Appearing in "Skarlett"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Villagers
- Speaker-Slave (Not yet identified as such)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Earth-2120 (Reality)
- Chicago area
- Martian Citadel
- Lake Michigan (Unnamed)
- New York City (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
- Washington, D.C.
- Capitol Building
- destroyed Martian base (Mentioned)
- Chicago area
Items:
- Martian energy weapons (blasters)
Vehicles:
- Martian tripod war machines (Destruction)
Synopsis for "Skarlett"
In the Martian Citadel where Killraven lived most of his life, Keeper Whitman is questioned by his fellow Keepers about his claims to know how to recapture Killraven, their discussion being observed by the Martians who communicate with the Keepers through one of their telepathic speaker-slaves. Whitman states that Killraven's escape was due to a failure by the Sirens who confirm that Killraven was able to resist them because of a psi-disruption centered on the monitor node implanted in his brain. Whitman reveals that new research suggests that monitor nodes spread differently in each individual brain, and that Killraven evolved his resistance because he had lived with the implant years longer than any other gladiator slave. As the discussion continues, with Whitman insisting that Killraven was just a mindless killer while the other Keepers point out that, while capable of massive destruction, Killraven has always killed selectively, the Martians become intrigued by the suggestion that Killraven is guided by some sort of morality. When Whitman refuses to consider the possibility that talking with Skull may have had more effect on Killraven than twenty years of brutal indoctrination, the Martians conclude that the behavioral analysis data was flawed and that a total reevaluation is required because Killraven may be the key to understanding the human enigma. After the Martians withdraw to consider the situation, Whitman asks to be part of the mission to search for Killraven in the Washington area but the other Keepers tell him that because he failed the Masters he is to be exiled to the wilderness. When he protests, he is told it is either that or the gladiatorial arena. Terrified, Whitman leaves with his Sirens.
In the snow-covered Washington area, Carmilla and Volcana Ash talk about the village of people Killraven freed from the warlord Lucifer's control and how he now feels responsible for them. M'shulla joins them and they discuss Hawk. They are concerned that not only has Hawk avoided every fight they've been in, he's started to use Killraven's reputation to set himself up like a slavemaster and dress like Lucifer's men. Moving on, they find Skull and John. Helped by the apparently mute Grok, John has worked out how to disable the tracking devices on the Martian weapons they've salvaged from the destroyed Martian base and how to activate their heat rays and defense screens. John also explains that the Martians are not equipped to deal with guerilla warfare. M'Shulla says he has to talk with Carmilla, but she walks away. Out of earshot of M'Shulla, Carmilla tells Volcana that she's expecting M'Shulla's child. Before they can say anymore, an alarm sounds, warning of a Martian attack.
Meanwhile, Killraven runs from a Martian tripod attack, desperate to stop them before they reach the village. Going further, the horrified Killraven finds the village destroyed and his friends dead. Killraven then sees the Siren Skarlett, who tries to use her mental powers to persuade him to return to the Martian citadel. Killraven resists and strikes her. Skarlett presses her mental attack again, and Killraven decides to open up his mind to her, and she is overwhelmed by the death and destruction she sees. Having broken free from the Siren Dream, Killraven's vision clears and he sees that there were nine Sirens, who now lay unconscious around him, with Keeper's men surrounding them. Killraven evades the men's attacks and defeats them. He demands that Skarlett tell him what is going on, and she says that the Martians want to study his uniqueness, and that the others were expendable. She tells him his friends are dead and he races back to the village. Reaching it, he finds the village destroyed and is devastated, until Volcana and the others all appear and explain that they tricked the Martians and caught them in a crossfire of their own death rays.
Hawk starts to boast about their victory and the fact they can defeat the Martians again, but Killraven tells him to shut up and they argue. They're interrupted by John, who says that Grok found a portable computer in one of the tripods that contains information that will let them destroy the biggest Martian stronghold on Earth with a bomb in the right place.
Killraven, accompanied by Volcana, Hawk, M'Shulla and Grok, approach the Martian citadel on the shores of a lake. As they get close, Hawk and M'Shulla start to bicker about Hawk's battle avoidance until, after M'Shulla teases him about wearing iron armor, Hawk lashes out and stuns M'Shulla and Volcana. Killraven moves to defend them but finds that his weapons have been deactivated. Hawk attacks Killraven with a sword, while Killraven defends himself, begging Hawk to stay down so he doesn't have to kill him. When Hawk continues to attack, Killraven has no choice but to break Hawk's neck, killing him. As Killraven sits, stunned, Keeper's men arrive and surround him, and he realizes that it's a trap. A voice behind him confirms that he walked right into the trap, seconds before a blow from behind knocks him unconscious. The attacker is Grok, who is clearly not mute as he had led them to believe. The traitorous Grok tells the Keepers-men to take him to their Martian masters because he has a gift for them...
Notes
- The recap/credits page reveals that "months" have passed since the events depicted in the previous issue. Oddly, the story seems to imply that the destruction of the Martian base occurred more recently.
- In the snow-covered Washington area, Volcana mentions that she's been told that snow used to fall only in the winter, but that that was before the war messed up the weather. This implies that, despite the snow, it's not actually winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
- Although its location is not mentioned in-story, the Martian Citadel seen at the beginning and the end of this issue's story, the one from which Killraven and the Freemen escaped months earlier, was originally described as "some Martian base near Chicago." This would mean that the body of water on whose shore it was moored was Lake Michigan, but that idea is not mentioned in-story.
- The storyline for the entire limited series is divided into 17 chapters, with each chapter named after a character who plays a significant role in it. After a recap/credits page, this issue's story begins with the last three pages of the eleventh chapter (Whitman), continues with the four pages of the twelfth chapter (Carmilla) and the nine pages of the thirteenth chapter (Skarlett), and concludes with the six pages of the fourteenth chapter (Hawk).