Frazettas become Ortega's epic tale

Now maybe someone can come up with an exciting backstory for Monet's haystacks paintings.

Meanwhile, as they say in the funny books, Seattle writer Joshua Ortega's take on "Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer" ($3.99) has become the best-selling title for third-place Image Comics. Along with artist Nate Jones and colorist Jay Fotos, he's building a story around six of the legendary Frazetta's paintings begun in 1973 — one issue per painting — featuring a shadow-faced, ax-wielding supernatural warrior. The final issue goes on sale in December, and a collected edition will follow.

So who is the Death Dealer?

"A force of nature more than a man, really," says the wiry, energetic Ortega, 33. "He's the embodiment of death and destruction, a horseman of war or death, if you will. In the series, he's fighting on the side of life, but only because death is a necessary part of life and the evil in the story is threatening to destroy all of creation."

Ortega's full-time gig is writer and consultant for Microsoft Game Studios and Xbox, but he's written scripts for "Star Wars," "Batman," "Battlestar Galactica" and other comics, as well as his own "Necromancer" series and a novel, "((Frequencies))."

The main directive from Frazetta, who's spending his later years in the Poconos and presiding over his eponymous museum:

"That he didn't want a T&A barbarian book," Ortega says. "Something more in the vein of 'Lord of the Rings,' an epic tale that could stand the test of time and features a deep, complex world and a rich cast of characters."

The resulting story: "On the surface, an ancient evil threatens all of creation, forcing the Death Dealer to side with humanity to defeat their common foe. Beneath that, there's all sorts of subtext and metaphor, though I tend to let the readers and college students piece all of that together. Let's just say it has a lot to do with war and the modern world."

Also, a lot of stuff gets whacked with a huge ax.

The success of "FFDD" has spawned a Frazetta Comics imprint debuting next year that will include Frank Frazetta's "Silver Warrior" and "Swamp Demon" from Ortega, and "Dark Kingdom" from Steve Niles, creator of the comic and film "30 Days of Night."

Those paintings, Ortega says, "are a perfect combination of fine art, pop art, and dark fantasy — just too good of an opportunity to pass up. The chance to do the definitive story of arguably the world's most famous fantasy painting is a rare honor, one that you don't take lightly."

Mark Rahner: 206-464-8259 or mrahner@seattletimes.com