FOR PART ONE OF BALLADEER’S BLOG’S EXAMINATION OF THIS OLD, OLD MARVEL STORYLINE CLICK HERE The revisions I would make are scattered throughout the synopsis below.
AMAZING ADVENTURES Vol 2 #20 (September 1973)
Title: THE WARLORD STRIKES
Synopsis: We pick up an unspecified number of days after the end of the previous story. We also have yet ANOTHER change in creative team. This issue we have Marv Wolfman writing and Herb Trimpe doing the artwork.
Even more of the sophisticated promise of the first two installments is stripped away as Wolfman & Trimpe serve up a story so bland it would fit right into any given issue of DC Comics’ Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth. The only positive development is that it is at last established that Killraven and M’Shulla, the black member of the rebel band, are the closest of friends.
Killraven and M’Shulla are being pursued by several human quislings who are trying to bring in K.R. alive for their Martian masters. They fail to say why, but we readers can guess that it’s because the Martians want to know how much Killraven was told by the dying Keeper Whitman back in part one. Or because they want to study K.R. in order to understand the mysterious “Power” that grants him certain abilities.
Of course, since this issue doesn’t mention EITHER Keeper Whitman OR “The Power” (a pre-Star Wars variation of The Force) it’s also possible Marv Wolfman was planning to write out those aspects. The way this issue is written it COULD be that the quislings have orders to take Killraven alive just so he can be taken before the Warlord, whom we learn has a vendetta against our main character.
REVISION: To maintain continuity I would have made it so that it was definitively stated that K.R. was wanted alive precisely to be studied because of his paranormal powers and to learn how much the late Keeper Whitman told him about the true nature of Earth’s conquerors: namely that they are aliens and not the demons that conquered, superstitious humanity considers them to be.
And, as always, I’d have eliminated the tenuous War of the Worlds connection and made Earth’s conquerors regular aliens and not ridiculous “Martians.”
As the running fight goes on and on, no mention is made of the forced abandonment of the Freemens’ previous hideout on Staten Island, now known to the Martians. Continue reading
The latest attempt at cramming the X-Men’s lengthy, years-long Dark Phoenix storyline into one movie is now in theaters. With everybody reviewing that cram course Balladeer’s Blog will instead take a look at the female Phoenix character from the original 1966-1971 run of Dark Shadows. 
Decades before Bella Swan was torn between a supposedly hunky vampire and a supposedly hunky werewolf in the Twilight novels, female readers of Tiger Beat magazine were torn between Dark Shadows‘ horror heart-throbs. Jonathan Frid’s vampire Barnabas Collins was one and David Selby’s werewolf/ warlock/ Dorian Gray-figure Quentin Collins was the other. 
In terms of female horror heart-throbs from Dark Shadows, Lara Parker’s evil witch Angelique is the best known, but obviously this post will address the unusual supernatural menace the Phoenix, aka Laura Collins, played by Diana Millay (right) on the original Dark Shadows. 
ACES WIN SECOND IN A ROW – The LAS VEGAS ACES took it on the road against the MINNESOTA LYNX yesterday. 
Anti-Trump CNBC’s recent survey results further verify the shift that has gone on in America. Because de facto Third Party President Donald Trump has successfully championed the working class and the poor, America’s bloated rich pigs and Robber Barons hate him. Joe Biden represents a return to “Business as usual, with America’s hopelessly corrupt government functioning EXCLUSIVELY for the wealthy,” so naturally the abusive rich, which Democrats used to at least PRETEND to oppose, prefer him to Trump, who actually fights the abusive rich on our behalf. 
Anti-Trump loons hate the president so much that they have been hyping this poll as if it’s a negative for Trump in the eyes of his supporters. Uh. No. It’s confirmation of whose side President Trump is on. If needlessly wealthy trash preferred him then it would prove he had sold out – like Bernie Sanders sold out long ago. 
Anti-Trump loons seem determined to make Donald Trump a martyr of JFK proportions. He has done an incredible job saving America’s economy for ALL social levels, not just the wealthy, like the Democrats and Republicans usually do. 
So far there’s been nothing remotely resembling evidence, just the sour grapes of privileged Democrats and Republicans who are reminded every day that they are nothing but bought and paid-for whores doing the bidding of the bloated rich pigs that they SHOULD have been fighting, like President Trump is doing. 
Not that our folk figure’s targets don’t deserve to be opposed. This Fool Killer battles the abomination of Child Labor, the profit-mongers who sponsor it AND the Judges who perpetuate it through their decisions striking down attempts to eliminate the ugly practice. 
Three of the last four CFP Championship playoffs have featured the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Clemson Tigers. Such has been their dominance of college football in recent times, most football pundits anticipate Alabama and Clemson being leading contenders to make it four playoff appearances in the last five seasons. Some people believe it’s simply a formality that all other college sides will fall be the wayside at some point doing the season, with several other bigtime programs failing to live up to expectations.
Given the Clown Car full of Democrat candidates trying to outdo each other at hate-filled and snobbish remarks about the working class and the poor the logistics for the upcoming Presidential Debates have been particularly challenging. 
KID RUSSELL (Cable Series) – “Before he made the art, he LIVED it!” would be the kind of eye-rolling advertising tagline that one could picture being used for a show like this. I’m not implying any disrespect to Kid Russell or his artistic legacy. Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog are familiar with my regard for the man. (FOR MY LOOK AT THE KID RUSSELL LEGEND CLICK 
Balladeer’s Blog remains the only site on the web that equally criticizes both Democrats and Republicans. This week even Bill Maher reminded the nation that Hillary Clinton is a criminal who obstructed justice. Plus Democrats were loudly proclaiming that what Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama did by seeking foreign dirt on Donald Trump was disgusting. Seriously. All they talked about for half the week was how utterly rank it is to use overseas dirt-diggers against one’s domestic political opponents. Y’know? 
Balladeer's Blog 