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Amazing Adventures (1970) #18-39
Essential Killraven, Vol. 1
Remember the Martian invasion of 2001? No? Not to worry, some of Marvel's top talents have preserved it for you! Re-live the sequel to H.G. Wells's masterpiece as a sword-wielding slave leads a band of fearless freedom fighters against Earth's alien overlords! Featuring mutants, madmen, metal monsters, and more! Guest-starring (who else?) Spider-Man! Free Earth! Collects Amazing Adventures (Vol. 2) #18-39, Marvel Team-Up #45, Marvel Graphic Novel #7, and Killraven #1 (Marvel Knights).
504 pages, Paperback
First published July 20, 2005
2 people are currently reading
77 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 - 22 of 22 reviews
July 26, 2022
This started out really good but devolved fairly quickly. What began as a coherent "What If" story based on War of the Worlds turned into one of the psychedelic, mind bending comics Marvel was known for in the 70s. (Think Jim Starlin's cosmic stories.)
We also get the 1983 Graphic Novel, which I thought missed a chance to put a definitive end to the prematurely canceled series. Or I suppose you could say not as definitive ending as I would have liked.
Then you also get the Jospeh Michael Linsner One Shot, which was good.
Overall not bad, but I think it could have been much better.
We also get the 1983 Graphic Novel, which I thought missed a chance to put a definitive end to the prematurely canceled series. Or I suppose you could say not as definitive ending as I would have liked.
Then you also get the Jospeh Michael Linsner One Shot, which was good.
Overall not bad, but I think it could have been much better.
June 24, 2017
Before Alan Moore, there was Don McGregor (not sure why Neal Adams is listed as author of this, as his isn't even the first name on the cover, and all he did was draw half of the first issue; most of it was written by Don McGregor and drawn by P. Craig Russell). Unfortunately, Don McGregor was no Alan Moore. Like Moore, he had pretensions of bringing serious writing to pulpy comics; like Moore, he took someone else's creation (in Moore's case, Swamp Thing; in McGregor's case, Killraven) and attempted to transform it into a vehicle for an ambitious and complex narrative; like Moore, he liked folding in serious themes and portentous language. Unlike Moore, he's just not that great at it. I recall liking McGregor's work a lot better thirty or so years ago, but it does not age particularly well. Killraven really isn't much more than a Conanesque musclehead translated into a Wellsian SF landscape, and the plots of individual issues often play on trite ironies (e.g. the fanatic who defends to the death a great treasure: breakfast cereal; the cult that worships the great symbol of consumption: McDonalds, etc). To be fair, the non-McGregor issues are generally terrible, with one about Killraven encountering an underground community of pissed-off African Americans particularly dire, but even the major story-arc as designed by McGregor fails to be more than of passing interest. What strength there is lies more in Russell's delicate line and visual flair than in the stories themselves. The effect of even this is muted (literally) by the inclusion here of the Killraven graphic novel, reproduced in black and white rather than colour--but since the original art was produced in colour, the result is muddy and hard to read grey washes that significantly impair the beauty of Russell's work. I get that the Essentials series is a budget line--hence the black and white reproduction--and I get that, properly speaking, the "essential" Killraven (if there in fact is such a thing) would need to include the graphic novel, but reproducing it in this format does it a grave disservice. Not recommended for any but the most inveterate of Marvel fans or Russell admirers, and I bet the latter camp could find the original issues of this series for pretty reasonable prices.
June 14, 2019
Weird, weird, wild stuff from right in the time I was seriously into Marvel comics. I have a few of the original comics in my personal collection but this is the first time I’ve been able to read the entire series in order. It’s a fascinating blend of SF and superheroes with writing that works hard to tread new ground (for the mid- to late-70s, at least).
June 22, 2020
The story of Killraven began in Amazing Adventures #18 (May 1973) and carried on until issue # 39 of that magazine. Then there was Marvel Graphic Novel # 7 and then… Killraven # 1. This latter pair of stories were doomed attempts to revive the title.
The original idea by Roy Thomas was a good one. After their failure to conquer Earth in 1901, as told by HG Wells, the Martians went off and made themselves immune to all bacteria and tried again in 2001. This time they succeeded and Jonathan Killraven was captured as a child and raised to be a gladiator for the amusement of his big-eyed, tentacled masters. The Martians could enslave humans to serve them, though some served willingly. Killraven broke out of the arena and lived by raiding and piracy without any real purpose except staying alive. Then a Keeper, one of the Martian’s servants, told him how he had been taken as a child and informed him that he is special. Imbued with a sense of destiny, he decides to free Earth.
The strip was drawn by Neal Adams for the first eleven pages and then by Howard Chaykin for the next nine pages of his first adventure and all of the following issue. Adams designed a kinky sort of costume with lots of bare flesh, thigh length boots and a bit of lace over the belly. Herb Trimpe changed it slightly and added a bit of off the shoulder chain mail in Amazing Adventures # 20. Gerry Conway scripted the first two issues, Marv Wolfman the next and they did a good enough job, but the strip really hit its stride when Don McGregor took over in issue # 21.
Cleverly, he immediately gave names to Killraven’s band of freemen and started the process of character interaction. Previously, only M’Shulla had been given due recognition. Now Hawk and Old Skull were bought more fully into the story and other characters followed. The diversity of race, creeds and colours served to emphasise the fact that they were fighting for all humanity. The costume designs continued to be impractical but this looked okay on Mint Julep and Volcana Ash. McGregor’s scripts tend to be verbose and must have made letterers weep. It would be interesting to count the words in Killraven # 28 and compare it to the number in say Captain America # 119, a Stan Lee script with big panels by Gene Colan. It’s the quality that counts, however, and certainly the first part of the ‘Death-Breeder’ episode, ‘The Death Merchants’ in Amazing Adventures # 28 is one of the better stories in comic book history. Reading the issues one after another, McGregor’s wordy narrative begins to get annoying. I found myself pining for a good old Stan Lee caption that said ‘Later’ or ‘Meanwhile’. To be fair, this would not have mattered if you were reading them as they came out, once every month.
McGregor’s scripts were drawn by P.Craig Russell who is very much of the Barry Windsor-Smith school of comic art. Occasionally, especially in Marvel Graphic Novel # 7, his figures are a bit wonky, the heads too big so they look like children but mostly the pictures are well done. Unfortunately, perhaps because the pair each took a long time to do each issue, there are several fill-in stories. The variety is sometimes pleasing when Gene Colan pencils a yarn about cereal killers, sometimes a bit Herb Trimpe not at his best or Keith Pollard not at his. In fairness, I suspect they were rush jobs to fill a deadline.
Some ‘Marvel Essentials’ should be snapped up as soon as they come out because the second-hand price soon exceeds the new price as they become less available. ‘Essential Killraven’ is one of these. I paid about £12.00 for it and it’s now used price is £16.00 on one major internet site. This is a testament to the high esteem in which the series was held by many. Alas, quality didn’t translate into sales, which is why it was discontinued.
Quality almost never translated into sales in the seventies. What was wrong with the audience? Fantastic series like ‘Doctor Strange’, ‘Howard The Duck’ and Kirby’s ‘New Gods’ saga were discontinued for commercial reasons. Now they are rightly prized. Some issues of ‘Killraven’ are definitely classics. Others are a bit duff. You get both here but, overall, this edition is well worth the money.
Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/
The original idea by Roy Thomas was a good one. After their failure to conquer Earth in 1901, as told by HG Wells, the Martians went off and made themselves immune to all bacteria and tried again in 2001. This time they succeeded and Jonathan Killraven was captured as a child and raised to be a gladiator for the amusement of his big-eyed, tentacled masters. The Martians could enslave humans to serve them, though some served willingly. Killraven broke out of the arena and lived by raiding and piracy without any real purpose except staying alive. Then a Keeper, one of the Martian’s servants, told him how he had been taken as a child and informed him that he is special. Imbued with a sense of destiny, he decides to free Earth.
The strip was drawn by Neal Adams for the first eleven pages and then by Howard Chaykin for the next nine pages of his first adventure and all of the following issue. Adams designed a kinky sort of costume with lots of bare flesh, thigh length boots and a bit of lace over the belly. Herb Trimpe changed it slightly and added a bit of off the shoulder chain mail in Amazing Adventures # 20. Gerry Conway scripted the first two issues, Marv Wolfman the next and they did a good enough job, but the strip really hit its stride when Don McGregor took over in issue # 21.
Cleverly, he immediately gave names to Killraven’s band of freemen and started the process of character interaction. Previously, only M’Shulla had been given due recognition. Now Hawk and Old Skull were bought more fully into the story and other characters followed. The diversity of race, creeds and colours served to emphasise the fact that they were fighting for all humanity. The costume designs continued to be impractical but this looked okay on Mint Julep and Volcana Ash. McGregor’s scripts tend to be verbose and must have made letterers weep. It would be interesting to count the words in Killraven # 28 and compare it to the number in say Captain America # 119, a Stan Lee script with big panels by Gene Colan. It’s the quality that counts, however, and certainly the first part of the ‘Death-Breeder’ episode, ‘The Death Merchants’ in Amazing Adventures # 28 is one of the better stories in comic book history. Reading the issues one after another, McGregor’s wordy narrative begins to get annoying. I found myself pining for a good old Stan Lee caption that said ‘Later’ or ‘Meanwhile’. To be fair, this would not have mattered if you were reading them as they came out, once every month.
McGregor’s scripts were drawn by P.Craig Russell who is very much of the Barry Windsor-Smith school of comic art. Occasionally, especially in Marvel Graphic Novel # 7, his figures are a bit wonky, the heads too big so they look like children but mostly the pictures are well done. Unfortunately, perhaps because the pair each took a long time to do each issue, there are several fill-in stories. The variety is sometimes pleasing when Gene Colan pencils a yarn about cereal killers, sometimes a bit Herb Trimpe not at his best or Keith Pollard not at his. In fairness, I suspect they were rush jobs to fill a deadline.
Some ‘Marvel Essentials’ should be snapped up as soon as they come out because the second-hand price soon exceeds the new price as they become less available. ‘Essential Killraven’ is one of these. I paid about £12.00 for it and it’s now used price is £16.00 on one major internet site. This is a testament to the high esteem in which the series was held by many. Alas, quality didn’t translate into sales, which is why it was discontinued.
Quality almost never translated into sales in the seventies. What was wrong with the audience? Fantastic series like ‘Doctor Strange’, ‘Howard The Duck’ and Kirby’s ‘New Gods’ saga were discontinued for commercial reasons. Now they are rightly prized. Some issues of ‘Killraven’ are definitely classics. Others are a bit duff. You get both here but, overall, this edition is well worth the money.
Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/
July 12, 2010
I nearly boke down and cried when I was finished with this book, it was so good. Actually I read about half of it a year ago, and finished the other half recently. It took awhile to get used to the 40-year old style of extremely over-wrought dialogue, but after I did, it was like Conan in the future fighting aliens. Man this would have made a great movie. I read the few reviews on this, and one dude said that the story suffered from lacking a main enemy. But I think the overlords are enemy enough. True, it doesn't really have a main villian, but I thoguht the story was good enough just a ragag group of rebels battling aliens all over a post-apocalyptic America. Sometimes people say stupid things, like "We use to have cows that people could make things called STEAKS from," but overall, the artwork is fucking awesome, the aliens are evil, the chicks are hot and the guys have big muscles. Thumbs way up!
June 26, 2021
This makes a huge leap in quality when Don McGregor signs on for his very 70's style (over) writing and becomes transcendent when Craig Russell assumes the artwork. A couple of strange choices in reproduction in a couple of the last few stories.
March 22, 2018
In the far future Earth of 2018, the Martian invaders rule. Having learned their lesson from their last attempt, this time the Martians immunized themselves against Earth diseases, and neutralized the humans’ nuclear stockpiles before landing. Scattered free humans scrabble for survival in the ruins of their civilization while their alien overlords make over the planet in their own image.
Many of Earth’s scientists were brought over to the Martian side, and became the Keepers. Perhaps the greatest of these was Keeper Whitman, who had created a fine gladiator for the masters. Jonathan Raven had been captured young (and his younger brother Joshua shipped elsewhere) and physically enhanced by Keeper Whitman into a superior combatant. The young man gained the gladiator title Killraven for his skill.
Killraven yearned for freedom, and eventually managed to escape with a small group of allies. Later, they raided the citadel of Keeper Whitman, and Killraven got his revenge on the corrupted scientist. To Killraven’s surprise, Keeper Whitman thanked him for killing him and revealed that Whitman had enhanced Jonathan for the specific purpose of overthrowing the Martians. But he did not reveal the full extent of his experiments.
Now Killraven and his Freemen have a glimpse of a goal–but where to go from here?
This interesting series took concepts from H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds novel and ran in Marvel Comics’ Amazing Adventures from #18 in 1973 to #39 in 1976, with a graphic novel that concluded the main plotline published a bit later. As a low-selling series that could be cancelled at any moment, the creators were free to experiment. Writer Don McGregor and artist P. Craig Russell took full advantage of this, with some innovative storytelling, painterly art and also the first serious interracial kiss in American color comic books.
Early in the series, Killraven learns that his brother Joshua is still alive in what used to be Yellowstone Park, and the Freemen start making their way cross-country to there. Unfortunately, there are no surviving maps, and our heroes get turned around while escaping from Chicago, winding up in Florida.
Thus the graphic novel involves the Martians moving Joshua, now known as Deathraven and somehow some years older than Jonathan, to Cape Canaveral as part of a trap for Killraven.
The series’ connection to the Marvel Universe is tenuous, consisting of one time-travel trip by Spider-Man (later explained as an alternate timeline) and a hallucinatory scenario that may simply have involved a comics fan’s memories.
The art and writing are excellent, particularly in the back half of the series, though the glimpses we see of pre-invasion future America are inconsistent and perhaps poorly thought out. P. Craig Russell does some nifty monsters!
Also amusing is Killraven’s original outfit, which is one of the few male costumes of the period to match the stripperific costumes foisted on female characters. (He quickly switches to a slightly less ludicrous outfit.)
Recommended to fans of Marvel’s less mainstream comics, and to fans of P. Craig Russell. (The black and white reprint does muddy the graphic novel’s art a bit.)
Many of Earth’s scientists were brought over to the Martian side, and became the Keepers. Perhaps the greatest of these was Keeper Whitman, who had created a fine gladiator for the masters. Jonathan Raven had been captured young (and his younger brother Joshua shipped elsewhere) and physically enhanced by Keeper Whitman into a superior combatant. The young man gained the gladiator title Killraven for his skill.
Killraven yearned for freedom, and eventually managed to escape with a small group of allies. Later, they raided the citadel of Keeper Whitman, and Killraven got his revenge on the corrupted scientist. To Killraven’s surprise, Keeper Whitman thanked him for killing him and revealed that Whitman had enhanced Jonathan for the specific purpose of overthrowing the Martians. But he did not reveal the full extent of his experiments.
Now Killraven and his Freemen have a glimpse of a goal–but where to go from here?
This interesting series took concepts from H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds novel and ran in Marvel Comics’ Amazing Adventures from #18 in 1973 to #39 in 1976, with a graphic novel that concluded the main plotline published a bit later. As a low-selling series that could be cancelled at any moment, the creators were free to experiment. Writer Don McGregor and artist P. Craig Russell took full advantage of this, with some innovative storytelling, painterly art and also the first serious interracial kiss in American color comic books.
Early in the series, Killraven learns that his brother Joshua is still alive in what used to be Yellowstone Park, and the Freemen start making their way cross-country to there. Unfortunately, there are no surviving maps, and our heroes get turned around while escaping from Chicago, winding up in Florida.
Thus the graphic novel involves the Martians moving Joshua, now known as Deathraven and somehow some years older than Jonathan, to Cape Canaveral as part of a trap for Killraven.
The series’ connection to the Marvel Universe is tenuous, consisting of one time-travel trip by Spider-Man (later explained as an alternate timeline) and a hallucinatory scenario that may simply have involved a comics fan’s memories.
The art and writing are excellent, particularly in the back half of the series, though the glimpses we see of pre-invasion future America are inconsistent and perhaps poorly thought out. P. Craig Russell does some nifty monsters!
Also amusing is Killraven’s original outfit, which is one of the few male costumes of the period to match the stripperific costumes foisted on female characters. (He quickly switches to a slightly less ludicrous outfit.)
Recommended to fans of Marvel’s less mainstream comics, and to fans of P. Craig Russell. (The black and white reprint does muddy the graphic novel’s art a bit.)
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.
Marvel Team-Up #45 - This one doesn’t really fit anywhere. A time traveling Spider-Man meets Killraven. Like many issue of Marvel Team-Up it’s nothing more than a promotional grab to get readers intrigued with what was happening in Amazing Adventures. Maybe … maybe read it after #33 and before #32 & #34. Maybe.
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.
Killraven #1 -
Marvel 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:
Marvel Masterworks: Killraven, Vol. 1 - archival quality, out of print
Killraven Epic Collection, Vol. 1: Warrior of the Worlds - most recent volume
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.
Marvel Team-Up #45 - This one doesn’t really fit anywhere. A time traveling Spider-Man meets Killraven. Like many issue of Marvel Team-Up it’s nothing more than a promotional grab to get readers intrigued with what was happening in Amazing Adventures. Maybe … maybe read it after #33 and before #32 & #34. Maybe.
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.
Killraven #1 -
Marvel 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:
Marvel Masterworks: Killraven, Vol. 1 - archival quality, out of print
Killraven Epic Collection, Vol. 1: Warrior of the Worlds - most recent volume
February 27, 2022
3.9 stars
I read a majority of this series way back in the early seventies and eighties when they were new comics. I had loved the Killraven character, but times change. This story line is very much a seventies comic. The ideas, the thoughts, the characters of woman's rights, feminism, Black Power, government's control, war, the idea of aliens taking over.
This story takes in the idea that technology is all that we crave and it is making us creatures of habit and entertainment is a electronic drug that makes living not as important as pretending to live in a false world.
The concerns of those times are so different than today: Identity, greed, power, control, a pandemic, Democrat's vs Republicans, voters rights, environment, education . . . everything are reflected in one way or another in this story that supposedly takes place in the year 2020.
It is strange that Macgregor got a lot right about what the future would be and a lot wrong based on science fiction stories from that era.
This is also of its time. The descriptions, the almost acid-induced psychedelic storytelling is from a different place and time. It takes much longer to read these stories than the short, art heavy comics of today. They take time to understand where the thinking is going,. (Think more novel than quick page turning comic action.)
I liked this book. I realize that I was a different person way back in the early seventies and I am glad I revisited this story. It isn't going to be for everyone, but if you want a walk down memory lane, or if you are young and want to get a feel for the world around the time of our bicentennial here in the USA, this might bring you some interesting things of note.
I am glad I read it again.
I read a majority of this series way back in the early seventies and eighties when they were new comics. I had loved the Killraven character, but times change. This story line is very much a seventies comic. The ideas, the thoughts, the characters of woman's rights, feminism, Black Power, government's control, war, the idea of aliens taking over.
This story takes in the idea that technology is all that we crave and it is making us creatures of habit and entertainment is a electronic drug that makes living not as important as pretending to live in a false world.
The concerns of those times are so different than today: Identity, greed, power, control, a pandemic, Democrat's vs Republicans, voters rights, environment, education . . . everything are reflected in one way or another in this story that supposedly takes place in the year 2020.
It is strange that Macgregor got a lot right about what the future would be and a lot wrong based on science fiction stories from that era.
This is also of its time. The descriptions, the almost acid-induced psychedelic storytelling is from a different place and time. It takes much longer to read these stories than the short, art heavy comics of today. They take time to understand where the thinking is going,. (Think more novel than quick page turning comic action.)
I liked this book. I realize that I was a different person way back in the early seventies and I am glad I revisited this story. It isn't going to be for everyone, but if you want a walk down memory lane, or if you are young and want to get a feel for the world around the time of our bicentennial here in the USA, this might bring you some interesting things of note.
I am glad I read it again.
November 4, 2019
This was just so grating. I can't tell you exactly why.
Maybe it was because the connection to the War of the Worlds was so attenuated and stupid. This was just, like, Kammandi or whatever.
Also "mudblood." Ridiculous.
Maybe it was because the connection to the War of the Worlds was so attenuated and stupid. This was just, like, Kammandi or whatever.
Also "mudblood." Ridiculous.
January 12, 2020
This started super strong but suffered a bit from rotating creative teams. The story was a also rather standard sci if fare from the 70’s.
April 22, 2009
Reprints Amazing Adventures #18-39, Marvel Team-Up #45, Marvel Graphic Novel #7, and Killraven #1. Killraven escapes Martian custody and begins his war against the Martians with his Freemen. I wanted to like this collection more than I did. I love the ideas behind Killraven (the War of the Worlds occurred on Earth but the Martians returned around 2001 immune to the diseases that killed them the first time), but the writing is very spotty. The characters seem detatched and don't seem to have much consistancy to their behavior. The storyline seemed to have a beginning and end planned but kept going off on tangents that added nothing or seemed out of context of anything that occurred before. The entire book also suffers from a great "lack of villain". The Martians worked part of the time but Marvel had a tough time coming up with someone for Killraven to actually fight.
April 10, 2015
I was always struck by the concept of this book. A never-to-end sequel to H. G. Wells' famous novel featuring a Conan-esque warrior is probably something that can only happen in comics. The stories here are lot of fun and sometimes poignant, if a little uneven. The best, of course, are the Doug McGregor/P. Craig Russell collaborations, wherein the two really reach past the boundaries of Roy Thomas' initial concept and defy readers' expectations. I loved seeing Russell's art evolve from a perfectly fine comic book hero style into a style wholly his own. Joseph Michael Linsner's tale at the end gives a good counterpoint to Killraven's warrior's view of the world.
October 21, 2011
I got this because I remembered fondly reading one of the first issus of this way back when I was a teenager. The concept, of a second invasion and conquest by the Martians, followed by an underground rebellion of humans lead by the gladiator Killraven, was a great one.
Unfortunately, I didn't see that the promise was fulfilled in the collected run, and I have to admit to being disapointed. The first issues were fun, but later I thought the work kind of lost it's focus and, frankly, I had a hard time enjoying some the story lines.
Others might feel differently of course.
Unfortunately, I didn't see that the promise was fulfilled in the collected run, and I have to admit to being disapointed. The first issues were fun, but later I thought the work kind of lost it's focus and, frankly, I had a hard time enjoying some the story lines.
Others might feel differently of course.
July 3, 2013
Pura fantascienza distopica anni 70.
Purtroppo l'altalena di disegnatori, e, in forma minore, scrittori, si sente. Accanto ad episodi molto interessanti ve ne sono altri scritti davvero male; allo stesso modo tavole magnifiche di gente come P.Craig Russel si alternano a pessimi lavori di H. Trimpe.
Peccato, perchè la saga di Johnatan Killraven avrebbe meritato uno sviluppo più omogeneo, almeno graficamente.
Purtroppo l'altalena di disegnatori, e, in forma minore, scrittori, si sente. Accanto ad episodi molto interessanti ve ne sono altri scritti davvero male; allo stesso modo tavole magnifiche di gente come P.Craig Russel si alternano a pessimi lavori di H. Trimpe.
Peccato, perchè la saga di Johnatan Killraven avrebbe meritato uno sviluppo più omogeneo, almeno graficamente.
February 3, 2013
Not by Roy Thomas. Only issue one was by Roy Thomas. Actual authorship belongs to Dan McGreggor who took the concept of a band of rebels defying a successful martian invasion a la H.G. Wells and made a sprawling post-apocalyptic road adventure that moves through MILWAUKEE in one issue.
October 8, 2013
Hats off to Marvel trying something different. Unfortunately MaGregor poetic dialogue quite frankly sucked, Neil Gaimen he is not. Artwork so, so, in the end I just wanted this volume to finish and move on to something different.
August 4, 2009
Has some spectacular art (Neal Adams, Howard Chaykin, Gene Colan, P. Craig Russell, to name most of them) but a real lackluster story.
Want to read
November 17, 2009This character sets off the ol' Gaydar like no other superhero/villian ever has.
December 4, 2013
Just because I like this doesn't mean it's good.
Killraven wears something he calls a weapons harness, but it looks like a Borat to me.
Killraven wears something he calls a weapons harness, but it looks like a Borat to me.
December 30, 2013
Except for the hot pants, really inventive fun. Roy Thomas rules!
February 15, 2016
A different telling of the War Of The Worlds. I read these as they originally came out and they are great comic SiFI. Recommended
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