Well, isn’t THIS a cozy image? Welcome, one and all, to the Killraven graphic novel, which is actually titled “Last Dreams Broken”. This graphic novel, written by Don McGregor and illustrated by P. Craig Russell, is based on the Killraven series that debuted in 1973’s Amazing Adventures. We will get to that at some point, but right now we’re doing the graphic novel, so suck it up, proles.
The graphic novel begins with introductions of the main characters, in case you hadn’t read the series, which most people apparently hadn’t. It’s loosely based on the War of the Worlds premise, with the protagonist, Killraven, being a kind of freedom fighter against the invading and occupying Martian force.
It’s this kind of stylized art that Russell is known for. See the UNEARTHED: Elric, the Dreaming City series for more!
Here’s Killraven’s best friend, M’Shulla Scott, who he met in the Martian gladiatorial arena. I’ll tell you right now, the writer McGregor is known more for his character development and prose than for any kind of interesting plotting.
Here’s “Old Skull”, another gladiator who escaped with Killraven. It’s never explained why Killraven calls him that, but hey, these little character portraits are pretty, aren’t they?
This is Carmilla. She’s not much of a character, but then, neither is M’Shulla. In fact, really only Killraven gets much from the writer, but that’s fine. It’s not the story that makes me love this graphic novel.
And the final character portrait is the Martian Overlord. Lookit his weird little monkey face! The ears make him especially endearing. But he’s supposed to be scary, so when he shows up, make sure you boo and hiss.
Anyway, here’s the actual beginning. Note that with P. Craig Russell, you can always tell when he’s working from a photo reference and when he’s just drawing from his imagination. In general, if it’s a very detailed, realistically-proportioned shot like this one, it’s a photo reference. Otherwise his figures tend to look like action figures. You’ll see. But I still love him!
From the previous page an this one, you can see McGregor’s purple prose at work. It’s a little overdone at times, but some of the phrases still stick in my mind, even after all these years.
Poor Killraven. “Volcana Ash” was a supporting character in the earlier series. Spoiler alert: I guess they didn’t get together?
Here’s good ol’ Old Skull, doin’ his Sling Blade thing. This is a good example of what I was talking about earlier: there’s a studied lack of detail in these mid-range figures that’s a bit at odds with the hyper-real larger portraits. But hey, it’s all good. I still like Russell’s graphic design-centered work.
Now, “mud-brother” might seem at first to be some kind of mention of M’Shulla’s skin color, but it’s actually a reference to the time they all spent as gladiators in the arena. Relax, folks, it’s okay! A LOT of older material does tend to fall into the category of “It was a different time”, but this one’s safe!
McGregor’s not a master of subtly integrating exposition with his character work.
No, here’s where you can really see Russell’s flair come to life. The sweeping lines of the buildings set against the fish-eye lens aspect of the sky reveals how much he loves his design sensibilities. To my mind, the science fiction setting does his style no justice. I feel that he really excels in a fantasy milieu. Also, how fun is it to say ‘milieu’?
Here’s another example of the uneven nature of Russell’s work. That landscape kind of looks like a small replica of a full-sized environment. It lacks convincing detail to make me believe it’s a real place we’re looking at.
The best part of this sequence is Carmilla going “yuk”, which was clearly added in by Russell, instead of the letterer.
This panel is SO Russelly! Note the predominance of flowy, sweeping lines and sharp angles. Nobody would ever design scientific equipment like this! And also, Killraven states that he was 8 or 9 years old at the time of these experiments, but holy crap, that’s not a nine year old’s body.
I love Russell’s Martian tripods. They’re elegant and spiky and just weird enough to be obviously alien. And that building is no kind of building at all. It’s more like a congealed mass of the kinds of patterns and curves Russell loves to draw. And the design elements are here in full force. Look at that sun! What’re those four lines coming out of it? Pure design stuff!
Killraven in that second panel is very reminiscent of Elric when he casts spells. This is pretty similar, to be sure: Killraven has an ability to send his mind out to enter another’s and see things from their perspective.
Top panel: more of that Russell abstraction. Bottom panel: more of that Russell love of flowy lines. But it’s all so lovely to look at!
Some really interesting visuals as Killraven enters a random Martian’s head. That blob is what they look like, apparently, but suddenly, the Overlord enters, and HE’S wearing some kind of exoskeleton. Why does it have muscles? It’s a robot suit, it doesn’t need them! But whatever, it’s all about the aesthetics, just like the weird machinery around him.
Please tune in for Part Two of Killraven: Warrior of the Worlds!
