Sometimes, we are our own worst enemy. For Lady Death, it’s a literal fact. Your Major Spoilers review of Lady Death: Imperial Requiem #1 from Coffin Comics awaits!

LADY DEATH: IMPERIAL REQUIEM #1

Writer: Brian Pulido and Mike MacLean
Artist: Diego Bernard
Colorist: Ceci de la Cruz
Letterer: Marshall Dillon
Publisher: Coffin Comics
Cover Price: $5.99
Release Date: April 3, 2024

Previously in Lady Death: Imperial Requiem: Stranded in an alternative dystopian future Earth where her evil persona “Empress Death” has nearly extinguished the human race, things get worse for “our” Lady Death. Empress Death’s mission to murder the last 999 souls on Earth and finally achieve megadeath is within reach. Can Lady Death conquer the cruelest opponent she’s ever faced or will Empress Death be victorious and set her murderous sights on “our” Earth.

DATELINE: 2033

Ten years in the future, in a world not her own, Lady Death and the few remaining forces of good battle to save the world from… MEGADEATH! (It’s like Metallica, but without as strong a bass line.) The worst part of it all is that the evil overlord fighting to bring about the end of the world by slaughtering the last thousand people alive is actually Lady Death’s own alternate future self, Empress Death. Their battle rages throughout the first half of the issue, dragging in a number of characters, like the superheroes of The Trust, the zombie 5150 (who looks a lot like Evil Ernie), and La Muerta, but things take a dark turn when one of Lady Death’s own resistance fighters turns against her. They barely escape execution, thanks to Lady Death’s daughter, Chaotica, but she is forced to go on the run, trying to find the crystals that saved her life on her own Earth in the hopes that they can depower her evil counterpart.

PART 18 OF ???

As someone who remembers the salad days of Chaos! Comics, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that this issue is part of a massive, ongoing storyline, but the scale of it kind of took me by surprise. The battle scenes feature dozens of characters, some of whom are hinted to have changed sides, but if you’re not already familiar, that will be lost on you. The visuals during the battle sequences are quite striking, especially a series of double-page splashes, but there’s a complete lack of identification of anyone not named some variation on “woman what is dead.” The final battle between Lady Death and Empress Death does have a killer moment that, while it doesn’t clear up any issues with comprehension, does end things on a strong note and an amazing one-liner, while the last page cliffhanger implies that there’s some sort of chicanery at play.

BOTTOM LINE: PRETTY SOLID STUFF

While it will likely hit harder for regular readers and those who have been following Coffin’s output since Pulido regained control of his chalk-white reaper, Lady Death: Imperial Requiem #1 is all-out action with some very well-done art and a lot of big dramatic moments, earning 3 out of 5 stars overall. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m on my way to google who all these guys are.

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