Kang the Conqueror - Only Myself Left To Conquer

 

While I was hanging out at the super cool store Cemetery Pulp the other night, I perused their comic/ graphic novel section and, among a couple of other things, picked this up due to my fascination with the villain, Kang the Conqueror, from his early appearances in the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, among many others. Kang is, of course, a time traveler from the future who has had many identities throughout the centuries, from Rama-Tut in ancient Egypt, to the Scarlet Centurion, Iron Lad (hadn't seen this version previously, myself), Immortus and, possibly - it's never confirmed one way or another (that I've seen) - Doctor Doom (although he might "just" be a descendent).

In this story, the adult Kang picks up the teenaged Kang (Nathaniel Richards - supposed he is somehow a descendent of both Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom) and brings him back to prehistoric times before the comet wiped out the dinosaurs and trains him in the hopes that the teenage version will learn from the adult version's mistakes. Before the Earth's destruction, teenage Kang rebels against adult Kang (who is an alcoholic by this point), grabs his armor and escapes in the time stream just as the comet strikes and he ends up living Kang's life over again!

Of course, this being Marvel, there are time paradoxes - although different versions of Kang can exist simultaneously, somehow (possibly alternative timelines?) - and even when he seems to win a battle, he loses the war, which is, of course, against himself. Kang's love, Ravonna, is a pivotal centerpiece in the entire struggle, a plot device that Marvel utilizes regularly with both their heroes and villains. 

I thought that this was going to be more of an in depth history of Kang but the twists'n'turns that it takes is surprising and interesting, even if at the end, nothing appears to have really been resolved, although who really knows!