Killraven Epic Collection, Vol. 1: Warrior of the Worlds

Killraven Epic Collection #1

by Don McGregor, P. Craig Russell (Illustrator), Marvel Various (Writer)

It is the year 2018. The Martian invasion of Earth has left our planet shattered and humankind enslaved. In this post-apocalyptic nightmare rises Killraven, a man obsessed, a hero with a singular mission — free Earth! Writer Don McGregor and artist P. Craig Russell took on Killraven’s mission, and together they crafted one of the most compelling, nuanced comic art masterworks of 1970s. Killraven and his band of Freemen rebels strive, battle and love with a humanity utterly exciting and uniquely touching. The complete Killraven sci-fi action opus is collected in this incomparable Epic Collection. Each page has been beautifully restored, including the saga’s graphic novel conclusion.

COLLECTING: Amazing Adventures (1970) 18-39, Marvel Graphic Novel (1982) 7, Marvel Team-Up (1972) 45

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Adventure, Comic Book

504 pages, Paperback

Published October 5, 2021

About the author

Donald 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.

Reviews

[Little Timmy]

SiFi in the 1970s was ...well different and the SiFi in the comics was it's own brand of special. Enjoyable read that took me back to those early days of my comic collecting. Recommended

[Steve]

If you weren't a comic book fan in the 70s, it might be a little confusing. Killraven was initially a character in a series called War of the Worlds, then it was changed to Killraven for a while, figuring they might sell more comics with a name like that, but then it was changed back to War of the Worlds until it was cancelled. It ran in a comic book called Amazing Adventures, which had low sales when it housed the Inhumans and the Black Widow for 8 issues, then just the Inhumans for 2, then the Beast for 7 before the War of the Worlds thing, which ran from issue 18 to 29. Several years later, there was a Killraven graphic novel.

The first three issues of War of the Worlds were fairly standard comic book sci-fi, with breathless adventuring going on amidst virtually no character development outside of the idea that Killraven led a band of rebels against the Martians of H.G. Wells novels who had returned to Earth in 2001, freshly inoculated against every possible microbe so they didn't die out. (The series takes place in the years 2018 and 2019, ending in January 2020 for the graphic novel, which leads me to wonder if the coronavirus might have taken care of things if there had been another couple months of story.)

Then Don McGregor, one of my all-time favorite comic book writers, took over the writing, and he slowly changed the focus to the point where the spaces between the battles were almost more important than the action sequences. After a few issues drawn by Herb Trimpe (an always welcome presence) and one by Gene Colan (another fave, but he didn't quite work here), McGregor's perfect artist partner Craig Russell came along. Now, instead of breathless adventuring, it was breathtaking beauty mixed with horror, it was tiny character moments set against ironic commentary about consumerism, it was a sense of real danger and loss in between moments of triumph that never felt heroic.

Alas, Russell was a very slow artist, especially as he wanted to ink and color his own work. Even on a bimonthly schedule, there were several issues where other artists had to help out, there were two fill-in stories written by Bill Mantlo and drawn by Trimpe and Keith Giffen, respectively, there was a reprint issue of a story only a little more than a year old. The nature of comic book publishing at the time meant that everything had to be punctual, and this brilliant creative team was not allowed to reach its full potential because it couldn't keep to a schedule.

But the stories we do have, very much including the powerful climactic graphic novel, stand up. I haven't read these in more than 45 years, but they are even better than I remembered. And the characters - I miss Killraven, Old Skull, M'Shulla, and Carmilla already! (Grok and Hawk, we hardly knew ye!) The best of these - virtually every issue McGregor and Russell did together - hold up with the best comics I ever read. Of course, you have to read the whole thing to get the full effect of the greatest ones, so that makes this book collecting every original Killraven appearance - including a terrible team-up with Spider-Man - a bit spotty.

[Shannon Appelcline]

Killraven really doesn't have the best start. It's initially just a constant stream of captures, escapes, and fights. Mix in the ruins of the United States and it feels like an off-brand Kamandi (minus the anthropomorphism, mostly).

But about halfway through, it suddenly becomes thoughtful science fiction. It's like McGregor was given free reign and so suddenly we have thoughtful looks at the Martians, their degeneration of Earthly society, and the weird mutants we've created.

None of it is particularly fast, none of it feels more than episodic, but the last half at least is an interesting read!

[Daniel Santos]

Envelheceu mal essa série, começa como algo baseado na obra de HG Wells e termina de maneira melancolica como um sci fi retro futurista onde o protagonista parece cafona e verborrágico.
ler essa obra em 2026 é como tentar entreter um milenial com um filme mudo ou seja improvável ser divertido
Killraven é destemido, foi treinado para a luta, mas é confuso e impetuoso talvez até ingenuo a ponto de acreditar que poderia sozinho reverter uma guerra perdida para os marcianos.

[Steven Latour]

An excellent Bronze-Age series that was an early representative of the modern post-apocalyptic genre. I cannot help but think that this comic was part of inspiration behind “Thundarr the Barbarian”. The tales of Killraven, M’Shulla, Carmilla Frost and Old Skull are still as good to read today as they were in the 70’s, if you have a taste for that kind of lurid prose with some satire and mind-bending stream-of-conciousness thrown in, which I most definitely do.

[Robert]

Completely lost me with the subterranean tribe of jive-talking black people ruled by a king dressed like a 1970s street pimp. And that was after the baby-eating stuff. But before the gratuitous issue with Spider-man, presumably in an attempt to boost sales.

[Rick]

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 opening 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 in a lot of ways that might otherwise not have come across as well.

Amazing Adventures #21-24 - Don McGregor arrives as the new regular writer and 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 characters. 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) actual 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 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 (both are out of print):
Marvel Masterworks: Killraven, Vol. 1 - archival quality
Essential Killraven, Vol. 1 - everything is printed in black & white

[Fraser Sherman]

Like a lot of 1970s stuff, the War of the Worlds series varies wildly in tone and direction so my 2.5 stars is an averaging.
The premise: H.G. Wells' Martians attack again at the end of the last century, having immunized themselves against Earthly bacteria. By 2017 they're masters of the world. Enter John Raven, AKA Killraven, former gladiator in the Martians' arena, now leader of the resistance.
The early stories in the series are sometimes trite, sometimes good pulpish fun. They pick up after Don McGregor takes over as writer, but as the series goes along he seems increasingly content just to have Killraven's band wander aimlessly and encounter weird shit. There's also constant finger-wagging about how the then-future of the 1990s has gotten all lazy and obsessed with entertainment and advertising and easy prey for the Martians —I think McGregor was trying to make a point, but it didn't take.
This also includes a 1983 graphic novel wrapping up the story in uninspired style.

[Richard Gombert]

Great to re-read these comics.

[Gary Fortuin]

Hands down some of the best comics I’ve ever read. Great art and writing. I’m so glad i randomly came across this at my local library.

[Mariano]

- Sequel to War of The Worlds by H.G.Wells. This is the "let's create stuff based on existing stuff": Conan, Tomb of Dracula, Werewolf by Night, etc, so it makes sense! Although this was pitched in 71 and took two years to see the light.

- Strong start! Right into the action with Neal Adams + Howard Chaykin (his Marvel debut?).
After that, things get hard. Different writers and artists come and go and things go nowhere. Until Don McGregor comes on board with (P) Craig Russell (maybe also a Marvel debut?)

- Good old McGregor and his heavy prose. This is a DENSE read. If you never read anything by 70s Don, approach this carefully! Characters don't talk or interact like human beings, it's more like a Shakespeare play. This isn't a binge-read! Works best read at a one or two issues per day rate.

- Eventually, the story revolves around getting to Yellowstone through a "let's see how places from the U.S. look like in this new world" gimmick. So each issue we get a new place with weird stuff happening there.

- The star here is Craig Russell's art. Astonishing. It sometimes has a Phillipe Druillet vibe that works perfectly with the book's tone. Cool page designs, cool monsters, everything you want is there. Sadly, we have a gazillion lines of text covering it.

- Looks like sales were not working well. They changed the title from "War of the Worlds" to "Killraven" and then back again a couple of issues before cancellation.

- We also get one of Keith Giffen's first works! No, it doesn't look like Giffen at all.

- The Marvel Graphic Novel that finished the story after Amazing Adventure's cancellation is pretty good. Craig Russell's art is out of this world (pun intended) and McGregor's characters actually sound like human beings, so it reads a lot easier.

- Overall, I wanted to like it more than I did. It has great ideas but it's a tough read. Although by the end you grow fond of the characters, so now I kind of want more stories with them. Guess I'll have to track down the 2007 miniseries by Alan Davis. 3/5

[Printable Tire]

There's a bunch of authors listed on here but other than the concept originating from Roy Thomas and Gil Kane (and H.G. Wells, natch), this is Don McGregor (Providence author!) and P. Craig Russell's baby all the way.

I really wanted to like this more than I did, but I just found it a slog to get through. The art for the most part is good (especially Russell's, obviously) but the writing is initially just stilted, terrible dreck. Then McGregor takes over, and while I've got to sympathize with his concepts, I found his psychedelic, stream of conscious purple-prose majesty mostly confusing and drecky in a new way. I think it screws up the pacing of the stories, not to mention the pacing of the overarching storyline, which just sort of sucks. I never really cared for these characters, and it was obvious when a couple of the especially more dead weight ones needed to die. Killraven himself has the plucky personality of Captain America, which is to say he has no personality. McGregor's social commentary is either confusing or doesn't go far enough. Then there's that godawful racist fill-in story by Bill Mantlo in #33 but we won't go there. Nonetheless, one does feel the sentiment of hope against overwhelming desolation and impossible odds, and it's pretty damn satisfying when the heroes topple those damned Martian tripods.

The road trip apocalypse is such great concept, but I think you're better off reading Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing if you want moralizing psychedelic road trip done right.

I do have to say that the graphic novel that completes this collection (complete with cool psychedelic collages and a new hipster-haircut Killraven) is beautiful, and finishes the whole storyline in a pleasing way, which demonstrates McGregor and Russell did really care for this concept and these characters.

[Charles]

I read these in real time back in my college days (but missed the finale!) and it was a great and unexpected joy to find them brought together in the Epic Collection format. Killraven is a groundbreaking classic famous almost as much for the shots they took as the shots they made. I wish the editors had included the "Sabre" graphic novel (with Paul Gulacy) but I know it was not published under the Marvel label. Thank you Mr. McGregor and thank you Mr. Russell. If anyone sees them pass on my regards.

[Del]

Heard good things about this, but it was just too boring. Starts off really well with the first 2 Gerry Conway issues, but it nosedives after that, and I gave up. Not anywhere close to Mcgregors best writing like with Luke cage or black panther, sadly I cannot recommend except for the 2 Conway issues.

[James]

Overblown Don McGregor prose aside, classic Bronze Age Marvel romp. Weird, fringe, non-superhero Marvel of the 1970s. Glad I finally experienced all its weirdness.