When legendary artist Frank Frazetta signed a contract with Dark Horse in late 1993 to create the sculpture, it was the culmination of a dream for sculptor Randy Bowen. For years, Bowen felt that Frazetta fans would die for a three-dimensional representation of Frazetta's best-known painting. Luckily for Bowen, Mike Richardson shared that passion and cemented the relationship between Frazetta and Dark Horse.
Typically, Bowen spends some 40 hours sculpting a figurine. The Death Dealer bronze required considerably more time, greater than 200 hours, because of the complexity of the original painting. The bronze figure is a masterpiece of detail, down to the tooling and chains on his saddle, spurs on his boots, and blood on his axe.
When asked if there was anything he wanted to say about working with Frazetta, Bowen remarked, "It was the honor of a lifetime to work with someone of Frank's caliber. I look forward to more collaborations in the future." Such future partnerships are likely to create collectibles just as precious, rare, and desirable as The Death Dealer.