Amazing Adventures #29



"The Hell Destroyers"
writer: Don McGregor
art: Craig Russell
letters: Dave Hunt
editor: Len Wein

grade: B+


Even though the letter column of the previous issue indicated that this title's sales were slipping, Marvel seems to have new-found confidence in Killraven with the addition of Craig Russell to the team. The book now features the "Killraven" logo as opposed to the "War of the Worlds' logo (though I wonder if it was rushed since it lacks any specific design), the feature has once again been expanded to full book-length, and Len Wein has switched in as editor. Maybe it's just me, but I think Wein is a far stronger editor than Thomas, having overseen some fantastic character development in both Batman and the New Titans during his editorial stint at DC a decade from now. Hopefully, he'll bring a little of that to this title.

Indeed, I feel this issue was stronger than the last few. Killraven and his band finally appear to be fighting with intelligence and nobility, not just vengeance, as they risk everything in this issue just to get a pregnant mother in labor to a safe location so that she can deliver hope for tomorrow. Additionally, McGregor and Russell work in some humorous banter between Killraven and M'Shulla again this issue, and Old Skull remains endearing.

Still, I feel these characters lack depth. I suppose it's okay for K.R. to remain the surface, Beowulf/Conan resembling hero's hero, but M'Shulla still lacks any depth beyond his respect/resentment for K.R. and his love for Carmilla, Hawk and Old Skull are memorable but one dimensional, Volcana lacks even one clear dimension (that moment with her sister should have meant something, but it doesn't when we're not connected to the character), and Carmilla remains intriguing but thoroughly enigmatic. 9 issues later, I still don't know what to make of her, and I'm not sure how much of that is McGregor's intent.

On the plus side, some attention is paid to continuity in this issue, as the replacing of cars with the transbelt in the 1990s is mentioned again, and I still like how Craig delivers McGregor's narrative ramblings as text accompanying a portrait. It works.



Minor details:

- I enjoyed the description of how Martians set up their walkways for ease of use with tentacles. A nice sci-fi addition.

- Hawk is becoming more and more of an anti-hero, wanting to leave the pregnant woman behind and, I believe, threatening to kill Killraven later when he holds them up from escaping the Martians.

- We finally learn that Hawk's desire for revenge against the Martians comes from what they did to his father (though we still don't know what they did to his father).

- It's strongly implied in this issue that K.R. has superhuman strength and endurance, as well as the fact that this comes from the Keepers bombarding him with ultra violet rays when he was younger. All of this is new.

- Carmilla and M'Shulla nearly share the first interracial kiss in a color comic book (Wikipedia indicates that they do, but this is not the case), yet all the Adams and Eves in the pens are all paired off by race, not a single black and white intermixed couple there. Hard to believe the Martians are that picky.

- We almost learn who Grok is, but K.R. conveniently interrupts at the last second. The actual line: ""I want to tell you; Grok is my..." Come on.

- No letter column this issue.


Still not sure I've caught the Killraven bug, but this issue is certainly a noticeable improvement in the series.

Amazing Adventures #30



"The Rebels of January and Beyond"
writer: Don McGregor
art: Craig Russell, Dan Adkins, Herb Trimpe, Frank Chiarmonte, and Jack Abel
letters: Joe Rosen
colors: D. Warfield
editor: Len Wein

grade: D-

A few issues back, Roy Thomas made it clear that this title wasn't selling well and was in some danger of cancellation. In response, they brought on Craig Russell as artist to help guide the series, re-expanded the lead feature to book length, changed the cover logo to emphasize Killraven over War of the Worlds, and gave us a reprint issue.

Wait. That last one doesn't fit.

Sure enough, only a few issues into the McGregor/Russell run, we've already got an issue that's 95% reprint. Russell does the framing plot, in which the High Overlord reports to his masters about the battle in Washington (AA #23-24), but it's hard to miss that the rest is straight reprint. The narration over the reprinted pages isn't even changed to reflect the fact that the High Overlord is recounting this tale from his own perspective now.

Still, McGregor and Russell attempt to toss us a bone, giving us a second look at Killraven's file (which, inexplicably, is longer and more detailed now) as well as M'Shulla's and Mint Julep's.

Here's what we learn:

Killraven
- Mother's name is Maureen Raven
- Father is unknown
- Brother was trained under Exterminator Saunders and became Deathraven. (Killraven does not know this)
- Killraven was put under the care of Keeper Whitman two years after his capture when he started exhibiting rebellious tendencies. I'm pretty sure this is the first time Keeper Whitman is ever mentioned. While I'd originally assumed this was the Keeper who would later become Warlord, this proves incorrect later on.
- Killraven's time as a rebel both before and after migrating to Staten Island is included in the report this time. No new information about this is given.

M'Shulla
- Full name is M'Shulla Scott
- Born in 1997
- Gladitorial name was Bloodarrow (curious -- Killraven keeps his gladitorial name while M'Shulla does not)
- Father, Dorian Scott, was behind a transportation project that was put out of business by the oft-referenced Transbelt Conveyor. He left the family soon after due to his inability to provide for them and was sent to a Martian rehabilitation center in Hawaii.
- Mother, Hortense Scott, was the organizer of the first civilian resistance movement against the martian invasion in 2002. She and M'Shulla (age 5) were captured.


Mint Julep
- Laboratory Project #6-LXM-QWS
- Lab experiment involving the mixing of a human embreyo and chemical components of a one celled organism and chlorophyll extracts.
- Presiding doctor was The Sacrificer (before he became The Sacrificer)
- Unclear whether her skin can draw energy from sunlight (photosynthesis tests were inconclusive)
- Active as leader of the Freewomen since 2015.


No real value to this issue beyond that.

Amazing Adventures #32



"Only the Computer Shows Me Any Respect!"
writer: Don McGregor
art: Craig Russell
inks: Dan Green
letters: Dave Hunt
colors:Petra Goldberg
editor: Len Wein

grade: B


Some momentum is maintained from the previous issue as our band seems more tight knight and richer in characterization (as we first saw last issue), and continuity threads are carefully maintained, with Skar tracking their movements from the previous issue and both he and the Freemen heading towards Yellowstone. Yet, at the same time, this issue takes a tremendous and fun detour into a specialized building of the past that generates a holographic artificial reality that corresponds with music in some way. It's a fun idea, but it gets a little too trippy awfully quick, and the decision to have rambling McGregor narration on the side, apart from the picture, runs contrary to the whole idea of helping us to experience a machine that makes you live/experience the music. I wish McGregor, Russell, and Hunt could have weaved the letters into the artwork itself, more along the lines of the kind of marriage of text and visuals that Dave Sim will start to master in another 10 years. Unfortunately, unable to take their work to this level, the reader is left distanced from this sci-fi concept, not truly clear on what the heck our characters are experiencing.

It becomes obvious rather early on that the things each character experiences are somehow attuned to their own ambitions and fears, and yet the mysterious dragon antagonist that appears is said to have come from Old Skull (who otherwise dreams up an adorable Disney World reality) with no explanation nor consideration given as to why that was a part of his mind. Seems like this should have been given some attention at the end, but it just gets skipped over.

We're also given some abrupt and out of nowhere insight into why Hawk is such a jerk, but all he does is retell how his father died while enjoying a holographic story while Hawk watched as a teen. First off, I find it hard to believe that they'd be mass-marketing adventure stories that could truly kill you if you die in the story. Secondly, this really provides absolutely no insight into Hawk's particularly unique inner pains in the present. Killraven himself makes the excellent point that "There's not a one of us here who hasn't had to fight for survival...not a one who hasn't been left a bitter taste by the Martians' attack--but you brood all the time," but this point never really gets answered.

Finally, this full-issue foray into a holographic adventure ends with the somewhat corny insinuation that we endanger ourselves just as much with our attention to TV today (and, of course, in the world of 2012, facebook and texting), but it feels like an abrupt ending and somehow seems cheesier and more tasteless than the tribe of men who sacrificed their lives to protect their serial boxes, or the religious alter of the McDonalds golden arches we saw last issue. The balance was off this time somehow.


Minor details:

- How was the Octotympanum-Viewscope still turned on and functioning after all this time? The entrance was even boarded up, yet the machine was left on? What's powering it? And why was this a big enough spectacle to warrant people coming to see it when Hawk's father seemed to have an in-home version of approximately the same technology?

- McGregor's intro to this issue was misleading: "...the Octosumpanum View-scope. It added an extra dimension to life. What the ad hypes failed to tell you was that it also did the same thing...for death!" Ummm...how? Yeah, you could die while in it. How is that an extra dimension added on to death? I really thought the conflict of this story would be in dealing with the techno-spiritual remains of people who died while using it or something.

- The banter amongst the Freemen is getting cuter AND more risque. K.R. makes an allusion to M'Shulla not doing much sleeping at night, and Carmilla jokingly implies that K.R.'s nickname for M'Shulla ("mud-brother") is "kinky."


Not a bad issue, but I keep expecting this series to hit a perfect stride at some point and, this far in, it still hasn't happened yet.