Undertaker #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeUndertaker #1 marks the launch of the most substantial WWF-licensed comic series of the late-1990s Attitude Era, channeling the real-life supernatural mystique of Mark Calaway's character into an entirely original mythology rooted in Chaos! Comics' horror-publishing DNA. The series boldly recontextualized the WWF roster — the Undertaker, Kane, Paul Bearer, and Mankind — as players in a genuine supernatural conflict over Stygian, Hell's prison realm, rather than simply dramatizing in-ring angles, making it a rare crossover between professional wrestling and the horror-comics genre. It also introduced The Embalmer (Augustus), a comics-original villain with no direct in-ring counterpart, representing one of the few Attitude Era characters created specifically for the page. As the flagship title of Chaos!'s WWF publishing deal, it anchored a shared universe of wrestler-centric one-shots and miniseries covering Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Mankind, and Chyna — the most ambitious wrestling-comics initiative since Valiant's WWF BattleMania in the early 1990s.
"Prophecy of the Dead" kicks off a chilling supernatural clash in Undertaker #1 (1999), where the Undertaker and the Embalmer race to claim the three Books of Death, each holding ancient power. With the demonic Mezzmor unleashed under Paul Bearer’s command, the stakes rise as the line between life and death blurs. Written by Beau Smith and Matt Brady, with art by Manny Clark, inks by Sandu Florea, colors by Jason Jensen, and lettering by Comicraft’s Oscar Gongora, the issue’s haunting visuals are brought to life on the cover by Robert E. Brown and Danny Miki.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Chaos! Comics secured the WWF license as part of a broader strategy of licensed genre publishing that also encompassed musical acts like Megadeth and Static X; by 1999, riding the cultural peak of the Attitude Era, the company deployed its core horror-comics sensibility onto the WWF's most supernatural character. Writer Beau Smith, penciler Manny Clark, inker Sandu Floria (the trio billing themselves collectively as the 'Brutality Crew'), and colorist Jason Jensen brought the series to life under an editorial team that included publisher Brian Pulido — the same president who had built Chaos! on Lady Death and Evil Ernie. The issue shipped in April 1999 with multiple editions at launch: a standard comic-art cover, a photo-cover variant, a newsstand edition, a limited 'Silver Stamp' first edition, and a Dynamic Forces signed variant on the photo cover, limited to 1,500 copies and carrying a Dynamic Forces certificate of authenticity. A separate Dynamic Forces 'Deathchrome' exclusive edition, with cover art by Dan Jurgens and Jerry Ordway, was also produced and numbered to 2,000 copies.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published April 1999 by Chaos! Comics; written by Beau Smith, penciled by Manny Clark, inked by Sandu Floria, colored by Jason Jensen, lettered by Comicraft's Oscar Gongora; editorial oversight by Brian Pulido, Gregg Pisani, and Jim, Dan, and Brad Gould/Monti.
- First appearance of The Embalmer (Augustus): a comics-original villain described as a medieval druid who infiltrated Stygian (Hell's prison realm), stole the first Book of the Dead, and usurped the Undertaker's ancient rule — a character created exclusively for the comic with no direct WWF television equivalent.
- The series establishes the Undertaker as the prophesied immortal warden-king of Stygian, a cosmic prison for the most dangerous souls, with his power tied to possessing all three Books of the Dead — a mythology wholly separate from any existing WWF storyline.
- First issue of what became a 10-issue ongoing series plus a Halloween Special (issues #0–10 plus the special, the full run spanning 1999 into early 2000); the first four issues were later collected in a trade paperback published by Titan Books in September 2000.
- Augustus/The Embalmer's backstory in the comic reveals he was also behind real-world historical atrocities — including the Jack the Ripper murders and the rise of Adolf Hitler — by releasing Dark Souls (Stygian prisoners) onto Earth.
- Multiple cover variants existed at launch for issue #1: standard comic-art cover, photo cover, newsstand edition, a 'Silver Stamp' limited first edition (stated as 5,000 copies on some listings), a Dynamic Forces signed photo-cover variant limited to 1,500 copies with certificate of authenticity, and a Dynamic Forces 'Deathchrome' exclusive cover by Dan Jurgens and Jerry Ordway, numbered to 2,000.
- Characters from the indexed catalog appearing throughout the series: The Undertaker and Kane are established as half-brothers; Paul Bearer is recast as a villainous Civil War-era prison doctor who made his way into Stygian; Mankind appears as a wild-card who can perceive the demons' true forms; Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, The Rock, and Augustus appear in supporting or antagonist roles across the run.
- Chaos! Comics' WWF line grew directly from this debut into individual titles for Stone Cold Steve Austin (4-issue miniseries), The Rock, Mankind, and Chyna, making the Undertaker series the anchor of the publisher's entire wrestling imprint before Chaos! filed for bankruptcy in late 2002.
Cast · 9 characters
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Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
As the Undertaker and the Embalmer seek to gain all three Books of Death, the Undertaker fights Mezzmor, a demon under the command of Paul Bearer.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).
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