mavericstud9inches's Amazing Adventures #18 - They Call Him -- Killraven! review

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    They Call Him -- Killraven!First-last good issue of the series

    New York City, 2018 AD. Killraven fights his way through a subway tunnel against a gang led by Scrapper. He enters an empty Grand Central Station to find the Keeper Whitman, who unleashes a few mutants against him.Johnathan Killraven blasts a hole in the Keeper's wall, thus emptying his weapon. While the Keeper shoots at him, he throws a sharp piece of machinery and impales his enemy. Astonishingly, the man thanks him and tells him a story.

    In 1901 the Martians invaded Earth. Despite their technological advantage, they failed to account for illnesses against which they had no immunity, and the invaders all died. In 2001 they invaded again. Problem here,is Roy Thomas employed silly thinking.Read the original story,that this is based on and you get the impression the Martians were dying upon their homeworld of Mars.This is why they needed to invaded the Earth as a last,despirate attempt.Which means,either thay sent everyone here to invade our world or those Martians died off,so their no invasion a hundred years later.This time they had a defense against terrestrial disease and even against nuclear weapons.How this was done all the invading Martians died off and nobody survived to give a report back or find a defense against against terrestrial disease and even against nuclear weapons.H.G.Wells,wrote the story to show how a force with superior weapons could undone by a weakness to local deceases.Wells would objected to whole concept and perhaps this series.

    The second war of the worlds ended quickly.Somehow thats hard to believe,since the humans also had a hundred years to defnd against another Martian invasion.Why humans didn't their Terran Tripods to fight the Martian Tripods is beyond me.Why humans didn't develope defnses other biological and nuclear defenses is beyond me. Humans fled the cities, among them Maureen Raven with her two sons. On Welfare Island they met Doctor Ann Carver, who sheltered them in a hospital for two weeks. A chopper arrived with three humans inside, but instead of rescuing them, a soldier shot the two women. Doctor Raker (later the Keeper) took the older brother, Jonathan, while a soldier named Saunders was supposed to kill the younger brother Joshua Raven.Why Joshua Raven isn't raised as the next gladiators is weakly explained.In reality,Joshua Raven is taken to another place,instead of trained like his older brother.Why Joshua Raven didn't a Martian meal,as later on,is never explained neither.

    Killraven knows the rest of the story. Jonathan Raven grew up a gladiator, fighting for the amusement of the Martians, and took the name Killraven. Seven years ago he escaped,killing a sentry robot-something we never see again in the series.Killraven survives,Tarzan like killing game with bow and arrows,decked in furs. He spent a year in Queens, where he learned about human civilization from books. He also learned to avoid even looking at sirens, women to whom the Martians gave the ability to bewitch men. One day he accidentally killed a chieftain's friend in Brooklyn Heights. He fled to Staten Island, joined a group of freemen, and eventually became their leader.This is the last time we get to a smart,resourseful Jonathan Raven-until the Mini Series decades later.

    Raker confesses that the Martians used some kind of mind control on him, but now that he is dying, their control is broken. "You can ... destroy them ... you have the power," he says.

    Puzzled, Killraven doesn't detect the mutant who attacks him from behind, but he quickly disposes of it using savat kicks and breaking the others neck. Another sound alerts him to a new menace. He turns to confront three sirens ... and he has already looked at them .And this is the last Killraven-Jonathan Raven grew up a gladiator, fighting for the amusement of the Martians,comes off as cool,resourseful and capable of defeating the Martian Masters.The book slides into a series of mistakes,that create a way not to wage a war against a superior foe.Killraven become a nobody bystander,while Don McGregor come interested in silly story material and comics first interacial kiss.The War of the Worlds led by heroic,carrismatic Jonathan Raven grew up a gladiator, fighting for the amusement of the Martians,evading thier forces,living wild like Tarzan and becoming the leader of a resistance force against the invaders-whats that got to do with this comic?

    Origin

    Killraven was born in the alternative Earth-691, sharing his timeline with the Guardians of the Galaxy. While his Earth was attacked by the Martian Masters most of the superheroes removed themselves from the struggle seeing it as impossible to win. As the Masters took over the world, men not used as breeders or collaborators were trained and forced to battle gladiator-style for the Martians' amusement; women were used as breeders to supply infants, eaten by the Martians as a delicacy. It was in the gladiatorial pits that Jonathan Raven earned the name of Killraven.

    After a failed escape attempt, a human collaborator by the name of Keeper Whitman was given the task of rehabilitating Killraven. Whitman was secretly working against the Martians, though, and used the opportunity to genetically alter Raven, giving him the ability seize mental control of Martians before helping him to escape. While traveling through the planet during the 2020 era he encountered the cyborg Skar and several experimented humans. After learning that his brother, Joshua, was still alive and fighting the Master's slaves alongside a time-traveling Spider-Man, the Freemen (the gang that Killraven formed) set out in pursuit of them. Upon reaching the Everglades, they encounter Mourning Prey. Soon after this Killraven later found that Deathraven had become a Martian collaborator. After his brother exposed his true colours (and species), Killraven was forced to face Joshua to save the lives of his free men as several Martian Masters looked on.

    Jonathan could not bring himself to fight Deathraven, though, taking a violent beating in the process. Realizing the the lives of his friends were at stake and that he couldn't beat Joshua on his own, Raven used his mental powers to take control of one of the Martian Masters observing the fight and forced it to violently attack and then eat the remains of his brother.

    Creation

    Killravens created by Roy Thomas and Neal Adams in 1973.

    Character Evolution

    Later, a plague killed most of the Masters and Killraven was found by X-23 and adopted Earth-X as his reality.

    On Earth-616 a young Killraven is under the guidance of Shang Chi, the master of kung fu. He acts as his teacher and guardian.

    Powers/Abilities

    Killraven is an expert combatant and swordsman, having spent years honing his fighting skills in the Martian Gladiatorial pits. After genetic modifications by Keeper Whitman, Raven attained the ability to mentally take command of a Martian's body. He also possessed natural leadership skills and the keen instincts necessary for survival on a post-apocalyptic world.

    Statistics

    Height: 6 ft 1 inch

    Weight: 185 lbs

    Eyes: Blue

    Hair: Red

    Nationality: British

    Occupation: Gladiator, Freedom Fighter

    Family: Maureen Raven (mother, deceased), Joshua Raven (Deathraven, brother, deceased)

    Alternative Realities

    Earth-9930

    Killraven and Black Panther were part of this line of Avengers.

    Earth-2120

    The plague never killed the Masters and he still fought for the human liberation.

    Earth-7305

    Killraven was Captain Britain under the name Will Of The People

    Earth-616

    In this reality, Maureen Raven is an MI-13 agent who works alongside Pete Wisdom. One of the Martian Masters learned that her child, Jonathan, would one day become Killraven and managed to find a way to use her mind as a portal through which they could enter 616 (it is unclear if they were aware that they were entering a different dimension, or if they thought that they were simply traveling back in time to preemptively kill Jonathan). As a result of this Pete was forced to kill her. While alive, Maureen demonstrated the ability to take over people's minds, suggesting that Jonathan's mind control ability may have been due to a latent X-Gene, or that Keeper Whitman altered his potential power to affect Martians instead of humans.

    Other reviews for Amazing Adventures #18 - They Call Him -- Killraven!

      They Call Him -- Killraven!First-last good issue of the series 0

      New York City, 2018 AD. Killraven fights his way through a subway tunnel against a gang led by Scrapper. He enters an empty Grand Central Station to find the Keeper Whitman, who unleashes a few mutants against him.Johnathan Killraven blasts a hole in the Keeper's wall, thus emptying his weapon. While the Keeper shoots at him, he throws a sharp piece of machinery and impales his enemy. Astonishingly, the man thanks him and tells him a story.In 1901 the Martians invaded Earth. Despite their techno...

      1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

      They Call Him -- Killraven!First-last good issue of the series 0

      New York City, 2018 AD. Killraven fights his way through a subway tunnel against a gang led by Scrapper. He enters an empty Grand Central Station to find the Keeper Whitman, who unleashes a few mutants against him.Johnathan Killraven blasts a hole in the Keeper's wall, thus emptying his weapon. While the Keeper shoots at him, he throws a sharp piece of machinery and impales his enemy. Astonishingly, the man thanks him and tells him a story.In 1901 the Martians invaded Earth. Despite their techno...

      1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

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