Chicago Illinois--April 2019!
P. Craig Russell brings a very distinctive look to this series. Here we get a shot of Killraven and Volcana as reflected through a mirror and it's kinda trippy. Picking up from last issue- they have just rescued Eve 3,031 from Martians- and their human collaborators- and Killraven and crew are looking to get the girl to safety. She's due to give birth soon- in fact, she has a contraction- so priority # 1 is getting the civilians out, but at the same time Killraven is determined to strike a blow against the overlords. There's a neat alternating set of panels where the freedom fighters are fleeing through pneumatic tunnels while at the same time Atalon and the maniac who sacrifices babies find the Martian banquet chamber- charred and full of dead Martians (thanks to Killraven and Ash last issue). I got a kick out of some of the dialogue too-- Atalon tells the Sacrificer that "your lack of faith is disturbing." Gee, where have I heard that before? This came out several years before Star Wars, by the way.
Killraven and crew make a pit stop at a communications center overlooking the slaves, telling them that they need to flee as soon as he activates some molecular disruptor that Adam 3,031 has mentioned to him. Love the art here. Ash, meanwhile, takes off to find her sister Melonie- if she still lives- and Hawk debates with Killraven as to the wisdom of taking Eve with them. Hawk says she'll slow them down, and that a warrior can't afford compassion, but Killraven replies that perhaps one is already dead without compassion. Nice.
The molecular disruptor frees the slaves from their chains, and Ash finds her sister... but sadly, Melonie no longer remembers her. Do the Martians mind-wipe their prisoners? Ash is devastated, and her and Killraven have a moment before heading off to kick some more Martian ass. Atalon, meanwhile, is rallying his Death Breeders to hunt down the fleeing Adams and Eves- and by extension Killraven and his folks. Funny that these losers don't identify with their fellow humans- they stay loyal to their Martian overlords, even when the invaders have been killed. Anyway, battle is joined as Killraven reaches the Crucible chamber- where Ash was experimented on. Some of his companions are irritated when he zones out, but he has a plan. He uses an ionic blade to disrupt one of the reactors and they they flee on snow skimmers, just in time as explosions bring Death-Birth down behind them.
Interlude- we shift to M'Shulla and Frost, who are having a moment. He is putting together that Grok is someone meaningful to her.
"You said the Martians wanted to produce replicas... that you could make duplicates of people that already lived."
She is about to tell him who Grok is when Killraven arrives. What do they say about bad timing? The banter here, by the way, is awesome. This is starting to really flow. And oh- Eve is about to give birth. Plus Atalon and his men are on their trail. We have a cool chase on snow skimmers and our heroes escape- I'm not sure Eve, pregnant as she is, survives all that- but we have a nice finish to this issue.
I love the artwork! 👍✨
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