RED RAVEN RED RAVEN
Real Name: Redford Raven
Identity/Class: Human, pre-modern (Old West, late 19th Century)
Occupation: Owlhoot
Group Membership: Leader of his own gang,
Iron Mask's band of Old West "super-villains"
Affiliations: Dr. Danger, Fat Man, Hurricane, Iron Mask, The Living Totem, Rattler, the Tyrant of Tombstone Valley
Enemies: Rawhide Kid, Phantom Rider (Lincoln Slade), Two-Gun Kid, West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye, Iron Man, Tigra, Mockingbird)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: "Red"
Base of Operations: American midwest (late 1800's)
First Appearance: Rawhide Kid I#38 (February, 1964)
Powers: Red Raven possessed no superhuman abilties. Through training, he was able to learn how to glide on the wind, using a pair of artificial wings.
Height: 5' 9"
Weight: 160 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Red
History: (Rawhide Kid I#38)- "Red" Raven was a red-headed bank robber who led his own gang in a series of robberies, until they ran afowl of the Rawhide Kid, who outfought them all, and turned them over to the authorities.
In county prison, Raven shared his cell with a former Navajo medicine man on his last legs. The medicine man decided to share his great secret with Red-- he had designed a winged harness that could be worn by a man, and permit him the ability to glide upon the winds, thanks to a special indian herb. The old Navajo trained Raven in the use of his wings, until, overcome by his illness, he passed on. Raven tricked the guard into letting him escape by hovering to the ceiling and slipping out, and was able to safely escape the prison by simply flying out of range of the guards.
Raven decided that his first action would be to revenge himself upon the Rawhide Kid, and purposefully sought him out for a showdown. Not suspecting Raven's new power, the Kid drew and fired-- but missed as Raven took to the air! Raven took the Kid by surprise, shot him, and left him for dead.
But as luck would have it, the Kid was found by a young Navajo indian-- the son of the very man who had taught Raven the secret of his wings! The son nursed Rawhide Kid back to health, then taught him how to use his father's wings to even the odds.
It didn't take long for the Kid to find Red Raven again, but while his newfound wings surprised Raven at first, Raven proved more adept in their use. But at a crucial moment, Raven made the mistake of flying in front of the sun, granting the Kid a perfect target! He shot Raven's gun from his hand, then wrestled him down mid-air. Raven fell from the sky, and was retrieved by the Kid. The son of the medicine man arrived, and burnt both pairs of wings to protect his secret.
(Rawhide Kid I#41 - BTS) - Red Raven's friend, Keno Barkerton, attempted to gain revenge on the Kid for capturing Red, and fought him in the guise of the Tyrant of Tombstone Valley.
(West Coast Avengers II#18)- But by 1876, Raven
had a new pair of wings, and had joined forces with Iron Mask's
gang which included Dr. Danger, the Fat Man, the Living Totem,
Hurricane, and the Rattler. The gang had been inspired by the
actions of Kang in their timeframe to commit high-scale thefts,
but the arrival of the time-travelling West Coast Avengers soon
turned those dreams to dust. Red Raven fought the only flying
Avenger, Iron Man, and proved totally ineffective. Iron Man tore
off his wings, knocking him to the ground. Red Raven was arrested
with the rest of the gang, and turned over to authorities in
Tombstone, Arizona. Comments: Created by Stan Lee and Dick
Ayers. Red Raven also appears in Rawhide Kid II#4, as
part of a series of hallucinations the Rawhide Kid suffers while
shooting down a team of Pinkertons. He went by the name Red Raven before he
ever gained the wings. Good thing his name wasn't Sandy Bottoms
or something like that--Snood. It's entirely
possible that Thorn and Nora Trask (Thorn Trask being the Raven, of course) had
a red-haired middle sibling. And that he adopted "Raven" as his new surname
when he turned outlaw. He might have even been inspired to do so by the species
of bird nesting on the geological formation for which the town of Red Rock was
named. This brother, the Red Raven, in turn, could have inspired Thorn's own
alias, the Raven. The first few crimes he pulled would initially have been
blamed on "Red!" Red Raven has a profile in the All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update#1. His first name was revealed in his OHOTMU A-Z HC#9 profile. by Prime Eternal Clarifications:
Red Raven should not be confused with: Appearances: Last updated:
12/17/05 Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know. All characters mentioned or pictured are
™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights
Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real
thing!
Maybe that Navajo medicine man's son was the great-great-grandfather of Jesse
Black Crow. In which case, there WERE previous avatars of the Earth Spirit's
champion! Said champion, perhaps, being the same entity known in Alaska (and
THE UNCANNY X-MEN) as Chulyen the Crow God? Just a thought.--Carycomic@aol.com
Rawhide Kid I#38 (February, 1964) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Dick Ayers (artist)
Rawhide Kid I#41 (August, 1964) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Keller (pencils), Paul Reinman (inks)
West Coast Avengers II#18 (March, 1987) - Steve Englehart (writer), Al Milgrom (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
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