Continuity of the Savage Land.

Here's one I hadn't seen before: from 1997 (actually, maybe the last week of '96!) Ka-Zar of the Savage Land #1, "Nature of the Beasts" Written by Chuck Dixon, art by Frank Teran.

I'm not a huge Ka-Zar fan, but we did see the last issue of his 70's series a few months back, and the end of his 80's book years ago. I don't think we've seen any of his 90's book, although I do remember Priest having some fun at Ka-Zar's--and his own--expense, in Deadpool #34, with another visit to the Land Trailer Park of Cancelled Heroes, where Ka-Zar was still blind after his most recent last issue! That would've been about two years after today's book though; although, not unlike visits to the Age of Apocalypse, all the edges of continuity don't really line up smoothly. This issue, the Savage Land is under siege from "neo-men," who appear to be various degrees of mutated; but then again, so do most of Ka-Zar's forces? We do see longtime supporting character Tongah (misspelled as 'Togah' in one panel, unfortunately) but the rest of Ka-Zar's guys look like ogres.

Shanna was on a reconnaissance flight, checking out the incoming neo-men army, which seemed to be coming for the long haul; but she gets distracted by stowaway child Keeto, then shot down. Ka-Zar, Zabu, and some randos set out to find her: said randos get it pretty quickly, and Ka-Zar is separated from Zabu by a collapsing bridge. He still continues the search for his wife, unaware that an old foe was watching him...no spoilers, but you can guess! He's almost always in the Savage Land...no, not Stegron, although that would've been cool.

This is a solid enough adventure yarn; I maybe shouldn't be reading this so closely. The narration implies the neo-men were coming from somewhere, or they might have been mutated by something, like a lot of Savage Land types: think the old mutates Magneto made or found or whatever. There was also a comment that while they used to be allowed to come and go freely, there were too many of them now for the local ecology to support, so they hadda go: I am not 100% comfortable with that kind of talk, even if there did seem to be a lot of buggy, insect-like guys in the neo-men. Also, I didn't love that Ka-Zar's hair resembles white-boy dreads in some panels, and we don't get to see Zabu again after the halfway point, and I can't remember: can you see the stars in the Savage Land? I feel like you can, and that Dixon's thinking of hollow-earth type jungles like Pellucidar or Skartaris. I was also worried Keeto might get eaten, since there can be health concerns for a "Keeto" diet--hurk! (dragged offstage by hook) Read more!

"The End" Week: Ka-Zar #20!

Here's a cancellation that feels like it caught the creative team by surprise, but you very likely might have read the character's next appearance! Which does not really do this one justice, or even lip-service. From 1977, Ka-Zar #20, "Assault on a Cold Fortress!" Written by Doug Moench, pencils by Val Mayerik, inks by Ernie Chan. 

 

This opens with Ka-Zar and his...gnome companion Zartros, on the distant planet Quarl, trying to steal their queen, and escape on a winged shark? Well, the 'queen' was really reporter Tandy Snow, brainwashed by the Quarlians, who thought she was some embodiment of prophecy. Ka-Zar kills more than a few of the aliens in the escape, while yelling at Tandy to try and snap her back, since the queen bit was annoying. But, as they fly off to meet their friends; long-time supporting character Tongah of the Fall People, paleontologist Bernard Kloss, and Zabu the sabertooth tiger; were all dying of old age! Their youth had been stolen by some jerky tribe--the Kramen?--which at first seems to be unrelated to the next plot: the alien Sheenarians (who were also from Quarl?) have somehow crossed a portion of their dimension with a chunk of the Savage Land. They also had Klaw, who was primarily concerned with getting his ass back to earth.

Ka-Zar and company find the Kramen marching on the Sheenars--Sheenarians?--whatever; since the aliens had been stealing their youth, like they stole Tongah and Zabu's. Zartros even points out, it was suspicious the Kramen were young again all of a sudden; but Ka-Zar needed allies against the Sheenars. While Klaw makes his move to bail, Ka-Zar sneaks into the city on the winged shark, but finds himself under fire from a flying saucer: is this the end? The final page has a closing blurb: "To be continued...somewhere." Ka-Zar was being wrapped, possibly to make room for something else; and Moench and Mayerik would go on to Doc Savage (although Moench may have been already writing it) and maybe Planet of the Apes. And for Ka-Zar? The letters page promises, as was traditional at Marvel, the cliffhanger would be wrapped up in some other book later. Marvel Team-Up maybe, or Marvel Two-in-One? No, it would be wrapped up about a year and a half later, in X-Men #115! It got about four panels, and I think Zartros might've got sent back wherever, but still.

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I don't know that I have any jokes for Zabu; I just wanted him!

Super behind schedule all week, and tomorrow is the Lilac City Comicon! I had time to put Zabu together, though. We'll check back next week, and see what we get. Have a good weekend! Read more!

I got the new Marvel Legends Tarantula figure a bit ago, and while he's pretty far down the list of Spidey villains, it's not his first figure: per OAFE.net, he's gotten figures in 2009 and 1997. I mention that, because this classic foe has never gotten anything! Granted, that was about three seconds of looking, but he didn't appear to have ever gotten a Heroclix, a Minimate, anything; but he is in this fun tribute to Mike Wieringo: From 2008, Spider-Man Family #7, "Looter's Quest" Plot by Karl Kesel, Todd DeZago, and Mark Waid; pencils and inks by Karl Kesel and others, script by Todd DeZago and Mark Waid.

The Looter, Norton G. Fester, first appeared in 1966's Amazing Spider-Man #36, and feels more Steve Ditko than Stan Lee: a crackpot stumbles into a weird meteor and gets powers, hijinks ensue. I don't know if he always talked to his meteor, or if that was a recent addition; he was never one of the most prevalent of Spidey's bad guys. (Aside: I might need to read Web of Spider-Man #39, where he apparently steals Aunt May's engagement ring?) Today, the Looter's trying to be a good...friend to his meteor, and recover its (her?) "long-lost missing twin!" Spidey stops him at a museum, pointing out the only place to get the tracking equipment that could maybe find something like that would be the Baxter Building. The Looter then accidentally drops a hostage, whom Spidey saves, but the Looter is long gone, and Spidey has a pretty good idea where...

Spidey tries to warn the FF, but when the Torch goes to let him in on the roof, the Looter hits them with a "flash gun" which is a nice Ditko touch: Blue Beetle had one of those! Reed is mildly surprised the Looter had the wherewithal to use his complicated equipment: Looter claims to be a scientist, which Spidey doubts, and that the meteor increased his intelligence as well, which Spidey also doubts. Johnny, glancing things over, notes the twin meteor probably landed in the Savage Land; and the Looter sneaks off and swipes Ben's sky-cycle for the trip!

Perhaps wisely, Reed and Sue opt out of the trip to the Savage Land, leaving Spidey, Ben and Johnny; who discover the Looter trying to parley with another obscure Spidey bad-guy: Stegron, the Dinosaur Man! (Stegron had a 1998 Toy Biz action figure that I'm legitimately surprised I don't think I've ever owned; part of a villain wave called "The Vault" that included Ultron and Typhoid Mary, and each character came with restraints!) Ka-Zar and Shanna also show up: amusingly, Spidey seems way happier to see Shanna, which is understandable. They have to fight to save the Looter, who punches out Devil Dinosaur (!) to try and get the twin, but he instead finds what Spidey recognizes as the "Sphere of Sarakath," a mystical doodad that gave him and Dr. Strange the hassle once, in another Mike Wieringo issue! Ka-Zar suggests, maybe the Looter should consult with Strange about the meteor, and Ben knows what's coming: the Looter escapes again, through a portal. At Strange's Sanctum, Strange also appears to give the Looter the benefit of the doubt, and uses the Eye of Agamotto to track the twin meteor...to Europe somewhere...Latveria!

The Looter makes an attempt to swipe the Fantasticar for the next leg of his trip, but Reed and Strange had consulted on this one: the Fantasticar takes him to the Baxter Building again, where he's stopped by an Invisible Woman force field. They want to study the meteor, and see if they can break the Looter's delusions; but they're interrupted by the arrival of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents airdropping in, to take the Looter and the meteor into custody, for top-secret hush-hush reasons. But while he's being taken away, Reed lets slip if there was a twin to his meteor, it probably landed on the moon... 

There are precedents for sentient objects in the Marvel Universe: the first to come to mind is Green Lantern ring knockoff the Power Prism, of Doctor Spectrum; but there has to be others. I don't think the reader is ever privy to what, if anything, the meteor communicates to the Looter, so it makes him look really crazy, but is he? ...yes, he's a nut!

Also this issue: reprints of Venom: Lethal Protector #1, and Spider-Man: Death and Destiny #1. The latter was written and drawn by Lee Weeks, and was a sad story set around the death of George Stacy. There was also the manga-style "Spider-Man J" story "The Moth and the Flame."

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Oh, Zabu's in this one.

Anyone else do this: you run across a couple books in the quarter bin, maybe tangentially related, or from around the same timeframe, and you figure they were maybe from the same collection so you had best keep them together like two old friends? ...no, just me? Huh. Anyway, from 1972, Astonishing Tales #10, "To End in Flames!" Written by Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway, pencils by Barry (Windsor-)Smith, inks by Sal Buscema.

Ka-Zar, Zabu, and marooned stranger Paul are separated after fighting an ichthyosaur in the Savage Land's mysterious "Lost Lake" area; with Ka-Zar getting captured by German-accented men and Zabu and Paul hassled by Brits. While they try to rope up Zabu, Paul is reunited with his girl, Barbara, who tells him their leaders are "old men--ancient! and Paul--they're still fighting World War II!" The German leader--complete with monocle!--tells Ka-Zar his U-boat was hit while sinking an English destroyer, and the survivors from both ships took mates, had kids, and had been continuing the war for the last three decades. (I don't know how their "mates" felt about that, or about being taken for that matter; and wouldn't there be a long lull before the kids were old enough to do anything?)

Wait, it's even worse than it sounds! The German and British survivors are in direct contact with each other: they have a meeting to try and figure where Ka-Zar came from, and worry he might spill that the war was over, ending their power over their kids! Ka-Zar is caged up next to a "smilodectes" they had been saving for a while to keep the kids from exploring the caves, and the German and British leader launch their final, all-out attacks...why, exactly? Because it wouldn't be fair to all the soldiers that died if their kids didn't die too? Goddamn boomers. (Technically, WWII veterans wouldn't be 'boomers,' their kids would be. Any that survive this probably return to the Savage Land forty years later to try and frack it or something.)

Ka-Zar manages to get the kids' attention, and point out to them how pointless their fight is: none of them have any particular grudge with each other, which makes me wonder how much fighting they did before this. Still, the German and British leaders, virtually hand in hand, are going to throw a bomb into the volcano on the island, blowing up everyone, possibly the entire Savage Land! Again...why, exactly? They hate their kids and nature? Sure sound like boomers...They give a half-assed explanation about their little war giving their kids something to fight for, and "man cannot survive without war," but before they can knock out any more horsecrap clichés Zabu stops them from dropping the bomb in volcano by knocking them both in. Zabu nearly goes in himself, but Ka-Zar pulls him out; and goes on to his next adventure with Paul and Barbara--and looking it up, 'Barbara' wouldn't have her full name revealed for a few more issues: she's Bobbi Morse, who would later become Mockingbird! Paul went on to...I dunno, an early grave?

Ka-Zar, at this point, did not have good diction; but Zabu as always is the best. I know I still have the old Toy Biz Ka-Zar and Zabu, and Zabu still holds up. Kinda wish Hasbro would knock out a new set, though; the Marvel Legends set with Shanna is stupid-expensive.
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"The End" Week: Ka-Zar the Savage #34!

Another Marvel hero that has stared down the barrel of cancellation more than once; but this one does it with far more aplomb than Nova did. From 1984, Ka-Zar the Savage #34, "Savage in a Strange Land" Written by Mike Carlin, pencils by Paul Neary, inks by Carlos Garzon. And Neary's cover is a Steranko tribute!

The main story features Ka-Zar and Zabu trying to rescue Shanna, who had been teleported away from them by a tribal relic that originally appeared to be an oddly shaped bone. The alien Nuwali appear to occasionally abduct people to harvest adrenalin from them, which they use as a poison in trying to extract payment from their employers, who hired them to set up nature preserves. (Like the Savage Land, the only surviving one, although the Nuwali didn't know why it was still going.) The other humans from the Savage Land are apathetic and weak after having their adrenalin yanked out of them too often, but they figure they can get a good batch out of Ka-Zar after convincing him Shanna was being hurt. Still, Shanna is able to rescue him, and has another good bit of news: she's pregnant! After a dogfight in space, Ka-Zar and Shanna and the other humans manage to get back to the Savage Land, where Ka-Zar assures his wife and friend that they will lead a full happy life there.

In the second feature, "Savage in a Stranger Land!" Ka-Zar is taken back to a familiar place, and faces some familiar foes, in the Land of Cancelled Heroes! That's a fun bit, as Ka-Zar explains being ahead of their time, being visionary, sometimes leads to being cancelled; and it's not necessarily a stigma. And it's not, since Ka-Zar has been back multiple times since this one.

And the "Land of Cancelled Heroes," with Ka-Zar, would make an appearance in Deadpool #34, which is also damn fun. It's a trailer park in that one, and all the cancelled heroes appearing had been written before by the new series writer Christopher Priest!

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