Death Fight Forever, created by Andrew MacLean (writer) and Alex Ziritt (artist) and with additional artwork by Al Gofa, Sam McKenzie, and Erwin Papa, is a comic that is brutally honest about what it’s trying to achieve. It’s a crazy, slightly badass tribute to a large chunk of 80s and 90s pop culture, especially arcade video games (Double Dragon, Street Fighter...), action movies (Cobra, Rambo, RoboCop...), and, of course, the comics of that era.
As such, you can imagine that the script isn't particularly deep. The main story is driven by revenge against a big bad villain and features characters with barely any characterization... other than the fact that they are out for revenge. The five issues collected in this trade paperback read in a flash, offering a good mix of fights, brawls, chases, explosions... and little humorous gags, some of which are quite funny. The comic goes out of its way not to take itself seriously, and not only does it succeed, but it has a blast doing so.
To enjoy Death Fight Forever, you have to play along, and I must admit that I was fully on board from the very first page. With character names as on-the-nose as Slyther for a reptilian villain, Thunderfang for a feline soldier, or the Bash & Crash brothers who demolish everything in their path; references that bring to mind the aforementioned movies and games, but also He-Man, ThunderCats, Tron, and many others; deliberately retro artwork like the one you can see on the cover... I understand all of this might scare off more than one reader, but it really clicked with me and I read it from cover to cover with a smile on my face.
The artwork alternates between contributions from Ziritt, Gofa, McKenzie, and Papa, but it remains remarkably consistent throughout the five issues. Perhaps the earlier ones are a bit wilder, while the fourth and fifth (which I liked more visually) are a little more standard. This is the exact opposite of the script, which gets more absurd with every page. A special mention also goes to the fact that the volume I read includes some pretty interesting short interviews with the comic's creators. I don't usually read those extras, but in this case, I actually took a look.
In summary, Death Fight Forever makes no secret of its intention to pay homage to 80s and 90s pop culture products without striving for deeper meaning, aiming for nothing more than to entertain the reader for a while. In my case, it succeeded with flying colors, although I imagine the experience will depend heavily on each person's level of nostalgia and the mood they're in when they sit down to read it. Who knows, maybe it'll be a good fit for you too!
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