Savage Tales #11 - Marvel

July 1975 - Featuring Ka-Zar, Lord of the Hidden Jungle!

Ka-Zar seemed to be one of those characters that just worked better in the b/w magazine format than he did in the color comics.

Maybe its his whole "savage" bit, which can be more on display in the magazines. In the color comics he tended to act more like a superhero, which Marvel didn't exactly need more of. I was always kind of meh towards Ka-Zar, but I really enjoy these Savage Tales stories.

Case in point, this issue, which opens with "Marauder in A Cage of Time" by Doug Moench, Steve Gan, and Rico Rival:

Ka-Zar and his faithful pal Zabu fight the dinosaur about to devour the trapped unicorn, eventually killing it. Ka-Zar then mounts the unicorn and soothes it, until he's able to climb aboard it and make it his steed.

One of Ka-Zar's tribe, named Tongah, arrives and asks his friend for help: Tongah's woman has gone missing, and, combined with rumors of a stranger having entered the Savage Land, Tongah assumes the worst.

After some searching, Ka-Zar and Tongah find an old man who acted as guide for another man, named Greig, who has kidnapped Tongah's beloved:

I really love this page's brutal cut-away, going from one set of people talking to another. Without any narration, its a very jarring sequence, especially with the rough language.

Eventually, Ka-Zar catches up to Greig and his captive, while heading down a river on a makeshift raft. That leads to another dino attack, well staged by Gan & Rival:

...that big glob of spit really sells the scene.

Eventually Greig is killed, and his captive is freed and returns to Tongah (Ka-Zar also had a relationship with her at one point, making the moment bittersweet). Later, Ka-Zar frees his unicorn steed so it can run freely with another of its kind, in contented bliss.

This also features a second story, "Intruder!" by Archie Goodwin and Russ Heath:

This story is only seven pages, but I'd easily rank it as one of the best b/w mag stories Marvel ever did. Its about a guy stuck in the Savage Land, and how his humanity is slowly eaten away in an effort to stay alive.

Not only is the story effective and to-the-point, but Heath's work here is simply superb. His uber-clean style presents the story's grim and even gory moments in exquisite, unsettling detail. A real winner.


Combine this with the pretty good Ka-Zar story and you've got a really solid issue of Savage Tales!