FOR PART ONE OF BALLADEER’S BLOG’S EXAMINATION OF THIS OLD, OLD MARVEL COMICS STORYLINE CLICK HERE The revisions I would make are scattered throughout the synopsis below.
KILLRAVEN: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL (1983) – Killraven and his Freemen continued their guerilla war against Earth’s alien conquerors. In the 7th of its official line of graphic novels, Marvel Comics let writer Don McGregor and artist Craig Russell wrap up some of the storylines left dangling by the cancellation of the 1973-1976 series of Killraven stories. In the previous post I detailed how McGregor had, in the meantime, transferred many of the Killraven story elements and time period to his independent 1978 graphic novel Sabre.
In the meantime Eclipse Comics had signed McGregor to write a regularly published Sabre comic book series. In late 1982 the original black & white graphic novel was colorized and reprinted in serialized form in the first few issues of the new Sabre series. Unfortunately for Killraven fans that immediately made our red-headed rebel leader into the proverbial red-headed step-child among McGregor’s works.
Understandably – and fairly obviously – Don McGregor was already saving up his best ideas for his own Sabre title, reducing this last chance for closure on the Killraven saga to a rushed, mundane, unsatisfying mess devoid of much of what had made the original series worthwhile. Even the dialogue, despite a few flashes of the old KR style here and there, was lackluster and pedestrian.
Killraven and his Freemen seemed like pale imitations being handled by a fill-in writer as Don McGregor virtually Rian Johnson’ed his own characters. I’ll examine that in detail as we move along, but first let’s look at some of the changes necessitated by real-world events in the years between 1976 and 1983.
*** First, through no fault of Don McGregor or the original Killraven artists, Darth Vader became a huge pop culture figure in 1977. KR’s main alien villain, the High Overlord (introduced in 1974), had worn full-body armor and a Japanese feudal helmet like the kind Darth Vader went on to wear in Star Wars. Obviously, Star Wars was so much better known than the canceled Killraven series that this 1983 graphic novel dropped the helmet for the High Overlord to avoid looking like their villain was a rip-off of Vader, despite the fact that the High Overlord predated Star Wars.
That alteration to the look of the High Overlord was far from fatal, but became another of the distracting elements undermining this continuation of the KR story. Those other elements: Continue reading
WEBB INSTITUTE WEBBIES 
GREAT BAY COLLEGE HERONS 
PRATT INSTITUTE CANNONEERS 
EAST/WEST UNIVERSITY PHANTOMS 
PART THIRTY-ONE: Moving on to the July 1921 issue of James Larkin Pearson’s monthly Fool-Killer publication. The Fool Killer’s (I prefer no hyphen) targets this time around were: 
Pearson and his Fool Killer wondered if, despite official claims that the government was trying to prevent other nations from getting hold of the formula, the U.S. might wind up using the gas ourselves at some future time and therefore become “the Huns” of a new war. 
In the style of Balladeer’s Blog’s separate examinations of Hawaiian and Samoan myths as a subset of Polynesian Mythology comes this look at the deities worshipped on the Polynesian outliers Bellona Island and Rennell Island. Despite its much smaller size Bellona had a larger population for much of their history.
MAHUIKE – The earthquake god of Bellona and Rennell Islands (henceforth Bel-Ren). Like his counterparts in Hawaii and Samoa, Mahuike lived far underground and caused earthquakes by pushing at the earth with both of his arms.
USCAA (United States Collegiate Athletic Association) – 1. UNIVERSITY OF SAINT THOMAS (TX) CELTS ### 2. FLORIDA NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CONQUISTADORS ### 3. BRYANT AND STRATTON COLLEGE (Buffalo) BOBCATS ### 4. BLUEFIELD STATE BIG BLUES ### 5. DELHI STATE (NY) BRONCOS ### 
6. NEWPORT NEWS APPRENTICE SCHOOL BUILDERS (Shipbuilders) ### 7. UNIVERSITY OF DALLAS CRUSADERS ### 8. UNIVERSITY OF MAINE AT FORT KENT BENGALS ### 9. CLINTON COLLEGE GOLDEN BEARS ### 10. FIVE TOWNS COLLEGE SOUND ### 
THE LOG OF THE FLYING FISH: A STORY OF AERIAL AND SUBMARINE PERIL AND ADVENTURE (1887) – Written by Harry Collingwood (William J.C. Lancaster). 
NUMBER TWO TAKES A FALL – The MENLO COLLEGE OAKS welcomed the number 2 team in the nation – THE MASTER’S UNIVERSITY MUSTANGS. The Oaks put the Mustangs on Upset Alert by Halftime with a 45-37 lead, then consummated the Upset by a final score of 87-76. Ross Williams led Menlo College with 20 points. 
OTHER UPSETS IN THE RANKINGS – The (19) LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE BLUE RAIDERS struck down the visiting (4) UNIVERSITY OF PIKEVILLE BEARS 80-69 ### The HUSTON-TILLOTSON RAMS won 84-67 against the (6) LSU-SHREVEPORT PILOTS ### Meanwhile the UNIVERSITY OF MOBILE RAMS toppled the (8) LOYOLA (LA) WOLFPACK 84-82 ### And the ROCKY MOUNTAIN COLLEGE BATTLIN’ BEARS totaled the (13) LEWIS-CLARK STATE WARRIORS 87-57. 
CENTURY CLUB – Teams scoring 100 points or more in Regulation: Just one this time around – the (15) HOPE INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY ROYALS played host to the WESTCLIFF UNIVERSITY WARRIORS. The Royals were on top 48-32 by the Half on their way to a 100-68 blowout win. Josh Powell-Davis led HIU with a Double-Double of 28 points and 12 rebounds. 
SOLO (1980) – Written by Jack Higgins. Solo is not exactly one of my favorite espionage novels but it is definitely my favorite by Jack Higgins. It’s the story of efforts to catch an international assassin code-named the Cretan Lover. Luckily that ludicrous codename is often shortened to just “The Cretan” throughout the novel. I’ll use the same review format that I used for my look at The Top Seven Robert Ludlum Novels. 
With that whole Paul Krugman/ child pornography story it’s been a weird week, so how about another listicle to start the weekend? Balladeer’s Blog will be posting plenty of Top 20 lists in 2020. Here are 20 Quotes from playwright, gold-miner, gambler and businessman Wilson Mizner. 
“If you steal from one author, it’s plagiarism; if you steal from many, it’s research.”
It’s no secret that when the original 1973-1976 run of the Killraven series was canceled, writer Don McGregor transferred many of the story elements he had set up for Killraven over to his independent post-apocalypse comic book Sabre. 
The original Sabre graphic novel was in black & white to accommodate its graphic violence, sexual themes and its female toplessness. When McGregor brought back the character Sabre in a continuing, full-color comic book series at Eclipse Comics in late 1982 the original Sabre tale became more popularly known by its subtitle Slow Fade of an Endangered Species. Human beings were that endangered species, of course. 
*** Killraven wielded a sword, a photo-nuclear pistol and explosive throwing-stars along with his possession of The Power, a pre-Star Wars (as in 1973) version of The Force. 
