Editing Killraven

{{Infobox comics character <!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics-->
|image=Image:Amazing Adventures 30 (1970).jpg
|caption=''[[Amazing Adventures#1970 series|Amazing Adventures]]'' vol. 2, #30 (May 1975)<br>Left to right: M'Shulla, Killraven, Mint Julep<br>Cover art by [[P. Craig Russell]].
|character_name=Killraven
|real_name=Jonathan Raven
|publisher=[[Marvel Comics]]
|debut=''[[Amazing Adventures#1970 series|Amazing Adventures]]'' vol. 2, #18 (May 1973)
|creators=[[Roy Thomas]]<br>[[Neal Adams]]<br>[[Gerry Conway]]
|alliances=Freemen
|aliases=K.R.
|powers=Ability to project consciousness
}}
'''Killraven''' ('''Jonathan Raven''') is a character appearing in [[American comic book]]s published by [[Marvel Comics]]. The character has been depicted as a freedom fighter in several [[Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction|post-apocalyptic]] alternate futures. Created by co-plotters [[Roy Thomas]] and [[Neal Adams]], scriptwriter [[Gerry Conway]], and penciller Adams, the character [[first appeared]] in ''[[Amazing Adventures#1970 series|Amazing Adventures]]'' vol. 2, #18 (May 1973).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Markstein |first1=Don |website=Don Markstein's Toonopedia |access-date=2 April 2020  |url=http://www.toonopedia.com/killravn.htm |title=Killraven}}</ref> The series featured the first dramatic [[Interracial marriage|interracial kiss]] in American color comic books.

==Publishing history==
Co-creator Neal Adams' early ideas for Killraven involved the character being the son of a [[Doc Savage]] [[archetype]].<ref>[http://www.twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/03adams.html "Neal Adams: The Marvel Years" (interview)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105232806/http://www.twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/03adams.html |date=2009-01-05 }}, ''[[Comic Book Artist]]'' #3 (Winter 1999). [https://web.archive.org/web/20090105232806/http://www.twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/03adams.html WebCitation archive].</ref> This concept had been reworked by the first issue, a multiple-creator goulash in which the two originators and co-plotters turned the scripting over to another writer, and in which artist co-creator Adams [[penciller|penciled]] only the first 11 pages and [[Howard Chaykin]] the remaining nine. The second issue was fully written by the debut's scripter, Gerry Conway, followed in the third by [[Marv Wolfman]].

After this, the book became the province of writer [[Don McGregor]] for an acclaimed run<ref>In addition to contemporaneous reviews in the 1970s, latter-day reviews include: 
*"Don McGregor took over the 'Killraven' writing chores, and was joined soon after by P. Craig Russell. With their combined talents, and the freedom that comes with working on a low-selling book that could be canceled at any moment, the two of them produced a groundbreaking series that explored philosophy, madness, love, violence, and the nature of freedom". — {{cite web |author-link=Christos Gage |last=Gage |first=Chris |title=''Killraven'' 1 (of 6) |url=http://www.feoamante.com/Comics/Reviews/JKL/Kill_Raven.html |publisher=(Review) FeoAmante.com |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5nLU8PdUK?url=http://www.feoamante.com/Comics/Reviews/JKL/Kill_Raven.html |archive-date=February 6, 2010 |url-status=live }}
*"Though quite a few folks had their hand in the original run back in ''Amazing Adventures'', it was the words-and-pictures team of [[Don McGregor]] and [[P. Craig Russell]] that made my tentacles twitch. ...a classic". — {{cite web |last=Sangiacomo |first=Michael |url=http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=2868 |title=JiC: Looking Over the January Rack |publisher=[[Newsarama]] |date=January 25, 2003 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5nLUl0fyH?url=http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=2868 |archive-date=February 6, 2010 |url-status=dead }}
* "As his work progressed, readers saw [P. Craig Russell] take artistic ownership of 'Killraven'. ... Much like [[Jim Steranko]]'s work on Marvel's ''[[Nick Fury|Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D]]'', events flowed through some pages in a style that was as reminiscent of fine art as it was of comic art. Also impressive was his sense of design. Russell arguably produced some of the most imaginative, and visually horrific, monsters and villains in Marvel's history. Don McGregor handled the writing for this issue-run, and credit must be given to his involved plots, as well as his ability to pack a lot of story into a 32-page pamphlet". — {{cite web |last=Allen |first=Michael |url=http://www.scifidimensions.com/Aug01/amazingadventures.htm |title=''Amazing Adventures'' |publisher=Suspended Animation (column), SciFiDimensions.com |date=August 17, 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017123916/http://www.scifidimensions.com/Aug01/amazingadventures.htm |archive-date=October 17, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> from #21 (Nov. 1973) to the final issue, #39 (Nov. 1976). Pencillers were [[Herb Trimpe]], [[Rich Buckler]], [[Gene Colan]], and, most prominently, [[P. Craig Russell]] from issue #27 on.

Two of its characters, [[Carmilla Frost]] and the [[African American]] [[M'Shulla Scott]], shared color comic books' earliest known dramatic interracial kiss,<ref>{{cite book| chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=hnuQBQAAQBAJ&q=%22Killraven%22+%22%2B%22amazing+adventures%22&pg=PA666 | title=Comics through Time : A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas| editor-first= M. Keith |editor-last=Booker|publisher= [[Greenwood Publishing]] | year=2014| page= 666| chapter=Killraven| isbn= 978-0313397509|first=Mark|last=O'English}}</ref> in issue #31 (July 1975), page nine, final panel.<ref>One previous interracial kiss occurred not in a color comic book but in [[Warren Publishing]]'s black-and-white comics magazine ''[[Creepy (magazine)|Creepy]]'' #43 (Jan. 1972), in "The Men Who Called Him Monster", by the same writer, Don McGregor, and artist [[Luis Garcia (artist)|Luis Garcia]]. The earliest known humorous interracial kiss was in the story "Home Cooking" in Premier Magazine's satirical comic book ''Nuts'' #1 (March 1954), per [http://www.comics.org/issue/310466/#640456 its listing] at the Grand Comics Database.</ref>

Aside from McGregor, with whom the character became associated, other writers include [[Bill Mantlo]] (a fill-in ''Amazing Adventures'' and a ''Marvel Team-Up'' with Killraven and a future-flung [[Spider-Man]]);<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cowsill |first1=Alan |last2=Manning |first2=Matthew K. |title=Spider-Man Chronicle: Celebrating 50 Years of Web-Slinging |date=2012 |publisher=DK Publishing |isbn=978-0756692360 |page=88}}</ref> [[Joe Linsner]] (a 2001 [[Marvel Knights]] [[One-shot (comics)|one-shot]], ''Killraven'', set in 2020 [[New York City]], at odds with the original series' locale by that fictional year); and [[Alan Davis]] (also artist), in a 2002 [[Multiverse (Marvel Comics)|parallel universe]] miniseries, ''Killraven'' vol. 2. An  [[Essential Marvel]] volume in 2005 reprinted all the character's appearances except that Davis story.

McGregor and Russell, however, remain the series' signature creative team; more than two decades after the original series' end, comics historian [[Peter Sanderson]] wrote that:
{{blockquote|It was writer Don McGregor who transformed the Killraven saga ... into a classic. Of all of Marvel's writers, McGregor has the most romantic view of heroism. Killraven and his warrior band were also a community of friends and lovers motivated by a poetic vision of freedom and of humanity's potential greatness. McGregor's finest artistic collaborator on the series was P. Craig Russell, whose sensitive, elaborate artwork, evocative of [[Art Nouveau]] illustration, gave the landscape of Killraven's America a nostalgic, pastoral feel, and the Martian architecture the look of futuristic castles.<ref name=sanderson175>Sanderson, Peter. ''Marvel Universe'' (Harry N. Abrams, 1998) {{ISBN|0-8109-8171-8}}, {{ISBN|978-0-8109-8171-3}}, p. 175</ref>}}

Some planned elements of the "Killraven" saga were incorporated into the [[Eclipse Comics]] series ''[[Sabre (Eclipse Comics)|Sabre]]'', McGregor<ref>"Don McGregor Says..." (interview), ''Comics Interview'' #3 (May 1983), p. 16: "Some of the elements that I had been leading up to in 'Killraven' [when the series was canceled] — especially the material dealing with [[Yellowstone National Park]] — I had written about six months previously for ''Sabre''."</ref> and Russell<ref name=russell1983p10>P. Craig Russell interview, ''Comics Interview'' #3 (May 1983), p. 10: "Don always had a very strong structure worked out several years in advance, but when he didn't think he'd be doing 'Killraven' again, he used some of the ideas and settings in other stories — such as the [[Disney World]] setting used in ''Sabre''...."</ref> each said in 1983.

The character made latter-day appearances in ''[[Marvel Zombies 5]]'' #2 (April 2010) where the war against the Martians is concluded, and in ''[[Avengers (comics)|The Avengers]]'' vol. 4, #4-6 (Aug.-Oct. 2010), the latter in the present day after time-traveling. Killraven appears in ''Claws II'' (Aug. 2011), in which the superheroes Wolverine and Black Cat meet him in the future fighting Martians.

In 2014, Killraven also makes a cameo appearance in ''[[All-New Invaders]]'' Issue # 12 in a modern retelling of the War of the Worlds.

===Unrealized projects===
In the late 1980s, Don McGregor wrote 50 to 60 pages and P. Craig Russell began illustrating a final story, "Killraven: Final Battles, Final Lies, Final Truths" (also referred to as "Final Lies, Final Truths, Final Battles"). The story never saw print, according to McGregor, because Marvel would not assure Russell the company would print the story in Marvel's best format at the time. In this intended finale to McGregor's story, "Killraven would take that war back to the intruders" on Mars itself.<ref name=ra>"A 2005/2006 Interview with Don McGregor!" {{cite web |last=Arndt |first=Richard J. |url=http://www.enjolrasworld.com/Richard%20Arndt/The%20Warren%20Magazines%20Interviews.htm |title=The Warren Magazines: Interviews |date=February 3, 2010 |access-date=22 September 2010 |archive-date=11 September 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090911055314/http://www.enjolrasworld.com/Richard%20Arndt/The%20Warren%20Magazines%20Interviews.htm }} Additional .</ref>

In the mid-1990s, [[Grant Morrison]] and [[Mark Millar]] considered tying in Marvel's [[Marvel 2099|2099]] imprint, making [[Ravage 2099|Ravage]] a descendant of Killraven: "Our idea was that the Killraven stories had actually happened, but Earth somehow got itself back together. It's now one hundred years later, and the Martians are attacking again, meaning that all the superheroes were going to have to deal with them". [[Galactus]] then arrives, and devours Mars along with the Martians.<ref>Cronin, Brian. [http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2006/09/07/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-67/ "Grant Morrison and Mark Millar Had a Pitch for a Revamp of Marvel's 2099 Line of Comics"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100125061501/http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2006/09/07/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-67/ |date=2010-01-25 }}, "Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed" (column) #67, ''[[Comic Book Resources]]'', n.d. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100125061501/http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2006/09/07/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-67/ WebCitation archive]</ref>

In 2005, writer [[Jim Valentino]] said his aborted plans for the Marvel comic ''[[Guardians of the Galaxy (1969 team)|Guardians of the Galaxy]]'' involved Killraven, in his 50s, joining the team and forming an attraction to [[Yellowjacket (Rita DeMara)]]. Valentino said he would have established [[Franklin Richards (Fantastic Four)|Franklin Richards]] as Killraven's father.<ref>Guardians of the Worlds: Archive of [http://www.geocities.com/glakandar/gotw/jimmyvee.htm?200510?200622 Image.com's Jim Valentino annotations, "Jim Valentino's Guardians of the Galaxy Retrospective"] (dead link as of at least June 15, 2010)</ref>

Writer [[Robert Kirkman]] and artist [[Rob Liefeld]] announced in August 2007 they were creating a five-issue alternate universe Killraven [[miniseries]] planned for release in 2008, but the project never went into production.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930165318/http://www.wizarduniverse.com/magazine/wizard/005565211.cfm "Kirkman on 'Killraven'"] (archive), WizardUniverse.com (Aug. 10, 2007), by Jim Gibbons and Sean T. Collins. Per Kirkman, "[T]his is really just another Killraven from another universe. The original Killraven is still out there".</ref><ref>Brady, Matt. [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=124804 "WW Chicago - Robert Kirkman Talks Killraven w/ Liefeld"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090823095308/http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=124804 |date=2009-08-23 }}, ''[[Newsarama]]'', August 10, 2007</ref>

==Fictional character biography==
On the alternate-future Earth designated Earth-691 by Marvel Comics,<ref>''Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005''</ref> the [[Martian (The War of the Worlds)|Martians]] from [[H. G. Wells]]' ''[[The War of the Worlds]]'' return in 2001 for another attempt at conquering the planet (they were later [[retroactive continuity|retconned]] as extrasolar aliens using [[Mars]] as a staging area<ref>''[[Avengers Forever]]'' #4</ref>). After humanity's enslavement, men not used as breeders or collaborators are trained and forced to battle gladiator-style for the Martians' amusement; women are used as breeders to supply infants, eaten by the Martians as a delicacy. Jonathan Raven, dubbed Killraven as his gladiatorial ''[[pseudonym#Noms de guerre|nom de guerre]]'', escaped with the help of the gladiatorial "keeper", but without his brother, Deathraven. Killraven joined the Freemen, a group of freedom fighters against Martian oppression.<ref>''[[Amazing Adventures]]'' vol. 2, #18 (May 1973)</ref>

From 2018 to 2020, Killraven and his companions travel across the eastern portion of [[North America]], from [[New York City]] to [[Cape Canaveral]] while searching for Killraven's lost brother.{{Volume needed|c=y|date=March 2013}} Pursued by the [[cyborg]] Skar, the Freemen encounter various victims of Martian transhuman experiments, as well as emotionally and psychologically scarred survivors.{{Volume needed|c=y|date=March 2013}}

Fugitives from the Martians, Killraven and his Freemen — his [[African American]] "mud-brother" [[List of Marvel Comics characters: S#M'Shulla Scott|M'Shulla Scott]]{{Broken anchor|date=2025-04-19|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=List of Marvel Comics characters: S#M'Shulla Scott|reason= The anchor (M'Shulla Scott) [[Special:Diff/860534636|has been deleted]].|diff_id=860534636}}, the cynical and bitter [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] Hawk, and the slow-witted strongman Old Skull — meet and incorporate into their group the feisty scientist [[Carmilla Frost]] and Grok, her deformed, apelike clone.<ref>''Amazing Adventures'' #20-21 (Sept. & Nov. 1973)</ref> The Freemen ally with the human/plant hybrid Mint Julep, and battle Abraxas, Rattack and his rats, the High Overlord, and Skar.<ref>''Amazing Adventures'' #22-25 (Jan.-July 1974)</ref> Killraven tames a mutated serpent-horse to use as his mount, and his Freemen battle Pstun-Rage in [[Battle Creek, Michigan]]. In this encounter, the antagonists' names are anagrams of the Battle Creek-based [[Kellogg Company]]'s breakfast cereals.<ref>''Amazing Adventures'' #26 (Sept. 1974)</ref> The Freemen meet the flirty and sensual Volcana Ash, who helps them battle Atalon and the Death-Breeders.<ref>''Amazing Adventures'' #27-29 (Nov. 1974 - March 1975)</ref> After learning that his brother Joshua (Deathraven) is still alive,<ref>''Amazing Adventures'' #30 (May 1975)</ref> Killraven fights Martian slaves alongside a time-traveling [[Spider-Man]],<ref>''Marvel Team-Up'' #45 (May 1976)</ref> The Freemen eventually reach the [[Everglades]], where they encounter a military cadre of survivors and the butterfly-like Mourning Prey.<ref>''Amazing Adventures'' #39 (Nov. 1976, the final issue)</ref>

Still later, the Freemen encounter Killraven's brother, Deathraven, and discover he has become a Martian collaborator.<ref>''Killraven, Warrior of the Worlds'' (''Marvel [[Graphic Novel]]'' #7, 1983)</ref>

In November 2020, the Martian occupation is over when Killraven unleashes a zombie plague on the Martians' food supply (humans and human infants).<ref>''Marvel Zombies 5'' #2 (April 2010)</ref>

==Powers and abilities==
As a youth, gladiator-in-training Jonathan Raven's physical prowess was heightened thanks to injections of experimental chemicals by Keeper Whitman.  He was later given mental powers through Whitman's psycho-electric experiments, including the psionic ability to project his consciousness into and take over a Martian's mind, and the psychic ability to resist mental assaults and to mask his presence from robot scanners.

Killraven is also a superb hand-to-hand combatant, and a highly skilled swordsman, wrestler, and martial artist. He is a master of most hand weaponry, especially shuriken. He is a master strategist in guerrilla warfare. Killraven possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of human history, art, and science predating the Martian invasion of A.D. 2001, implanted in his mind by Keeper Whitman.

As artist [[P. Craig Russell]] described, "Killraven has a sort of [[Extrasensory perception|extrasensory ability]] to counterbalance his gladiatorial skills. He is very much the barbarian type, yet at the same time he has this seed planted in his brain that is the history of the human race — a [[genetic memory (psychology)|racial memory]] of everything that has been obliterated by the Martians. It's almost a magical ability.... It was what removed him from being just another sword-wielding gladiator type."<ref>Russell, ''Comics Interview'', pp. 10-11</ref>

Killraven wears bulletproof fabrics and leather. He is armed with various weapons as needed, and usually carried a sword and shuriken. He sometimes rides a mutated serpent-horse, or appropriated Martian vehicles and aircraft.

==Other versions==
[[Image:Killraven Davis.jpg|thumb|right|''Killraven'' vol. 2, #3 (Feb. 2003). Cover art by Alan Davis.]]
There have been counterparts of Killraven in several stories:

* The ''[[Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe|Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005]]'' established that Killraven and the Guardiansshare the same timeline, set on the parallel universe Marvel Comics designates "Earth-691".
* The [[1998 in comics|1998]]-[[1999 in comics|1999]] [[miniseries]] ''[[Avengers Forever]]'' depicts Killraven as a member of an alternate future [[Avengers (comics)|Avengers]] (Earth-9930) led by the [[Black Panther (comics)|Black Panther]].<ref>''Avengers Forever'' #4 (1999)</ref>
* Alan Davis' [[2002 in comics|2002]] miniseries ''Killraven'' [[continuity reboot|rebooted]] the series in a story set set on the parallel universe Marvel Comics designates "Earth-2120".
* Jon Raven is '''Will of the People''' in Earth-7305<ref>''Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z'' vol. #2 (May 2008)</ref> a [[Captain Britain Corps]] member who featured in ''Excalibur'' #50.
*In an alternate future shown in ''Guardians of the Galaxy'' #18 (2009), Killraven leads the Guardians against the Martians in the year 3009.
* In 1975, [[Marvel UK]]'s ''[[Planet of the Apes (comics)|Planet of the Apes]]'' weekly comic reprinted the original Killraven feature as "Apeslayer", with artwork and lettering altered to suit. 

===Mainstream Marvel continuity===
In the mainstream [[Marvel Universe]] that the company dubs [[Earth-616]], Jonathan Raven appears in the [[2006 in comics|2006]]-[[2007 in comics|2007]] miniseries ''[[Pete Wisdom|Wisdom]]''. He is the son of Wisdom's [[MI-13 (comics)|MI-13]] co-worker and lover, Maureen Raven, and the target of a trans-dimensional Martian Invasion because, as the Martian leader states, "On all Earths! Always! Every one of him is dangerous! Ruling council plan to invade all other Earths. So I urged this first expedition now before he is grown". Wisdom is forced to kill Maureen in order to stop the Martian invasion, while Jonathan is taken to an [[Secret Intelligence Service|MI-6]] safehouse in Prague and trained by martial artist [[Shang-Chi]].<ref>''Wisdom'' #6</ref>

==Parodies==
In ''[[Howard the Duck]]'' #2 (March 1976), the title character dreams of himself as "Killmallard".

==In other media==
[[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] trade stories in 2005 reported plans to adapt Killraven for a theatrical [[film|motion picture]], with Marvel and [[Sony Pictures Entertainment|Sony Pictures]] in negotiations with [[Robert Schenkkan]] to write a script.<ref>''[[Sci Fi Channel (United States)|Sci Fi]] Magazine'' (Aug. 2005): "Brave New Worlds" (p. 33; side story, "We Are the Worlds")</ref><ref>[http://movies.ign.com/articles/597/597612p1.html "Here Comes Killraven"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111217051833/http://movies.ign.com/articles/597/597612p1.html |date=2011-12-17 }}, IGN.com, March 21, 2005. [https://web.archive.org/web/20111217051833/http://movies.ign.com/articles/597/597612p1.html WebCitation archive].</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/19960101/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/news/comments/?entryid=175325 "Sony to Bring Old-School Comic 'Killraven' to the Big Screen"], Rotten Tomatoes: News, March 21, 2005</ref> Those plans were abandoned and the rights of Killraven were reverted to Marvel.

==Collected editions==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Title
!Material collected
!Published date
!ISBN
|-
|''Essential Killraven Volume 1: War Of The Worlds''
|''Amazing Adventures'' (vol. 2) #18-39, ''Marvel Graphic Novel'' #7, ''Marvel Team-Up'' #45, ''Killraven'' (vol. 1) #1
|July 2005
|{{ISBNT|978-0785117773}}
|-
|''Marvel Masterworks: Killraven Vol. 1''
|''Amazing Adventures'' (vol. 2) #18-39, ''Marvel Graphic Novel'' #7
|October 2018
|{{ISBNT|978-1302911355}}
|-
|''Killraven Epic Collection: Warrior Of The Worlds''
|''Amazing Adventures'' (vol. 2) #18-39, ''Marvel Graphic Novel'' #7, ''Marvel Team-Up'' #45
|October 2021
|{{ISBNT|978-1302932169}}
|-
|''Killraven''
|''Killraven'' (vol. 2) #1-6
|June 2007
|{{ISBNT|978-0785125389}}
|}

==See also==
* [[List of African-American firsts]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*{{comicbookdb|type=character|id=1594|title=Killraven}}
* {{Marvunapp|http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/ekillr.htm|Earth-Killraven}}
* [http://www.chronologyproject.com/killraven.htm Marvel Chronology Project - Killraven & Co.]
* {{Marveldatabase}}

{{Earth 691}}
{{The War of the Worlds}}

[[Category:Comics about alien invasions]]
[[Category:Characters created by Dennis O'Neil]]
[[Category:Characters created by Roy Thomas]]
[[Category:Comics based on The War of the Worlds]]
[[Category:Comics characters introduced in 1973]]
[[Category:Fictional characters from New York City]]
[[Category:Fictional military strategists]]
[[Category:Marvel Comics martial artists]]
[[Category:Marvel Comics superheroes]]
[[Category:Post-apocalyptic comics]]
[[Category:Sequel novels]]