Jab’s Builds! (Whomp 'Em! Plumbers Don't Wear Ties! ToeJam & Earl!)

[greycrusader]

The Primal Force book held my interest for a little while, but it just seemed to meander a bit too much, and the Big Evil Scheme which was unfolding throughout the length of the book's short run just sort of came to nothing...basically the cabal of occultists do kill off a couple team members (Golem and the even more obscure Noir), they get to turn the Earth into a decadent fantasy realm, but then they don't have the willpower to sustain it, so the world reverts and Primal Force defeats them. The End.

But man, I LOVED me some Mike Grell Warlord back in the day! Great art, solid storytelling, a main character who was more Edgar Rice Burroughs than Robert E. Howard, strong supporting cast (you missed a few wonderful side-characters such as Aton and Scarheart), the weird world of Skataris...among Grell's best, I would say.

And yeah, DC had a SLEW of fantasy titles, and even the ones that didn't last were at least interesting; the original Starfire, the later issues of Claw, Steve Ditko's oddball Stalker, Beowulf, the space opera Ironwulf (another Grell title), Arak, Son of Thunder (a very good, underrated book, IMO). Sad so few of them lasted.

Marvel actually didn't do NEARLY as much with its sword and sorcery line, except for the VERY successful Conan titles (there were THREE books at one time!), along with some other REH stuff, the proto-Conan King Kull, Almauric (a series in their EPIC magazine), and Solomon Kane (who was pretty cool in hindsight, I just didn't "get" the concept at the time). Ah, it was a good time to be a kid.

All my best!

[Ken]

the original Starfire

Third. Leonid Kovar (Teen Titans #18 12/68) and the Supergirl foe (Adventure Comics 402-407, 2/71-6/71) both predate the sword-and-planet heroine (Starfire #1 9/76) by a number of years.

[Jabroniville]

There was a modern version of Claw that appeared in the short lived Primal Force comic that came out after the Zero Hour event. It was meant to be the 'supernatural superheroes / exploring the dark corners of the DCU' book, but I bought it primarily because Red Tornado was on the team. The book was . . . not very good. In fact it was pretty bad. They never really explained much of anything, the enemies they fought were pretty lackluster, the characters weren't particularly compelling, it was pretty much a mess.

There, Claw was an antiques dealer who, via some shady practices, managed to get a hold of the severed hand of (I believe) one of the Claw bloodline, and it attached itself to him as part of a curse. He was the generic "angry most of the time but secretly sensitive" bad boy type, and there's a reason why I'm one of like 5 people who remember the book.

Never heard of that book- nothing I see online even suggests what happened in it. I guess that guy was "Claw II" and a descendant of the original.

The Primal Force book held my interest for a little while, but it just seemed to meander a bit too much, and the Big Evil Scheme which was unfolding throughout the length of the book's short run just sort of came to nothing...basically the cabal of occultists do kill off a couple team members (Golem and the even more obscure Noir), they get to turn the Earth into a decadent fantasy realm, but then they don't have the willpower to sustain it, so the world reverts and Primal Force defeats them. The End.

But man, I LOVED me some Mike Grell Warlord back in the day! Great art, solid storytelling, a main character who was more Edgar Rice Burroughs than Robert E. Howard, strong supporting cast (you missed a few wonderful side-characters such as Aton and Scarheart), the weird world of Skataris...among Grell's best, I would say.

And yeah, DC had a SLEW of fantasy titles, and even the ones that didn't last were at least interesting; the original Starfire, the later issues of Claw, Steve Ditko's oddball Stalker, Beowulf, the space opera Ironwulf (another Grell title), Arak, Son of Thunder (a very good, underrated book, IMO). Sad so few of them lasted.

Marvel actually didn't do NEARLY as much with its sword and sorcery line, except for the VERY successful Conan titles (there were THREE books at one time!), along with some other REH stuff, the proto-Conan King Kull, Almauric (a series in their EPIC magazine), and Solomon Kane (who was pretty cool in hindsight, I just didn't "get" the concept at the time). Ah, it was a good time to be a kid.

All my best!

Ah OK, I was wondering if anyone here was a fan. I asked some of the older comics fans I knew and got nothing but some passing familiarity. I've never heard of Aton & Scarheart- they didn't pop up on the DC Fandom page nor Wikipedia, and they aren't in any of the books I have. The entire blurb on ComicVine about Scarheart is a sentence long and under his profile image; not even on his page! Nor is there anything for Aton save "The Herald of Travis Morgan".

[Jabroniville]

ARAK, SON OF THUNDER (Bright-Sky-After-Storm)
Created By: Roy Thomas & Ernie Colón
First Appearance: Warlord #48 (Aug. 1981)
Role: Magical Native American, Conan Knock-Off
PL 8 (113)
STRENGTH 3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+5)
Athletics 6 (+9)
Expertise (Survival) 6 (+9)
Expertise (Viking) 4 (+5)
Expertise (Magic) 4 (+5)
Insight 3 (+6)
Intimidation 4 (+7)
Perception 4 (+7)
Stealth 3 (+6)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Diehard, Equipment 3 (Sword +3, Axe +3, Tomahawk- Blast 4, Shield +1), Improved Critical (Sword), Improved Disarm, Improved Smash, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 8, Ritualist, Teamwork

Powers:
"Headdress of Power" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [4]
Immunity 10 (Magical Effects) (Flaws: Limited to Half-Effect) (5)
Senses 4 (Vision Counters Concealment) (Flaws: Limited to Spirits) (2)
-- (7 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Sword +10 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (+11 Shield, DC 20-21), Parry +11 (+12 Shield, DC 21-22), Toughness +4, Fortitude +7, Will +7

Complications:
Motivation (Finding His Tribe)- Upon discovering his Native heritage, Arak wishes to find his wandering tribe and protect them.
Enemy (The Serpent-God)- Arak's mother was bitten by the venomous god and saved by He-No the Thunder God- the serpent occasionally strikes at him.
Relationship (Valda the Iron Maiden)- Valda is Arak's lover and companion.

Total: Abilities: 58 / Skills: 36--18 / Advantages: 19 / Powers: 4 / Defenses: 14 (113)

-Arak, Son of Thunder is the creation of Roy Thomas, who had just become an exclusive to DC Comics in 1981 after a dispute with Marvel Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter. Thomas, how had jumpstarted the "Sword & Sorcery" craze in comics ten years earlier with Conan the Barbarian, bringing him to the forefront, essentially ripped off his own work to create Arak for DC. However, the character would soon shift to a more Mohawk-related visual motif. He usually fought against H.P. Lovecraft-inspired monsters and creatures from various Earth legends- taking things from Greek, Norse, Christian, Muslim & Asian mythologies. The book is somewhat credited with being quite a bit less stereotypical than its contemporaries, with Arak being more sensitive than say, Apache Chief was.

-Arak's origin is that his mother was seduced by an evil serpent-god, but fled after he bit her- she is rescued by He-No, the Thunder God, and marries him in gratitude, but misses her people and finds she doesn't truly love him. She returns to her tribe bearing He-No's child, who becomes Bright-Sky-After-Storm, the literal "Son of Thunder". He-No later saves him from a tribe that worships the serpent-god, but most of Arak's people are killed- the boy is sent adrift, and adopted by Vikings (themselves also not being depicted as stereotypes, with no horned helmets or fur cloaks), who name him "Arak" (it was supposed to be "Eric" but the boy mispronounced it). The boy is raised as a Viking, and becomes a great warrior.

-At the end of the first issue, a sea serpent attacks, and all the Vikings, including Arak's father, are killed. Arak throws a cross (which the Vikings call a hammer) at the serpent, killing it. After this, Arak becomes a wandering warrior, going on various adventures. He befriends Carolus Magnus (aka Charlemagne), engages in relations with a warrior named Valda the Iron Maiden, and more. At one point, Arak dies and encounters He-No, who explains his past- Arak thus takes on more Native American traits, like fringe and a mohawk hairstyle. He rejects He-No's offer to rule by his side, angering him, but He-No still gifts him with a magical headdress. He finally finds the remainder of his tribe and leads them to Western Canada- on his deathbed, Arak's father appears to him and tells him he loves him. Arak thus dies happily.

-Arak, Son of Thunder was launched in the Warlord book, which was still going strong, and soon spun off- the book would last for four years, being cancelled on its fiftieth issue- not a bad run. Arak has not appeared in comics after 1988 until Convergence, in which Brainiac captures and refashions him into the cyborg Telus, who becomes the key villain of the story (which also heavily features Warlord characters).

-Arak is another Conan-type character- a PL 8 warrior with a magical headdress that can see spirits and vague "Magical Powers" which could mean anything and were bestowed later, I guess. They're said to be "limited" and involve weather manipulation, earth control, longevity & illusions.

[Ares]

Arak was a fun book, going with a "all myths / religions are true" approach and generally treating them all pretty respectfully. A neat twist was that it was presented as something of "the last days of the Mythic Age", where the Greek / Roman gods had left Earth, the supernatural in general tended to operate less openly, etc.

In addition to generally being a badass, Arak also had some vague abilities as a shaman, which Ritualist probably covers. There was an impressive storyarc where he found the flaming sword of the archangel Michael, and had to use his own abilities to dampen its flame enough to hide it by wrapping it in several layers of cloth, but even that was taxing him constantly. In a clever move, while fighting over the sword with the big bad of the storyline, both men pulled free. The villain pulled back the sword . . . but Arak pulled back the HEAVENLY FIRE that powered the sword, wielding it like a kind of holy lightsaber that easily cut through the now powerless metal sword and the villain in one swing, before letting that power return to the heavens.

[Jabroniville]

Poor Thiron has very few images online, lol.

THIRON
Created By: Paul Levitz & Tom Yeates
First Appearance: Warlord #51 (1981)
Role: Sword & Sorcery Character
PL 7 (99)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+5)
Athletics 6 (+9)
Expertise (Knight) 6 (+7)
Expertise (Survival) 4 (+7)
Insight 3 (+6)
Intimidation 4 (+7)
Perception 4 (+7)
Stealth 3 (+6)

Advantages:
Equipment 1 (Sword +3, Shield +1), Improved Critical (Sword), Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4

Powers:
"The Dragonsword" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [19]
Flight 4 (30 mph) (Flaws: Winged) (4)
Immunity 10 (Magical Powers) (10)

"Fire Breath" Blast 8 (16) -- (17)

• AE: Strength-Damage +4 (Feast: Improved Critical) (5)

(31 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Dragonsword +8 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Fire Breath +6 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (+10 Shield, DC 19-20), Parry +10 (+11 Shield, DC 20-21), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +6

Complications:
Enemy (Quisel)- An evil Sorcerer-King rules the land.
Relationship (Dysilius)- Thiron's squire is a smart-talking chimpanzee-lookalike.

Total: Abilities: 42 / Skills: 32--16 / Advantages: 7 / Powers: 19 / Defenses: 15 (99)

-The least successful of the Conan knock-offs over at DC, Dragonsword is not the name of a character, but the main hero Thiron's blade. The young knight in training, full of pluck but kind of irresponsibile and unwise, was sent to "blood" his blade using a dragon, but upon killing it (he stuck the blade in its mouth and let it bite down, killing itself), found the Dragon's soul entering the sword itself, creating the legendary "Dragonsword". Gaining dragon-like powers and an Immunity to Magic, he was sent against the evil Sorcerer-King, Emperor Quisel, eventually transforming into a draconic being himself. He killed Quisel, and told all the remaining wizards that the realm was to be free of magically-powered tyranny forever. He ceded the land to his sentient ape squire Dysilius and left the world for generations. The whole thing has never reappeared. The whole story only took about four issues.

-Thiron is a pretty medium-tier "Knight" character, but his method of fighting the dragon is remarkably effective and brave- he just jumps into its mouth and plants the sword on its tongue- the dragon does the rest of the work by biting down and impaling its own brain. When he gains the "Dragonsword", he becomes even stronger, hitting PL 7 handily and being an ideal Mage-Fighter given his Immunity. He gains more powers as the story goes on, to the point where he likely has a completely different statline with each issue of his story.

[brothersale]

The character took a thirty-year break until a 2008 Wonder Woman issue where he & Beowulf are ancient champions who ally with WW against a demon.

He also appeared in a four part crossover series with Red Sonja done by Wildstorm and Dynamite comic aptly called Red Sonja/Claw. Its not bad, it mainly assumes that you are familiar with Red Sonja but gives a brief overview of Claw so that you are up to speed with the character

[Swordfire]

Was there ever a MODEM? Or is that just too geeky?

Mental Organism Designed Entirely for Mayhem?

Mental Organism Designed for Exceptional Maintenance

He's the A.I.M. I.T. guy.

*phone rings*

"GREETINGS! YOU HAVE REACHED THE OFFICE OF MODEM! THE MENTAL ORGANISM DESIGNED FOR EXCEPTIONAL MAINTENANCE! HOW MAY I BE OF ASSISTANCE?!"

*listens*

"HAVE YOU TRIED TURNING IT ON AND OFF AGAIN?!"

Working IT tech support or customer service is enough to drive most people to super-villainy.....

[Jabroniville]

ARION (Ahri'ahn)
Created By: Paul Kupperberg & Jan Duursema
First Appearance: Warlord #55 (March 1982)
Role: Magic Hero, Sword & Sorcery Guy
PL 11 (209)
STRENGTH 3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+5)
Athletics 6 (+9)
Expertise (Survival) 6 (+9)
Expertise (Viking) 4 (+5)
Expertise (Magic) 4 (+5)
Insight 3 (+6)
Intimidation 4 (+7)
Perception 4 (+7)
Stealth 3 (+6)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Diehard, Equipment 1 (Sword +3), Improved Critical (Sword), Improved Disarm, Improved Smash, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 8, Ritualist, Teamwork

Powers:
"Demi-God" Immunity 3 (Aging, Poison, Disease) [3]
Force Field 8 (Extras: Impervious 9) [17]
Flight 5 (60 mph) [10]

Teleport 8 (Extras: Accurate, Easy, Extended, Portal +2) (56) -- [66]

• AE: "Magic Constructs" Create 10 (Extras: Movable) (30)
• AE: Eldritch Blast 12 (24)
• AE: "Animal Control" Mind Control 8 (Flaws: Limited to Animals) (24)
• AE: Enhanced Strength 4 (8)
• AE: "Summon Plants" Snare 8 (24)
• AE: Illusion (Vision & Hearing) 8 (24)
• AE: "Telepathy" Mind-Reading 8 & Communication (Mental) 3 (28)
• AE: Environment 5 (Light, Darkness) (10)
• AE: "Invisibility" Concealment 2 (Vision) (Extras: Affects Others) (6)
• AE: "Astral Projection" Remote Sensing (Vision & Hearing) 8 (24)

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Sword +10 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Enhanced Strength +10 (+7-10 Damage, DC 22-25)
Eldritch Blast +10 (+12 Ranged Damage, DC 27)
Snare +10 (+8 Ranged Affliction, DC 18)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +4 (+12 Force Field), Fortitude +7, Will +7

Complications:
Enemy (Garn)- Arion's brother is an agent of chaos who seeks the destruction of Atlantis.
Enemy (Chaon)- Chaon is a powerful Lord of Chaos who always wants to destroy Atlantis.
Relationship (Chian)- Chian is Arion's lover.
Relationship (Wyynde)- Arion's best friend is a member of the Royal Guard.
Relationship (Calculha)- Arion's mentor and father-figure, and later actual father.

Total: Abilities: 64 / Skills: 36--18 / Advantages: 17 / Powers: 96 / Defenses: 14 (209)

Arion- DC's Ancient Super-Wizard:
-The only "Sword & Sorcery" guy from DC's stretch of riffing on that concept to actually focus on the latter, Arion featured in the series Arion: Lord of Atlantis from 1982-1985. Spinning off of Warlord like a bunch of the other guys, his stories were set in the past, when Atlantis was a high-tech civilization. Initially, the series was set outside of DC continuity, but for whatever reason they slapped it into the main line post-Crisis on Infinite Earths, despite be the book being cancelled by then.

-Paul Kupperburg came up with the idea for Arion when his editor, Laurie Sutton, mentoined that Dragonsword was about to end as the Warlord backup feature- told that the replacement just had to be a Sword & Sorcery-themed, Paul came up with the idea of a young mage as the hero, and Sutton suggested fabled Atlantis as the location. The backup lasted seven issues before Arion- Lord of Atlantis became an ongoing- it lasted for 35 issues across three years. The book featured Arion formed from cosmic energy itself- he is taken in by the sorcerer Calculha, who acts as a tutor and father-figure. Arion fights the Gods of Atlantis, ends the Ice Age at the cost of his own magic, and then sought to reclaim his former power on a quest. His arch-nemesis was a being called Garm. He attempts to save a doomed Atlantis, but fails even as he regains his powers- it is sunk beneath the waves by the god Chaon and descendants of Atlanteans who had since become space-farers.

Post-Crisis Carion:
-Post-Crisis, Arion was revised to be a Demi-God and one of the Lords of Order, which DC was then attempting to make a thing. Arion's status as a "Homo Magi", part of a race of magically-powered humanoids, makes him an ancestor of Zatanna, and his lineage also now includes Aquaman. A retcon makes him the actual son of Calculha and a sorceress who eventually became his rival- Arion was killed but reborn thanks to his father's spells. Kupperburg would attempt to bring the character back a couple of times, but all we got was a miniseries in 1992, set in modern times.

-For a time, Arion was suggested as a possible ancestor of Power Girl's (her great-grandfather; she had been sent into the future), as her origin was then in flux and they needed a reason why she was super-powered. He appears in modern times with no powers, but immortal. His companion, Mara, was tragically trapped in canine form when the magic empowering her was shut off- she soon forgot her human identity. Arion was killed off in the JSA series in a bit I totally forget- part of the Lords of Order thing finished off by the Lords of Chaos, as his body is possessed by Mordru in Gemworld. He is freed by Power Girl & Hawkgirl in order to weaken Mordru- he confesses to Power Girl that she was not related to him at all, and not Atlantean, starting her new character arc.

-Arion also appears frequently in the New 52 era and is shockingly still treated as important, despite being in a book that was only around for three years at its peak- it's like DC writers just kind of fell in love with this idea- this kind of ancient wizard at the back of the history of Earth somehow.




ARION'S SUPPORTING CAST:
-The book had a solid supporting cast despite its short run.

CHIAN: A former mercenary, now Captain of the Royal Guard. Arion's main love interest, who looked Asian, she trained him in swordfighting. She eventually became Arion's wife and queen.

WYYNDE: Resembling a Native American, Wyynde is a member of the Royal Guard of Atlantis and a reluctant prince of his people. One of Arion's closest friends. When Atlantis was destroyed, he is thought to have settled in North America with his people, explaining where Natives came from.



FAWNDANCER: Wyynde's wife. Turned into a mermaid by Garm.



MARA: A young adventurer from a land conquered by Garn. She had limited shapeshifting powers, and fell in love with Wyynde- he rejected her advances because of her young age. She is first shown as having succeeded Arion as ruler of Atlantis, helping look after his grandchildren (including Kara, who becomes Power Girl)- however, this is retconned and her life is now tragic- when the Darkworld Dimension's connection to Earth is broken, she was shapeshifted into a dog form. She was thus trapped in that form for eternity, eventually forgetting she was ever human, and she has since become Arion's companion and pet.

CALCULHA: A Master God of the Atlantean Pantheon and a powerful spellcaster. He adopted Arion (and is later revealed to have been his birth father with Majistra), and struggled with the knowledge that Arion may himself be sacrificed in the name of Order. He is eventually killed by Garn, his other son.



GARN DAANUTH: An evil wizard, Garn is an agent of the Lords of Chaos, and son of Majistra. She is killed and his skin bleached when one of his missions fails. He destroys the physical body of Calculha, traumatizes Wyynde until he is catatonic and wipes out much of his tribe. It's stated in Arion the Immortal that Garn lost his powers and became a Middle Eastern dictator, finally being stopped by Arion after his powers returned. He is retroactively stated to be Arion's own twin brother.



MAJISTRA: A rival God and wife to Calculha, she is the Atlantean Goddess of Strife and Darkness. She rules the people of Mu (who resemble Egyptians and are likely their ancestors). She raised their other child, Garn, in accordance with a prophecy to make him an agent of Chaos. Revealed to be Arion's birth-mother Post-Crisis.



CHAON: An evil God serving the role Darkseid occupies in the future. He is a Lord of Chaos and the Atlantean God of Evil, Madness & Chaos. He constantly attempts to destroy the universe but is foiled by brother gods (Calculha, Tynan & Gemimn) and Arion himself. When Calculha dies, he takes his chance and sets up Atlantis to be destroyed, sinking it beneath the waves. In the '90s Arion the Immortal series, Chaon takes human form along with the other gods to save himself, and opens a seedy deli in New York in modern times. He now cares little for his cosmic duties, and becomes a reluctant confidante to Arion.

[Davies]

Arion was also used as an antagonist in Kurt Busiek's Superman run, where he (centuries ago) gets a precognition that leads him to conclude that Superman is inadvertently setting up conditions that will bring about the downfall of humanity. Naturally, they fight.

[Ken]

Arion also appeared in the Crisis proper in a few of the early issues.

Before that, Garn Daanuth was used as the primary antagonist in Justice League of America #217 (8/83). It was the first issue after Gerry Conway ended his 66 issue run of writing JLA, and Paul Kupperburg was tapped to do an issue. Arion, Lord of Atlantis #10 came out the same month. I don't know if it was Kupperburg himself, or Len Wein (the JLA editor) who came up withe the idea of using Daanuth in the modern day (as an ancient sorcerer trying to return to life), but I'm reasonably sure this was the first case "Arion is in the DCU".

Curiously Daanuth's complexion was Caucasian not bleached.

[Jabroniville]

Oh yeah, that's a Claremont page, alright.

KHAN:
Created By: Chris Claremont & Salvador Larocca
First Appearance:[/b] X-Treme X-Men #10 (April 2002)
Role: Alien Conqueror

-Khan is as generic a World Conqueror as you're ever likely to find, and looks pretty much like a purple dude in Fantasy Armor. Despite that, he's actually an alien who subjugates various worlds. In a twist, these worlds are all alternate versions of EARTH, all over the multiverse. He offers high technology to those he rules, but they're entirely under his power nonetheless. Images I've seen show him trying to mack on Storm and make her his queen, but the X-Men reject him, and trap his entire armada within a collapsing dimensional rift, seemingly killing them all.

-Nothing exists in any bio about his powers or capabilities, so I left him un-statted. It largely seems immaterial to his purpose in the storyline anyways.

[Jabroniville]

So yeah, like I mentioned before, I'd somehow missed that the "K" names hadn't all been translated over to Echoes, either. So I have a few days more of trying to post various names from the late days of Ronin Army, lol.

[Jabroniville]

It was 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.
-Comics Historian Peter Sanderson

KILLRAVEN (Jonathan Raven)
Created By: Roy Thomas & Neal Adams
First Appearance: Amazing Adventures #18 (May 1973)
Role: Forgotten Hero, Rebel Leader
PL 10 (185)
STRENGTH 5 STAMINA 5 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 12 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Athletics 8 (+13)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+14)
Deception 2 (+6)
Expertise (History) 11 (+14)
Expertise (Art) 2 (+5)
Expertise (Science) 5 (+8)
Expertise (Soldier) 11 (+12)
Insight 3 (+6)
Intimidation 2 (+6)
Perception 3 (+6)
Ranged Combat (Shuriken) 4 (+14)
Stealth 2 (+7)
Technology 3 (+6)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Animal Empathy, Assessment, Defensive Attack, Diehard, Equipment 3 (Sword, Shuriken), Extraordinary Effort, Fast Grab, Fearless, Great Endurance, Improved Critical 3 (Sword, Unarmed, Shuriken), Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Inspire, Jack-of-All-Trades, Leadership, Power Attack, Prone Fighting, Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 6, Set-Up, Takedown, Teamwork, Tracking

Powers:
"Projected Consciousness" Mind Control 6 (Flaws: Limited to Martians) [18]
Concealment 5 (All Senses) (Flaws: Limited to Machines) [5]
"Mental Guard" Enhanced Will Save 2 (Flaws: Limited to vs. Mental Assaults) [1]

Equipment:
"Sword" Strength-Damage +3 (Feats: Improved Critical, Penetrating 4) (8)
"Shuriken" Blast 2 (Diminished Range -1) (3)
"Bulletproof Fabric & Leather" Protection 2 (Extras: Impervious 3) (5)

Offense:
Unarmed +14 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Sword +12 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Mind Control -- (+6 Perception-Ranged Affliction, DC 16)
Shuriken +14 (+2 Ranged Damage, DC 19)
Initiative +9

Defenses:
Dodge +13 (DC 23), Parry +13 (DC 23), Toughness +5 (+7 Leather), Fortitude +7, Will +8

Complications:
Motivation (Freeing Earth)- Earth has been taken over by Martians- Killraven seeks to fight back the occupying forces.
Relationship (The Rebellion)
Enemy (Deathraven)- Killraven's brother has become a lupine, wolf-controlling enemy.

Total: Abilities: 82 / Skills: 58--29 / Advantages: 34 / Powers: 24 / Defenses: 16 (185)

-Killraven is the story of Jonathan Raven, a human who tries to fight back against Martian oppression in the far future of 2018 Earth. He leads a band of warriors in rebellion (it featured comics' first non-comedic interracial kiss... wow, that took till the '70s? WHAT THE SHIT, COMICS?!?). The book lasted from 1971-1976, pretty well matching the timeline of the early "Swords & Sorcery" genre, though this is obviously more sci-fi.

-Killraven was created by a mish-mash of guys, with Neal Adams doing only the first 11 pages of his debut, and two different scripters (Gerry Conway & Marv Wolfman) handling the plot in three issues (Conway the first two, Wolfman the second). Writer Don McGregor took over between #21 & #39, producing an "acclaimed run" (Wikispeak translation: Tiny but Vocal "Doom Patrol Fanbase"). McGregor & P. Craig Russell (the signature artist, to the point where he was basically the Other Daddy to Killraven) were going to release a Super-Giant-Issue capping off the story (Killraven would take the war back to the Martians), but it never saw print after Marvel refused to promise them to package it in their best format at the time.

-Later writers apparently enjoyed the Killraven tale enough to try and make crossovers or descendants (Grant Morrison on Ravage, which would make the Killraven stories canon and part of the 2099-verse's history; Jim Valentino on Guardians of the Galaxy- Franklin Richards was gonna be Killraven's dad!), but things didn't work out for whatever reason. A Robert Kirkman/Rob Liefeld project also never got off the ground- this dude has worse luck than friggin' ROM. He's got all these writers in love with the idea, and yet the only single time I've EVER seen him was in an alternate future in Avengers Forever! And he barely even frickin' DID anything in that one! Kurt Busiek says he was there pretty much because of the late Carlos Pacheco, who liked the stories. There was a Wisdom Limited Series I've never heard of that featured a young version occupying the mainstream Marvel Earth, though.

-Killraven himself is a gladiator who breaks free from his Martian masters and joins the "Freemen"- a rebellion against the Martians (inspired by, and at first stated to be, the Martians from H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds). The Martians, who rule Earth (despite, you know, all the vast numbers of space empires who tried and failed to do that), force men to fight as gladiators, and force women to become breeders of infants, which they then EAT as a delicacy! This ain't no "Shades of Grey" war-story here, folks. Killraven and his multiethnic "Ragtag Band of Adventurers" (black M'Shulla, cynical Native American Hawk, dumb strongman Old Skull, feisty scientist Carmilla & an apelike clone of her father named Grok) meet various survivors, fight Martian stuff, and even encounter his brother Deathraven, who is a Martian collaborator! Killraven eventually frees the Earth from Martian control when he unleashes a zombie plague on the Martians' food supply (which, remember, are HUMAN BABIES). Killraven has yet to appear "for realz" after this as all subsequent versions (even one from an Alan Davis series in the 2000s) were Alternate Universe versions.

-Killraven is a gladiator, and goes all Spartacus on the Martians, who are the same species as the H.G. Wells "War of the Worlds" Martians, who took over Earth in 2001 and eat infants as a delicacy. He has boosted physical stats thanks to an injection of experimental chemicals, as well as psionic powers. I figure him for a really strong Conan-esque guy, making PL 10 handily- he's a ways beyond your typical Rebel Leader types from fantasy realms.

[Horsenhero]

I loved the War of the Worlds stories! Killraven was 'the man" in pretty much all respects and the evil aliens were really evil (from a human perspective). I remember the scene that drove home to (very, very) young me, exactly how evil everything was. An overseer of the slave pits (a human collaborator) forces a human slave to clean his boots by licking them clean as he makes some sort of report to his Martian masters. Despite the comics code being in full force at the time, the War of the Worlds book didn't pull many punches.