Killraven: 'Amazing Adventures' No. 28

Killraven: 'Amazing Adventures' No. 28 
(January 1975)

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‘Amazing Adventures featuring War of the Worlds’ No. 28 (January 1975) appeared on newsstands in the late Fall of 1974. 

This issue, ‘The Death Merchant’,  continues the ‘Death Breeders’ storyline started in the previous issue. The script is by Don McGregor and the art and colors by Craig Russel.

With new recruit Volcana (a female version of the Human Torch) in tow, Killraven and his crew make their way to the Martian redoubt of Chicago, where humans are kept as slaves. Any newly birthed offspring are consigned to a gruesome fate: as morsels for Martian palates (!) This was a rather shocking plot device for a CCA – approved comic in 1974.

As with previous issues of ‘Adventures’ only 15 pages are provided for the Killraven story, with a two-page reprint of an old Marvel comic serving as the backup feature. As a result, while Russel’s artwork is reasonably good, McGregor’s script tries to do too much in too few pages, and the plot suffers as a result. The narrative abruptly jumps from page to page without much in the way of transition, and the excessive text boxes and speech balloons littering almost every panel occlude the action.

The letters pages offer some interesting insight into Marvel’s economic and circulation issues as 1974 drew to a close: a Bullpen essay titled ‘War of the Ratings’ reveals that issue 25, ‘The Devil’s Marauder’, sold poorly enough to give the editorial staff pause. ‘Amazing Adventures’ readers are encouraged to write in with their critiques of the series so that the Marvel staff can improve the book and its circulation.

This sort of self-disclosure was quite rare for Marvel books. Unfortunately, the obvious choice for improving the title- increasing the main story's page count back to 20 pages, and hiring more artists to relieve the over-extended staff – seems to have been non-negotiable.

Below are two pages excerpted from the story, depicting some combat between Killraven and his team and the overseers of the Death Breeder facility.

 

Killraven Amazing Adventures No. 36

Killraven: 'Amazing Adventures' No. 36

(May 1976)

The May, 1976 issue of 'Amazing Adventures: Featuring War of the Worlds' (No. 36) is the beginning of the end of the 'War of the Worlds' incarnation of the title. There were only three more installments (i.e., up to issue 39) remaining. The Letters column in this issue indicates that WotW has been on the verge of cancellation for some time, so the writing is on the wall. 

Unfortunately, 'Red Dust Legacy', the story for this issue, must not have done all that much to attract new readers; it's easily one of the more incoherent episodes in the Killraven franchise. 

Don McGregor's plot opens with one of Killraven's ESP hallucinations (which I have excerpted below), before shifting to a veiled introduction of our hero's brother 'Deathraven', followed by  confusing segments involving inter-generational Martian angst; a Martian 'hatchery'; and conflict between Killraven and his follower Carmilla Frost.

As always, the art - layouts by Craig Russell and art by Sonny Trinidad - is very good, but in this issue in particular it's overwhelmed with McGregor's overwrought script. 

In order to accommodate McGregor's plot machinations within the confines of just 17 comic pages, the artists are forced to use too many small panels too crowded with narrative text and speech balloons. It has an overall effect of making the book a chore to read and understand. 

Killraven: 'Amazing Adventures' No. 23 (March 1974)

‘Amazing Adventures’ No. 23 (March 1974) was written by Don McGregor and  illustrated by Herb Trimpe. In this issue, the ‘War of the Worlds’ storyline continues, and the title of this chapter is ‘The Legend Assassins’.

I previously posted an excerpt of this issue taken from the b & w ‘Marvel Essentials: Killraven’ trade paperback, but the excerpt looks much better in full color, as presented here from the original comic. The green-skinned, white-haired chick on the cover is ‘Mint Julep’, a soldier-ess of fortune who threw in with Killraven and his crew on a sporadic basis.

In ‘The Legend Assassins’, Killraven finds himself captured by ‘Rattack’, a mutant human-rat creature who was (prior to the war with the Martians) a secret service agent (!?). In homage to the early 70s thrillers ‘Willard’ (1971) and ‘Ben’ (1972), there is a sequence in which a bound and helpless Killraven serves as a living meal for the little beady-eyed minions of Rattack, which I have posted here.  While nowadays such a setup would draw little oversight, this was rather intense stuff for a Code-approved comic published at the end of 1973.

 

 

 

 

 

Killraven Amazing Adventures No. 31

Killraven: 'Amazing Adventures' No. 31

(July 1975)

 

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‘Amazing Adventures featuring Killraven: Warrior of the Worlds’ No. 31 is dated July 1975 (which means it was on stands at the beginning of June). The cover art is by Craig Russell, who also did the interior art. This issue’s story, ‘The Day the Monuments Shattered’, is written by Don McGregor.

This issue saw the page count rise to 18, but the presence of the extra 3 pages didn’t stop McGregor from cramming every panel with excess verbiage of the most purple kind. This is too bad, because artist Russell works in some cool monster battle imagery, equal to what Herb Trimpe was producing in the first few issues of the series.

This time the monster is some sort of mutant amalgamation of reptile, fish, and octopus, and the whole Killraven crew must team up to bring it down….and to make things worse, Martian lackeys ‘Sacrificer’ and ‘Atalon’ both are on the scene, looking for revenge for Killraven’s destruction of their ‘breeding’ operation….

Despite some uneven plotting by McGregor, this is one of the better issues of 1975 - something necessary to keep the franchise afloat until the end of the year, at least.

Killraven Amazing Adventures No. 34

Killraven: 'Amazing Adventures' No. 34

(January 1976)

Throughout the 70s (and even, arguably, today) Marvel routinely used the 'death' of a main or supporting character to jazz up the covers of titles that needed a boost in their circulation. And so it was that for 'Amazing Adventures' No. 34 (January 1976) some of the supporting cast of Killraven's 'Freemen' were deemed expendable.

This issue features a script by Don McGregor and art by Craig Russell. Unfortunately, as was the case with many issues of the comic around this time, Russell's artwork is smothered by McGregor's overwrought prose. But enough of the art peeks through the verbiage to make this 18-page issue one of the better ones of the mid-70s. 

The Martian's top assassin, Skar, catches Killraven and his crew unawares and quickly deals some major injuries to Old Skull before our hero can react. As the series of pages I've posted below indicates, the ensuing battle is well-choreographed and has the kind of flair reminiscent of European SF comics of the 70s. 

While I won't spoil things by revealing who eventually survives, I will say that the body count is real and there is a downbeat ending to this episode that (hopefully) revived the Killraven franchise in the minds of the comic-buying public as 1975 drew to a close....

Killraven Amazing Adventures No. 37

Killraven: 'Amazing Adventures' No. 37

(July 1976)

‘Amazing Adventures featuring War of the Worlds’ issue No. 37 (July 1976) shows a franchise running out of steam. This episode, written by Don McGregor and illustrated by Craig Russell, is titled ‘Arena Kill’, and reveals the story of Killraven’s faithful companion Old Skull. Old Skull had a troubled childhood (needless to say) and wound up a gladiator in the Arena, fighting for the amusement of the Martian overlords. He and Killraven are teamed up to battle ‘Warr’, who employs a group of mutant spiders to aid him in his Arena contests.

Russell’s artwork is, as ever, quite capable in depicting the battle, but McGregor can’t resist overlaying too many panels with dialogue….and ending a life-or-death combat with a cutesy interlude involving a drunken raccoon....?! Even in the more innocent days of the mid-70s Marvel titles, the cheese is a little too much.

With only two more installments remaining, the Killraven franchise was on its way out the door; the only question was, how great of a sendoff it would receive……. 

Killraven: 'Amazing Adventures' No. 25 (July 1974)

‘Amazing Adventures’ 25 (July, 1974) features Killraven in ‘The Devil’s Marauder’, with script by Don McGregor and art by Rich Buckler, who was replacing Herb Trimpe.

Things start somewhat promisingly, as we are treated to the sight of an escaping slave being executed in rather gruesome fashion by a tripod driven by a villainous individual named Skar. Killraven launches himself at the tripod canopy and a major battle with Skar looms….or so it seems (panels below).

This issue of ‘Amazing Adventures’ is one of the least impressive ones in the Killraven series. It shows too many signs of hasty artwork on Buckler’s part, with poor color separations to boot. As far as the storyline goes, it initially sets up what looks like an exciting confrontation with a genuinely nasty adversary, but instead lapses into a rushed, underwhelming ending, as if McGregor had abruptly discovered that he had only 15 pages this issue, not the historic 20, to work with.

The other material in the book includes a three-page reprint of an old Marvel horror comic reprint, ‘Are You Ready for the Impossible’; a letters page; and several Bullpen pages, on one of which Stan Lee shills for the Marvel ‘Value Stamp’ booklet (50 cents).

All through the last half of 1973 it was clear that Marvel was running into production problems as Lee lavished attention on an ever-increasing line of b & w magazines designed to assuage his envy of James Warren’s publishing success with ‘Creepy’ and ‘Erie’. This meant that Marvel’s color comic output suffered from a lack of resources. Unfortunately, the early months of 1974 made clear that at Marvel, things were going to get worse before they got better….

Killraven: 'Amazing Adventures' No. 20 (September 1973)


This issue introduces a story arc involving The Warlord, a former scientist in the employ of the Martians, who was mutilated by Killraven. Re-equipped with a steel arm, the Warlord is anxious to have revenge on Killraven. Marv Wolfman and Herb Trimpe take over the writing and artistic duties, respectively, and they stay true to the wacky, over-the-top spirit of the book. In the sequence I've excerpted here, Killraven and his homeboy M'Shulla trade wisecracks as they take down a Martian Tripod by the use of underwater-assisted unbalancing (?!).

I've also posted a page showing the Warlord in conversation with one of the Martians. Marvel's depiction of what are supposed to be fear-inducing creatures is underwhelming, as their design of the Martians resembles squat, brown versions of Cousin Itt from the 'Addams Family' cartoons and TV show.

Killraven: Amazing Adventures No. 18

Killraven: 'Amazing Adventures' No. 18 (May 1973)

Through the magic of eBay, I’ve been able to get the Amazing Adventures comics from the early – to – mid 70s that featured ‘Killraven’ and the ‘War of the Worlds’ storyline. I’ll be excerpting selected pages from each issue, No. 18 thru No. 39.

I’ll start things off, naturally enough, with Amazing Adventures No. 18 (May 1973) which introduces the 'War of the Worlds' narrative and the character of Killraven. Gerry Conway wrote the script, and Neal Adams and Howard Chaykin shared the artist duties.

I’m posting some of the pages that depict how the ‘second’ War of the Worlds came about, and led to the Martians' conquest of the early 21^st century Earth…I remember reading these pages while thumbing through the book way back in the spring of 1973 at the 7 - 11 in Elmira Heights, New York. 

'War of the Worlds' had a very downbeat, intense approach when compared to most of the other books on the rack in those Comics Code Authority days.

Killraven: Amazing Adventures No. 27

Killraven: 'Amazing Adventures' No. 27 (November 1974)

The cover for ‘Amazing Adventures’ No. 27 (November 1974) is uncredited but judging by the intricate style of the artwork and the ‘cosmic’ background, it’s probably Jim Starlin (and maybe the illustration was originally designed for an issue of ‘Captain Marvel’ or ‘Warlock’ ?).

‘The Death Breeders’ is scripted by Don McGregor, and Craig Russell provides the artwork.

The book opens with Killraven and company iceboating on Lake Michigan, where they are attacked by giant lampreys (?!). This is less cheesy than it sounds; as the scan’s I’ve posted below indicate, it’s a harrowing battle that sees poor Grok the mutant nearly exsanguinated...

This issue introduces Volcana Ash, a woman with the attributes of Medusa and the Human Torch. She leads the rebels to Milwaukee, where the Martians have set up a colony of human slaves who are treated most heinously. It’s Killraven’s intent to free the wretched slaves, but the Martians have other plans…

This issue is a welcome change from the rather mediocre efforts of the previous several installments of ‘Amazing Adventures’. Russell’s artwork is dynamic and shows attention to detail, and McGregor’s plot provides as much brutality and bloodshed as a Code-approved book could allow in 1974.

The Marvel Bullpen page trumpets the forthcoming hardbound book ‘Origins of Marvel Comics’, as well as a new magazine called ‘Nostalgia Illustrated’ (?!) which seems to have been yet another a spur-of-the-moment effort by Stan Lee to cash in on the nostalgia craze then gripping the popular culture.

Editor Roy Thomas’s essay refers to the staff’s pastimes in that Summer of '74:

“Steve Englehart and Gil Kane were basking languidly by their swimming pools – and maybe sneaking a fast dip or two between deadlines.”