Deathmate (June 29, 1993) This Day In Comics

Deathmate was a six-part comic book crossover between Valiant Comics and Image Comics. Designated by color rather than issue numbers plus two book-end issues, beginning with Deathmate Prologue (June 29, 1993) and Deathmate Epilogue, as well as Preview issues collected with comic products, the four main issues were written so they could be read in any order.

Created at the peak of the comic book speculator boom, the project was heavily promoted and sold hundreds of thousands of copies, but was beset with production delays. The Image half came out severely behind schedule and out of sequence.

Deathmate Red shipped after the epilogue issue. The plot evolved around a chance interdimensional meeting of two characters, Solar from Valiant and Void from Image’s WildC.A.T.s. The two became lovers, but their joining would mean the destruction of both comic book universes.

Books from Valiant

Deathmate Prologue
“A Love to End All Time”
Story: Bob Layton
Pencils: Barry Windsor-Smith
Inks: Jim Lee

“Universal Truth”
Story: Bob Layton
Pencils: Rob Liefeld
Inks: Bob Layton with Danny Miki and Dan Panosian

Deathmate black
Deathmate Black, the comic that introduced Gen¹³.

Deathmate Yellow
“Jerked Through Time” (featuring characters from Archer & Armstrong and WildC.A.T.s)
Story: Mike Baron
Pencils: Bernard Chang
Inks: Rodney Ramos

“Cat and Mouse” (featuring characters from Ninjak and WildC.A.T.s)
Story: Jorge Gonzalez
Pencils: Don Perlin
Inks: Mike Manley

“The Dying Game” (featuring characters from H.A.R.D. Corps and WildC.A.T.s)
Story: David Michelinie and Bob Layton
Pencils: Mike Leeke
Inks: Tom Ryder

“Revalations and Recruitments” (featuring characters from Shadowman and WildC.A.T.s)
Story: Bob Hall
Pencils: Mark Moretti
Inks: John Dixon

Deathmate Blue
“Battlestone vs. Magnus Outlaw!” (featuring characters from Brigade and Magnus: Robot Fighter)
Story: John Ostrander
Pencils: Jim Calafiore
Inks: Ralph Reese

“Secret Forces” (featuring characters from Secret Weapons and Cyberforce)
Story: Joe St. Pierre
Pencils: Sean Chen
Inks: Kathryn Bolinger

“Sacrifices” (featuring characters from Harbinger, Brigade, and Cyberforce)
Story: Maurice Fontenot
Pencils: Howard Simpson
Inker: Gonzalo Mayo

“Supremely Darque” (featuring characters from Solar and Supreme)
Story: Kevin VanHook
Pencils: Peter Grau
Inker: Jimmy Palmiotti

Books from Image

Deathmate Black (featuring characters from Gen¹³, WildC.A.T.s, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, Cyberforce, and X-O Manowar)
Story: Brandon Choi and Eric Silvestri
Pencils: Brandon Peterson, Brett Booth, Marc Silvestri, J. Scott Campbell (as Jeffrey Scott),
Scott Clark, Greg Capullo, Jim Lee, and Whilce Portacio
Inks: Scott Williams, Sal Regla, Alex Garner, and Trevor Scott

Deathmate Red (featuring characters from Youngblood, Bloodshot and Eternal Warrior)
Story and Pencils: Rob Liefeld
Script: Eric Stephenson
Additional pencils: Jeff Matsuda, Rich Horie, Dan Fraga, Cedric Nocon, Dan Pacella, Anthony Winn, Marat Mychaels
Inks: Danny Miki, Jon Sibal, Marlo Alquiza

Deathmate Epilogue
Story: Bob Layton
Pencils: Marc Silvestri and Joe Quesada
Inks: Bob Layton and Scott Williams