>>94074525
So that was the prologue. Theoretically you can read the rest of it in any order, followed by the epilogue. It's incomprehensible either way, so I just picked the order from Wikipedia.
>>94074868
>>94074788
I've always had a softspot for the colors in 90's valiant. Sometimes they're a little amateurish and garish but sometimes they're rad and remind me of First Comics/80's OGNs.
>>94075545
Those colors are giving me a headache.
>>94075735
And that's the end of the first three issues of Deathmate! Since there's just a bit over 200 pages in the whole thing, I can't finish this in a single thread, so I'm going to take a quick break and then we'll be back with the last three issues to finish Deathmate!
>>94075774
>Since there's just a bit over 200 pages in the whole thing, I can't finish this in a single thread
? The image max is 250.
>>94073539
Lookin' pretty Jojo there, Diehard.
>>94075812
...I didn't know that.
Should I make a new thread anyway or continue here?
>>94076856
Continue here.
>>94076915
Alright. I'm still on that break, so it'll be in a bit.
>>94073418
To think this is canon with Prophet of all things.
>>94073049
Jim Lee inks BWS in here somewhere, and it is fucking lovely. I think any industry that can be destroyed by one bad book was going to fail hard anyway.
These guys were a convienient scapegoat, not unlike the ET guy at Atari.
>captcha that's Green Lantern not a guy in sunglasses, ffs.
>>94075774
Sorry for the interruption. This is my first storytime, so please excuse a few hiccups here and there. We're back into Deathmate!
>>94077735
This cover is really weak.
>>94073049
if I had a time machine I'd ensure Deathmate never happens so 90's Valiant could stay in business
>>94077817
So why/how exactly did this crossover cause the death of a company and cause everything else to shit itself up? I was a teen in the 90's so I didn't really keep "in the know", I just read comics.
>>94077873
>>94077863
It's pretty simple. This event was hugely hyped up, so retailers bought mountains of copies. Then they turned out to be terrible so no one bought them, having a crippling effect on the industry, especially when it comes to local comic shops.
>>94077914
>Then they turned out to be terrible so no one bought them
How in the fuck hasn't Marvel thrown itself into the woodchipper with all of the SJW shit they try and sell for the past 10 years then? Was it only the movies that saved them?
>>94077959
>>94077963
I mean, they're owned by Disney, it's not like they're in any danger of going under.
>>94077914
>Then they turned out to be terrible so no one bought them,
That and the Image books were late and things were published out of order.
>>94077863
Lack of both companies working together - it is as if they did not read the other companies books, at all
Delays in shipping - Valiant's fanbase was used to a getting their books on time
Overblown advertising (something Valiant was hoping they would make back with the crossover)
Premise - it was dumb
Fucking variant cover bullshit - again something Valiant was hoping to make back in sales
It helped bring down the comic book boom (along with Death of Superman) because due to the 90s making SO MUCH DAMN MONEY for comics publishers were under the impression that they could spend money on advertising, print a shit ton of comics and make it all back. It did not happen with this though.
>>94077914
Man, the entirety of my non big2 comic collection as a kid was from comic book shops closing down and getting these big packs of comics for ultra cheap. I didn't realize at the time the whole industry was going through major changes.
>>94078220
kek that top panel
looks more like swimming in a pool
>>94078040
>what 4chan says when it's cumming
>>94073773
First time actually reading some Liefield.
Honestly surprised just how much exactly like Doom Force this is.
>>94078561
>in a backwards kind of way
>literally directly fucking responsible
Mental gymnastics are amazing, folks.
>>94078183
At the time, everything went to shit at once, I started cutting titles from my pull, and the comic shop guy was really upset with me over it. I honestly didn't get that everyone was doing it and he was going down. I just thought he was being a dick.
I never went back to that shop and I just stopped buying altogether for a few years after that.
There are lots of good 90's comics, but things got pretty dire in the middle 90's. Marvel went to shit at the image exodus. Without editorial most of the image guys made garbage, Valiant was never, ever any better than mediocre (outside of BWS).
>>94073049
>YOUNGBLOOD
>BLOODSHOT
>DEATHMATE RED, THIS BLOOD'S FOR YOU!!
God bless the 1990s.
>>94079186
>>94079203
They put the word "Blood" on the cover three times.
>>94079336
I clicked because I thought these were Psylocke, Mr Sinister and the Morlock "Masque"
>>94079217
It was the time of EXTREME. Spawn, Deathblow, Helspont, Wildcore, Savage Dragon and Witchblade.
It was the true Image Age of Comics.
>>94080013
BWS art is goat
>>94080443
Alright, it's time for the epilogue to Deathmate! I hope you were all following along with the plot.
>>94080452
He was the single best part of Valiant, no question.
>>94081194
And that was Deathmate. I hope you all enjoyed this little storytime!
>>94081224
thanks for the trip, op
>>94081224
>watchmen ref right at the end
Ha, nice.
>>94074149
HOLY FUCK STOP SAYING HARADA
Thanks for the dump, OP. I'm tired after three days of horrible shit and couldn't make it past the first issue. Truly prime SoP material here.
>>94077695
>convienient
love 90's comics.
I miss the in-your-face style and narrative
>>94073215
Is that Stryfe in the left hand corner?
>>94087118
At least bump with image.
>>94073049
>Issue number RED
>>94073049
Ah yes, the event that almost destroyed the comics industry. Good times.
>>94078027
The crossover itself was conceptualized in secret without consulting the editors or those in charge of shipping books on time.
Did Silvestri care about shipping books on time in that decade?