Quick Killraven question.

[Matt Platis]

Alan,

Forgive me if you have already answered this question before. Did you read the old Killraven series before you worked on the new one or were you just familiar with the concept?

I recently purchased the Essential Killraven trade and I have not got into it yet.

[Alan Davis]

Matt

I had collected Killraven from the first issue. I was grabbed by those first few Neal Adams pages that promised so much-- and was hugely disappointed when it degenerated into a comic with a 'character in search of a genre'. I stuck with the title in the hope the stories would get better and because there was occasionaly some great art. It was never my ambition to draw Killraven-- as I have explained at length elsewhere, Bob Harras had asked me what I would like to work on next for Marvel and I replied John Carter on Mars. The ERB rights were held by Darkhorse at that time so Bob suggested that I might use Killraven to do a 'Mars' type story. It wasn't something I would ever have considered myself but once the thought was in my head I was eager to see what I could do.

Alan

[Matt Platis]

Do you have any other stories for Killraven and if Marvel were to ask you to do more, would you do it?

Killraven has grown quickly into one of my favorite mini-series.

[Alan Davis]

I'm always pleased to hear that someone has enjoyed my work, Matt-- especially Killraven because I was very happy with the way the story and art worked out and obviously disappointed the series wasn't better received in the US.

The fact the mini-series didn't sell renders any talk about a sequel (and possibly even an English language TPB of the series) pointless which is very sad since there is so much potential in the character and scenario.

Alan

[jrnewto]

During his run on Guardians of the Galaxy, Jim Valentino’s plan was to reveal that Jon Raven was actually the son of Franklin Richards, thus tying his legacy to Marvel’s first family.

Given this, I wonder then if the mother could have been revealed as being Rachel Grey. I have spoken with Jim concerning this, but he advises he never gave a single thought to Killraven’s mother. But just think about it… Perhaps his family’s surname – “Raven” – was taken as an allusion to the Dark Phoenix, since ravens are so closely associated with death, or because Jon was taken by the Martian Masters for training in the gladiatorial arena in much the same way Rachel was groomed to become a “Hound”. Perhaps Jonathan would eventually defeat the Martians with the power of the Phoenix Force, and fulfil his destiny as “The KILLRaven”.

So the son of Franklin and Rachel becomes Killraven in one reality, the conqueror, Hyperstorm in another, who coincidentally had the same hair colour, style and his name was Jonathan Richards.

I'd be most appreciative to hear what your thoughts are?

[Matt Platis]

That's real interesting. I have always liked Jim's version of the Guardians and that would have been a cool take/storyline.

[Alan Davis]

Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not familiar with some of the story and characters you have listed, jrnewto… And the basic notion you offer doesn’t really fit into my version of Killraven.
It was an important element of my story that Jonathan Raven was entirely human in a universe without superheroes (could the Martians have defeated all of the Mutant and metahumans on earth).
Jonathan Raven was brutalised into becoming a gladiator and his name was corrupted by the crowd who chanted ‘Kill, Raven’ because Jonathan was known to refuse to satisfy his master’s murderous appetite… and I’m not talking about the Martians. They were not the outright villains of my story, they were a desperate species who regarded humanity as a parasite polluting the earth—a valuable resource in danger of being lost. Killraven’s victory was not about firepower, conquest or retaliation.