(Speed Comics 007, 1940)
Killraye is the leader of the extremely wild and wonderful looking Jupiter Men (courtesy of writer/artist/wild alien designer Munson Paddock) of an unspecified future, and leads them in an attempt to hijack plans for an advanced ray gun design from inter-planetary mail courier Mars Mason.
(whether the Jupiter Men have a caste-based physiology and Killraye represents their ruling form or he is of a different species entirely is unclear. He certainly looks a lot different that them but on the other hand he does have the same furry legs and weird little round feet as they do)
Mars Mason does not allow this violation of the sanctity of the mail to go unavenged, and not only blows up a considerable portion of the Jupiter Men's city but send Killraye himself spinning off into space via what must have been a superhumanly powerful kick. Surely this is the end of Killraye!
OR IS IT?
In fact, no, that was not the end of Killraye. In Speed Comics 008 it is revealed that the dastardly Jovian had not in fact been consigned to eternal exile in space but had landed on a comet complete with a population of Needle Men (related to and indistinguishable from Jupiter Men and just as willing to follow a guy like Killraye) as well as a weird super-powered skeleton alien. Rather than enjoy his second chance at life in peace, Killraye immediately resumes his piratical ways and inevitably ends up clashing with Mars Mason again.
It seems like Killraye is finally going to get the upper hand, when the community-minded Saturn Men get involved and wreck house so thoroughly that Killraye himself does not actually get a death scene. Good night, sweet alien bastard.
ADDENDUM: Killraye was a fine villain, but the real star of his second appearance was this unnamed hench-creature, whose host of positive attributes include:
- amazing skeleton body
- rare 1940s anime hair
- a catch phrase: "Bah!"
- the power to send its skeletal hands and feet across interplanetary distances to snatch up people and loot
- a boss ray gun
Truly this is the villain I want to see in my space comics.
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