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Marvel Chillers #4

Apr 1976
Chris Claremont, Frank Robbins

Marvel Chillers #4 cover

Story Name:

Night of the Huntress!


Synopsis

Marvel Chillers #4 synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Rating: 4 stars

After a fruitless search for Joshua Plague and the Rat Pack, Tigra returns to Chicago to rest up and think. On a snowy night, she arrives at the University of Chicago where she was turned into the Cat, just in time to be caught in a huge explosion. She recovers just as three mercenaries who have hijacked a drug shipment are hurrying out. She tangles with them briefly only to be zapped in the arm by a villain she recognizes as Kraven the Hunter, who has a bound man over his shoulder. She attacks him but he is able to easily overpower her and depart with his hostage, leaving his henchmen to fend for themselves. The police arrive and the mercenaries don’t want to be caught so they open fire on the cops and some bystanders. Tigra sees a girl caught in the crossfire and tries to push her out of the way but she is too late and the girl is hit by a bullet. Then the police spot Tigra and shoot at her, causing her to make a hasty retreat….

Later, Tigra hides outside the window of the hospital where the girl is being treated and learns she is paralyzed and surgery is too risky. Her only hope is David Malraux’s experimental procedure—and he is the man kidnapped by Kraven earlier. So Tigra knows what she must do. In disguise she visits a low-class bar where she finds Kraven’s disgruntled henchmen (four now) who are planning to force Kraven to pay them what he owes so they can leave the city for safer territory. She pursues them through a heavy blizzard to a deserted arena which Kraven is using for a hideout. As the henchmen crash through the front door, Tigra heads for the roof and enters via a skylight. As she moves along a high catwalk, she is hit by a swinging sandbag. She twists in the air and catches onto a trapeze bar but the wire is then cut. She plummets but lands on her feet, only for Kraven to shine a blinding spotlight in her face. He turns the light to show she is in a cage and then directs her attention to the four henchmen lying dead and strewn across the ground. Kraven shows her the captive Dr. Malraux, explaining that the scientist’s psychomotor response procedure will increase his speed and reflexes, making him invincible. But he is also interested in what he can learn from Tigra about the abilities of the Cat People. She tries to leap out of the cage but the top is encircled with electric wire—so she just pulls the bars apart and exits. The two tussle hand-to-hand, Kraven enjoying the challenge of fighting a human animal, until he gets her in a chokehold. She is trapped but remembering the girl in the hospital, she marshals her strength and flips Kraven over her head. He fires his ultra-sonic blaster at her but she powers through it and delivers such a beating to him that she has to force herself to stop before she kills him. She leaves him with he thought that, if she really were the animal he called her, he’d now be dead….

Later at the hospital, Dr. Malraux brings Tigra the news that the girl will recover with a year of rehab. She heads for the window but Malraux reminds her that the police still think she was working with Kraven. She replies that she no longer cares and that she would rather die than be caged, having learned that night she can’t go home again….


 

Review / Commentaries


Marvel Chillers #4 Review by (November 19, 2024)

Review: And in her second issue, Chris Claremont jumps into the writers’ seat and pits Tigra against a well-known—and appropriate—guest villain: Kraven the Hunter. The result is an exciting romp with Tigra in the end trying to hold on to her humanity which seems to be her ongoing character note. And I am not a fan of penciller Frank Robbins after all his work on THE INVADERS but his odd style is toned down quite a bit here, likely because of inker Vince Colletta. Wait, Vince Colletta saved the day? Oh the irony!

Comments: GCD considers Rich Buckler’s cover art to be uncertain, plus John Romita alterations to the faces. 



> Marvel Chillers comic book info and issue index

Elektra

Excelsioring your collection:
DIAMOND SELECT TOYS LLC Marvel Gallery: Comic Kraven The Hunter PVC Statue
Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Frank Robbins
Vince Colletta
George Roussos
Rich Buckler (Cover Penciler)
Tom Palmer (Cover Inker)
Unknown (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: John Costanza.

Characters

Listed in alphabetical order. All stories.

Kraven
Kraven

(Kraven the Hunter)
Tigra
Tigra

(Greer Nelson)


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