ROK-KORR

Real Name: Rok-Korr

Identity/Class: Terrestrial mechanical/magical monster

Occupation: Servant of evil, annihilator/destroyer

Group Membership: Elementals of Evil

Affiliations: Lord Maur-Kon (creator);
agent of the Followers of the Dark

Enemies: Followers of the Light, Shogun Warriors (Genji Odashu/Combatra, Ilongo Savage/Dangard Ace, Richard Carson/Raydeen)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unidentified volcanic island in the Pacific, near Japan

First Appearance: Shogun Warriors#1 (February, 1979)

Powers/Abilities: Rok-Korr was an entity composed of lava which had been given life and crude intelligence through magical rituals. Rok-Korr was covered with armor that allowed it to move quickly and to act like a walking arsenal. It had tentacles instead of arms (which could be extended like those of Dr. Octopus) in order to immobilize adversaries. The right tentacle was equipped with a claw. The left tentacle ended in an energy weapon that projected a destructive beam of light. It had a chest harness with spikes that could be shot like missiles. The wheels that Rok-Korr used as feet had similar spikes, and the wheels could also be launched as weapons.

Even without the armor, Rok-Korr could move in its elemental shape, fusing its feet with the earth on which it walked. In this form, it could shoot jets of lava from its mouth.

While in its elemental shape, the mass of Rok-Korr could separate into the three individual Elementals of Evil. These three beings--which were separately composed of earth, fire, and water--had abilities in line with their component material--each could project earth, fire, or water, and were able to alter their forms and resist conventional injury.

History:
(Shogun Warriors#1) - Rok Korr was the first mechanical monster to be created in the modern era by the alien Lord Maur-Kon in order to conquer the world. Raydeen and the three pilots of the Shogun Warriors intercepted Rok-Korr's orders for Tokyo to be its first target of devastation. Despite the inexperience of the three young pilots, the robot of the Followers of the Light proved to be too powerful for the monster, and at the end of the encounter, Rok-Korr was beheaded. But the molten lava from which Rok-Korr was composed completely spilled from its armor, and on contact with the earth, it reformed itself into a coherent shape, larger than that of Raydeen, and it easily defeated Raydeen by burying the robot under a blast of lava from its mouth. Prudently, the super-robot was withdrawn, leaving Rok-Korr free to rampage.

(Shogun Warriors#2) - Rok-Korr was ordered by Lord Maur-Kon to attack a railway bridge, over which a train loaded with explosives was due to pass (...presumably in order to attract Raydeen and defeat him anew). But instead of just Raydeen, two more Shogun Warriors--Combatra and Dangard Ace--also arrived. Enraged, Lord Maur-Kon divided Rok-Korr into the three Elementals of Evil.

(Shogun Warriors#3) - Dangard Ace's eye-lasers vaporized the water Elemental to steam, but it  reformed and attacked again. The fire Elemental engulfed Raydeen in a fireball, but Raydeen's foot-jets blasted the robot free, then used one of the Screamer Hawk missiles to scatter the flaming creature into a wildfire. After initially attacking Raydeen, the earth Elemental was engaged against Combatra, but their battle caused the train to fall off the tracks, and Genji Odashu, the pilot of Combatra, decided to cover the explosion with the robot's body, but because of the impact, she lost consciousness for some time.

   But thanks to the intervention of Dr. Tambura, Genji revived to guide Combatra against the earth Elemental. The battle continued as the water Elemental first turned itself into a water-spout, then formed into storm clouds and attacked the three Shoguns with a barrage of lightning discharges. The Shoguns concentrated their weapons at the clouds and caused a downpour that extinguished the wildfire, and thus two Elementals--water and fire--destroyed each other. Meanwhile, the earth Elemental had absorbed part of a mountain and transformed itself into a gigantic avalanche, but it was smashed to fine dust by the Power Triangle maneuver employed by the Shogun Warriors.

   After the battle, the three Shogun pilots debarked from their colossal robots to look upon the dissolved remains of the Elementals of Evil; with the sensitivity of a poet, Genji commented that the settled earth-dust, soaked by water, and enriched by a fine layer of ash, would someday become the fertile site of a rich forest--a living monument to the power of good over evil.

Comments: Created by Doug Moench and Herb Trimpe.

The idea is not really bad. Rok-Korr worked a little like the Absorbing Man, and it could have made meatballs of the heroes... but unfortunately, its boss did not shine in the tactics department.

Lastly, Rok-Korr is pronounced as Rock Core!!

Why, you may ask, did the Elementals of Evil only have three forms? Why was there no air elemental? Simple, there were only three Shogun Warriors, and that would have just thrown off the symmetry--Snood.

New and improved images by Ron Fredricks.

Profile by Wolfhead, kindly translated by Changeling.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Rok-Korr has no known connection to:

• Rok (Damon Mathias), human mutant @ Alpha Flight I#115
• Rokk, creation of Dr. Spectrum/Krimonn/Obatu @ Iron Man I#64
• Roc, Pre-Cataclysmic Era pirate, captain of the Sea Wolves slave galley @ Kull the Conqueror III#3
• Roc, assassin hired by Rosalie Carbone @ Punisher War Zone#8
• Rock (Samuel J. LaRoquette), Hulkbusters, Riot Squad, agent of Leader, Assembly of Evil @ Incredible Hulk II#343
• Sgt. Joe Rock, of Earth-Amalgam, counterpart of DC's Sgt. Rock, old ally of Nick Fury @ Bruce Wayne: Agent of SHIELD#1
• other Rock or Core characters

The Elementals of Evil have no known connection to:

• Elematrix, creation of Diablo, composed of earth, air, fire, and water @ Alpha Flight I#103
• Elemental Magic, one of the types utilized by Dr. Strange @ Dr. Strange III#83
• Elemental Obliterator - weapon from Galactus’ store, used by the Elan to remove excess/maddening power from Nova @ Power Pack I#58
• Elementals (Hellfire, Hydron, Magnum, Zephyr), four humans that gained ability to manipulate four ancient elements under unknown circumstances, attempted to take over world, circa 20,000 BC @ Supernatural Thrillers#8
• Elementals of Doom (Air, Earth, Fire, Water), non-sentient creations of Diablo, humanoid manifestations of four ancient elements @ Fantastic Four I#232
• Elementelle, name used by the Inhuman Crystal as part of the Queen's Vengeance team during the reality warp that created Earth-Morgan @ Avengers III#2
• Element Gun, weapon of Starlord, given by the Master of the Sun @ Marvel Preview#4
• Elements of Doom, aka the Masters of Alchemy, humans converted into pure elemental form by Dr. Vassily Khandruvitch @ Avengers I#188
• any other characters or items with similar names
  

images: (without ads)
Shogun Warriors#1, p7, pan2 (Main Image - Rok-Korr)
Shogun Warriors#1, p1, pan1 (Rok-Korr (profile), using claw and firing destructive light beam)
Shogun Warriors#1, p17, pan1 (Rok-Korr's lava form, blasting Raydeen with lava jet from mouth)
Shogun Warriors#2, p17, pan4 (Rok-Korr separated into three Elementals of Evil (earth, fire, and water) )

Appearances:
Shogun Warriors#1-3 (February-May, 1979) - Doug Moench (writer), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Dan Green (inks), Al Milgrom & Jim Shooter (editors)

First Posted: 02/20/2003
Last updated: 02/25/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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