K'RKK'RK
Real Name: K'rk N'kzaii
Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (Shi'ar)
Occupation: Starship captain
Group Membership: His own starship crew (Mr. S'lar, others)
Affiliations: Araki, Emperor D'ken, Imperial Guard (Blackthorn,
Fang, Gladiator/Kallark,
Hussar,
Neutron/Quasar,
N'rill'iree, Oracle/Sybil,
Starbolt, Warstar/B'nee & C'cil), Mr. S'lar;
formerly Samedar
Enemies: Samedar, X-Men (Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner, Sprite/Kitty Pryde)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Unrevealed location within the Shi'ar galaxy
First Appearance: (behind-the-scenes, K'rk's ship seen): X-Men I#97 (February, 1976); (seen): X-Men I#105 (June, 1977)
Powers/Abilities: K'rk had the standard abilities of the Shi'ar race.
History:
(Classic X-Men I#13 (fb) - BTS) - Trained by Emperor D'ken's sister
Lilandra herself, K'rk soon learned all of Lilandra's tricks.
(X-Men I#97 - BTS/Classic X-Men I#14/2 - BTS) - Much
later, Captain K'rk and his crew pursued the escaping rebel Lilandra,
who had tried to kill and usurp the now-mad Emperor D'ken, across the
Shi'ar empire alongside other Shi'ar ships serving D'ken.
(X-Men I#105 (fb) - BTS) - K'rk and his crew were tasked with destroying Lilandra once they caught up to her.
(X-Men I#104 - BTS) - As Lilandra neared Earth,
Captain K'rk's Imperial Cruiser caught up to Lilandra and fired photon
torpedoes with the intent to kill.
(Classic X-Men I#13 - BTS) - K'rk's ship fired a
second volley of photon torpedoes that hit very close to Lilandra's
ship. Recalling how she had trained K'rk, Lilandra realized he knew all
of her tricks and that she couldn't lose him.
(X-Men I#105) - Making a ship's log about recent
events involving his ship's pursuit of the escaped Lilandra, K'rk
ordered his science officer to provide him with a status report. The
officer reported back that Earth was a Class M planet with sentient,
hominid life forms and that it was a 4.7 on the Verakis Scale. Watching
Lilandra as she grew closer to Earth, K'rk ordered his crew member
S'lar to maintain firing distance from Lilandra until K'rk's science
officer reported that Earth had encountered Galactus four times in
recent history and beaten the cosmic being back each time. Shocked,
K'rk ordered his ship to do a hard u-turn and retreat from Earth,
asking his science officer to do a full sensor scan of Earth while all
other stations go to battle alert. K'rk then suggested that if Earth
could drive off Galactus, its power might rival that of the Shi'ar
empire itself.
(Uncanny X-Men I#156 - BTS) - K'rk
captained a starship assigned by the Shi'ar to obtain Lilandra from Earth, and
to issue an attack on Earth if Lilandra was not procured.
(Uncanny X-Men I#157) - When Samedar ordered the attack to proceed, K'rk questioned this order, wanting to hear it from Araki (not knowing Araki had been murdered). Captive X-Men Nightcrawler and Sprite caused the Shi'ar to believe Dark Phoenix was attacking the ship to stall them, and a large fight broke out between members of the Imperial Guard. Samedar was soon stopped by Lilandra before the attack could be initiated.
Comments: Created by Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum, and Bob Wiacek.
I'm pretty sure that K'rk has no connection to a certain Star
Trek character. An utter coincidence, obviously.
For the two people out there, who don't get what
Chadman is talking about (I mean you over there under the stone). The
captain of the Enterprise in the Sci-Fi series Star Trek was named
James Tiberius Kirk. The character was played by William Shatner.
--Markus Raymond
Captain K'rk's ship appears behind-the-scenes in the
new art provided for the X-Men I#105 story in Classic X-Men I#13 (we
don't see the ship but Lilandra remarks on her ship nearly being hit by
the ship's photon torpedoes). This new art was provided by Bob Layton.
Thanks to Donald Campbell for noticing the mix-ups originally in
this profile regarding K'rk's "appearance" in Classic X-Men I#14/2 (he
& his crew didn't actually appear & this profile previously
confused the ship that DID appear with K'rk's ship) and S'lar who, in
this profile, was previously ASSumed to be a character on the ship that
DID appear in Classic X-Men I#14/2 despite X-Men I#105 clearly showing
S'lar to be a red-skinned alien with large insectoid eyes. Donald's
comments are as follows:
"Captain K'rk, his crew and his ship
did not actually appear in Classic X-Men I#14/2. The Shi'ar vessel on
which Lilandra was being held captive was the Imperial Dreadnought
"Pride of Tjun" and it was the flagship of a small fleet of Imperial
Dreadnoughts. When the Pathfinder fleet loyal to Lilandra launched a
surprise attack, Pride of Tjun was severely damaged in the first attack
and soon exploded, with Lilandra having barely escaped in a stolen
scouter. The two fleets then fought to their mutual destruction,
leaving Lilandra as the only survivor. So, if K'rk and the crew of his
Imperial Cruiser had been there, then they would have died as well.
He (S'lar) was a red-skinned being with a
dragonish-looking head who was seated at what would have been the helm
on the Starship Enterprise. If K'rk was Kirk, then S'lar was Sulu.
--Donald Campbell"
Profile by Chadman and Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
K'rk
has no known connections to
|
|
S'lar was one of the helmsman aboard K'rk's ship. He informed K'rk when Lilandra's ship was entering Earth's orbit and reminded him of the Shi'ar's prime directive. --X-Men I#105 (presumably BTS in all other appearances of K'rk's ship) |
images: (without ads)
Uncanny X-Men I#157, front cover (K'rk, fullbody image, main image)
X-Men I#105, p7, pan6 (K'rk, headshot)
X-Men I#105, p7, pan3 (K'rk, sitting on his ship's bridge)
Uncanny X-Men I#157, p13, pan5 (K'rk questioning Samédŕr)
X-Men I#105, p7, pan4 (Mr. S'lar)
Appearances:
X-Men I#97 (February, 1976) - Chris Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum (pencils), Sam Grainger (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
X-Men I#104 (April, 1977) - Chris Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum (pencils), Sam Grainger (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
X-Men I#105 (June, 1977) - Chris Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum (pencils), Bob Layton (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Uncanny X-Men I#156 (April, 1982) - Chris Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Louise Jones (editor)
Uncanny X-Men I#157 (May, 1982) - Chris Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Louise Jones (editor)
Classic X-Men I#10 (June, 1987) - "Who Will Stop the Juggernaut?" story -
Chris Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum, John Romita Sr. (pencils), Sam Grainger (inks), Ann Nocenti (editor)
Classic X-Men I#13 (September, 1987) - "Phoenix Unleashed!" story - Chris
Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum (pencils), Bob Layton (pencils, inks), Ann Nocenti (editor)
Classic X-Men I#14 (October, 1987) - "What Stuff Our Dreams are Made
Of..." story - Chris Claremont (writer), John Bolton (art), Ann Nocenti
(editor)
First Posted: 12/24/2016
Last updated: 10/15/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other 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!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!
Mr. S'lar