Is Lady Deathstrike from X-men based on Karai or is it the other way round?

[The Great Saiyaman]

Lady Deathstrike as depicted in the early nineties by Jim Lee.

But when I found that comic again I went "Hold on..."


and the 2003 version even more.


So knowing that Eastman and Laird made no secret about using Marvel comics as their inspiration and marvel comics artists also doing the same with other comic books, it made me wonder.

Is Lady Deathstrike based on Karai or is it the other way around, is Karai based on lady Deathstrike?

[Autbot_Benz]

Deathstrike came first she was in the comics in 1986

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Autbot_Benz

Deathstrike came first she was in the comics in 1986 Karai wasn't introduced in the comics until IDW brought her in

What are you talking about? Karai was introduced in the Mirage comics in 1992.

[CyberCubed]

All Asian women look alike!

[neatoman]

Are we sure that shoulder pad vest thing isn't some kind of pre-existing type of clothing that both Mirage and Marvel took inspiration from?

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by neatoman

Are we sure that shoulder pad vest thing isn't some kind of pre-existing type of clothing that both Mirage and Marvel took inspiration from?

Yeah, I'm thinking maybe that. I mean maybe one took inspiration from the other, but it's not really a complicated design choice that two properties could independently decide to go with... one as a vest and other...clearly going for that whole open chest, useless lady armor look.

[Andrew NDB]

By the time Karai showed up in that costume with the shoulder things, it was actually already 1993... smack in the middle of Liefield's Youngblood and WildCATS and all that original Image stuff. I'd bet the farm there was a lot of that shoulder business going on.

[BlimeyBullhop]

Originally Posted by Autbot_Benz

Deathstrike came first she was in the comics in 1986 Karai wasn't introduced in the comics until IDW brought her in

Bloody idiot you are

[Autbot_Benz]

Originally Posted by BlimeyBullhop

Bloody idiot you are

Its called an honest mistake you twit

[IndigoErth]

Well that escalated quickly.

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

By the time Karai showed up in that costume with the shoulder things, it was actually already 1993... smack in the middle of Liefield's Youngblood and WildCATS and all that original Image stuff. I'd bet the farm there was a lot of that shoulder business going on.

Hm, and kind of through and on the late end of the big shoulder fashion trends in the real world, so makes sense.

[PApagreg]

Why did you make a thread when you can just google it.

[AquaParade]

Originally Posted by PApagreg

Why did you make a thread when you can just google it.

I’d say cut slack. This is not at all near the worst offense of this type of thing. OP even provided pictures, and there may have been something worth discussing here.

[Egon1982]

Deathstrike came first so i think Karai was inspired by her.

[Andrew NDB]

Hm, and kind of through and on the late end of the big shoulder fashion trends in the real world, so makes sense.

I mean more the armored shoulder bandolier things on female characters in comics in the early 90s, not the shoulder padded powersuits of the 80s in real life. Though that was probably the inspiration.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

All Asian women look alike!

Yeah but you're not supposed to say so out loud anymore, silly.

I think the connection between these two characters is tenuous at best. Also, whenever I see 1990-1994 fashion trends on comic book characters, I can't help but wonder what the f*ck was going on. Who could have ever thought any of that sh*t looked good? Kyle Rayner is like, It, he's like the one character created from that time period whose costume didn't make him look like a complete toolbox (although he kinda looked like he was playing Space Hockey). Superboy, too, I guess, depending on your tolerance for Needless, Randomly-Placed Belts. But that's IT! Everything else sucked a fat one.

How Guy Gardner's "Leather Jacket, Jeans-Tucked-Into-Cowboy Boots" costume became one of the outfits to have aged the BEST from that time period just goes to show you how nutty things really were back then. And he even got turned into some kinda Ultimate Warrior/T-1000 hybrid eventually.

What a mess. There's actually a lot of good and great stories from early-90s super-hero comics, but man, the costumes generally did not age well at all. Oof.

[Candy Kappa]

Originally Posted by neatoman

Are we sure that shoulder pad vest thing isn't some kind of pre-existing type of clothing that both Mirage and Marvel took inspiration from?

Probably inspired by the kataginu, a type of vest that have flared shoulders

[Leo656]

Google Image says you're most likely correct.

I also learned a new word I'll never remember how to spell. Neat.

[The Great Saiyaman]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

NOT All Asian women look alike!

Fixed that for you.

Here's another iconic X-men character as drawn by Jim Lee.

Back then I had no idea that Jubilee is supposed to be Asian.

Whereas current depictions of her make that very clear.

[Leo656]

I seem to recall every female character in the 90s having the exact same face, though.

Actually, come to think of it, that was pretty true of the male characters, too.

That was 90s Comics: One face, and a whole lotta pouches.

[Candy Kappa]

Originally Posted by Leo656

That was 90s Comics: One face, and a whole lotta pouches.

Feet optional