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. 19 (July 1973)

‘Amazing Adventures’ No.19 (July 1973) is the second installment of the ‘War of the Worlds’ narrative. This issue’s story is the ‘Sirens of 7^th Avenue’ by Gerry Conway, with art by Howard Chaykin. Chaykin’s art still has a rushed quality (he was assigned to the book with short notice – not an unusual occurrence for the Marvel staff during the 70s) but he manages to draw the Sirens with a sufficiently groovy, early 70’s fashion-rich detail.

Unfortunately for the Sirens- Earth women genetically engineered to manipulate rogue males into ready submission to their Martian overlords – Killraven is immune to their charms. So a squadron of mutants, including what seems to be a canine-human cross, is let loose with orders to rend him limb from limb.

With this issue the frenetic pacing that marked the series becomes more prominent. Within the span of just twenty pages there are battle with a monster lizard, a Martian Tripod, and a Super-Mutant all within the ruins of what used to be New York City.

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' in Amazing Adventures No. 23: 'The Legend Assassins'

I remember seeing ‘Amazing Adventures’ No. 18, featuring Killraven and the War of the Worlds, on the shelf with the other comics at the 7-11 store in Elmira Heights, New York, in 1973.

After looking through it I thought it was an interesting comic, set in a near-future Earth devastated by a successful second invasion of the Martians from the H. G. Wells novel. The opening issue featured the ruins of New York City, mutants, monsters, high-tech weaponry, and an offbeat hero in Killraven. But I didn’t have enough extra cash to purchase it (even though 20 cents seems like a paltry sum nowadays, back then it was a lot of money in terms of allowance; this was when a Fudgesicle cost only 5 cents, and a gallon of gas less than 50 cents). So I wound up buying a copy of Jack Kirby’s ‘The Demon’, and a copy of ‘Conan’.

Fortunately Marvel has released all the first generation Killraven stories in one of its omnibus b & w ‘Essentials’ formats. At more than 800 pages in length, ‘Killraven Vol. 1’ gives you the Amazing Adventures’ run of ‘War of the Worlds’ from issues 18 to 39. There’s also issue #45 of ‘Marvel Team Up’ featuring Killraven and Spider Man (?!) and two one-shot Killraven issues from the 80s.

The Killraven stories are derived from many pop-culture idioms of the early 70s, with perhaps ‘Beneath the Planet of the Apes’ serving as one of the more central idioms. Each issue has the sort of frantic, if unsophisticated, energy that defined superhero comics in the early to mid 70s.

Amazing Adventures No. 23 is a gem in this regard. The story features a mutated, former Secret Service agent (!) named ‘Rattack (!) who lives in the tunnels beneath the ruins of the White House. Borrowing heavily from the film ‘Willard’, already a sci-fi landmark in the early 70s, the plot sees the bucktoothed Rattack and his furry rodent friends commissioned to eliminate Killraven in gruesome fashion (particularly for a Code-approved comic !). I’ve tried to scan a couple of the more gripping pages without breaking open the spine of my yellowing copy of the book (my Canon 4400F scanner lacks a beveled edge best used for scanning bound books).

I won’t spoil the story by posting the finale of the story, but these pages make for great art by Herb Trimpe, arguably the best of the Jack Kirby-inspired artists on Marvel’s staff at the time.