Ka-Zar, the Confused...

I've always had a soft spot for Ka-Zar, Marvel's Tarzan in Dinosaur-land, ever since I picked up a few issues as a kid.  

Ka-Zar was, as I said above, basically Tarzan.  With a twist.  Instead of darkest Africa, he ran around in The Savage Land, an isolated lost world found in a remote part of Antarctica, with a tropical climate and a population of dinosaurs, prehistoric mammals, primitive tribesmen, and lost civilizations galore.  Instead of a chimp, Ka-Zar palled around with a sabre-tooth tiger named Zabu.  Okay truth be told, Ka-Zar himself wasn't all that interesting - just your basic macho-muscle-man.  But the dinosaurs, lost civilizations and Zabu were more than enough for me when I was 8/9/10.

In early `81, Ka-Zar the Savage showed up on the racks over at Cosmic Comics, and, soft spot still very much in place, I grabbed it.  Now, I had fully intended on adding Ka-Zar to my list of regular titles, cuz at 14 dinosaurs and a sabre-tooth tiger companion were still reasonable selling points for me.  But by the time I had finished reading ish 1, there was no doubt in my mind.  Because Ka-Zar the Savage was not only quite different from what I'd expected - it was quite different from any other comic I'd ever read.

To explain that, I have to back up a little and clarify what Ka-Zar had been, prior to 1981.  KZ made his bow in X-Men #10 at the beginning of `65, in which the X-Men discover The Savage Land and take KZ for a possible mutant.  He isn't.  But they do find a place full of dinosaurs and neanderthalic cavemen.  KZ initially fights them, then helps them rescue Jean Grey from being sacrificed to the cavemen's Tyrannosaur/god.  It wasn't much of an issue, but it did feature dinosaurs, some great Kirby prehistoric vistas, and the bizarre vision of the X-Men and Tarzan-clone Ka-Zar fighting antediluvean beasties.  As for Ka-Zar, he wasn't much, being mostly irascible and not very bright (most of his dialog consisted of lines like "Ka-Zar powerful! Ka-Zar strong! Ka-Zar mightiest of all!" etc).  After that, he popped up every year or so, in Spider-Man, Daredevil, and The Hulk, and later a single issue of Marvel's first "tryout" book, Marvel Superheroes.  Along the way he was given a back-story: KZ was actually Kevin Plunder, son of a rich British explorer, lost in The Savage Land after the death of his father, having grown up in the wild - all very Tarzan.  It was also revealed that he was, in fact, intelligent and articulate - he just liked playing the role of a moronic savage.  Okay....

In 1970, with Marvel expanding, KZ got a part in Astonishing Tales, a new "split" book (each issue contained one half-length story) which he shared with Dr. Doom, Marvel's #1 baddie ("now in his own series!").  His run there lasted 20 issues, with Dr. Doom being pushed out after issue 7.  He then spun off into his own title, Ka-Zar, Lord of the Hidden Jungle which also lasted 20 issues.  Just for good measure, he also had a series in the b&w magazine title, Savage Tales.  These stories were marked by a more "mature" approach (translation - they had naked wimmen in them), but were otherwise mostly interchangeable with the stories running in AT and KZ.  All of them suffered from the same problems:  Ka-Zar had a fun setting, but wasn't a particularly interesting character himself.  An even bigger problem: all of them suffered a revolving door of artists/writers.  Some strong work was done by Jack Kirby, Gil Kane, Barry Smith and (especially) Russ Heath.  Unfortunately, much uninspiring work was done by Herb Trimpe and John Buscema, who seemed uninterested, and, towards the end, some very ugly stuff by Val Mayerik.  Story-wise, few seemed to know what to do with Ka-Zar, or care much.  The stories remained pastiches of Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs, with Ka-Zar encountering a slew of lost civilizations, while fending off greedy scumbags who came to the Savage Land bent on exploitation.  Periodically, when ideas ran out, they'd spirit him back to NYC, where he'd spend most of his time complaining about the loathesomeness of urban society.  It was often fun to read, but never classic stuff,

After Lord of the Hidden Jungle bit the dust, KZ wasn't heard from much for several years, though he reappeared in a very memorable X-Men (#114-116) story set in the Savage Land (all in all, though, his role was small and the Savage Land setting was actually the more compelling element).  


So, into all of this comes Ka-Zar the Savage.

The ish opens with Ka-Zar watching dispassionately while a pack of wolves brings down a wooly rhino.  Instead of intervening, he ponders the futility of life in the Savage Land.  This in and-of-itself is hardly a typical opening.  Hearing a scream, he runs off to help (that's more like it), and finds Shanna (the She-Devil) (a minor, near-forgotten character from Marvel's brief attempt to net more female readers, Shanna was an NYC veterinarian who'd turned her back on civilization and gone full jungle queen - first in Africa and then later in the Savage Land - she'd made several guest appearances in the Savage Tales stories), recuing a dinowhatsis from a tar pit.  Ka-Zar lends his shoulder, but all the while debates Shanna on the point of the whole thing, since the little dino will doubtless get eaten by a predator soon anyway.  Huh?? This was not exactly expected hero behavior.  

Shanna and Ka-Zar proceed to have a debate about their jungle lifestyles, and whether they're simply afraid to join civilization.  Shanna ends the debate by throwing mud in KZ's face and letting him chase her into the jungle, where she quite willingly makes love to him.

Six pages, a third of the way in, and so far we've had philosophical debates and surprisingly explicit (though by no means graphic) sex.  This comic was not following the normal script.

Ka-Zar heads off the next morning, in search of Zabu, who's gone missing (!!!).  He soon finds himself in a previously unknown part of the Savage Land, where he finds a woman being molested by a bunch of primitive goons in animal skins (now things are returning to normal).  However, instead of rushing in to help, he seriously considers minding his own business (WHAAAT??).  He changes his tune once he gets a good look at her, and, since she's a hot number, he decides to rescue her.  This kind of caddish behavior is definitely not the KZ we know and love.

The hot chick turns out to be Leanne, Queen of Zarhan, an "ivory metropolis of glistening crystal towers".  Leanne it seems is out looking for her pet sabre-tooth, Felina, who's also gone missing.  Figuring this might be a lead to Zabu, Ka-Zar agrees to help, even though Leanne tells him to his face that he's an imbecile.  Ka-Zar and Leanne go looking for the village of the tribesmen, while KZ tries unsuccessfully to get Leanne to give him some.  They find Felina about to be sacrificed, but a last-minute intervention by Zabu (and then Ka-Zar, who's still more interested in getting laid) saves the day.  Seeing that Zabu and Felina are actually a couple (thus explaining their recent absence), Ka-Zar pledges his undying love to Leanne.  She accepts, being as he's her hero now and all.

But the trip to Zarhan does not go well.  Leanne, put off by KZ's barbarian ways, dumps him at the gate, telling him he could never fit into her ordered society.  A disgusted Ka-Zar and a sated Zabu walk off into the distance.

Superficially there was a lot of standard Ka-Zar fare here.  Lost civilization, primitive straw-men for KZ to knock over, dinosaur fight.  But Ka-Zar's indifferent and cynical attitude, the sexual byplay, and the unexpected twist (Leanne might be a bitch, but she's actually right about KZ) was something very different indeed.

The new Ka-Zar was helmed by Bruce Jones, a relative newcomer to Marvel.  Jones wasn't a superhero guy.  His main project was helming Pacific Comics, a short-lived San Diego based publisher - Jones was publisher, editor-in-chief, and head writer on the EC homages Twisted Tales and Alien Worlds.  His writings tended to feature adult emotional and sexual situations not usually seen in comics at the time.  Marvel, indifferent to a title they were only publishing in order to preserve copywright, gave him a free hand.  He used it.

The biggest change was Ka-Zar himself.  Formerly mostly void of personality, he now had a distinctly unusual one for a superhero.  Bored, sarcastic, and cynical, he seemed tired and burned-out - on himself, the Savage Land, the clichés of his old storylines.  He'd wade into the inevitable dinosaur battles making wiseass remarks about the senselessness of the whole thing.

The centerpiece, though, was the relationship between KZ and Shanna.  Endlessly debating, bickering, one-upping one another, blatantly sexual and decidedly tempestuous (allegedly Jones drew inspiration from his actual relationship - must've been a difficult one).  

Jones upended the series, setting most of it not in the Savage Land, but in Pangea, another lost world, adjoin the Savage Land.  Zabu came dangerously close to disappearing (Jones had a tendency to forget about him, and had to shoehorn him in after the editor reminded him that KZ had a loyal sidekick).  Still, his appearances were usually memorable and, by way of making up to any frustrated Zabu fans, he even got a back-up series, "Tales Of Zabu", with surprisingly good art by the erratic Val Mayerik, which was pure retro and a lot of fun.

The stories poked fun at themselves and at comics in general, abounded with pop-cultural references, and took decidedly odd turns.  One story arc involved discovering the all-too-real origins of Dante's Inferno.  One issue was devoted to analyzing a nightmare.  Another involved the use of hallucinogenics, and diverted into film noir fantasy, with Shanna turning into a springbok(!).  Another dealt with the death of Tongah, KZ's long-time bosom buddy from back in the 70's.  It might be stretching things to call Tongah a beloved character, but his demise was genuinely tragic.

For all that, Ka-Zar the Savage's heyday was fairly short.  After the first dozen or so issues, things began to get a bit stale.  The constant bickering between Shanna and Ka-Zar was starting to become tiresome.  Even moreso was their constant two-timing.  Ka-Zar fell stupidly into relationships with Leanne (see above), a bird-woman, and Ramona, an explorer who turned out to be working for AIM (a longtime Marvel villainous organization) and shot him in the head.  In other words, KZ perpetually thought with his dick.

Unfortunately, Shanna's response to all of this wasn't exactly what one would expect from a survival-trained jungle adventurer.  She promptly turned around and rubbed in KZ's face her affairs with Dherk, Buth, and Mele.  The fact that Dherk was an android, Buth a bird-man, and Mele a monkey-tailed chimp-man was even more unflattering.  It made Shanna seem like an angst-ridden teenage girl.  Her portrayal reached a nadir in the 9-issue long aforementioned "Ka-Zar gets shot in the head" story, in which, thinking KZ dead, Shanna becomes a raving lunatic, then catatonic.  This story arc was overlong, and unpleasant as hell, though I confess the portrayal of guest star Spider-Man as a manipulative, sexually obsessed creep was certainly original.

A bigger problem was the decline of the artwork.  The first dozen issues were nicely drawn by Brent Anderson, a young, Neal Adams-influenced artist.  By issue 15, Armando Gill took over inks, and his linework began to overwhelm Anderson's.  Soon after he left the title.  His replacement, Ron Frenz, turned in work that rushed and indifferent looking.  Frenz was eventually replaced by several other newcomers, all of whom turned in crude and unattractive work.  Jones left the series after issue 27, with Mike Carlin taking over.  The stories reverted to routine stuff, though Ka-Zar's bad attitude was retained.

In it's final issues, some attempt to return to the quirky storytelling was made.  Issue #32 interrupts a fairly run-of-the-mill adventure with Ka-Zar's musings about his upcoming domestic life with Shanna - depicted by the great Marie Severin in a series of comic vignettes based on I Love Lucy, Leave It To Beaver, and The Honeymooners.  

The final issue (#34) also took an unexpected turn.  Following another routine adventure, a strange epilogue features Ka-Zar being chased through the jungle by some decidedly familiar silhouetted figures, among them The Silver Surfer and Jack Kirby's Devil Dinosaur.  He finds himself chased into a great hall, filled with characters from cancelled titles, who shout "Welcome to the land of cancelled heroes!"  Breaking the fourth wall, Ka-Zar tells us that he Will Be Back.

He was, though it was many years later, and the innovations of Jones' run had been wiped out.

Ka-Zar the Savage wasn't a great comic, but it was a genuinely surprising and innovative one, extremely well-written at it best, and certainly the best title Ka-Zar ever had or likely ever will have.  Who'd have thought Marvel's most unusual and unpredictable title in the early 80's would be the story of Tarzan in Dinosaur-land?  

The first five issues of Ka-Zar the Savage have been collected in a trade paperback, Ka-Zar: Savage Dawn.  It's unlikely there will be further volumes.  Back issues are, however, widely available and cheap.  The earlier stories are sporadically collected (the Astonishing Tales run and some of the rest) in two volumes of Marvel Masterworks: Ka-Zar.