It may surprise you to know that the real origin of the Grim Reaper of legend is…
Aliens!
This is one that nut from the history channel got right! Sure, he’s not saying it was aliens, but come on… ALIENS!
No, seriously, at least according to the indie comic “The Black Suit of Death,” the Grim Reaper legend comes from a biomechanical suit that turns its wearer into someone capable of harvesting the life energy of the unworthy. That energy was then supposed to be used to power the dying world of Utopia IX. Moral questions led to the banishment of the suit.
I’m not really sure how the rest of it turned out, but you can get part of the story from Amazon, part of the story at the Black Suit of Death website, and fund more of the story through Kickstarter. Put those Grim Reaper nightmares to rest and grant control of the Black Suit of Death to someone worthy to save the planet.