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Marvel Masterworks #265
Marvel Masterworks: Killraven, Vol. 1
It is the year 2018. The Martian invasion of Earth has left our world shattered and its population enslaved. Into this post-apocalyptic nightmare comes Killraven, a man obsessed with his mission - to free Earth! Don McGregor and P. Craig Russell took on Killraven's quest, and together they crafted some of the most compelling and nuanced comic-art masterpieces of the era. Their hero and his band of Freemen rebels strive, grow, battle and love with a humanity that's as touching as it is exciting. And now, the complete Killraven sci-fi action opus is collected in this incomparable Marvel Masterworks - beautifully restored and featuring an amazing selection of behind-the-scenes material! COLLECTING: AMAZING ADVENTURES (1970) 18-39, MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL (1982) 7
456 pages, Hardcover
First published October 2, 2018
14 people are currently reading
52 people want to read
About the author
Don McGregor
370 books14 followersDonald Francis McGregor is an American comic book writer best known for his work for Marvel Comics, and the author of one of their first graphic novels.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 12 reviews
September 6, 2018
Marvel has several possible futures for their universe (X-men future past, Deathlok, The Badoon invasion), and Killraven's was one of the odder. Basically what if H.G. Wells "War of the Worlds" succeeded. Nice alternate storyline. and good art make this a nice different read
December 9, 2025
Wild and bizarre, a bit too out-there and I had trouble following the plot or the point each issue. We're told these guys are humanities last chance at survival, but they just seem to walk across the country without much of a goal in mind.
P. Craig Russell's artwork is fantastic, must have been the best looking comic on the shelves when it was coming out.
P. Craig Russell's artwork is fantastic, must have been the best looking comic on the shelves when it was coming out.
April 8, 2021
Lo dejo poco antes de llegar a la página 300 por ilegible. De hecho me sorprende haber llegado hasta aquí después de lo que me ha costado avanzar. Simpatizo con los intentos de McGregor por hacer un grupo de inadaptados variopinto (diverso, se diría hoy) y enfrentarlos a un enemigo hegemónico, que ha convertido cada escenario de un viaje por EE.UU. en una distopía de lo más marciana (jarl, guiño, guiño). El rollo es que los textos de apoyo se han quedado ilegibles, los diálogos farragosos y los dibujos tan acartonados como podía Herb Trimpe en sus mejores momentos (que deben ser estos). La cosa mejora un poco cuando llega Russell. Mola ver cómo evoluciona número a número, especialmente en los dos o tres que puede entintarse a sí mismo, pero el tebeo no pasa de uno de mirar... y tampoco demasiado porque las ilustraciones quedan arrinconadas, cuando no aplastadas, por el guión pesado y vetusto. No he hecho el esfuerzo ni de releer la novela gráfica que hicieron varios años después de terminar la serie. Prefiero quedarme con el buen recuerdo que tengo de ella de cuando era adolescente.
April 16, 2021
I read (and re-read and re-read and re-read) a Killraven comic as a kid and enjoyed it so much that I considered myself a fan. It's a sequel to War of the Worlds, but possibly set in the Marvel Universe. Some dream-versions of Marvel characters appear in my childhood issue, though they could be either memories of actual people in that universe or simply the product of a comics fan's imagination. As a kid, I read them as memories of real people, but now, in context with the rest of the series, I'm not so sure.
That's just one of many disappointments in this collection. It turns out that my childhood comic was a fill-in issue by Bill Mantlo and Keith Giffen. It featured the title, post-apocalyptic gladiator on a solo scouting mission, so I didn't know anything about his supporting cast or the regular team of creators shepherding most of his adventures.
After a couple of issues by Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway, then one by Marv Wolfman and Herb Trimpe, Don McGregor took over the writing. Trimpe stayed on a few more issues before Rich Buckler, Gene Colan, and finally P Craig Russell pitched in on drawing. Russell stayed with it and he and McGregor are the creators most associated with the series.
Russell's work is beautiful (especially his landscapes, but he also brings a classic, mythical look to the characters). But while I appreciate McGregor's diverse cast and social commentary (the series features the first interracial kiss in a Marvel or DC comic) and even the fact that he was experimenting with narrative styles, his prose and dialogue were ultimately super frustrating for me.
At the best of times, his characters talk with circular, nonsense logic; ranting and arguing without ever having a point. But then McGregor will make an issue even more challenging by presenting it almost entirely with narrative text or poetry instead of dialogue. It's a trippy kind of '70s science fiction that I've never enjoyed. By the end of the collection, I was skimming the words to pick up big plot points while mostly just looking at Russell's art.
That's just one of many disappointments in this collection. It turns out that my childhood comic was a fill-in issue by Bill Mantlo and Keith Giffen. It featured the title, post-apocalyptic gladiator on a solo scouting mission, so I didn't know anything about his supporting cast or the regular team of creators shepherding most of his adventures.
After a couple of issues by Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway, then one by Marv Wolfman and Herb Trimpe, Don McGregor took over the writing. Trimpe stayed on a few more issues before Rich Buckler, Gene Colan, and finally P Craig Russell pitched in on drawing. Russell stayed with it and he and McGregor are the creators most associated with the series.
Russell's work is beautiful (especially his landscapes, but he also brings a classic, mythical look to the characters). But while I appreciate McGregor's diverse cast and social commentary (the series features the first interracial kiss in a Marvel or DC comic) and even the fact that he was experimenting with narrative styles, his prose and dialogue were ultimately super frustrating for me.
At the best of times, his characters talk with circular, nonsense logic; ranting and arguing without ever having a point. But then McGregor will make an issue even more challenging by presenting it almost entirely with narrative text or poetry instead of dialogue. It's a trippy kind of '70s science fiction that I've never enjoyed. By the end of the collection, I was skimming the words to pick up big plot points while mostly just looking at Russell's art.
December 31, 2020
Since Killraven first appeared in May 1973 AMAZING ADVENTURES #18 in the lead story titled WAR OF THE WORLDS, fans have been clamoring and fairly DEMANDING that the series find its way back into the world in a collected edition. And those demands were finally answered in the summer of 2018 as MARVEL MASTERWORKS #265 hit the stands. With the amazing artistic flair of P. Craig Russell and the evocative and exciting words provided by a young Don McGregor that created this fantastical world, this is what comic collecting is all about!!! Heck...the forward alone...written by that self-same McGregor - older but much greater - is worth the price of the book.
December 26, 2023
Amazing Adventures #18-19 - The original legendary creators of this series, Gerry Conway, Neal Adams & Howard Chaykin, are not the ones who gave it legs and made it a cult classic of 1970s Marvel. This twisted dystopian American nightmare was developed from the premise of What if the Martians tried to invade earth a second time, a hundred years later - and they succeeded? but what makes it work so well, at least for me, is a lot of what makes Jack Kirby's Kamandi Omnibus work so well for me, and it’s kind of hard for me to articulate. I love post-apocalypse dystopian settings, but only when they ignore certain tropes and clichés and stick to more adventurous narratives. And this one does just that. These open issues are good, but it’s not quite there yet. It takes a few issues and creative changes to make it really work for me.
Amazing Adventures #20 - The 3rd issue sees a lot of changes, some for the good, some not so much. Herb Trimpe comes onboard as the regular artist and Marv Wolfman, years before either The New Teen Titans, Vol. 1 or Crisis on Infinite Earths, provides the story for this issue. Trimpe isn’t my favorite artist, but Wolfman’s approach makes a lot of it work that might otherwise not have come across as well.
Amazing Adventures #21-24 - Don McGregor as the new regular writer things start to really come together. McGregor and Trimpe introduce many new characters, fleshing out the growing band of freedom fighters lead by Killraven.
Amazing Adventures #25 - Rich Buckler fills in for an issue. While it’s not one of the better issues of the series, it’s still entertaining.
Amazing Adventures #26 - Gene Colan is our guest artist this time, and his take on the characters is very different.
Amazing Adventures #27-32 - For me, this is when the series REALLY started getting good. McGregor was already doing an excellent job of keeping things moving, building characters and relationships, all it needed was the right artist. Enter P. Craig Russell. His style almost immediately revolutionized how the story was paced and how it unfolded. More new character. Exciting new twists. Purposes and motivations continue and evolve. And the art improves issue by issue. Unfortunately, the dreaded deadline doom necessitated a fill issue, but Russell provided some framing sequence art for it that really helped mitigate the lack of a full story.
Amazing Adventures #33 - Was our first (of a couple) actually fill in artists during Russell’s run. We do get Trimpe back, but Bill Mantlo didn’t quite grasp the characters and the overall plot. So it honestly feels very misplaced and out of contextual chronology. I’d actually suggest reading it between the previous two issues, #31 & #32. It’s fits slightly better there. Slightly.
Amazing Adventures #34 - McGregor and Russell are back with an extremely emotional and tragic story that permanently alters the trajectory of the series. Something that I think they had been working toward for awhile.
Amazing Adventures #35-37 - The first of these issues feels a bit like a fill-in issue, but Russell is involved, so even though it’s kind of a sidestep in the larger narrative, it’s does work contextually. The last two give us readers some more cathartic moments and the backstory on Old Skull. Some nice humor too.
Amazing Adventures #38 - Another fill-in issue. Mantlo returns as does Keith Giffen, who had worked on #35. But again, this one feels terribly incongruous with the surrounding issue. It’s a nice story, but I think it works better AFTER #39 and before the big finale in Marvel Graphic Novel #7.
Amazing Adventures #39 - The final issue of the regular series. With McGregor and Russell in top form. Lovely issue and compelling narrative for a series titled War of the Worlds.
Marvel Graphic Novel #7 Killraven: Warrior of the Worlds - I’ve read this several times already, it’s the epic finale for the Killraven narrative from Amazing Adventures #18-39. P. Craig Russell does an absolutely brilliant performance on the art. Truly gorgeous and spectacular. Killraven and the Freemen never looked this good.
Marvel had three dystopian futures running more of less concurrently, this one, the Deathlok stories in Astonishing Tales and the epic of the original Guardians of the Galaxy. All were good, but Killraven was my favorite.
Most of these Killraven issues are also included in the following:
Essential Killraven, Vol. 1 - everything is printed in black & white, out of print
Killraven Epic Collection, Vol. 1: Warrior of the Worlds - most recent collection
Amazing Adventures #20 - The 3rd issue sees a lot of changes, some for the good, some not so much. Herb Trimpe comes onboard as the regular artist and Marv Wolfman, years before either The New Teen Titans, Vol. 1 or Crisis on Infinite Earths, provides the story for this issue. Trimpe isn’t my favorite artist, but Wolfman’s approach makes a lot of it work that might otherwise not have come across as well.
Amazing Adventures #21-24 - Don McGregor as the new regular writer things start to really come together. McGregor and Trimpe introduce many new characters, fleshing out the growing band of freedom fighters lead by Killraven.
Amazing Adventures #25 - Rich Buckler fills in for an issue. While it’s not one of the better issues of the series, it’s still entertaining.
Amazing Adventures #26 - Gene Colan is our guest artist this time, and his take on the characters is very different.
Amazing Adventures #27-32 - For me, this is when the series REALLY started getting good. McGregor was already doing an excellent job of keeping things moving, building characters and relationships, all it needed was the right artist. Enter P. Craig Russell. His style almost immediately revolutionized how the story was paced and how it unfolded. More new character. Exciting new twists. Purposes and motivations continue and evolve. And the art improves issue by issue. Unfortunately, the dreaded deadline doom necessitated a fill issue, but Russell provided some framing sequence art for it that really helped mitigate the lack of a full story.
Amazing Adventures #33 - Was our first (of a couple) actually fill in artists during Russell’s run. We do get Trimpe back, but Bill Mantlo didn’t quite grasp the characters and the overall plot. So it honestly feels very misplaced and out of contextual chronology. I’d actually suggest reading it between the previous two issues, #31 & #32. It’s fits slightly better there. Slightly.
Amazing Adventures #34 - McGregor and Russell are back with an extremely emotional and tragic story that permanently alters the trajectory of the series. Something that I think they had been working toward for awhile.
Amazing Adventures #35-37 - The first of these issues feels a bit like a fill-in issue, but Russell is involved, so even though it’s kind of a sidestep in the larger narrative, it’s does work contextually. The last two give us readers some more cathartic moments and the backstory on Old Skull. Some nice humor too.
Amazing Adventures #38 - Another fill-in issue. Mantlo returns as does Keith Giffen, who had worked on #35. But again, this one feels terribly incongruous with the surrounding issue. It’s a nice story, but I think it works better AFTER #39 and before the big finale in Marvel Graphic Novel #7.
Amazing Adventures #39 - The final issue of the regular series. With McGregor and Russell in top form. Lovely issue and compelling narrative for a series titled War of the Worlds.
Marvel Graphic Novel #7 Killraven: Warrior of the Worlds - I’ve read this several times already, it’s the epic finale for the Killraven narrative from Amazing Adventures #18-39. P. Craig Russell does an absolutely brilliant performance on the art. Truly gorgeous and spectacular. Killraven and the Freemen never looked this good.
Marvel had three dystopian futures running more of less concurrently, this one, the Deathlok stories in Astonishing Tales and the epic of the original Guardians of the Galaxy. All were good, but Killraven was my favorite.
Most of these Killraven issues are also included in the following:
Essential Killraven, Vol. 1 - everything is printed in black & white, out of print
Killraven Epic Collection, Vol. 1: Warrior of the Worlds - most recent collection
September 11, 2022
Taken on the merits of the art alone, this is an amazing book with art from Neal Adams, Howard Chaykin, Herb Trimpe, and P Craig Russell. As far as I know, this is the first Marvel work that Russell ever did. It shows in that over the course of just a few issues, you can see his style noticeably improve. Kind of reminds me of the progress made by Barry Windsor-Smith while drawing Conan. He went from the least paid fledgling artist, to one of the most sought-after in the industry. To me Russell's style looks a lot like John Byrne's early work. With very thin lines and a lot of detail. It's really nice. And in later issues, he experiments in the art as much as the writer experiments with the style. The last issues in the series look like 70's French comic art. Very psychedelic.
Now this brings me to the problem with this book: the writing. Don McGregor pulled out all the stops on his first major assignment for Marvel. He wanted to make an impact and he probably had very strong reactions from readers. The stories may or may not be good. I say this because it's very difficult to read. Had this been a prose novel, it would probably work. But it's so dense and wordy, that it's a chore to read. And that's too bad, because it could have been much better.
Now this brings me to the problem with this book: the writing. Don McGregor pulled out all the stops on his first major assignment for Marvel. He wanted to make an impact and he probably had very strong reactions from readers. The stories may or may not be good. I say this because it's very difficult to read. Had this been a prose novel, it would probably work. But it's so dense and wordy, that it's a chore to read. And that's too bad, because it could have been much better.
March 25, 2023
Fun fun of 1970s comics
As with many early 1970s Marvel comics, this series has a rotating roster of writers and artists. Luckily after two issues by Gerry Conway and one by Marc Wolfman, Don McGregor came on board. Immediately with his first issue the characters gained distinctive voices and personalities. The plots and storytelling also got wilder yet more grounded in a way.
The artists also changed a bit through many issues with many talents before Herb Trimpe began a multi issue run sometimes being mishandled by inkers. The true apex is when P. Craig Russell joined bringing the title to new artistic heights. There are also a few fill in issues by Bill Mantlo that show the pressures on McGregor and Russe!l providing their high octane output.
As a Masterworks that contain the entire run of Killraven and the concluding 1983 graphic novel, this is a fun and quirky read that would have a wider audience than it does.
As with many early 1970s Marvel comics, this series has a rotating roster of writers and artists. Luckily after two issues by Gerry Conway and one by Marc Wolfman, Don McGregor came on board. Immediately with his first issue the characters gained distinctive voices and personalities. The plots and storytelling also got wilder yet more grounded in a way.
The artists also changed a bit through many issues with many talents before Herb Trimpe began a multi issue run sometimes being mishandled by inkers. The true apex is when P. Craig Russell joined bringing the title to new artistic heights. There are also a few fill in issues by Bill Mantlo that show the pressures on McGregor and Russe!l providing their high octane output.
As a Masterworks that contain the entire run of Killraven and the concluding 1983 graphic novel, this is a fun and quirky read that would have a wider audience than it does.
August 1, 2020
Fun adventure series.
February 6, 2019
I only read issues 18 - 21, but man was it a wild ride. Toxic masculinity, unbridled narcissism, vague to overt racist overtones, costumes that would make Lady Gaga proud, a gross over-estimation of the technological advancements between 1970 and 2018, this hot mess of a comic has everything. If you love watching car crashes, terrible acting, and assholes killing giant monsters with even gianter swords, you will love this. I laughed so hard I cried and could barely breathe for five minutes straight. I'm fairly certain that wasn't the original intent, but I still loved every stupid minute of it.
November 11, 2020
A bit pretentious and a bit clunky but imaginative with fun characters. All in all a worthwhile read.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 12 reviews