KA-ZAR

Last Saturday, Sidekicks, a local comic book store, held a going out of business sale with everything priced at a dollar (single issue comic books were a dime each). Sidekicks was part of the Austin Books empire and for several years the store existed to move out over stocked product and back issues at half of cover price. You have to sell one helluva lot of comics and comics related merchandise at half price to break even, much less, turn a profit these days given the high price of commercial real estate rent. Couple that with a highly desirable central Austin address and Sidekicks, sadly, was finally forced to close their door for good. 

But their loss was the fans gain. I got there early and had to stand in a short line with other fans waiting for the door to open. Once inside, it was controlled chaos with people filling up boxes and boxes with comics, trade paperbacks, graphic novels, toys, action figures, and other merchandise. I budgeted $25 for my spending spree and it didn't take me long to fill a box with twenty-three trade paperbacks and two action figures. I was in and out fairly quickly with the frantic, everything-must-go buying still going on inside.

One of the items I purchased for a buck is pictured above. This trade paperback was published in 2010 and it collects issues #1-7 and -1 of the KA-ZAR series published by Marvel Comics in 1997. The run was written by Mark Waid with art by Andy Kubert. I read it last night and loved every page of it.

Ka-Zar has a long publishing history. He started out as a Tarzan clone in the pages of pulp magazines published by Martin Goodman (who also published Timely Comics). Ka-Zar made his four-color debut in the pages of the legendary MARVEL COMICS #1 (which became MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS soon after). Ka-Zar shared those primal pages with a couple of characters who would go on to become bigger stars in the comic books firmament: the Human Torch and Namor, the Sub-Mariner. 

Flash forward to March, 1965 when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced a reinvented iteration of the jungle lord in the pages of X-MEN #10. This time Ka-Zar was, in reality, Lord Kevin Plunder, the long haired ruler of the Savage Land, a hidden world beneath Antarctica in which various tribes of humanoids co-exited alongside dinosaurs.  This version of Ka-Zar was definitely a second-stringer (third stringer?) in the Marvel Universe, making guest appearances in issues of DAREDEVIL and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN before finally earning his own series in 1970. Ka-Zar has had several series since but the series collected here is definitely one of the best versions of the jungle lord and his lovely wife, Shanna the She-Devil.

In this story arc, Ka-Zar, Shanna and Zabu, Ka-Zar's faithful sabre tooth tiger companion, are menaced in their Savage Land home by Gregor, the man who trained Kraven the Hunter. Gregor has been sent to the Savage Land by Ka-Zar's evil brother, Parnival Plunder (who secretly serves Thanos). Ka-Zar and Shanna defeat Gregor and take the fight to Parnival in his New York City headquarters. But Parnival has The Rhino in his thrall and Ka-Zar and Shanna have their hands full dealing with this classic Spider-Man villain. 

To make matters worse, Ka-Zar and Shanna's marriage seems to be coming apart at the seams with Ka-Zar's fascination with all things technological going against the grain of Shanna's back-to-nature, pure, uncontaminated lifestyle. Waid deftly mixes blistering action scenes with quieter moments of domestic drama. Andy Kubert's pencils are simply sensational. He doesn't slavishly follow his famous father's style but there are places where I can detect a slight Joe Kubert influence. And that's not a bad thing, as Joe Kubert ranks as one of my top five all time favorite comic book artists. 

The collection is capped off with a "Flashback" story from issue # -1 which recounts an untold  tale from Ka-Zar's teenage years. The most interesting thing about this "done-in-one" story is the artwork by John Cassaday. The work here shows only a hint of the greatness to come as Cassadays' pencils evolved over time to become quite different from what's on display here. But hey, every comic book artist  has to start somewhere right?

I'm probably in the minority on this and I'm reasonably sure that it will never happen but I would dearly love to see a MCU film version of Ka-Zar. Cast some bulked up young stud of an actor (not a meat head because Ka-Zar's not dumb), a smoking hot red-head to play Shanna, throw in a mess of CGI created dinosaurs and the Savage Land itself, and you've got a terrific cinematic  jungle adventure film. Like I said, it will probably never happen but then again, did anyone ever think that we'd one day see not one but two GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY films, two ANT-MAN films, a Best Picture Academy Award nominated BLACK PANTHER and a box office record breaking AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR? 

As Marvel Studios prepares to enter Phase Three of their movie making plans, I submit for consideration Ka-Zar and Shanna as candidates for their own movie.

 Can I get an amen?

 C'mon people, show a little love for my favorite jungle lord.