GENERAL KOL'LANN
Real Name: Kol'Lann
Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (Blue Kree) humanoid
Occupation: General, commanding J-Fleet
Group Membership: Kree military
Affiliations: Supreme Leader Nenora; bridge crew of his flagship (including a captain and a private)
Enemies: Skrulls; especially would-be emperor Kylor (now deceased?) and his followers
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Kree Empire, Greater Magellanic Cloud
First Appearance: Silver Surfer III#13 (July, 1988)
(identified) Silver Surfer III#20 (February, 1989)
Powers/Abilities: Kol'Lann was a Blue Kree who presumably possessed all of the standard capabilities and weaknesses of a normal member of his species. Specifically, Kol'Lann had enhanced strength, durability, endurance and speed (compared to a male human of his size and age) and he required an atmosphere with a higher nitrogen content (similar to that of Hala) in order to breathe comfortably. Kol'Lann would have needed a special chemical or apparatus to breathe in Earth's atmosphere.
Height: 6' (estimated)
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 200 lbs.)
Eyes: Light, possibly gray or green
Skin: Blue
Hair: Black (eyebrows, beard and mustache - head otherwise bald/shaved)
History:
(Silver Surfer III#13 (fb) - BTS) - During the Second Kree-Skrull War, Supreme Leader Nenora
ordered General Kol'Lann to take J-Fleet to a certain location on the fringes of the Greater Magellanic Cloud and
to reach that destination at a certain time.
(Silver Surfer III#13) - Agent K6@ (a.k.a. Supreme Leader Nenora) secretly contacted Emperor Kylor and informed him that she had done as he ordered by sending J-Fleet into his trap and that they should arrive in six nawabs. Agent K6@ also confirmed that, as Kylor had also ordered, the shields of the ships in that fleet had been rendered inoperative.
(Silver Surfer III#13) - Exactly on time, J-Fleet was approaching the designated coordinates when a Skrull fleet commanded by Kylor suddenly attacked from behind the cover of a planet. Although taken by surprise, the Kree ships reacted quickly and went to battle stations even as the Skrull fleet charged directly at them. As the Skrull ships began to crash headlong into the shields of the Kree ships, the Kree fleet began to open fire on the Skrull ships.
On the Kree flagship, when the captain in charge of weapons (tactical officer?) reported that the emperor's ship was breaking up, the general congratulated him, saying, "Good shot, Captain!" Then, when a private on the bridge asked him what could have possessed the Skrulls to ignore the Kree shields, the general replied, "I have no idea, Private! Space madness, perhaps--or faulty intelligence! Whatever the reason, the enemy has lost one of its five pretenders to their throne!" Soon afterwards, Kylor's flagship exploded.
Later, the general spoke with Supreme Leader Nenora via a two-way real-time audio-visual communications link. The general reported a great victory as Emperor Kylor and his personal guard had all been destroyed. Nenora replied that that was wonderful and that the general would "get another ring for this!"
(Silver Surfer III#20 - BTS) - Sometime later, while about to engage a Skrull fleet loyal to Empress S'Byll of Satriani near the red giant star known as Calexo, Lieutenant Nep'Perr asked Captain Jac'Oyaa how many Skrull "emperors" were now left and the captain replied that there were four since Emperor Kylor had died in battle with General Kol'Lann's fleet.
Comments: Created by Steve Englehart, Joe Staton and Dave Cockrum.
The name of the Blue Kree general who commanded J-Fleet in Silver Surfer III#13 was not mentioned anywhere in that issue, the only story in which he has (so far) appeared. His name was only revealed during a conversation between Lieutenant Nep'Perr and Captain Jac'Oyaa in Silver Surfer III#20.
Although some Kree seem to only have one name (i.e., Ronan, Una, Zarek), most Kree have two names, a given name and a family name, that are separated by hyphens (i.e., Mar-Vell, Yon-Rogg, Phae-Dor). However, Silver Surfer III#20 was the first story to feature Kree whose given and family names were separated by apostrophes instead of hyphens (i.e., General Kol'Lann, Captain Jac'Oyaa, Lietenant Nep'Perr). It's an odd deviation from standard naming practices, especially since letterer Ken Bruzenak must have been quite familiar with the format of Kree names from his work on previous issues of the third Silver Surfer series. I can't help but wonder what caused this change that only lasted for this single issue.
The Marvel Database wiki once claimed that this character's name was "Kol-Lann" but they also stated that he was "mentioned...as Kol'lann" in Silver Surfer III#20. Of course, that wiki also claimed that "Kol-Lann" died in Silver Surfer III#13 and that's something that absolutely DID NOT HAPPEN!
I don't know about anyone else but I personally find it IRRITATING when stories written about starships don't include any NAMES for those starships. I'm pretty sure that writer Steve Englehart didn't bother to name ANY of the Skrull and Kree starships that appeared in the stories that he wrote for the third Silver Surfer series.
I also find it odd and irritating that the Kree would designate one of their fleets “J-Fleet” but they followed a similar naming policy in Silver Surfer III#6 with "A-Fleet" and "L-Fleet." I presumed that the letters A. J and L in these names are meant to be regarded as translations of Kree letters that were used to designate the fleets but it just seemed too Earthly for me. However, after some online research, it turns out that, while human navies in the real world are often divided into smaller numbered or named fleets, they don't seem to actually name their fleets after letters, so maybe that is "alien" enough.
I'm not sure if the military forces of the Kree Empire have ever been given their own official name. And what would that name be anyway? The Imperial Kree Army? Would their space fleets be called the Kree Navy or the Kree Space Force? And given that they have spaceships, would they even need a Kree Air Force for aerial attacks or a Kree Navy for military operations on oceans?
BTW, what is the correct name for their war with the Skrulls? Is it the "Kree/Skrull War" or the "Kree-Skrull War?" I've seen it written both ways, including in the titles of various comics (like "Kree-Skrull War Starring the Avengers" and "Road to Empyre: The Kree/Skrull War"), so I can't rely on those sources to establish the correct name. Is there a name that is used consistently within the Marvel Universe?
For those readers who aren't familiar with some of these characters, the Blue Kree woman Nenora was actually a female Skrull spy, Agent K6@, who had become trapped in her assumed form by the Hyper-Wave Bomb during her infiltration of the Kree homeworld Hala. Agent K6@ initially remained loyal to Emperor Kylor even as she became one of the three Controllers who served as the Kree Supreme Intelligence's main aides and was later promoted to being its Chief Coordinator. However, after the Silver Surfer inadvertently drove the Supreme Intelligence mad, Nenora, as the Kree closest to it, took over as Supreme Leader. Agent K6@ realized that she now had an opportunity to rule the Kree Empire on her own. To protect herself, Nenora eliminated the only three Skrulls who knew her secret, first by poisoning her lover, Aptak, and then by betraying Kylor's fleet so as to cause the death of Emperor Kylor and his second-in-command, Ripan. She did this simply by lying to Kylor when she assured him that the shields of the Kree ships he was planning to ambush had been rendered inoperative.
I think that Kylor's plan was that his shielded Skrull starships would just ram through the unshielded Kree starships, destroying them while remaining undamaged. Unfortunately, Nenora's betrayal caused the Skrull warships to crash headlong into the shields of the Kree ships. Oddly, the story makes it seem like the Skrull ships were the only ones damaged by the collisions. Maybe Kree shields are superior to Skrull shields and are better at protecting them from collisions?
I briefly wondered why Kylor assumed that Nenora was correct when she said that the Kree ships would be unshielded and didn't bother to scan them to make sure. After all, there was a chance that whatever Nenora had supposedly done to render them inoperative either hadn't worked or had been discovered and countered. Then I realized that scanning the Kree fleet might have given away the ambush. Still, it would seem that there was enough time for a last-minute scan to take place after the Skrulls had been spotted by the Kree. Emperor Kylor was careless in not doing so and he paid the price.
Although General Kol'Lann reported that Emperor Kylor and his personal guard had all been destroyed and Empress S'Byll's spy among Kylor's guard reported the same thing, readers of Silver Surfer III#13 were shown Kylor donning a spacesuit after realizing that he had been betrayed. And then, after his flagship exploded, a spacesuited figure was shown drifting among the wreckage. This figure was clearly meant to be Kylor and, although Chancellor Kal'Du's analysis in the Warbook File on Kylor stated that he had died, the section that was not in-universe stated that he was "seemingly killed by Nenora, but may have survived."
Kol'Lann's name likely represents an homage to artist Gene Colan.--Spidermay
Profile by Donald Campbell.
CLARIFICATIONS:
General Kol'Lann has no known connections to
The crew of the flagship of J-Fleet whose duty stations were on its bridge. The number of crewmen who were normally stationed on the bridge has nor been revealed but it was undoubtedly greater than the three who were visible in the single available image of the bridge. Aside from the fleet commander, General Kol'Lann, the other two Kree were a black-haired male Blue Kree captain who was the ship's tactical officer or its weapons officer, and a male private whose skin and hair color cannot be determined from the image.
During the Second Kree-Skrull War, J-Fleet was ambushed by the Skrull fleet commanded by Emperor Kylor but the ambush failed because the shields of the Kree vessels had not secretly been rendered inoperative by Kylor's agent. As Skrull warships began running into Kree shields and damaging themselves, the Kree swiftly took advantage of the situation and began firing their weapons at their now-disorganized enemy. After the flagship had opened fire, the captain reported, "The emperor's ship is breaking up, General" and the general congratulated him with a "Good shot, Captain." When the private then asked, "Whatever could have possessed them to ignore our shields, sir?" the general responded that he had no idea and suggested either space madness or faulty intelligence. He then stated that, whatever the reason, the Skrulls had lost one of their five pretenders to their throne. Soon afterwards, Kylor's flagship exploded, leaving only drifting debris.
When General Kol'Lann later reported this great victory to Supreme Leader Nenora and that Emperor Kylor and his personal guard had all been destroyed, none of the other members of the bridge crew were visible behind him.
--Silver Surfer III#13
One of the fleets of interstellar warships that served the Kree Empire, J-Fleet was commanded by General Kol'Lann from his flagship. Little has been revealed about J-Fleet, including any prior action it had seen, the names of the starships that were part of it, and the number of Kree warriors who were serving aboard those starships.
During the Second Kree-Skrull War, J-Fleet had been sent into an ambush by an agent of the Skrull emperor Kylor. The Kree aboard these warships were taken completely by surprise and, although "Battle stations" was called immediately after the Skrulls were sighted, their defeat and destruction seemed certain.
However, Kylor's agent had betrayed him by falsely claiming that she had carried out his orders to render the shields of the Kree fleet inoperative.
As a result of this betrayal, the Kree fleet had an unexpected advantage because Kylor, believing that the shields of the Kree fleet had secretly been rendered inoperative, had ordered the Skrull ships to simply ram into and through their enemies. When their ships began crashing headlong into the Kree shields and suffering damage from those collisions, the shocked Skrulls soon realized their mistake but by then the Kree had already begun to open fire on their now-disorganized enemy. As Emperor Kylor realized that they had been betrayed and began to order a retreat, his flagship was stuck by weapons fire from the Kree flagship and began to break up. The Skrull flagship soon exploded and some (or most or all) of the other Skrull warships were presumably destroyed as well.
After the battle had ended, General Kol'Lann reported this great victory, which included the destruction of Emperor Kylor and his personal guard, to Supreme Leader Nenora.
--Silver Surfer III#13
Notes: In the upper left image, J-Fleet is in the background with the Skrull fleet in the foreground.
The upper right image may depict how the crew of the Kree flagship reacted to suddenly spotting the Skrull fleet. However, since it could have taken place aboard any of the warships in J-Fleet, I've chosen to not ASSume that it was the flagship.
Also in the upper right image, the Pink Kree officer in the foreground is wearing a blue uniform with a ringed planet on its chest while the Blue Kree officer behind him is wearing a blue uniform with a circle on its chest. THESE ARE WRONG! The blue uniforms are worn by colonels and their chest symbols are suns with single rings around them. A Kree uniform with a ringed planet belongs to a captain and it's green-on-white (as can be seen in the bridge crew image). A Kree uniform with just a circle belongs to a lieutenant and it's brown-on-white (sometimes appearing as grey-on-white).
images: (without ads)
Silver Surfer III#13, page 19, panel 5 (main image)
page 18, panel 4 (bridge crew)
page 16, panel 5 (Skrull fleet ambushing J-Fleet)
page 17, panel 1 (Kree spotting the Skrulls)
page 17, panel 2 (Skrull fleet charging straight at J-Fleet)
page 18, panel 1 (Kylor and Ripan watching their ships crash headlong
into Kree shields)
Appearances/Mentions:
Silver Surfer III#13 (July, 1988) - Steve Englehart (writer), Joe Staton (pencils), Dave Cockrum (inks), Michael
Higgins (editor)
Silver Surfer III#20 (February, 1989) - Steve Englehart (story), Ken Bruzenak (letterer), Craig Anderson
(editor)
First Posted: 07/17/2022
Last updated: 07/22/2022
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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