Fictional Character Biography
On the alternate-future Earth designated Earth-691 by Marvel Comics, the Martians from H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds return in 2001 for another attempt at conquering the planet. (They were later retconned as extrasolar aliens using Mars as a staging area.) After humanity's enslavement, men not used as breeders or collaborators are trained and forced to battle gladiator-style for the Martians' amusement; women are used as breeders to supply infants, eaten by the Martians as a delicacy. Jonathan Raven, dubbed Killraven as his gladiatorial nom de guerre, escaped with the help of the gladiatorial "keeper", but without his brother, Deathraven. Killraven joined the Freemen, a group of freedom fighters against Martian oppression.
From 2018 to 2020, Killraven and his companions travel across the eastern portion of North America, from New York City to Cape Canaveral while searching for Killraven's lost brother. Pursued by the cyborg Skar, the Freemen encounter various victims of Martian transhuman experiments, as well as emotionally and psychologically scarred survivors.
Fugitives from the Martians, Killraven and his Freemen — his African-American "mud-brother" M'Shulla Scott, the cynical and bitter Native American Hawk, and the slow-witted strongman Old Skull — meet and incorporate into their group the feisty scientist Carmilla Frost and Grok, the deformed, apelike clone of her father. The Freemen ally with the human/plant hybrid Mint Julep, and battle Abraxas, Rattack, the High Overlord, and Skar. Killraven tames a mutated serpent-horse to use as his mount, and his Freemen battle Pstun-Rage in Battle Creek, Michigan. (In this encounter, the antagonists' names are anagrams of the Battle Creek-based Kellogg Company's breakfast cereals). The Freeman meet the flirty and sensual Volcana Ash, who helps them battle Atalon and the Death-Breeders. After learning that his brother Joshua (Deathraven) is still alive, Killraven fights Martian slaves alongside a time-traveling Spider-Man, The Freeman eventually reach the Everglades, where they encounter the butterfly-like Mourning Prey.
Still later, the Freemen encounter Killraven's brother, Deathraven, and discover he has become a Martian collaborator.
In November 2020, the Martian occupation is over when Killraven unleashes a zombie plague on the Martians' food supply.
Read more about this topic: Killraven
Famous quotes containing the words fictional, character and/or biography:
“It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.... This, in turn, means that our statesmen, our businessmen, our everyman must take on a science fictional way of thinking.”
—Isaac Asimov (1920–1992)
“To keep your character intact you cannot stoop to filthy acts. It makes it easier to stoop the next time.”
—Katharine Hepburn (b. 1909)
“Just how difficult it is to write biography can be reckoned by anybody who sits down and considers just how many people know the real truth about his or her love affairs.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)