Malibu Comics, Multiple books, September 1994 – August 1995

Malibu Comics’ Mortal Kombat books aren’t a half-bad take on the series. Focusing on the first two games in the series, there are 10 titles: Blood and Thunder, Goro: Prince of Pain, Mortal Kombat: U.S. Special Forces, Battlewave, Rayden and Kano, three special edition character books (Baraka, Kung Lao and Kitana and Mileena), and two tournament editions. Battlewave, in particular, focuses on the band getting back together to face Outworld in a second Tournament, the major plot point of Mortal Kombat II. That it culminates in the Tournament Edition II book is fantastic, and the story doesn’t disappoint throughout.

Overall, the plots loosely follow the games and there are original characters introduced throughout, but it does manage to keep a lot of the established Mortal Kombat personality intact. The art is gorgeous, and the writing is recognizable comic jargon and structure. This is highly recommended for fans of the series, but also if you like comic books and want something different from the usual Marvel and DC fare. – Lyndsey