Amazing Adventures #27
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeAmazing Adventures #27 marks the debut of P. Craig Russell as penciller on the Killraven/War of the Worlds feature, a creative handoff that transformed the series from a solid Bronze Age sci-fi book into one of the decade's most artistically ambitious runs. Russell's Art Nouveau–inflected draftsmanship, described by comics historian Peter Sanderson as giving 'the landscape of Killraven's America a nostalgic, pastoral feel,' complemented Don McGregor's already-dense, philosophically charged scripts in a way no previous artist on the title had. The issue also packs in multiple first appearances — villain Atalon the Fear Master, the Death Breeders, the survivor Volcana Ash, and the captive pair Adam 3,031 and Eve 3,031 — making it both the creative turning point of the run and a dense character-introduction chapter. Together, McGregor and Russell would produce what several critics later placed alongside the era's finest creator partnerships at Marvel.
"The Death Breeders" kicks off in Amazing Adventures #27 with a striking cover by Jim Starlin, showcasing the dynamic duo of Iron Fist and Shang-Chi in bold, expressive illustrations. This 1974 issue, priced at 25 cents, blends the era’s signature Marvel Bullpen Bulletin charm with a promise of deeper stories to come, all while setting the stage for the characters’ evolving rivalry.
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By the time issue #27 went to press (cover-dated November 1974, released August 1974), Don McGregor had been sole scripter of the Killraven feature since issue #21, working with a rotating roster of pencillers — Herb Trimpe, Rich Buckler, and Gene Colan among them. P. Craig Russell, who had entered the industry in 1972 as an assistant to Dan Adkins, stepped in as regular penciller beginning here and stayed through issue #39, with Jack Abel inking this debut chapter. The cover was supplied by Jim Starlin, with Klaus Janson as cover inker, under editor-in-chief Roy Thomas. Russell would win the 1974 Shazam Award for Outstanding New Talent, an honor tied in large part to his early work on this very series.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearances of Atalon the Fear Master, the Death Breeders, Volcana Ash, Adam 3,031, and Eve 3,031 — all confirmed by the Grand Comics Database index of Essential Killraven and the Marvel Fandom wiki.
- P. Craig Russell's first issue as penciller on the Killraven feature, beginning a run that stretched through the series' final issue (#39, Nov. 1976); he is credited in Marvel Chronicle: A Year by Year History (Dorling Kindersley, 2008) as beginning his 'memorable collaboration' with McGregor here.
- Written by Don McGregor, pencilled by P. Craig Russell, inked by Jack Abel, coloured by Petra Goldberg, lettered by John Costanza; cover by Jim Starlin (pencils) and Klaus Janson (inks).
- The story, set in March 2019 of the alternate future Earth-691, opens with Killraven's Freemen crossing frozen Lake Michigan on an ice catamaran and fighting off giant mutated lampreys, before the Death Breeders are dispatched against the group by the High Overlord.
- The issue delivers expanded backstory on Killraven's origin as Jonathan Raven, building on continuity established in Amazing Adventures #18 (his first appearance); Marvel.com's official solicitation describes it as revealing 'the tragic origin of Man's Last Hope…Jonathan Raven.'
- Volcana Ash — introduced here — is the character whose later relationship with M'Shulla Scott in the storyline contributes to what Wikipedia and Alchetron both identify as color comics' earliest known dramatic interracial kiss (depicted in issue #31).
- The entire original Killraven run (Amazing Adventures #18–39) plus the 1982 Marvel Graphic Novel were eventually collected in Marvel Masterworks: Killraven (2018), preserving this issue in a hardcover edition.
- This issue is part of the Smithsonian Institution's collection, attesting to the broader cultural recognition of the Killraven/War of the Worlds series as a significant artifact of 1970s American popular culture.
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↩ Reprints Journey into Unknown Worlds #47 (1956)
Reprinted in Le Fils de Satan #18 (1980), Essential Killraven #1 (2005), Artist's Edition #55 (2017), Marvel Masterworks: Killraven #1 (2018), Killraven Epic Collection: Warrior of the Worlds #1 (2021)
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