History ComicBook / MortalKombatMalibuComics

** Played straight with Jade and Smoke, who are Shao Kahn's assassins as well as a deadly duo. At the time, only those who read Midway's official ''[=MKII=]'' comics knew that Smoke was Sub-Zero's fellow Lin Kuei warrior, while Jade's story, game-wise, was utterly unknown at the time.

* AllYourPowersCombined: Zaggot uses this trope to create the Kombatant, a huge malevolent construct of chaos that uses the entire MK1 cast's powers.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: Interestingly, the Sub-Zero in this comic series is the older Sub-Zero brother, Bi-Han, who survives the events of MK1. He eventually dies at the hands of Scorpion in the last issue of ''Battlewave'' but not before securing a vital victory for Earthrealm. The younger Sub-Zero (Kuai Liang) is only seen at the very end of Tournament Edition #2, vowing to honor his brother's legacy.

** King Gorbak, king of the Shokan and Goro's father, eventually appears in the [[VideoGame/MortalKombatX]] comics to declare war on Kotal Kahn [[spoiler:after the latter ripped off ALL of Goro's arms and didn't kill him]].

* MirrorMatch: Hilariously tried to justify the first game's concept in ''Blood & Thunder'' by having Sonya and Johnny Cage meet an Outworld village leader who looked ''exactly like Sonya.''
** Her looking the same isn't unreasonable. What's truly ridiculous is that she wears ''the exact same outfit'' for no discernible reason.

* ThirdPersonPerson: A rather concerning amount of characters use this at one point or another, making it all the more unintentionally ironic when the answer to the Tao Te Zhan's last riddle, "What belongs to you yet others use it more than you do" is "your name." And is solved by Goro who was also a consistent user of this trope.

The comic stated in October 1994 with the ''Mortal Kombat: Blood and Thunder'' miniseries with a prequel, ''Issue '0'' released in December. Whilst the series first adapted the story of the first game, it would later go far down its own route and forge its own storyline for the first two games.

* BittersweetEnding: The ultimate conclusion to the ''Rayden & Kano'' three parter. [[spoiler: Kano blows his chance at redemption by allowing Shao Kahn to destroy the Ebbonrule, a sword powered by redemption, is imbued with incredible power as his reward and betrays Raiden. At the very least he deprives Shao Kahn of the chance to finish Raiden himself by throwing the Thunder God through a portal back to Earthrealm and implies that Raiden's gambit could have in fact worked, but now they'll never know.]] Raiden himself also comes to hate the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil, making this an EarlyBirdCameo of sorts to Raiden's changes in ''Deception'' and ''Armageddon''.

* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Goro decides not to fight the chaos god Zaggot and turns his back on him, choosing instead to fulfill his duty as [=MK=] Champion and get back to Shang Tsung's island. Without the chaos of battle to thrive upon, Zaggot shrinks and shrinks til Goro simply eats him. Not that this kills Zaggot, but still.

* GetItOverWith: A heroic example from Sub-Zero in the last issue of ''Battlewave''. When he sees Scorpion bearing down on him, he pretty much dares Scorpion to kill him dishonourably, since Sub-Zero's already pretty tired out from beating frigging ''Goro''. Unfortunately it doesn't stop Scorpion immolating Sub-Zero...and THAT doesn't stop Sub-Zero from securing victory for Earthrealm by claiming Shao Kahn's dragon medallion.
* HeelRealization: Johnny Cage, on the cusp of solving the last riddle of the Tao Te Zhan, has one of these courtesy of Raiden. Cage had joined the MK tournament to prove he wasn't a fraud and if he did indeed solve the book's last riddle and take for himself the ultimate power of that book, he really would be the fraud the press made him out to be.

* IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight: Played with in Kung Lao's oneshot. After having some fun harrassing Kung Lao by morphing into some of his allies, Shang Tsung decides to twist the knife further by morphing into Lao's ancestor, the Great Kung Lao. This backfires on him since suddenly, GKL's own soul begins to take charge and beg his descendant to "free him", which Kung Lao does by kicking the morphed Tsung's neck in. This finally frees GKL's soul allowing him to go to heaven at last. So in essence its not so much Kung Lao trying to rouse his ancestor's spirit from inside his ancestor's own body so much as GKL instead being somewhere inside Shang Tsung's own body and acknowleding he's inside Tsung, asking Lao to "free him" the old fashioned way but the effect is much the same.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: Interestingly, the Sub-Zero in this comic series is the older Sub-Zero brother, Bi-Han, who survives the events of MK1. He eventually dies at the hands of Scorpion in the last issue of ''Battlewave'' but not before securing a vital victory for Earthrealm. The younger Sub-Zero (Kuai Liang) is only seen at the very end of Tournament Edition #2, vowing to honour his brother's legacy.

Malibu Comics' adaptation of the infamously violent FightingGame series by Midway, ''Mortal Kombat'' lasted surprisingly longer than their [[ComicBook/MalibuComicsStreetFighter previous adaptation attempt]] based off of ''StreetFighter'', most likely because the bar of controversy was set so high by Midway. In effect ,the comics ended up being tamer than the games.

** Inverted, strangely, with Baraka of all people. He's still a surly, anti-social nutbar and a danger to his allies but he joins a rebellion against Shao Kahn, consisting of Sub-Zero, Kung Lao and Kitana. He even willingly protects a child, if only to have something to fight for. That said he still clashes with the heroes and eventually snaps and goes off on his own.
** Also inverted with Noob Saibot, who appears in Baraka's special issue as a heroic character who entrusts Baraka with protecting a baby who has a great destiny ahead of it.
** Played straight with Jade and Smoke, who are Shao Kahn's assassins as well as a deadly duo. At the time, their stories were largely unknown anyhow.

* BittersweetEnding: The ultimate conclusion to the ''Rayden & Kano'' three parter. [[spoiler: Kano blows his chance at redemption by allowing Shao Kahn to destroy the Ebbonrule, a sword powered by redemption, is imbued with incredible power as his reward and betrays Raiden. At the very least he deprives Shao Kahn of the chance to finish Raiden himself by throwing the Thunder God through a portal back to Earthrealm and implies that Raiden's gambit could have turned Kano to the side of good but they'll never know.]] Raiden himself also comes to hate the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil, making this an EarlyBirdCameo of sorts to Raiden's changes in ''Deception'' and ''Armageddon''.

** [[CompletelyMissingThePoint Maggot?]]

* RedemptionQuest: The ''Rayden & Kano'' miniseries, which focuses on Rayden trying to use a legendary sword used by the founder of the Black Dragon Clan to purge the evilness within Kano and banish the Emperor of Outworld. [[spoiler: It is averted hard near the end when Shao Kahn and Kano agree to exchange the sword for Kano gaining the Emperor's almost godlike power in order to fight Rayden.]]

* {{Ssssnaketalk}}: Reptile.

* Ssssnaketalk: Reptile.

* TheWorfEffect: Siang (Sing and Sang fused) is built up to be the ultimate warrior of good and light over ''Blood & Thunder''. Once he's introduced...Goro kills him in about 2 pages flat.

Malibu Comics' adaptation of the infamously violent FightingGame series by Midway, ''Mortal Kombat'' lasted surprisingly longer than their [[ComicBook/MalibuComicsStreetFighter previous adaptation attempt]] based off of ''StreetFighter''.

The comic stated in October 1994 with ''Mortal Kombat: Blood and Thunder: Issue #1'' with a prequel, ''Issue '0'' released in December. Whilst the series first adapted the story of the first game, it would later go far down its own route and forge its own storyline for the first two games.

* AcheyScars: Sub-Zero has a throat injury from when he battled (and killed) Scorpion. It flares up whenever Scorpion is nearby.

* CanonForeigner: Several, such as Bo, a bodyguard that Johnny Cage sends to protect Liu Kang after the latter becomes the Champion of Mortal Kombat, Hydro, Sub-Zero's Lin Kuei partner who ends up killed by Scorpion, and Sing and Sang, two Shaolin monks, originally chosen to represent the Temple of Light in the tournament, who could fuse into a far more powerful warrior called Siang.
* CanonImmigrant: Not a character but a concept: The ''Goro: Prince of Pain'' miniseries features a chaos god called Zaggot and an order god called Abacus. While Abacus and Zaggot themselves do not show up, the idea of OrderVsChaos would later feature in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeception''.

** Another concept that would later be introduced would be Jax's bionic arms. In ''Blood & Thunder'', Sonya's partner Lance was equipped with one bionic arm. In the later ''Special Forces'' comics ([[VideoGame/MortalKombatSpecialForces not related to the video game of the same name]]), there was also Torque, who had two fully robotic arms. [[spoiler:Lance's robotic arms would later be the basis for Jax's arms in [[VideoGame/MortalKombat9 the reboot]].]]

* PurpleProse: Most issues begin with a narration written in this style about whoever's on the first page. And they always seem to state the same facts. As [=4thLetter=] puts it, they really want you to know that Goro is eight feet tall.

* RedemptionQuest: The ''Rayden & Kano'' miniseries, which focuses on Rayden trying to use a legendary sword used by the founder of the Black Dragon Clan to purge the evilness within Kano and banish the Emperor of Outworld. [[spoiler: It is averted hard in the end when Shao Kahn and Kano agree to exchange the sword for Kano gaining the Emperor's almost godlike power in order to fight Rayden.]]

* SecretDiary: ''Kitana & Mileena'' has Kitana uncover a secret journal written about King Jerrod (who ruled Outworld instead of Edenia as later canon would state) that chronicled what happened before Shao Kahn's takeover. Surprisingly, Shao Kahn not only doesn't mind this, but he further explains how he not only killed Jerrod but also molded Kitana to be his assassin and how he made Mileena. [[LaserGuidedAmnesia he then removes her memories of this entire incident]] and tells her that ItWasAllADream.

* TheMostDangerousVideoGame: The ''Mortal Kombat Super Book'' is about a kid who gets sucked into an ''[=MK2=]'' arcade machine after [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor swearing to beat Raiden with his next continue]]. He pretty much gets his ass kicked by a chunk of the cast, including Kano, who wasn't in the game.
* ThirdPersonPerson: A rather concerning amount of characters use this at one point or another, making it all the more unintentionally ironic when the answer to the Tao Te Zhan's last riddle, "What belongs to you yet others use it more than you do" is "your name." And is solved by Goro who was also this type of guy.

* TheWorfEffect: Siang (Sing and Sang fused) is built up to be the ultimate warrior of good and light. Once he's introduced...Goro kills him in about 2 pages flat.

The comic stated in October 1994 with ''Mortal Kombat: Blood and Thunder: Issue #1'' with a prequel, ''Issue '0'' released in December. Whilst the series first adapted the story of the first game, it would later go far down its own route and forge its own storyline.

* AcheyScars: Sub-Zero has a throat injury from when he battled a still-living Scorpion. It flares up whenever Scorpion is nearby.
* AllYourPowersCombined: Zaggot uses this trope to create the Kombatant, a huge malevolent construct of chaos that uses the entire MK1 cast's power.

** Played straight with other characters, like Jade and Smoke, who are Shao Kahn's assassins as well as a deadly duo. At the time their stories were largely unknown anyhow.
* AndNowYouMustMarryMe: Shao Kahn attempts to use one of these to conquer Earthrealm. When he learns a marriage between an Earthrealm human and an Outworlder such as him will be enough to weaken the dimensional barriers, he has Reptile brainwash Sonya. Thankfully the heroes foil this just in time.

* BittersweetEnding: The ultimate conclusion to the ''Raiden and Kano'' three parter. Kano blows his chance at redemption by allowing Shao Kahn to destroy the Ebbonrule, a sword powered by redemption, is imbued with incredible power as his reward and betrays Raiden. At the very least he deprieves Shao Kahn of the chance to finish Raiden himself by throwing the Thunder God through a portal back to Earthrealm and implies that Raiden's gambit could have turned Kano to the side of good but they'll never know. Raiden himself also comes to hate the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil.

* CanonImmigrant: Not a character but a concept: The Goro 3 issue special features a chaos god called Zaggot and an order god called Abacus. While Abacus and Zaggot themselves do not show up, the idea of a struggle between order and chaos would later feature in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeception''.

* CurbstompBattle: Sub-Zero faces a '''six'''-armed Shokan called Grum...and beats him in about half a second by freezing and kicking him.
* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Goro decides not to fight the chaos god Zaggot and turns his back on him, choosing instead to fulfill his duty as MK champion and get back to Shang Tsung's island. Without the chaos of battle to thrive upon, Zaggot shrinks down and down til Goro simply eats him. Not that this kills Zaggot but still.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Apparently Scorpion risks an eternity of oblivion for coming back to get revenge on Sub-Zero. This doesn't stop him coming back even after Sub-Zero defeats him, despite Scorpion himself saying earlier that if he loses to Sub-Zero again, its oblivion for him.
* FusionDance: Sing and Sang could fuse into the warrior Siang. When Sang is killed during Goro's forceful separation of the brothers, though, Sing decides to permanently fuse with him thereafter.

* MirrorMatch: Hilariously tried to justify the first game's concept by having Sonya and Johnny Cage meet an Outworld village leader who looked ''exactly like Sonya.''
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Small scale one: Sing fusing with his dead brother Sang forever might have helped if not for the fac that being half-dead still meant Siang was controllable by Shao Kahn's Deathstone relic.

* OffModel: Some issues were drawn by Kiki Santamone[=/=]Chansamone and they tend to look...rather bad. Squished faces, bad proportions and other such errors abound in his artwork.

** "Ten men’s length, ten men’s strength. Ten men can’t bear it, yet a little boy walks off with it." Answer: [[spoiler:Rope. Sovled by Scorpion.]]

* ThirdPersonPerson: A rather concerning amount of characters are this, making it all the more unintentionally ironic when the answer to the Tao Te Zhan's last riddle, "What belongs to you yet others use it more than you do" is "your name." And is solved by Goro who was also this type of guy.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Small scale one: Sing fusing with his deadd brothe rSang forever might have helped if not for the fac that being half-dead still meant Siang was controllable by Shao Kahn's Deathstone relic.

* BadassNormal: Bo doesn't seem to have any supernatural fighting abilities at all save for his incredible endurance and strength. He also soundly thrashes Reptile and, since he has a broken arm at that point and is in no shape to continue, literally decides to sit on Reptile's unconscious body and "sit this one out."

* BittersweetEnding: The ultimate conclusion to the ''Raiden and Kano'' three parter. Kano blows his chance at redemption by allowing Shao Kahn to destroy the Ebbonrule, a sword powered by redemption, is imbued with incredible power as his reward and betrays Raiden. At the very least he deprieves Shao Kahn of the chance to finish Raiden himself by throwing the Thunder God through a portal back to Earthrealm and implies that Raiden's gambit could have turned Kano to the side of good but they'll never know. It also leaves Raiden fearful at the idea of the balance between good and evil.

* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Happens to Sonya courtesy of Reptile. She ends up forced to marry Shao Kahn to proide a way for him to enter Earthrealm.

* CanonImmigrant: Not a character but a concept: The Goro 3 issue special features a chaos god called Zaggot and an order god called Abacus. The idea of a struggle between order and chaos would later feature in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeception''.

* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Goro decides not to fight the chaos god Zaggot and turns his back on him, choosing instead to fulfill his duty as MK champion and get back to Shang Tsung's island. Without the chaos of battle, Zaggot shrinks down and down til Goro simply eats him. Not that this kills Zaggot but still.

* FusionDance: Sing and Sang could fuse into the warrior Siang. When one brother ends up killed by Goro, however, the other decides to permanently fuse with his dead brother.

* HeelRealization: Johnny Cage, on the cusp of solving the last riddle of the Tao Te Zhan, has one of these courtesy of Raiden. Cage had joined the MK tournament to prove he wasn't a fraud and if he did indeed receive the ultimate power of that book, he really would be the fraud the press made him out to be.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: Interestingly, the Sub-Zero in this comic series is the older Sub-Zero brother, Bi-Han, who survives the events of MK1. He eventually dies at the hands of Scorpion in the last issue of ''Battlewave'' but not before securing a vital victory for Earthrealm.

* PurpleProse: Most issues begin with a narration written in this style about whoever's on the first page. And they always seem to state the same facts. [[4thLetter They really want you to know that Goro is eight feet tall.]]

* BittersweetEnding: The ultimate conclusion to the ''Raiden and Kano'' three parter. Kano blows his chance at redemption by allowing Shao Kahn to destroy the Ebbonrule, a sword powered by redemption, is imbued with incredible power as his reward and betrays Raiden. At the very least he deprieves Shao Kahn of the chance to finish Raiden himself by throwing the Thunder God through aportal back to Earthrealm and implies that Raiden's gambit could have turned Kano to the side of good but they'll never know. It also leaves Raiden fearful at the idea of the balance between good and evil.

* TheChosenOne: Surprisingly not Liu Kang at first. The Shaolin Monks first place their hope in Sing and Sang, but Liu Kang coninces them to let him join the tournament as well.

* OffModel: Some issues were drawn by Kiki Santamone and they tend to look...rather bad. Squished faces, bad proportions and other such errors abound in his artwork.
* PurpleProse: Most issues begin with a narration written in this style about whoever's on the first page. And they always seem to state the same facts. They really want you to know that [[4thLetter Goro is eight feet tall.]]

This article is about the Malibu series. For the official comics based off of 1, [[MortalKombatII 2]], [[MortalKombat4 4]] and [[MortalKombatDeception Deception]], click [[ComicBook/MortalKombat here]].

* CanonImmigrant: Not a character but a concept: The Goro 3 issue special features a chaos god called Zaggot and an order god called Abacus. The idea of a struggle between order and chaos would later feature in MortalKombatDeception.

* 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.)
** 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.

** Played straight with other characters, like Jade and Smoke, who are Shao Kahn's assassins as well as a a DynamicDuo. At the time their stories were largely unknown anyhow.

* BallsOfSteel: In ''Tournament Edition #1'', Johnny Cage tries this on Baraka, who doesn't even flinch.

* ForcedMarriage: Shao Kahn attempts to use one of these to conquer Earthrealm. When he learns a marriage between an Earthrealm human and an Outworlder such as him will be enough to weaken the dimensional barriers, he has Reptile brainwash Sonya. Thankfully the heroes foil this just in time.

* MirrorMatch: Hilariously tried to justify the first game's concept by having Sonya and Johnny Cage meet a village leader who looked ''exactly like Sonya.''

Malibu Comics' adaptation of the infamously violent FightingGame series by Midway, ''Mortal Kombat'' lasted surprisingly longer than their [[MalibuComicsStreetFighter previous adaptation attempt]] based off of ''StreetFighter''.