Essential Avengers volume 6

Essential Avengers volume 6 contains issues #120 to #140 and Giant-Size Avengers #1 to #4, plus Captain Marvel #33 and Fantastic Four #150. This includes the full contents of Avengers #136, which reprints Amazing Adventures #12. Almost all the regular and Giant-Size Avengers issues are written by Steve Englehart, apart from one regular and one Giant-Size that are scripted by Roy Thomas who fully writes another Giant-Size. The art sees runs by Bob Brown, Sal Buscema and George Tuska with other issues by John Buscema. The Giant-Sizes are drawn by Rich Buckler, Dave Cockrum and Don Heck. The reprinted Amazing Adventures issue is written by Englehart and drawn by Tom Sutton. The Captain Marvel issue is plotted and pencilled by Jim Starlin and scripted by Englehart whilst the Fantastic Four issue is written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Buckler. And with so many creators there's a separate post for the labels.

This volume has one of the best starting and end points, neatly capturing one of the most significant periods in not just Avengers history but in the wider Marvel universe. Here we see the links between titles getting ever stronger as we get not only crossovers with Captain Marvel and Fantastic Four but also see brief overspills from titles as diverse as Captain America and the Falcon and Doctor Strange. Furthermore there's a much greater use of Marvel history than ever before, with a willingness to tie together disperse plot points and explain everything from the abandoned city in the Blue Area of the Moon through to the presence of Captain America in the post war All-Winners Squad.

On some occasions this can get a little too much though, to the point that characters wind up being tied together perhaps more than is necessary. A case in point comes in Giant-Size Avengers #1, which is the nearest thing to an annual by a different writer in this volume. Here we get a tale that reveals the parents of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver to have been Miss America and the Whizzer from the Golden Age comics, with the place of birth none other than the High Evolutionary's Mount Wundagore with one of his evolutions, Bova the cow, serving as the midwife. Was it really necessary to establish this parentage? Neither of the parents had been hitherto seen in the Silver Age outside of reprints (helpfully the footnotes referencing past adventures include the reprints as well as the original issues), let alone had any prior history with the two and there's no particular reason why the most prominent speedsters have to be related to each other, especially as one is a mutant and the other got his powers from a mongoose. Nor does it really add much to the story itself which is mainly focused on the Whizzer's attempts to contain the threat of his other mutated child, Nuklo, along with one of the first attempts to sort out the immediate post war Captain America adventures by establishing yet another replacement after the original was missing in action.

And this isn't the only time one of the heroes is connected to the Golden Age. After many years of brief hints, we now get the revelation that the Vision is the original Human Torch rebuilt and with his memories and personality mostly erased. Does this make the Vision a reincarnation of the Torch or is he in some way a being like Frankenstein's Monster, literally constructed out of the dead body of another? It's one of those concepts that doesn't bear thinking about. Overall it seems from the hints that are referenced here that this had been the plan for several years if not since the beginning, not least because Roy Thomas is just still the editor, and scripting the revelation issue, and he had created the Vision and written most of the hints. And of course he's long been the biggest champion of reusing the Golden Age characters. Now it can be reasonably argued that the original Human Torch has been surplus to requirements ever since the introduction of the Fantastic Four's Human Torch. But this had already been dealt with in a Fantastic Four annual in which the original was briefly revived only to die for good. There is simply no need to tack on an unremembered past to a character who is only similar to the original Torch in that they are both androids. Once again it feels like retconning for the sake of it and it doesn't add much to the character.

Also adding little is the crossover with Captain Marvel - indeed such is the detached nature of the issue in which the Avengers take on Thanos's space army that it isn't even included in Essential Captain Marvel volume 2. The Captain Marvel issue included here is the climax to the whole saga but the Avengers aren't too prominent in it and the issue could quite easily have been left out. By contrast the crossover with  Fantastic Four is a much stronger combination, featuring the wedding of the one-time Fantastic Four member Crystal to the ex-Avenger Quicksilver, complete with an attack by Ultron and other chaos with the Inhumans. It also shows up Quicksilver as a complete hypocrite when he rejects his sister's attempts at reconciliation due to his hostility to her relationship with an android, yet he is about to marry an Inhuman. Truly bigotry is never consistent.

But the biggest draw of this volume is one of the best known Avengers epics of all time, the Celestial Madonna Saga. The build-up is slow but adds revelations as it goes, starting off with the latest encounter with the Zodiac cartel as it suffers an internal division. The real shock comes with the discovery that Libra is Mantis's father and her history is very different from what she previously knew. But it also sets off the Swordsman's own story arc as he charges off in a fit of rage to take vengeance on Mantis's wicked uncle for the death of her mother and the blinding of her father. Instead he winds up captured and revealing the location of the Priests of Parma who raised her, with the result the crimelord uncle slays them. This unleashes the monstrous Star Stalker and adds to the revelations as we learn of the Priests' connections to the alien Kree. There's an extended interlude involving both crossovers plus an encounter with Klaw and Solarr, with the Black Panther departing for his kingdom. Meanwhile the Scarlet Witch gets a power boost as Agatha Harkness starts to teach her magic to control her hex spheres, but in the process they encounter the demon Necrodamus.

Throughout all this there's a strong emphasis on character development as the Avengers explore themselves and their feelings for one another. Mantis is steadily turning away from the Swordsman and towards the Vision, to the Scarlet Witch's outrage. The Vision is slowly learning what his true feelings are. The Swordsman is feeling ever more inadequate, with his attempt to win back Mantis's heart ending in disaster and then he is deemed too insignificant to bother kidnapping. Captain America is also suffering a crisis of faith due to events over in his own series and the Watergate scandal; this leads him to drop aside from the Avengers for the time being. When Hawkeye returns to the team he finds it a very different affair from the one he left.

The main part of the storyline comes with the assault by Kang the Conqueror, seeking the legendary Celestial Madonna who will mate with "the most powerful man on Earth", with the intention of fulfilling that role and using the prophesised child to rule the heavens. The religious subtext is far from subtle but there's also plenty of strong adventure themes with the Avengers aided by the Egyptian pharaoh Rama Tut, now a future version of Kang who has grown weary of conquest and returned to his former identity and realm. Later in the storyline we get the addition of Immortus, now established as an even more future version of Kang and Rama Tut, making for an interesting conflict between a man's own self. The Avengers are put through a series of deadly challenges and not everyone makes it out alive, with the Swordsman dying to save Mantis whilst Iron Man and the Vision only survive thanks to being restored through the strange powers of Immortus.

The tale also takes advantage of the Giant-Size issues in order to fill out the story with three extra long chapters. When collected in a single volume the whole thing works, but readers of the original series may not have been able to find the Giant-Sizes so easily, whilst some of the digital releases of the series have omitted them, leaving great chunks out of the story. Still here they are available in the right place.

Another seeming interlude comes as the Swordsman's funeral is interrupted by the Titanic Three, a group commissioned by the Vietnamese government consisting of the Titanium Man, the Radioactive Man and the Crimson Dynamo as government enforcers. But the situation is complicated by the Slasher, a forgettable costumed jewel thief. Meanwhile Kang has used Immortus's equipment to create another group, the Legion of the Unliving, made up of deceased heroes and villains lifted from just before their apparent deaths. It's an oddball collection including the original Human Torch, Wonder Man and Baron Zemo, all of whom have connections to the Avengers even if they don't yet know it, but also Frankenstein's Monster, the martial artist Midnight (from Master of Kung Fu) and the Ghost aka the Flying Dutchman from the original Silver Surfer series. This motley crew prove a fierce challenge in the maze beneath Immortus's castle and once again it seems some Avengers won't get out alive.

The last parts of the saga feel a bit bitty as seemingly endless issues are devoted to the Vision observing the past history of the original Human Torch from creation through to Ultron's reconstruction of the body and personality whilst Mantis and the other Avengers are shown the history of the Kree's pacifist faction and the telepathic plant lifeform the Cotati. Adding to the drama is the revelation that Moondragon was an alternate candidate for the role of Celestial Madonna, to her annoyance. During all this the Scarlet Witch continues her training in magic but draws the attention of Dormammu. The finale comes as the Vision saves the Scarlet Witch and proposes to her, with a joint wedding alongside Mantis's. Mantis is finally made an Avenger just in time for she and her husband to be transformed to energy to carry out their purpose.

The last handful of issues are inevitably a bit of an anti-climax. Issue #136 is a reprint of the Beast's battle with Iron Man from the former's strip in Amazing Adventures but it does at least serve to introduce the character who, alongside Moondragon, becomes the latest applicants to join the team. A conflict with the Toad, impersonating the Stranger, proves a good baptism of fire followed by an attack by Whirlwind but returning members the Wasp and Yellowjacket each suffer in the course of these battles and some of the rest of the team has to desperately seek a cure. Meanwhile the team's search to fill out its vacancies proves less successful when contacting most old members, leading to Hawkeye going exploring in time to find the Black Knight but the storyline is not completed here.

Overall this is one of the best Essential Avengers volumes. It may at times show its age and it also suffers a little from an over-obsession with tying every aspect of the Golden Age into the modern Marvel universe, but it also shows some strong character work and thoughtful situations. The Celestial Madonna saga may drag a little at times but it nevertheless holds up well as one of the strongest epics yet seen in the series and it's easy to see why the story has been returned to on so many occasions. All in all this volume is a triumph.

Essential Classic X-Men volume 3

Essential Classic X-Men volume 3 represents the end of the X-Men's original run plus some of the material from their hidden years. It reprints X-Men #54-66 and then the Beast's solo strip from Amazing Adventures #11-16 plus the framing sequence that topped & tailed a reprint in issue #17 (as the new feature War of the Worlds - featuring Killraven - wasn't ready in time). In addition there are appearances by some or all of the X-Men from Amazing Spider-Man #92, Incredible Hulk #150 & #161 and Marvel Team-Up #4. Finally as bonus material there's a cover gallery showing X-Men #67-93 & annuals #1-2, the unused cover for issue #56 and some unused interior art from issue #64. All but one of the X-Men issues are written by Roy Thomas; the exception is by Arnold Drake and one back-up is by Linda Fite. Werner Roth draws the back-ups whilst the lead and then full issues are mainly by Neal Adams with a few by Don Heck and the last by Sal Buscema. The Amazing Adventures issues are written by Gerry Conway and Steve Englehart and drawn by Tom Sutton, Marie Severin and Jim Starlin. The Amazing Spider-Man issue is written by Stan Lee and drawn by Gil Kane, the Incredible Hulk issues are written by Archie Goodwin and Englehart and both drawn by Herb Trimpe, and the Marvel Team-Up is written by Conway and drawn by Kane. As that's such a large number of series and creators, a separate post has been created for some of them.

The first half of the volume contains perhaps the X-Men's most desperate hour. Sales on the series were slipping and unless something amazing was done quickly the book would be cancelled. And at first it seems that something amazing did happen. Roy Thomas returned to write the series and he was joined by Neal Adams. Looking at Mike's Amazing World of Comics: Database: Neal Adams I was surprised to see just how few comics he's actually drawn in his career, and also how early his X-Men work came - it was his first Marvel work and came before some of his most famous DC work on Batman, Detective Comics and Green Lantern/Green Arrow. Indeed issue #65 is almost the first time Adams worked with Denny O'Neil before the two would go on to have a huge influence not just on Batman and Green Lantern but also on the direction US superhero comics as a whole would take in the 1970s. Adams's work impresses heavily despite his all too brief run and it's clear that one half of the title is now firing on all cylinders. So too is the other half.

After a rather turgid stretch covered by the second volume there's a distinct upswing here that begins even on Arnold Drake's last issue but then steps up several gears as Roy Thomas returns. The origins stories and detailed powers back-up features are maintained just long enough to complete the set by telling the tale of the Angel and showcasing Marvel Girl's powers (her own origin and recruitment to the team was covered sufficiently at the start of the series) and then the main stories go full-length. There's a mixture of returns of some of the stronger past foes, but each in a new and deadlier form, alongside the introduction of new enemies and allies. Almost until the end of this run the series is better than it has ever been.

There's a succession of new characters that help to enhance the series. By far the most significant is Cyclops's younger brother Alex Summers who soon adopts the identity of Havok. Although both he and Lorna Dane are sparingly used in these issues, it's good to see an expansion of the line-up with characters who have ties to the existing team at a time when the school is not in operation and so new members can't be recruited that way. Whilst it would have been nice to see both used more in the limited time available, although there are some tensions as Havok steadily becomes a rival to Iceman for Lorna's affections, both need time to both develop their control of their powers and decide whether or not to become adventurers, and this is eventually addressed in Incredible Hulk #150. Less successful though is the reintroduction of Professor X, with the revelation that it was in fact a terminally ill Changeling in disguise who previously died, and Xavier has been hiding in a basement preparing to deal with an alien invasion. Although the actual preparation is convincing, the need to have faked his death just doesn't convince. It's also unfortunate that his return is in one of the weakest issues in the volume. A dramatic adventure was needed to justify his return but this one is far too rushed and involves a never seen before foe of the type not normally dealt with by the X-Men. It's as though the ending of the series was known about and there was a rush to get Professor X back in case of a revival or guest appearances. However other things suggest against this foreknowledge.

In the meantime there's a very strong line-up of villains, both old and new. The Sentinels return for their strongest challenge yet, this time guided by Larry Trask, son of the robots' creator who blames mutants for his father's death without realising he himself is a mutant. The Sentinels seem impossible to stop until Cyclops defeats them with logic and makes them all fly to the source of mutation - the Sun. Meanwhile in the Savage Land there is the mysterious "Creator" who has seemingly helped other mutants but in fact has genetically engineered them. In a twist the end of issue #62 reveals that the creator is an unmasked Magneto. It's a nice trick that takes advantage of the fact that the master of magnetism has never been seen without his helmet before and was never a mystery identity villain, whilst his scheme shows new deviousness as he no longer surrounds himself with buffoons and uneasy followers but instead creates a new set of deadly foes. On the new front there's the Living Pharaoh, who is transformed into the gigantic and fearsome Living Monolith, and Sauron, a man cursed to drain energy from others that transforms him into a pterodactyl man. The alien invasion is by the Z'Nox, merciless giant reptiles from another galaxy. Then there's Sunfire, a young Japanese mutant with the power to generate solar energy who represents the conflict within Japan over the country's role in the post war world, with Sunfire's father a diplomat promoting stronger links with the United States and his uncle encouraging vengeance.

With each issue flowing into the next there's a real sense of momentum about the series, showing it has found its vitality again and offering the prospect of a long run of greatness. But sadly it wasn't successful and with issue #66 the series came to a close. The last three issues show some scrambling about with either Thomas or Adams absent each time, suggesting some fill-ins and a rush to wrap things up. The return of Professor X and the Z'Nox invasion in issue #65 is underwhelming and then issue #66 is a search for the Hulk, with his military pursuers thrown in as well, that just doesn't do justice as a final issue. The final panel shows the seven X-Men standing around Professor X's bed as he recovers and reminds us there are still wrongs to right and foes to fight, with the X-Men confirming they will carry on saving the world and a final caption "And they fought happily ever after...??" Whilst the last few issues themselves may not have been the greatest, this was a premature cancellation.

Given how long it took to assemble accurate sales figures, I suspect the decision was taken before the full impact of the Thomas/Adams run became available. For somebody seems to have realised that X-Men still had sales potential and within less than a year the series returned as a bimonthly reprint title. There were also two "King-Sized" specials; annuals by any other name. As the first eight issues had already been reprinted elsewhere the revived series reprinted from issue #9 onwards, almost in exact order bar some rearrangement to put two-part tales in the same issue in both the annuals and in ongoing issues in the brief period when regular Marvel series increased in size. All the covers from the reprint era are included here and although many of them reuse previous cover images it's nice to see them for completism's sake. It's interesting to see that the reprints came to an end with issue #93 reprinting #45, despite that being a mid-part of a crossover with the Avengers. I wonder if there was a reprint of Avengers #53 somewhere in 1975; otherwise readers would have to wait until 1992 when it appeared in Avengers #350.

1975 would prove a big year for the X-Men and issue #94 would go its own way. But that is all for another day. In the meantime the X-Men spent some five years confined to the guest appearance circuit and we get a few of those appearances here. It's telling that once Marvel Team-Up switched from its initial plan of a buddy book for Spider-Man and the Human Torch to become Spider-Man's and Marvel's answer to The Brave and the Bold, the X-Men were the first guest-stars to appear. There may be a slight lapse of visual continuity as they wear their original costumes (before switching to civilian gear) but otherwise it's a good story that manages to juggle all the heroes in such a way to show them well and prove there's life in the team yet. The first of the two Incredible Hulk issues reprinted here helps fill in some gaps by showing developments with Lorna and Havok and how the triangle with Iceman has been resolved for now. The issue of Amazing Spider-Man included here seems rather redundant though. Whilst Spider-Man and Iceman would go on to co-star in the cartoon Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends a decade later, here we get the second part of a Spider-Man story as he's pursued by an unscrupulous candidate for District Attorney, with Iceman getting caught up in it. This isn't the most essential of inclusions.

The main feature of the latter part of this volume is the Beast's solo series from Amazing Adventures. It's clear from reading this here that the series was truncated in a hurry after just six issues, with a number of plot threads left outstanding and not all of them were resolved in the second Incredible Hulk issue included here. Additionally issue #17 was an emergency reprint fill-in issue retelling the Beast's origin with a couple of new pages to frame it. A text caption at the top of the reprint explains this was because the new feature (War of the Worlds featuring Killraven) wasn't ready in time, suggesting it was quickly selected to replace the Beast.

The series itself sees the Beast leave the X-Men to go and work for the Brand Corporation. There his experiments and attempts to hide his identity backfire and he winds up being mutated into a furry and seemingly less intelligent form. Initially grey, by the end his colour is changing to "black" but it seems to be the more familiar blue. In the process Hank gets caught up in plots by the shadowy Secret Empire (the new Number One's identity is not revealed here but it would turn out to be one of the most potentially libellous things Marvel has ever published) and falls for Linda Donaldson, assistant at the Band Corporation but actually Number Nine. Throw in conflict with variously a new version of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, here consisting of Mastermind, the Blob and Unus the Untouchable, Iron Man, Quasimodo and the Angel, and Hank's struggle with the physical and mental changes and the series rattles along but never quite takes off. There's even an appearance by Patsy Walker, now married to Buzz Baxter, though her maiden name isn't used here to identify the character. Truly the Marvel universe takes in everything. This is stretched further in the last full issue as Hank and former girlfriend Vera Cantor find themselves battling the Juggernaut around some of the Marvel bullpen - Roy Thomas, Jean Thomas, Steve Englehart, Gerry Conway and Len & Glynis Wein - at the Rutland Halloween Parade in Vermont, in a story that is also a discrete crossover with Thor and the Justice League of America. However the strip comes to a premature conclusion with the developments around the Secret Empire left to another series and the story of Vera's search for Hank's help is wrapped up in Incredible Hulk #161 as they encounter the Hulk and the Mimic in the Canadian wilderness. All in all the strip is functional but doesn't really leap out and make one wish for an ongoing Beast series. Still it's good to see it hasn't been forgotten by the Essentials.

The last part of this volume may be bitty as it presents some of the key X-Men stories from their hidden years, but it's completely appropriate for most of them to be here. But it's the main run that is the volume's greatest feature. At a time when the series was floundering it needed to do something amazing and it certainly achieved that. Clearly it was short-sightedness that led to the series being cancelled despite this revival and what we're left with is probably the best run on the X-Men from before the All-New All-Different era. It was a tragedy to end it so soon and that impacts on the very last few issues but overall the series went out on a high.

Essential Killraven volume 1

Like many latter day readers I first knowingly encountered Killraven thanks to his encounter with Spider-Man in Marvel Team-Up #45 (although I'd previously seen him in Avengers Forever but that series contained so much continuity some of it passed me by). Not long after I read that issue his entire series was reprinted for modern audiences to experience.

Essential Killraven volume 1 contains Amazing Adventures #18-#39, Marvel Team-Up #45, Marvel Graphic Novel #7 and Killraven #1. Amazing Adventures was the second series by this name (the first became Amazing Adult Fantasy) and was an anthology series that carried several strips in succession, including the Inhumans, the Black Widow and the Beast, though by this stage it carried just a single series (apart from a few reprints of short stories to fill up occasional page gaps). Marvel Graphic Novel was the umbrella branding for Marvel's graphic novels of the 1980s with the early releases individually numbered for reasons that presumably made sense at the time. Killraven #1 was a 2001 one-shot from the Marvel Knights line, which at the time was for more mature themes than the standard Marvels (although it's since been redefined for limited series that are often outside regular continuity), and is the most recent issue yet printed in the Essentials. The volume also contains, tucked right at the back, the letters page from Amazing Adventures #18 where Roy Thomas briefly describes the genesis of the series

The earliest issues are plotted by Thomas, with Neal Adams co-plotting on the first, and scripted by Gerry Conway, but then after one issue scripted by Marv Wolfman and a fill-in by Bill Mantlo, who also writes the Marvel Team-Up issue, the rest of the run and the graphic novel are written by Don McGregor. Neal Adams draws the first half of the first issue and is then succeeded by Howard Chaykin then Herb Trimpe then individual issues by Rich Buckler and Gene Colan. However the series then finds its best known artist in P. Craig Russell who draws most of the remaining issues and the graphic novel. There's a fill-in by a returning Herb Trimpe and another by Keith Giffen, whilst Sal Buscema handles the Marvel Team-Up. Finally Joseph Michael Linsner both writes and draws the 2001 one-shot. That's quite an extensive set of credits, and so I've put the labels in a separate post.

Although the series is collected under the banner of "Killraven", the actual (sub)title on issues #18-28 and again from #34-39 is "War of the Worlds". For the series takes as its starting point the classic H.G. Wells novel of that name (which, if I understand US copyright law correctly, has been in the US public domain since 1954 although it won't enter the UK public domain until 2017), and then presents the consequences of a second Martian invasion that occurred in the year 2001. The series itself starts in 2018 after many years of Martian occupation that have devastated the planet and its inhabitants. Although drawing some concepts and part of the backstory from Wells's novel, this is not the most obvious sequel imaginable. In some ways, it resembles more a futuristic Conan.

Whether or not this was intended to be the future of the Marvel Universe or just a future is a point left unanswered - the only time I have seen it even addressed is in What If? #1 when the Watcher introduces the concept and notes the possible alternate futures, but even then the only clear point is that it takes place in a different future from the adventures of Deathlok without committing to either being the actual future or not. When Spider-Man shows up in Marvel Team-Up #45 the point is touched upon but not really explored, doubtless because such a concept is beyond Killraven's knowledge and comprehension whilst Spider-Man is more concerned with surviving and making it back home. Or it could be an alternate reality altogether. With the exception of Spider-Man's brief visit there is no mention of the wider Marvel universe until issue #38. The story flows in such a way that this can be ignored, but on wider reflection it is a mystery as to why Earth's superheroes with all the advanced powers and technology at their disposal both failed to stop the initial invasion and then did not make any noticeable sign of resistance. Then in the penultimate issue of the regular series Killraven is drawn into an audio-visual psychic projection generated by the dreams of a former Mars astronaut. The projection takes him into a distorted vision of the 1970s Marvels, with Gerald Ford as Captain America and many heroes following a great leader with a "glib and silvery tongue" named 'Howard'. Truly this is a nightmare and doesn't answer all the issues. Obviously once the real 2001 came around and the Martians failed to appear in what was now the present day regular Marvel continuity the answer was clear, but I wonder just how many in the 1970s actually foresaw the comics industry surviving for so long that this would ever actually become an issue?

Something else I'm wondering about is just when did fiction presenting a next generation future stop expecting such great technological advances? Although the devastation of the invasion and occupation reduces the effect, there are glimpses of how the world of the 1990s saw technology move on, such as the television being replaced by the "mural phonics system" - a form of virtual reality though rather more advanced than the actual versions that were available in the real 1990s - or the car by the "transbelt conveyer" or even teaching has been shifted to watching tapes with teachers doing little more than changing them over. Today some writers might predict bold inventions but few would show a world of the next generation where the technology has so completely taken over from devices and methods so standard today. At the same time the knowledge of the characters is limited - Killraven himself was barely a baby when the Martians invaded but the older characters generally either remember little or never knew much in the first place about the old world. This leads to some interesting moments when in searching the archives of the White House the rebels find the reels containing the Watergate tapes (clearly the story assumes Richard Nixon would have gotten away with it) and use such historically important items as nothing more than party streamers to celebrate the New Year. Later we find humans worshipping "the Devourer" at the site of a giant McDonalds' golden arches, utterly unaware of their original purpose. In another issue, a man is defending a great treasure in a warehouse - free gifts from cereal boxes.

But it's the Earth occupied by the Martians that is the even scarier place. Much of the planet is in ruins with only a few recognisable landmarks reminding us of what the cities used to be. Many mutations thrive. Some are existing animals that have been effected by the pollution of war, some have been bred deliberately, and some are mutated humans. But even the non-mutated humans have been split, with many scientists serving the Martians, whilst other humans have different tasks. Killraven is one of many gladiators providing amusement, but worst of all are the hordes of "Adam"s and "Eve"s, stripped of their individual names and their memories and made to breed babies for the Martians to eat. How this stuff got past the Comics Code Authority astounds me. The series may have been inspired by Wells's novel and in particular a chapter with a very pessimistic prediction of life under the Martians, but the world portrayed is several stages removed from the inspiration.

Most of the volume is taken up with the survival and exploration of this world by a small band of rebels called the "Freemen". The concept isn't the most original but the series it most immediately reminds me of (Blake's 7) came along a few years later. Killraven himself is a complex creation. Just a baby at the time of the invasion he was later taken from his mother and trained to be a gladiator but also given special treatments by a scientist that left him with limited telepathic powers to reach into Martian minds, though it's not until the graphic novel that he actually manages to use this power for more than information gathering. It's implied that this is the power that will ultimately destroy the Martians but it's not actually put to such use. Otherwise we have the standard determined leader, limited by the gaps in his knowledge but firmly driven by his desire to defeat the Martians. The rest of the Freemen look suspiciously like they were assembled through a box ticking exercise - there's a black, a woman, a not entirely human member, a native American and a simple strong man. M'Shulla is another escaped gladiator and at times more level headed, though it is cringing when he is called "Mud-brother" by Killraven, even if it is a general term of endearment between gladiators. Carmilla Frost is an escaped geneticist who worked on cloning, with Grok a product of one of her experiments failing. Old Skull is another former gladiator who isn't the brightest of individuals but is very loyal. Hawk is a native American with grievances about the way his people were treated in the old world. Despite the violence they encounter, there's only one occasion on which any of the Freemen actually meet their deaths. Otherwise they ally with a number of other characters throughout the story, though only Volcana Ash, a woman with the power to generate and project heat, truly stands out, not least because she is the closest Killraven has to a romantic interest although it is largely unrealised. Otherwise the main romance comes between M'Shulla and Carmilla, including what was apparently the very first serious inter-racial kiss in US comics.

Much of the latter part of the series is taken up with a lengthy journey across what was the United States, trying to reach Yellowstone Park in the hope of finding Killraven's brother. However none of the Freemen seem to have a clue about the geography, not even Hawk who is old enough to have memories of many years before the invasion. With the original series running in real time (although the later graphic novel and one-shot ignore this) it's quite a lengthy quest, punctuated by a series of encounters with strange foes and unusual situations in various locales. This episodic format allows for emergency fill-in issues to be slotted into the running but it also means the series really does meander, not helped by various production problems. Issue #30 is one of the most awkward issues to reprint as it consists of six new pages framing reprints of material seen earlier in the volume. Here we just get the six new pages without explanation about the missing material. Continuity throughout the series is generally good in spite of changing and fill-in writers but it never quite reaches the level of a truly integrated epic that makes it especially rewarding to read in collected form.

With issue #39 the series ends fairly abruptly, although the cover is generic enough to cover the series as a whole. Within the story we get just a tiny panel at the very end of Old Skull winking and saying "Th... Tha... That's all, folks." Otherwise things are left mid flow. Killraven and the Freemen are still wandering across America, trying to find Yellowstone Park and his brother. The Martians are still ruling the Earth and there's no sign of any developments towards a grand struggle to overthrow them. Instead we leave a small band of rebels still wandering about and causing a nuisance but not much more. The series came to an end in 1976 with the final issue, according to Mike's Amazing World of Comics, hitting shelves on August 24th 1976, midway between the two Viking probe landings that did much to dispel popular beliefs about life on Mars (although this had already begun with the images sent by Mariner 4) and reduced its use in fiction. A lot of ongoing fiction has had to reconcile earlier appearances of Martians with the new knowledge, or just overlook it altogether.

The graphic novel was published seven years later but made no attempt to address the Martian issue. It did, however, contain a brief account of the "One Night War", explaining how the attack came suddenly and quickly overwhelmed the humans. The story is a continuation of the series as Killraven finally encounters his brother, who has changed from being the younger sibling to the older one, but overall there isn't much incident to the story and good as the artwork is (harder to judge when the colour is muted rather than separated off), it can hardly have justified the $5.95 price tag in 1983 when regular Marvel issues sold for just $0.60. The story delves into the characters somewhat, with decompression long before the term was coined, but the only grand incident is the eventual encounter between the Raven siblings and the twist had been set up back in issue #36, although I wonder how many readers in 1983 easily remembered the details of a single page seven years earlier. The High Overlord is also killed here but it's almost incidental to the main story and shows the attempt to settle as much as possible in the space available.

The 2001 one-shot is completely inconsequential, being told by a new writer and artist and not advancing the story from what was seen previously. Its presence here largely serves to make up the page count despite being much newer than anything else published in the Essentials so far (and also because there isn't much other material featuring the original Killraven). The story tells of Killraven discovering a young woman from the 1970s in suspended animation, the sole survivor of a group who protested the state of the world. Her story simultaneously evokes the idea of just opting out of society, mass suicides as a form of political protest, pacifism as a solution to dealing with violence and the belief that the turning of the millennium would bring some glorious utopia. Instead she finds herself awakened nineteen years later than planned, in a world that has forgotten her group's protest and where violent confrontation is the order of the day. Her beliefs and commitment are not openly mocked but the contrast between the wide-eyed optimism of the mid 1970s and the grim reality of the 21st century is all too clear.

Overall I found War of the Worlds/Killraven to be a series with a very fascinating concept behind it that was rather let down in the execution. Although the individual issues are generally well written and drawn, the strip doesn't really know if it wants to be an extended novel in comic form or a more general adventure series, and it gets pulled in both directions. Had it been originated in earlier years then it would have been more unambiguously a general adventure series against a backdrop, rather than trying to develop ongoing storylines across many issues. A decade later then it would almost certainly have been a limited series, allowing for a clear structure with a firm ending to work towards. But it came at a time when comics were going through a highly experimental stage and many creators were pushing at the restraints of the existing formats. At the same time as he was writing Killraven's adventures, Don McGregor was also writing the Black Panther in Jungle Action and produced one of the first integrated epics that was almost designed for tradepaperbacks, similar to work Jack Kirby had started at DC with the Fourth World comics. But Killraven never quite came off the same way and the latter day additions to the saga may have wrapped up the quest but left the overall situation intact (in part due to the appropriation of the series as the backstory to the Guardians of the Galaxy). This volume is unfortunately not one that is greater than the sum of its parts.