| Grim Reaper | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Death |
|
First Appearance |
Medieval European Myth |
|
Created by |
Medieval European Myth |
Origin[]
The Grim Reaper, also known as "The Reaper", is one of the many personified versions of Death such as the Spirit of Death, a Horseman of the Apocalypse, or Angel of Death, the being was heavily used during the medieval period and came to symbolize death as well as a fear of the unknown.
The Grim Reaper was seen as a collector of souls, the messenger of the dead and most important of every guide that came to all mortals. It was not the Grim Reaper's place to judge souls, nor was it the entity's role to aid or hinder mortal affairs. Put simply, the Grim Reaper's task was to appear to the dying and guide them to their final destination where they would be judged accordingly by higher powers.
Although the Grim Reaper normally comes to those already dying, it has been noted that on rare occasions the Grim Reaper has the power to kill someone, though the entity occasionally does this out of malice. Due to the Grim Reaper appearing in a vaguely human form, there are many tales in which the entity can be tricked or bribed into freeing a person (which is where the phrase "cheating death" likely came from). However, for the most part, the Grim Reaper was seen as unable to be reasoned with and an inevitable part of being human.
Many version of the Grim Reaper have appeared in popular culture including comics such as those published by Ace, Comics Media, Quality, Fawcett, and more
Public Domain Comic Appearances[]
- Forbidden Worlds #4, 26, 31
- Beware! Terror Tales #3
- Horrific #4
- The Hand of Fate #9, 15, 20, 25-A, 25-B
- Web of Evil #7
- Wonderworld Comics #3, 8, 14
- The Beyond #3, 20
- Strange #2
- Web of Mystery #25
- Blue Beetle #1
- Eerie Adventures #1
- Blue Ribbon Comics #21
- Feature Comics #44
- Uncle Sam Quarterly #5
- Ibis the Invincible #2
- Strange Suspense Stories #4
- The Unseen #11
Notes[]
- Bill Norris took the identity of the Grim Reaper to fight the Nazi Menace in WWII.