Undertaker #1/2

Jan 1999 · Chaos! Comics; Wizard · [none]

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About this Issue

Undertaker #1/2 is the first Wizard-exclusive chapter of Chaos! Comics' WWF Undertaker series, functioning as a self-contained prologue that lays out the core mythology of the ongoing title: the war for control of Stygian—Hell's Prison Realm—among the Undertaker, The Embalmer (Augustus), Paul Bearer, and Kane. It marks the comic-page debut of Augustus/The Embalmer, a druid villain created exclusively for the series who serves as the primary antagonist across the entire run. As a product of the late-1990s WWF Attitude Era licensing boom, it represents a notable cultural intersection of professional wrestling and supernatural comic-book storytelling, translating a mainstream pop-culture figure into a fully mythologized, kayfabe-expanded narrative for the first time under an official WWF license.

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writer Steven Grant · artist Jerry Beck · inker Curtis Arnold · colorist Colorgraphix · letterer Comicraft · cover Jerry Beck

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History

The Undertaker comic series was produced by Chaos! Comics—the publisher known for Lady Death and other horror-adjacent titles—under an official WWF license, with writer Beau Smith and artist Manny Clark as the core creative team (collectively dubbed the 'Brutality Crew' alongside inker Sandu Floria). Issue #1/2 was produced as an exclusive for Wizard magazine, the dominant comics trade publication of the era, and released in October 1999 alongside the ongoing monthly series that had launched earlier that spring. Chaos! Comics released two distinct editions through Wizard: a gold foil collector's edition with a Certificate of Authenticity and a silver foil giveaway variant, each running 16 pages. The series ultimately ran from issue #0 through #13, with a trade paperback collecting issues #1–4 published by Titan Books in September 2000.

Trivia · 8 facts

Published October 1999 by Chaos! Comics as a Wizard magazine exclusive; a 16-page special separate from the regular monthly numbering.
Two distinct editions exist: a gold foil collector's edition and a silver foil Wizard giveaway edition, both packaged with a Certificate of Authenticity.
Written by Beau Smith with art by Manny Clark—the same creative team behind the main Undertaker monthly series.
First comic appearance of Augustus (The Embalmer), a medieval druid villain created exclusively for the Chaos! Comics series who has no counterpart in WWF/WWE canon.
Establishes Kane's role in the series as a wildcard who serves none of the three factions battling for Stygian—a characterization distinct from his depiction in the regular issue #1, where he is shown under Paul Bearer's influence.
The issue introduces and defines the central MacGuffin of the entire series: the three Books of Death (also called Books of the Dead), whose combined possession grants supreme control over Stygian, Hell's Prison Realm.
Part of a broader Chaos! Comics WWF licensing push that also produced comics based on other WWF personalities during the peak popularity of the Attitude Era.
A trade paperback collecting Undertaker #1–4 (plus a 6-page sketchbook) was published by Titan Books in September 2000, giving the early run of the series a collected edition in print.