‘Death Fight Forever’ Advance Review
by Tito W. James
Summary
Death Fight Forever boasts a talented team of multiple artists to draw a big dumb fun action movie.
Grab your popcorn, katana, and game controller and get ready to have a blast.
Overall
8/10
Death Fight Forever is a five-issue miniseries created by Andrew MacLean in collaboration with Alexis Ziritt, Al Gofa, Sam McKenzie, and Erwin Papa. The story of revenge and redemption is inspired by beat ‘em up video games, underground comics, and B-movies. As a backer of the Kickstarter, I wanted to give my perspective on the full the series.
In Head Lopper, Maclean’s talent was his ability to pack every issue with cinematic pacing, exciting action, and effortless world-building. Critically speaking, the plot and characterization in Death Fight Forever feel like the equivalent of a single Head Lopper issue spread out over five chapters. Fans of Maclean’s writing and art are sure to have a blast– however, newer readers may be left wanting something more substantive at the end of all five issues.
Death Fight Forever is pure gonzo fun in the same vein as Kung Fury or Big Trouble in Little China. The multiple artists’ unique styles work to give the narrative an escalating sense of chaos. Ziritt’s gritty and rough artwork breathes life into the tragic origin stories of the lead characters. Gofa and McKenzie add Saturday Morning Cartoon mayhem to fight scenes in a warehouse and the villain’s office building. Papa caps off the series with a stellar final boss fight full of body horror and super sentai shenanigans!
If you’re new to Andrew Maclean’s creative voice, I would recommend reading Head Lopper or Apocalyptigirl. If you’ve been an early adopter of Maclean’s comics, then Death Fight Forever is a bombastic extravaganza that pushes the creative team into bold new directions. It’s bonkers, it’s beautiful, it’s Death Fight Forever!
