History YMMV / MalibuComicsMortalKombat

See also the franchise-wide pages for:
* [[AndTheFandomRejoiced/MortalKombat And The Fandom Rejoiced]]
* [[Monster/MortalKombat Complete Monster]]
* [[HilariousInHindsight/MortalKombat Hilarious In Hindsight]]
* [[Memes/MortalKombat Memes]]
* [[NauseaFuel/MortalKombat Nausea Fuel]]
* [[TheScrappy/MortalKombat The Scrappy]]
* [[Woobie/MortalKombat The Woobie]]
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* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
** The first few issues of ''Battlewave'' show that Liu Kang gets randomly attacked by a group of ninjas every once in a while. You never find out who they are and even Liu himself doesn't know who they work for. The closest explanation we get is an implication that they're out for the champion's head, either sent by Shang Tsung for revenge or otherwise unrelated parties. Then Liu gets attacked by a monster called "Henge" from the "Nightmare Realm." And he's never mentioned again after his defeat.
** In a completely wacky attempt to explain the first game's "Mirror Match" system, during ''Blood and Thunder'', Johnny Cage ends up meeting an Outworld village chief who looks exactly like Sonya Blade. And then the real Sonya and her lookalike duke it out. This is never mentioned or brought up again.
* OlderThanTheyThink: Hydro, a minor character, used water-based powers, predating [[VideoGame/MortalKombat3 Rain]] by about a year or so (The ''Blood and Thunder'' comics were released around 1994/95, whereas the console versions of [[VideoGame/MortalKombat3 UMK3]] where Rain was playable were released around 1996.)
** It was also this comic that introduced the idea of Raiden not actively competing in the first tournament due to his status as a god, an idea later seen in the movies and later retellings of the first game.
** Furthermore, this comic introduced a struggle between order and chaos, before ''Deception'' did so for the games.
** Fans who liked the idea of Baraka fighting on the heroes' side in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'' will be surprised to learn this comic did it two decades earlier.
** The Malibu comics had Jax gaining ArtificialLimbs after his organic arms are damaged two decades [[VideoGame/MortalKombat9 the reboot]] brought in this idea. Both instances even had an Outworlder be responsible for maiming Jax.
** In the ''Rayden & Kano'' mini-series it's shown that Outworld had a Dragon King named Draxxon in ancient times. The mini-series also has Raiden "dying" only to rematerialize with a new outfit and some minor resentment towards the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil. Years later, VideoGame/MortalKombatDeception would establish that Outworld really did have a Dragon King (named Onaga) ruling it before Shao Kahn in the games' continuity, and Raiden died only to later rematerialize with a new outfit and some ''major'' resentment towards the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil.
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* [[EnsembleDarkhorse/MortalKombat Ensemble Darkhorse]]

!![[center: [[YMMV/MortalKombat Main page]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombat1 MK1]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombat2 MK2]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombat3 MK3]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombat4 MK4]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance Deadly Alliance]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatDeception Deception]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatArmageddon Armageddon]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatVsDCUniverse MK vs. DC Universe]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombat9 MK9]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatX MKX]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombat11 MK11]]\\
[-Spinoffs: [[YMMV/MortalKombatMythologiesSubZero MKM: Sub-Zero]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatSpecialForces Special Forces]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatShaolinMonks Shaolin Monks]]\\
Non-videogame media: [[YMMV/MortalKombatTheMovie Mortal Kombat: The Movie]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatTheJourneyBegins The Journey Begins]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatAnnihilation Annihilation]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatConquest Conquest]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatDefendersOfTheRealm Defenders Of The Realm]] | [[YMMV/MalibuComicsMortalKombat Malibu Comics]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatLegacy Legacy]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatRebirth Rebirth]]\\
Series-wide pages: [[AndTheFandomRejoiced/MortalKombat And The Fandom Rejoiced]] | [[Monster/MortalKombat Complete Monster]] | [[EnsembleDarkhorse/MortalKombat Ensemble Darkhorse]] | [[HilariousInHindsight/MortalKombat Hilarious In Hindsight]] | [[NauseaFuel/MortalKombat Nausea Fuel]] | [[TheScrappy/MortalKombat The Scrappy]] | [[Woobie/MortalKombat The Woobie]]\\
Comic-specific pages: [[Fridge/MalibuComicsMortalKombat Fridge]] | [[Funny/MalibuComicsMortalKombat Funny Moments]] | [[Heartwarming/MalibuComicsMortalKombat Heartwarming]] | [[Awesome/MalibuComicsMortalKombat Moment of Awesome]] | [[TearJerker/MalibuComicsMortalKombat Tear Jerker]]-]]]
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** Furthermore, this comic introduced a struggle between order and chaos, before Deception did so for the games.

!![[center: Main games: [[YMMV/MortalKombat1 MK1]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombat2 MK2]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombat3 MK3]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombat4 MK4]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance Deadly Alliance]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatDeception Deception]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatArmageddon Armageddon]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatVsDCUniverse MK vs. DC Universe]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombat9 MK9]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatX MKX]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombat11 MK11]]\\

Series-wide pages: [[AndTheFandomRejoiced/MortalKombat And The Fandom Rejoiced]] | [[Monster/MortalKombat Complete Monster]] | [[EnsembleDarkhorse/MortalKombat Ensemble Darkhorse]] | [[Fridge/MortalKombat Fridge]] | [[Funny/MortalKombat Funny Moments]] | [[Heartwarming/MortalKombat Heartwarming Moments]] | [[HilariousInHindsight/MortalKombat Hilarious In Hindsight]] | [[Awesome/MortalKombat Moment of Awesome]] | [[NauseaFuel/MortalKombat Nausea Fuel]] | [[NightmareFuel/MortalKombat Nightmare Fuel]] | [[TheScrappy/MortalKombat The Scrappy]] | [[TearJerker/MortalKombat Tear Jerker]] | [[Woobie/MortalKombat The Woobie]]-]]]

Series-wide pages: [[AndTheFandomRejoiced/MortalKombat And The Fandom Rejoiced]] | [[Monster/MortalKombat Complete Monster]] | [[EnsembleDarkhorse/MortalKombat Ensemble Darkhorse]] | [[Fridge/MortalKombat Fridge]] | [[Funny/MortalKombat Funny Moments]] | [[Heartwarming/MortalKombat Heartwarming Moments]] | [[Awesome/MortalKombat Moment of Awesome]] | [[NauseaFuel/MortalKombat Nausea Fuel]] | [[NightmareFuel/MortalKombat Nightmare Fuel]] | [[TheScrappy/MortalKombat The Scrappy]] | [[TearJerker/MortalKombat Tear Jerker]] | [[Woobie/MortalKombat The Woobie]]]]-]

* HilariousInHindsight: Related to the above, Hydro tends to be a cyber-ninja version of Sub-Zero in the aforementioned MUGEN full games. Then [[VideoGame/MortalKombat9 it happened for real.]] On a lesser scale, Hydro also used water-based powers. Then [[VideoGame/MortalKombat3 came Rain.]]
** The Sub-Zero seen for most of the comic series is Bi-Han, the Elder Sub-Zero brother. Considering that almost every other media based off of Mortal Kombat has Bi-Han dying during the first tournament and his younger brother Kuai Liang taking up the mantle, it becomes quite funny that this media saw fit to keep Bi-Han alive for far longer. Add to the fact that Noob Saibot appears in this as a wholly separate character from Bi-Han and...

!![[center: Main games: [[YMMV/MortalKombat1 MK1]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombat2 MK2]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombat3 MK3]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombat4 MK4]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance Deadly Alliance]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatDeception Deception]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatArmageddon Armageddon]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombat9 MK9]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatX MKX]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombat11 MK11]]\\
[-Spinoffs: [[YMMV/MortalKombatMythologiesSubZero MKM: Sub-Zero]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatSpecialForces Special Forces]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatShaolinMonks Shaolin Monks]] | [[YMMV/MortalKombatVsDCUniverse MK vs. DC Universe]]\\

Series-wide pages: [[AndTheFandomRejoiced/MortalKombat And The Fandom Rejoiced]] | [[Monster/MortalKombat Complete Monster]] | [[EnsembleDarkhorse/MortalKombat Ensemble Darkhorse]] | [[NauseaFuel/MortalKombat Nausea Fuel]] | [[NightmareFuel/MortalKombat Nightmare Fuel]] | [[TheScrappy/MortalKombat The Scrappy]] | [[Woobie/MortalKombat The Woobie]]]]-]

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Hydro, the water-based Lin Kuei warrior and partner to Sub-Zero. He's a very popular character with fans, enough to be included in MK fan works such as the numerous ''{{VideoGame/MUGEN}}''-based Mortal Kombat Project full games and even appeared in ''WebVideo/MortalKombatLegacy'' as a cyber-ninja.
** To some, Bo, the completely [[BadassNormal normal]] but damn huge ScaryBlackMan that Cage hires as Liu Kang's bodyguard is this as well. Especially the way he beats Reptile in Tournament Edition #2 with a broken arm to boot.
* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: Bizarrely, one for Shao Kahn, the way he nurtures Kitana at the end of her and Mileena's one-shot issue. Mitigated slightly by the fact that he had Reptile restore her brainwashing and erase her memories of the past moment.
** Johnny Cage also gets one for sending Bo to help Liu Kang. The fact that Cage anticipated what kind of people would be gunning for Liu once he became champion of Mortal Kombat, and thus sent backup just in case (Whether or not he needed it) is a very much thoughtful and nice thing for Cage to do for Liu.
** One for Kung Lao as well, at the very end of his one shot. Shang Tsung harrasses Kung Lao by morphing into his allies and messing with Lao in various ways (morphing into Sub-Zero and Baraka and making it look like they're betraying him or morphing into Kitana and trying to seduce Lao),) he rubs salt in the wound by morphing into Kung Lao's ancestor, the Great Kung Lao, but eventually GKL's own soul takes control of Tsung's morphed body and begs for his descendant to free him. After a moment of shock, Kung Lao does so by smashing Tsung's chin in with a devastating kick, which finally breaks Tsung's hold over GKL's soul, allowing him to ascend to heaven, but not before bidding Kung Lao farewell and bowing in respect to his descendant. Lao smiles back, now finally hopeful for the future and confident in what he can do to help defeat Shao Kahn and his armies after many months of painful struggle.
-->He watches as the soul of his forefather climbs towards the heavens. Whatever else transpires during these dark days, this cannot be taken away from him. The road ahead is filled with peril and hardship, but Kung Lao shall walk it with his head held high. He realizes now that he has spent so much of his life worrying about how far he might fall...that he never stopped to consider how high he might rise.

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: Sub-Zero defeating Goro in the last issue of ''Battlewave''. Though the narration wonders whether both sides had an advantage or disadvantage, it does say that Sub-Zero's name will be held in high respect from thereon.
-->The storytellers of Outworld will try to spin tales about why the Prince of Pain fell this day. Perhaps the brutal weather sapped some vital strength from Goro, they will say. Perhaps the bitter cold lent strength to the Lin Kuei warrior. Who can say? They will gloss over the reasons, but the end result will always remain the same...and the Lin Kuei warrior's name will be held in awe and respect from this day forward.
** DyingMomentOfAwesome: Not too long after that, Sub-Zero encounters Scorpion, but doesn't feel like fighting him. He merely dares Scorpion to kill him dishonourably...but Scorpion takes the chance and immolates him. Not that it stops Sub-Zero from grabbing the dragon medallion that will score a victory for the realm of whoever grabs it. All this '''while burning to death.'''
** And in a retroactively meta sense for Sub-Zero fans, the fact that up to this very point, this Sub-Zero was in fact the Elder Sub Zero (Bi-Han), who most fans of the series knew died during the first game's story, but in the comic's canon, managed to evade death, even if only for a little longer. By the very end of the series, we do get a glimpse at his younger brother, who is very much set on upholding his brother's legacy.

* TearJerker: The ending to Kitana and Mileena's one shot. After learning about her true history as well as the truth about Mileena, Kitana is put back under brainwashing by Kahn, who puts her to sleep while talking to her like a loving parent. The last panel is of a crying Mileena, who overheard the whole thing.
-->'''Shao Kahn''': Now close your eyes and rest. You are safe with me once more. Safe from all who would do you harm. Safe from those who would fill your head with lies. Safe from the past...safe from the truth.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Hydro, the water-based Lin Kuei warrior and partner to Sub-Zero. He's a very popular character with fans, enough to be included in MK fan works such as the numerous ''{{VideoGame/MUGEN}}''-based Mortal Kombat Project full games and even appeared in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatLegacy'' as a cyber-ninja.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Hydro, a minor character, used water-based powers, predating [[VideoGame/MortalKombat3 Rain]] by about a year or so (The ''Blood and Thunder'' comics were released around 1994/95, whereas the console versions of UMK3 where Rain was playable were released around 1996.)

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: Shang Tsung in the first ''Tournament Edition'' telling everyone to shut the hell up as he's trying to concentrate on figuring out the last riddle of the Tao Te Zhan. Bear in mind everyone's locked in a huge battle royale with their lives on the line.
-->'''Shang Tsung''': Quiet, you miserable cretins! Can you not see that I am '''concentrating?!'''\\
'''Johnny Cage & Baraka''': '''[[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne CRETINS?!]]'''
** This gets Shang knocked through a railing for his troubles.
** Bo as well, combined with SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome. Having just thrashed Reptile with a broken arm to boot, Bo realises he is in no shape to continue the race for the Dragon Medallion. So what does he do? He decides to sit the rest of it out...by literally sitting on the unconscious Reptile's body.

-->'''Shao Kahn''': Now close your eyes and rest. You are safe with me once more. Safe from all who would do you harm. Safe from those who would fill your head with lies. Safe from the past...safe from the truth.

** Bo as well, combined with CrowningMomentOfAwesome. Having just thrashed Reptile with a broken arm to boot, Bo realises he is in no shape to continue the race for the Dragon Medallion. So what does he do? He decides to sit the rest of it out...by literally sitting on the unconscious Reptile's body.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Sub-Zero defeating Goro in the last issue of ''Battlewave''. Though the narration wonders whether both sides had an advantage or disadvantage, it does say that Sub-Zero's name will be held in high respect from thereon.
-->The storytellers of Outworld will try to spin tales about why the Prince of Pain fell this day. Perhaps the brutal weather sapped some vital strength from Goro, they will say. Perhaps the bitter cold lent strength to the Lin Kuei warrior. Who can say? They will gloss over the reasons, but the end result will always remain the same...and the Lin Kuei warrior's name will be held in awe and respect from this day forward.
** DyingMomentOfAwesome: Not too long after that, Sub-Zero encounters Scorpion, but doesn't feel like fighting him. He merely dares Scorpion to kill him dishonourably...but Scorpion takes the chance and immolates him. Not that it stops Sub-Zero from grabbing the dragon medallion that will score a victory for the realm of whoever grabs it. All this '''while burning to death.'''
** And in a retroactively meta sense for Sub-Zero fans, the fact that up to this very point, this Sub-Zero was in fact the Elder Sub Zero (Bi-Han), who most fans of the series knew died during the first game's story, but in the comic's canon, managed to evade death, even if only for a little longer. By the very end of the series, we do get a glimpse at his younger brother, who is very much set on upholding his brother's legacy.
* CrowningMomentOfFunny: Shang Tsung in the first ''Tournament Edition'' telling everyone to shut the hell up as he's trying to concentrate on figuring out the last riddle of the Tao Te Zhan. Bear in mind everyone's locked in a huge battle royale with their lives on the line.
-->'''Shang Tsung''': Quiet, you miserable cretins! Can you not see that I am '''concentrating?!'''
-->'''Johnny Cage & Baraka''': '''[[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne CRETINS?!]]'''

* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: Bizarrely, one for Shao Kahn, the way he nurtures Kitana at the end of her and Mileena's one-shot issue. Mitigated slightly by the fact that he had Reptile restore her brainwashing and erase her memories of the past moment.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Hydro, the water-based Lin Kuei warrior and partner to Sub-Zero. He's a very popular character with fans, enough to be included in MK fan works such as the numerous ''{{VideoGame/MUGEN}}''-based Mortal Kombat Project full games and even appeared in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatLegacy'' as a cyber-ninja.
** To some, Bo, the completely [[BadassNormal normal]] but damn huge ScaryBlackMan that Cage hires as Liu Kang's bodyguard is this as well. Especially the way he beats Reptile in Tournament Edition #2 with a broken arm to boot.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Sub-Zero defeating Goro in the last issue of ''Battlewave''. Whilst the narration wonders whether both sides had an advantage or disadvantage, it does say that Sub-Zero's name will be held in high respect from thereon.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Hydro, a minor character, used water-based powers, predating [[VideoGame/MortalKombat3 Rain]] by about a year or so (The ''Blood and Thunder'' comics were released around 1994/95, whilst the console versions of UMK3 where Rain was playable were released around 1996.)

* TearJerker: The ending to Kitana and Mileena's one shot. After learning about her true history as well as the truth about Mileena, Kitana is put back under brainwashing by Kahn, who puts her to sleep whilst talking to her like a loving parent. The last panel is of a crying Mileena, who overheard the whole thing.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The first few issues of ''Battlewave'' show that Liu Kang gets randomly attacked by a group of ninjas every once in a while. You never find out who they are and even Liu himself doesn't know who they work for. The closest explanation we get is an implication that they're out for the champion's head, either sent by Shang Tsung for revenge or otherwise unrelated parties. Then Liu gets attacked by a monster called "Henge" from the "Nightmare Realm." And he's never mentioned again after his defeat.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Hydro, the water-based Lin Kuei warrior and partner to Sub-Zero. He's a very popular character with fans, enough to be included in MK fan works such as the numerous {{MUGEN}} based Mortal Kombat Project full games and even appeared in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatLegacy'' as a cyber-ninja.

** Johnny Cage also gets one for sending Bo to help Liu Kang. The fact that Cage anticipated what kind of people would be gunning for Liu once he became champion of Mortal Kombat, and thus sent backup as a just-in-case thing (Whether or not he needed it) is a very kind and brotherly thing for Cage to do.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Sub-Zero defeating Goro in the last issue of ''Battlewave''. Whilst the narration wonders if the cold either sapped Goro's strength or lent power to the ninja, it does say that Sub-Zero's name will be spoken in awe and respect from that day forth.

* CrowningMomentOfFunny: Shang Tsung in the first ''Tournament Edition'' telling everyone to shut the hell up as he's trying to concentrate on unsealing the Tao Te Zhan. Bear in mind everyone's locked in a huge battle royale with their lives on the line.

** This gets Shang knocked through a railing for is troubles.

** Johnny Cage also gets one for sending Bo to help Liu Kang. The fact that Cage anticipated what kind of people would be gunning for Liu once he became champion of Mortal Kombat, and thus sent a bodyguard to protect Liu (Whether or not he needed it) is actually quite a nice thing for Cage to do.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Hydro, the water-based Lin Kuei warrior and partner to Sub-Zero. He's a very popular character with fans, enough to be included in MK fan works such as the numerous {{MUGEN}} based Mortal Kombat Project full games and even appeared in MortalKombatLegacy as a cyber-ninja.
* HilariousInHindsight: Related to the above, Hydro tends to be a cyber-ninja version of Sub-Zero in the aforementioned MUGEN full games. Then [[MortalKombat9 it happened for real.]] On a lesser scale, Hydro also used water-based powers. Then [[MortalKombat3 came Rain.]]
* OlderThanTheyThink: Hydro, a minor character, used water-based powers, predating [[MortalKombat3 Rain]] by about a year or so (The ''Blood and Thunder'' comics were released around 1994/95, whilst the console versions of UMK3 where Rain was playable were released around 1996.)