Night Raven

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Night Raven

Night Raven, art by David Lloyd

Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Hulk Weekly #1, (January 1979)
Created by	Dez Skinn (writer) Richard Burton(artist)

Characteristics
Abilities	Immortal vigilante.

Night Raven is a fictional superhero created by Marvel UK a division of Marvel Comics. Night Raven first appeared in Hulk Weekly #1 (January 1979). He was created by Dez Skinn and Richard Burton and assigned to Steve Parkhouse as writer and David Lloyd.

1 Publication History
2 Fictional character biography
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] Publication History

Dez Skinn's immediate superior, Stan Lee, did not like David Lloyd's "blocky" artwork and so John Bolton became his replacement artist towards the end of the strip's initial run. The strip was greatly influenced by the pulp characters of the 1930s, during which time it was set, especially The Shadow and The Spider. Night Raven was one of the few original characters created for Marvel UK in the 1980s, and quickly became a fan-favourite.

Stan Lee felt that the strip would work better in a contemporary setting, and so the strip shifted forwards in time to the present when Night Raven and his nemesis, the Dragon Lady-like Yi Yang, were both placed in suspended animation.

[edit] Fictional character biography

Night Raven later appeared in various Marvel UK titles, including a run of text stories beginning in Marvel Superheroes by Alan McKenzie and continued in The Daredevils by Alan Moore and Jamie Delano.

In the 1990s, the character had only a handful of appearances, most prominently a graphic novel, Night Raven: House of Cards, and his first American appearance, a supporting role in the graphic novel Fury/Black Widow: Death Duty. During Death Duty, it is revealed that he is unable to die and continues his battles against his foes.

This is contradicted by a later apperance in the Marvel US miniseries Nocturne, in which it was revealed that he died during the 1950s after being poisioned. One of his last acts was to create a battlesuit that was used by a new hero called Nocturne.

[edit] Trivia

The character was a major influence on Moore and Lloyd's later work on V for Vendetta, which was originally published in Warrior, a comic book that was also published and edited by Dez Skinn.