Amazing Adventures #37



Not one of PCR's better covers. It looks like a rough sketch that got rushed into production.

Creative Team: Don McGregor-writer, P Craig Russell-pencils, Jack Abel-inks, Irv Watanabe-letters, Petra Goldberg-colors, Marv Wolfman-edits

Synopsis: Killraven and the Gang have ended up in a wildlife refuge, in the Okefenokee Swamp. They are a little testy from the 'skeeters and snakes & gators and have run into some people, led by a dude named Brother Axe, who attacks them. Killraven finesses him and then offers him a chance to live, if they can discuss things in a more civilized manner. Old Skull and M'Shulla help convince BA's people to go along with their request.

They sit down to dinner and Camilla admits they are way lost, after leaving Death Birth and the subject of the madison Square Garden Arena comes up and Old Skull tells KR he has to start at the beginning and he proceeds to tell the Origin of Old Skull...



He is bald from his youth, taunted by children who call him retarded and that he has no feelings, in his bald head. His father calls him numbskull and berates him for tending to a sick calf, on their ranch, when grazing land is becoming scarce. The calf is killed, it was Old Skull's only friend. Their ranching days are waning. They send a herd off to market and travel on a train, when the Martians attack...



Old Skull ends up a prisoner and becomes a gladiator. The others gladiators also taunt and bully him, until Killraven comes along...



He takes care of the bullies and befriends our narrator, then gives him the name Old Skull. They become fast friends. We then see them together, in the arena, fighting Warr and his monstrous spiders. In the end, Old Skull saves Killraven from Warr and KR lets Warr live, to frustrate the Martians, in an early act of rebellion.

Thoughts: I suspect that the end is in sight, as McGregor seems like he doesn't give a (expletive) and decided to do a semi-humorous story about how Old Skull and KR met. It isn't totally humorous, as Skull is mistreated by all, until he meets Killraven. The humor comes in the present, as Old Skull takes over Killraven's story and we also see him befriend a racoon that follows him into the dining area, then proceeds to help itself to food and drink from the table, except Killraven's glass, when he threatens it with a glance. The story ends with the racoon staggering off, drunk.

The art is a bit sketchy, thanks to Abel, though PCR has some interesting stuff in here. He gets to drawn Killraven, in the past, in his singlet and draws it skimpier than Neal Adams did.



Also, the group of gladiators who taunt Old Skull look like they stepped out of Cruisin'. Maybe PCR was having some fun, too.

The letters page features comments about the title change and pretty much admits that sales have been down; so, you get the impression everyone knows the axe is going to fall (just not from Brother Axe).

Really, this is a story we should have gotten a while back, instead of one of those fill-in issues.

So, do they imply that this is one of the possible future of the Marvel Universe, or these are just characters of some comics that the "Dreamer" read when he was young (like when Hulk appeared in the Eternals)?

Amazing Adventures #39



Gee, you think readers suspected this was the last issue?

Creative Team: Don McGregor-writer, P Craig Russell-artist, Irv Watanabe-letterer, George Roussos-colorist, Archie Goodwin-editor

Synopsis: Killraven is still in the Okefenokee...



We start in the present, with Killraven searching for his comrades, finding mutated and genetically modified animals, ten coming along to an unconscious M'Shulla. We then flash back as Brother Axe's guides are leading them through the swamps. They encounter a giant cocoon that blocks their way and Killraven blasts it, unleashing huge caterpillars and ticking off their mama....



There is a face off; but no more killing. They move on but the butterfly woman follows, from a wary distance. They talk of the woman and soon learn that she is not just watching...



Killraven is snatched up by the woman and holds his blaster to her face and is dropped in the muck, leading to the present of finding M'Shulla and searching for the others. They finally discover them with the butterflies, as Old Skull plays his flute and the butterflies dance...



Killraven and the woman embrace and dance and we get our ending...



The letters page gives the official word as the series has ended, but, not without thanking the faithful...



Thoughts: beautiful issue, told in a poetic style by McGregor, which succeeds far more than previous attempts, matched with Russell's delicate, lyrical art. This is a visual feast for those who bought it, showing how much PCR had grown, though still just hinting at what he would become.

The series was a real mix of a great idea and inconsistent execution. Conflict from the start made the series disjointed, as Roy Thomas and neal Adams differed on telling the story and what the main thrust was. Marv Wolfman was more interested in Killraven fighting monsters and then Don McGregor came aboard to give the strip some focus. Herb Trimpe excelled at the horrific; but, the art truly comes alive when P Craig Russell's sensitive style sets the comic apart. Death Breeders is still the pinnacle, from a story standpoint, with great visuals, to boot; but, this last issue is an artistic triumph, where McGregor finally gets the right balance of poetic and story and Russell just goes to town.

That would be pretty much it, apart from one appearance in Marvel Team-Up.





This is part of a Bill Mantlo story, where Spidey was displaced to the past and is using Dr Doom's time machine to get back. However, instead of his present, he ends up in ours, in 2019, where he see what we deal with every day: Martian tripods stomping through the rubble...



He an Killraven smash the tripods, then talk about the past of this future, then get attacked. Hallucinogenic gas causes, well...the obvious and they see Volcana Ash and Green Goblin and Mary Jane, then come down from it and Spidey is all shook up about where things are headed, then heads off on his time machine, ending up in the 90s, with Deathlok, in the next issue.

Nothing really happens in this story, of any consequence (MTU rarely had consequence and certainly not with Mantlo) and you can miss it without worry, though Sal Buscema does a nice job on the art, with plenty of action (but little Martian weirdness).

That was 1976. Nothing more would happen to Killraven until 1982, when Don McGregor and P Craig Russell would return to Killraven. In the interim, Russell had grown immensely, as an artist, working on his earliest opera adaptations, as well as his first Elric material. McGregor would use ideas and unused plots from Killraven to craft Sabre. The idea started as a pitch for a proposed weekly tabloid newspaper, from marvel. Mcgregor pitched the idea of calling Dagger. It was shot down; but, morphed into the Sabre graphic novel, from Eclipse, one of the earliest American graphic novels (using that term). The name Sabre had been used before, in the Washington DC storyline, with the mercenary and his band who captured Killraven. Both were black men, with a swashbuckling style, though this Sabre, thanks to Paul Gulacy, was a mix of Jimi Hendrix and Clint Eastwood. There are many similarities, as Sabre inhabits a dystopian future, where people are oppressed and cities are ruined. There is even a satire of Disney World/Land, when Sabre comes to a former amusement park, which sounds like it was intended as part of Killraven's time in the south.

McGregor left Marvel for the greener (for him) pastures of the indies, since it gave him more freedom. He presented us with such things as Sabre, Ragamuffins, The Detectives, and some Zorro stories, at Topps. He did return to Marvel for the Killraven graphic novel, which is next.

I have the original series minus #18 and #22. I've been holding back #32-39 for a good read sometime so skipped the synopsis of those and just read 'thoughts'. I used to have #34 on it's own ages ago and though it looked nice I remember I couldn't really follow the story (the seed was planted to some day try and get the whole thing). I also have yet to go for the Graphic Novel or the Team-Up.

The '70s letters pages had a lot of later familiar names in them, the series seemed to earn respect from sf fandom once McGregor was in place if not before (ugh, that original costume). I seem to remember the Russell issues as having been a lot more expensive to buy as back issues at one time and I expected to never get into this series... but I guess the more general interest (non-superheroes focused collector) is less of a factor and I got my small stack all at once at a clearance type price. I started looking for it after I got most of the Deathloks when a review thread on here interested me in it. Maybe at some point I'll want to get Eclipse's Sabre series?

GCD says Russell provided uncredited inking on this page and the first page.

I didn't recall that.  I have that stuff; so, I will have to pull them up.

I have no interest in covering Marvel Zombies, not do I have any of that material. Nothing against anyone who enjoys that series; I just can't stand zombie stories. I was ecstatic that GOT wrapped that mess up, last week, so we can get back to snarky comments over wine glasses and people sleeping with their siblings.

Anyone else wants to cover those stories, be my guest.