| Killraven | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Amazing Adventures vol. 2, #30 (May 1975) Left to right: M'Shulla, Killraven, Mint Julep Cover art byP. Craig Russell. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Amazing Adventures vol. 2, #18 (May 1973) |
| Created by | Roy Thomas Neal Adams Gerry Conway |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Jonathan Raven |
| Team affiliations | Freemen |
| Notable aliases | K.R. |
| Abilities | Ability to project consciousness |
Killraven (Jonathan Raven) is a character appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. The character has been depicted as a freedom fighter in severalpost-apocalyptic alternate futures. Created by co-plottersRoy Thomas andNeal Adams, scriptwriterGerry Conway, and penciller Adams, the characterfirst appeared inAmazing Adventures vol. 2, #18 (May 1973).[1] The series featured the first dramaticinterracial kiss in American color comic books.
Co-creator Neal Adams' early ideas for Killraven involved the character being the son of aDoc Savagearchetype.[2] This concept had been reworked by the first issue, a multiple-creator goulash in which the two originators and co-plotters turned the scripting over to another writer, and in which artist co-creator Adamspenciled only the first 11 pages andHoward Chaykin the remaining nine. The second issue was fully written by the debut's scripter, Gerry Conway, followed in the third byMarv Wolfman.
After this, the book became the province of writerDon McGregor for an acclaimed run[3] from #21 (Nov. 1973) to the final issue, #39 (Nov. 1976). Pencillers wereHerb Trimpe,Rich Buckler,Gene Colan, and, most prominently,P. Craig Russell from issue #27 on.
Two of its characters,Carmilla Frost and theAfrican AmericanM'Shulla Scott, shared color comic books' earliest known non-satirical interracial kiss,[4] in issue #31 (July 1975), page nine, final panel.[5]
Aside from McGregor, with whom the character became associated, other writers includeBill Mantlo (a fill-inAmazing Adventures and aMarvel Team-Up with Killraven and a future-flungSpider-Man);[6]Joe Linsner (a 2001Marvel Knightsone-shot,Killraven, set in 2020New York City, at odds with the original series' locale by that fictional year); andAlan Davis (also artist), in a 2002parallel universe miniseries,Killraven vol. 2. AnEssential Marvel volume in 2005 reprinted all the character's appearances except that Davis series.
McGregor and Russell, however, remain the series' signature creative team; more than two decades after the original series' end, comics historianPeter Sanderson wrote that:
It was writer Don McGregor who transformed the Killraven saga ... into a classic. Of all of Marvel's writers, McGregor has the most romantic view of heroism. Killraven and his warrior band were also a community of friends and lovers motivated by a poetic vision of freedom and of humanity's potential greatness. McGregor's finest artistic collaborator on the series was P. Craig Russell, whose sensitive, elaborate artwork, evocative ofArt Nouveau illustration, gave the landscape of Killraven's America a nostalgic, pastoral feel, and the Martian architecture the look of futuristic castles.[7]
In 1983, McGregor and Russell reunited on a Killraven sequel entitled “Last Dreams Broken”, published as the seventh volume in Marvel's graphic novel series.[8]
Some further planned elements of the "Killraven" saga were incorporated into theEclipse Comics seriesSabre, McGregor[9] and Russell[10] each said in 1983.
The character made latter-day appearances inMarvel Zombies 5 #2 (April 2010) where the war against the Martians is concluded, and inThe Avengers vol. 4, #4-6 (Aug.-Oct. 2010), the latter in the present day after time-traveling. Killraven appears inClaws II (Aug. 2011), in which the superheroes Wolverine and Black Cat meet him in the future fighting Martians.
In 2014, Killraven also makes a cameo appearance inAll-New Invaders Issue #12 in a modern retelling of the War of the Worlds.
In the late 1980s, Don McGregor wrote 50 to 60 pages and P. Craig Russell began illustrating a final story, "Killraven: Final Battles, Final Lies, Final Truths" (also referred to as "Final Lies, Final Truths, Final Battles"). The story never saw print, according to McGregor, because Marvel would not assure Russell the company would print the story in Marvel's best format at the time. In this intended finale to McGregor's story, "Killraven would take that war back to the intruders" on Mars itself.[11]
In the mid-1990s,Grant Morrison andMark Millar considered tying in Marvel's2099 imprint, makingRavage a descendant of Killraven: "Our idea was that the Killraven stories had actually happened, but Earth somehow got itself back together. It's now one hundred years later, and the Martians are attacking again, meaning that all the superheroes were going to have to deal with them".Galactus then arrives and devours Mars along with the Martians.[12]
In 2005, writerJim Valentino said his aborted plans for the Marvel comicGuardians of the Galaxy involved Killraven, in his 50s, joining the team and forming an attraction toYellowjacket (Rita DeMara). Valentino said he would have establishedFranklin Richards as Killraven's father.[13]
WriterRobert Kirkman and artistRob Liefeld announced in August 2007 they were creating a five-issue alternate universe Killravenminiseries planned for release in 2008, but the project never went into production.[14][15]
On the alternate-future Earth designated Earth-691 by Marvel Comics,[16] theMartians fromH. G. Wells'The War of the Worlds return in 2001 for another attempt at conquering the planet (they were laterretconned as extrasolar aliens usingMars as a staging area).[17] After humanity's enslavement, men not used as breeders or collaborators are trained and forced to battle gladiator-style for the Martians' amusement; women are used as breeders to supply infants, eaten by the Martians as a delicacy. Jonathan Raven, dubbed Killraven as his gladiatorialnom de guerre, escaped with the help of the gladiatorial "keeper", but without his brother, Deathraven. Killraven joined the Freemen, a group of freedom fighters against Martian oppression.[18]
From 2018 to 2020, Killraven and his companions travel across the eastern portion ofNorth America, fromNew York City toCape Canaveral while searching for Killraven's lost brother.[volume & issue needed] Pursued by thecyborg Skar, the Freemen encounter various victims of Martian transhuman experiments, as well as emotionally and psychologically scarred survivors.[volume & issue needed]
Fugitives from the Martians, Killraven and his Freemen — hisAfrican American "mud-brother" M'Shulla Scott, the cynical and bitterNative American Hawk, and the slow-witted strongman Old Skull — meet and incorporate into their group the feisty scientistCarmilla Frost and Grok, her deformed, apelike clone.[19] The Freemen ally with the human/plant hybrid Mint Julep, and battle Abraxas, Rattack and his rats, the High Overlord, and Skar.[20] Killraven tames a mutated serpent-horse to use as his mount, and his Freemen battle Pstun-Rage inBattle Creek, Michigan. In this encounter, the antagonists' names are anagrams of the Battle Creek-basedKellogg Company's breakfast cereals.[21] The Freemen meet the flirty and sensual Volcana Ash, who helps them battle Atalon and the Death-Breeders.[22] After learning that his brother Joshua (Deathraven) is still alive,[23] Killraven fights Martian slaves alongside a time-travelingSpider-Man,[24] The Freemen eventually reach theEverglades, where they encounter a military cadre of survivors and the butterfly-like Mourning Prey.[25]
Still later, the Freemen encounter Killraven's brother, Deathraven, and discover he has become a Martian collaborator.[26]
In November 2020, the Martian occupation is over when Killraven unleashes a zombie plague on the Martians' food supply (humans and human infants).[27]
As a youth, gladiator-in-training Jonathan Raven's physical prowess was heightened thanks to injections of experimental chemicals by Keeper Whitman. He was later given mental powers through Whitman's psycho-electric experiments, including the psionic ability to project his consciousness into and take over a Martian's mind, and the psychic ability to resist mental assaults and to mask his presence from robot scanners.
Killraven is also a superb hand-to-hand combatant, and a highly skilled swordsman, wrestler, and martial artist. He is a master of most hand weaponry, especially shuriken. He is a master strategist in guerrilla warfare. Killraven possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of human history, art, and science predating the Martian invasion of A.D. 2001, implanted in his mind by Keeper Whitman.
As artistP. Craig Russell described, "Killraven has a sort ofextrasensory ability to counterbalance his gladiatorial skills. He is very much the barbarian type, yet at the same time he has this seed planted in his brain that is the history of the human race — aracial memory of everything that has been obliterated by the Martians. It's almost a magical ability.... It was what removed him from being just another sword-wielding gladiator type."[28]
Killraven wears bulletproof fabrics and leather. He is armed with various weapons as needed, and usually carried a sword and shuriken. He sometimes rides a mutated serpent-horse, or appropriated Martian vehicles and aircraft.
There have been counterparts of Killraven in several stories:
In the mainstreamMarvel Universe that the company dubsEarth-616, Jonathan Raven appears in the2006-2007 miniseriesWisdom. He is the son of Wisdom'sMI-13 co-worker and lover, Maureen Raven, and the target of a trans-dimensional Martian Invasion because, as the Martian leader states, "On all Earths! Always! Every one of him is dangerous! Ruling council plan to invade all other Earths. So I urged this first expedition now before he is grown". Wisdom is forced to kill Maureen in order to stop the Martian invasion, while Jonathan is taken to anMI-6 safehouse in Prague and trained by martial artistShang-Chi.[30]
InHoward the Duck #2 (March 1976), the title character dreams of himself as "Killmallard".
Hollywood trade stories in 2005 reported plans to adapt Killraven for a theatricalmotion picture, with Marvel andSony Pictures in negotiations withRobert Schenkkan to write a script.[31][32][33] Those plans were abandoned and the rights of Killraven were reverted to Marvel.
| Title | Material collected | Published date | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essential Killraven Volume 1: War Of The Worlds | Amazing Adventures (vol. 2) #18-39,Marvel Graphic Novel #7,Marvel Team-Up #45,Killraven (vol. 1) #1 | July 2005 | 978-0785117773 |
| Marvel Masterworks: Killraven Vol. 1 | Amazing Adventures (vol. 2) #18-39,Marvel Graphic Novel #7 | October 2018 | 978-1302911355 |
| Killraven Epic Collection: Warrior Of The Worlds | Amazing Adventures (vol. 2) #18-39,Marvel Graphic Novel #7,Marvel Team-Up #45 | October 2021 | 978-1302932169 |
| Killraven | Killraven (vol. 2) #1-6 | June 2007 | 978-0785125389 |