Kobra Khan
48 years ago - Jeffrey Franklin Burr is born, triggering a prophesy by the Kobra Cult as the one to usher in the Kali Yuga, the age of chaos. He is kidnapped and raised by the cult.
32 years ago - 16-year-old Jeffrey Franklin Burr chooses to attend university in America, studying technology.
28 years ago - 20-year-old Jeffrey Franklin Burr earns his bachelor’s degree and returns to take his place in the Kobra Cult.
24 years ago - 24-year-old Jeffrey Franklin Burr takes the title Naja-naja, the Supreme Commander of the Kobra Cult. He begins unifying terrorist groups from all over the world under the banner of Kobra.
6 years ago - 42-year-old Jeffrey Franklin Burr’s legs are shattered by Albert Julian Rothstein as he attacks he headquarters of Kobra in retaliation for the death of his foster mother Danette Reily by Kobra hijackers.
5 years ago - 43-year-old Jeffrey Franklin Burr is finally arrested & imprisoned when the rebuillt Kobra headquarters is infiltrated by the Suicide Squad.
3 years ago - 45-year-old Jeffrey Franklin Burr escapes from prison and returns to usurp control of Kobra, beginning to consolidate it's power.
2 years ago - 46-year-old Jeffrey Franklin Burr attempts to find and kill Shado. She responds by triggering war between Kobra & the Monkey Fist cult. He discovers Ted Kord tracking Kobra, & kills him.
The original Kobra series was meant to be a standalone story with it's own self-contained arc, with its own hero and villain, but stood out because the book would be named after the villain, rather than the hero. Notably, the hero and villain were brothers, and were actually from New Delhi, making this a series actually starring a pair of Indian characters.
While that original series didn't really deliver on it's premise, the character invented here would later on supply DC with one of it's most long-running villain organizations. It's not a very deep concept, but the role they play in the world is a really solid, recognizable one. Especially since it mirrors another story we all know very well...
While that original series didn't really deliver on it's premise, the character invented here would later on supply DC with one of it's most long-running villain organizations. It's not a very deep concept, but the role they play in the world is a really solid, recognizable one. Especially since it mirrors another story we all know very well...
Kobra's Comic HistoryKobra debuted in his own series in 1976. It was originally created for DC by Jack Kirby before he left the company, apparently based on an idea by Carmine Infantino to do an update of the Corsican Brothers, a novella from 1844 by Three Musketeers creator Alexandre Dumas. The core idea was that twin brothers, born conjoined but separated at birth, continued to feel everything the other felt. The conceit of the series was that one of the two brothers was a criminal mastermind bent on world domination. It's not an easy series to read, but while the core concept of the series never really took off, the character of Kobra himself seemed to find purchase, regularly appearing in other classic series as a new villain pitted against Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and even Superman.
Of course, in 1982, something very specific showed up on American televisions that recontextualized the character of Kobra; a little animated series called G.I. Joe. While G.I. Joe was actually meant to be a re-imagining of the conflict between S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra over in Marvel comics, it very quickly became its own thing, and the persona of Cobra Commander and Cobra were thoroughly entrenched in the genre zeitgeist. Kobra, the organization, began to appear consistently across DC's landscape, clearly modeled after the fictional terrorist organization from the super-popular cartoon & toy line... serving as a great bad-guy fodder for books like the Suicide Squad or King Faraday, but also challenging the likes of the Outsiders or even the JSA. |
Our Kobra StoryKobra, the organization, of course has it's own page. It winds up touching a really unexpected amount of the timeline, because it serves as a sort of villainy farm league. To differentiate between Kobra the organization and Kobra the person, we elected to give him the slighly more pulp name Kobra Khan.
We're using a rough approximation of the origins described in the original Jack Kirby penned 1st issue, inasmuch as Burr is the manifestation of a prophecy within this ancient crime cult, is kidnapped and raised by the cult, eventually taking control. At that point, however, we're actually taking a cue more from the story of Cobra Commander, who is actually a pretty complex character in his own right (depending on how deep you get into the classic Larry Hama comics you get.) Burr, who attended school in America, begins to consolidate terrorist organizations from all over the world under the Kobra banner, stealing or otherwise acquiring all sorts of rapidly developing technology. From there, honestly, it's really just letting Kobra be what it's built to be; a reliably endless supply of bad guys for our heroes to punch. |