Monday, December 5, 2011

Post Apocalyptic Heroes

The future, who really knows what it holds in store for mankind.  However, some very creative comic book writers and artist's have their versions.  Read on and see possible post apocalyptic earths and their heroes...


Killraven Marvel Comics 1973
First appearing in Amazing Adventures, Jonathan Raven is a future rebel named Killraven who believes in freedom and preserving mankind against the aliens who have taken over the world in 2018.  Killraven, along with the resistance group known as the Freemen, slash and fight their way through war torn America in search of his lost brother Deathraven with hopes to overthrow the alien invasion.  The Killraven character, a weapons expert, had exceptional fighting and wrestling skills honed in the martian entertainment "gladiator" rings in which he escaped from. He also had the mental ability to resist martian commands.  He was a master of military tactics.  He teamed with future rebels known as M'Shulla, Old Skull and Hawk and even had time for a future fling with sultry Volcana Ash.  Don McGregor took over the title and saved it from being cancelled and P. Craig Russell brought along an artistic vision which exemplified Killraven's  war of the worlds.


Hex DC Comics 1985
Jonah Hex is a western gunfighter from the 1800's who is transported to post-apocalyptic america where he teams with sexy and deadly Stiletta in order to save the human race from being wiped out altogether.
   Hex is a Clint Eastwood, man with no name type, who is an expert marksman and does not give a damn about much, sans himself.  He temporarily fights alongside the Road Reapers if only to get the hell out of Dodge.  In this future world, soames a water purification tab, created by Reinhold Boersten, is the most valuable commodity as all sources of water have been contaminated.  Accompanied by Stiletta, Reinhold’s daughter and warrior women with a vendetta against her father, Hex fights against man-eating worms, cyborgs, and other futuristic beings in order to save the world from extinction as well as get himself back to the 1800’s.


Slash Maraud DC Comics (1987) 
The six issue mini-series written by Doug Moench and drawn by Paul Gulacy is a Mad Max comic with aliens.  The road warriors of the comic led by Slash are up against an alien race of hairy shape shifters called Shapers.  The shapers co-habitate with the humans (humans who partake willingly are known as "fuzz lickers") and soon plan to make them extinct by converting the earth's atmosphere to their liking.  The resistance plan, invented by one Mr. X is put into action by Slash, his part-time gal Wild Blue and a band of women in revved up vehicles known as the Damazons.  As usual, Maraud has the obligatory i-don't-give-a-shit attitude to go along with his killing prowess.  The ending is not atypical and the series has the grit and violence born for this time period. 


Scout DC Comics (1985)
A Native American who takes peyote, speaks with a talking groundhog known as Gahn and has the combined escape abilities of Houdini and Geronimo, Scout (real name- Emmanuel Sanders) is the soul rebel of the next generation.  That generation is a poor man's America.  An America who has lost all it's allies and fights to keep peace.  Run by a corrupt government official known as Loper, who controls both the media and the President (through drugs), this future America has stolen resources thus becoming ostracized and left to rot.  Scout is the most political of all the stories included here.  Scout is a loner and only teams with Rosa Winter to rid the world of the monsters he sees, both in mythical drug-induced visions and reality.  Timothy Truman, the creator is attune to the Native American lore and brings a music piece to the series by naming each chapter after a song.  He even gives a playlist in his letters column. The songs are primarily old blues songs by the likes of Howlin Wolf, Lightning Hopkins and T Bone Walker and with names like "Hellhound on my Trail" and Me and the Devil Blues" Truman adds a personal touch to this story arc which lasted 24 issues.