Finders, Keepers

 

Slipping by the wave of issues which were branded with the Assistant Editors' Month stamp in January of 1984 was the 1983 X-Men Annual #7 (which also happened to slip by the PPC's roundup of 1983 annuals in the fall of '22). Written by Chris Claremont with art by Michael Golden (with an assist by Bret Blevins) along with inkers galore, the story makes a fine addition to the who's-running-the-asylum theme of the other AEM books whose editors were attending the San Diego Comic Con, leaving their underlings free to publish their own stories in their own way. Unfortunately for them, they become collateral damage as they're swept up with others in the X-Men's pursuit of a powerful "foe" who is engaged in a series of thefts for reasons unknown.

As we can see, however, the jig is up almost immediately, since it appears that no one thought to advise cover artist John Romita Jr. not to spill the beans on the identity of the perpetrator first thing. (Also, Mr. Romita, Cyclops doesn't appear in this story at all, but Professor X certainly does. Those asst. editors pranked you but good, didn't they?) But mum's the word, since everyone else in the issue will remain in the dark for the duration of this crazy roller coaster ride we're about to embark on.

Taking a leaf from Asst. Editor Eliot Brown, whose clever title/credits page appears at the very end of the story (which coincides with his detonation of same), we're placing it instead alongside the issue's cover, just to give you a taste of the ride you're in for in this forty-page tale. Because while the X-Men treat this "threat" with all due seriousness, you can bet that with the Impossible Man at the center of it all, the situation has the potential of spiraling beyond the control of anyone and everyone involved.

And The Award of "Most Rejected" Goes To....

 

In 1984, not long after I'd turned 27, the second Ka-Zar solo series folded with its 34th issue--lasting fourteen issues longer than its previous bimonthly title published from 1974-77, whatever that statistic is worth. (I'll assume we're not counting the three issues published between 1970-71 as an official volume, given that they comprised reprinted material drawn from other titles where Ka-Zar was a guest-star.) If my count is correct, Ka-Zar has had five volumes of his own series to date. Volume Three, published monthly from 1997-98, lasted a whopping nineteen issues; while I leave it to you as to whether Volumes Four and Five qualify as bona fide volumes, since at the time Marvel was publishing a number of its regular series as "numbered arcs" (at least that's what I'm calling them), each numbering five issues and resetting back to issue 1 to presumably whet the interest of readers who were on the lookout for a title's First Issue. I don't know how many first issues Marvel released between 2011-2021, but heaven only knows.

My overall point being this:

The character of Ka-Zar is not, nor has he ever been, a bankable enough draw to sustain his own series.

And I single out issue #34 from '84 because its story is bookended by two virtual admissions of the fact--each written by Mike Carlin, who scripted the series' last seven issues and who will in the end arrange to present Ka-Zar himself with a dubious award that puts the character above all others in such a self-deprecating category.

First up, in "The Last Ka-Zar Picture Show," we catch Carlin in his office, commiserating with others in the Bullpen--the only problem being that he's a party of one in that respect, since it's clear everyone else at this shindig is of one mind in practically advising Ka-Zar not to let the door hit him on the way out.

Obviously Ka-Zar has become the furthest thing from Carlin's mind at this heady moment. Now why don't you pour yourself some punch, buddy?

As for Ka-Zar himself, his issue has ended with the splendid news that his wife, Shanna, is pregnant. But with his book's cancellation, Carlin has an epilogue to write--and Ka-Zar a journey to make before keeping his promise to his family, a destination that by now he's become all too familiar with.

Upon arrival, however, he must run the gamut of others who have faced the same humiliation he finds himself revisiting--but finally, he arrives to find himself Guest of Honor, in light of this land's raison d'être.

Pfah, Mr. Carlin. Mark Gruenwald would have provided a comprehensive "guest list" to us.

Ka-Zar's undaunted closing words may not have his readers (what's left of them) doing cartwheels, but there is a positive note to them: he'll end up boomeranging back to this place so often that he'll likely never be in danger of being demoted.

"Frenzy On The Fortieth Floor!"

 

When Marvel's two new double-feature mags, Astonishing Tales and Amazing Adventures, premiered in 1970, artist Jack Kirby received assignments for each. For Astonishing Tales, he would provide art for Stan Lee's two-part Ka-Zar story featuring Kraven the Hunter; and for Amazing Adventures, Kirby would both write and pencil a two-part tale featuring the Fantastic Four and the Inhumans, followed by another two-parter which had the Inhumans going up against the Mandarin. Along with his art on the final issue of Silver Surfer, and his lead-in to the Sub-Mariner/Magneto story in Fantastic Four (and we should also include some of his work salvaged for issue 109 of that title), this would be Kirby's closing work for the company before resigning his position.

This being my first read of the Ka-Zar story, over fifty years after it was published, I was still amazed at how well Lee and Kirby could mesh their talents in a clash between opponents who were fairly well-matched in their abilities, particularly when Lee didn't skimp on his dialog and took an active interest in the characters' interaction. That might be understandably hard to pull off when it came to Ka-Zar, who in 1970 was still a character who conversed in only the most basic manner and generally reacted to hostilities by lashing out without much verbal elaboration. (Contrast that with Ka-Zar's follow-up meeting with Kraven in Ka-Zar The Savage in late 1982, where Ka-Zar's thoughts and speech were indistinguishable from practically any American man-on-the-street from the '80s.) Lee received some help from Kraven's ego in that regard, however, as both characters tended to refer to themselves in the third person.

Yet it bears mentioning that Kraven has the edge in this matchup, even without taking into account his steadfast belief in his own fighting prowess. Aside from the fact that he will first spend time researching his prey's habits and potential weaknesses, while his unsuspecting target has no such advantage, he will usually have prepared the means to incapacitate and/or capture his intended victim rather than rely solely on a hand-to-hand struggle. (When was the last time you saw a hunter who didn't pack gear against which their prey would be defenseless? Only Wolverine has a blunt but rational assessment concerning the so-called "skill" needed to kill.) That said, Kraven, unlike Ka-Zar, pairs his instincts with a knowledge of strategy, tactics, and physical vulnerabilities--and, yes, belief in a superiority over your foe probably doesn't hurt, either.

The twist in this story, however, is the fact that Ka-Zar is only a means to an end when it comes to Kraven's true target.

Ka-Zar, 2.0!

As we've already seen examples of, Marvel wasn't exactly reluctant when it came to using the Fantastic Four mag, its hot property in the '60s, to promote its growing stable of characters as well as other titles which could benefit from the exposure. In an FF issue from 1965, we would see both of those factors being met by a promotional blurb tucked away in a "special announcements section" appearing in the FF's letters page, which not only gave a shout-out to the X-Men title but also pitched a new Marvel character, who really turned out to be not so new on the scene after all.

Yes, Ka-Zar, who dates back all the way to the 1930s--first appearing in 1936 in a brief series of pulp magazines by Bob Byrd, and then adapted for Marvel Comics #1 in 1939.

Basically, the plane of the Rand family crashes in the Congo, with Constance Rand eventually dying from a jungle-born illness--followed much later by the father, John, which left their son, David, to grow up in the company of the animals he befriends and vice versa. One of these animals, a lion named Zar, has become particularly close to him and has watched over David since John and David began fending for themselves following the crash.

The 1939 tale essentially presents that story in comic book format:

Twenty-five years later, Ka-Zar is given new life as a grown man, with Zar being replaced with Zabu (a sabre-toothed tiger) and Ka-Zar's habitat moving from the Congo to the South Pole, thus giving us our first look at the Antarctic prehistoric preserve which would be later known as the Savage Land--discovered by the X-Men when they investigate reports of the two being encountered by members of an Antarctic expedition.

Yet it's only when the X-Men fall prey to a primitive group of marauders do they meet both Ka-Zar and the loyal beast at his side.

With (who else?) Marvel Girl being taken captive by the marauders (whom Ka-Zar calls the swamp men), Ka-Zar and the X-Men have a common foe, and Ka-Zar agrees to help with her rescue--though he mainly stays true to his character as written, someone who normally shuns outsiders and acts in accordance with his instincts. In the meantime, however, the Angel is taken captive as well, and it becomes clear that both of them need to gain their freedom before the swamp men put them in even greater danger.

Fortunately for the X-Men, it seems that Ka-Zar, in true Tarzan fashion, has unique resources to literally call upon, should the need arise.

But while the X-Men's contact with Ka-Zar has been tolerant, he doesn't share their desire for an extended friendship, even taking further steps to seal off his jungle domain upon their departure.

We would see more of Ka-Zar and the X-Men joining in common cause when Magneto ends up in the Savage Land and begins creating mutants from the the indigenous population there--with the story again taking advantage of the limited but perceptible chemistry between Ka-Zar and the X-Men, individuals who share the status of existing apart from the human race, whether out of caution or choice.

The Makings Of A Leader

It's nice to go back to a few of the earlier X-Men issues where the character known as Wolverine was just starting to be explored, where we didn't yet know so much about him or his potential and he was still limited to (brace yourselves) one title. At the time, all that seemed apparent about Wolverine was that he made a habit of not playing by the rules--and that it was difficult for him to integrate into the new X-Men team, not because he wasn't an asset to the X-Men, but mostly because he was a hard man to get to know.

Little by little, however, Wolverine and the X-Men began to accept each other, and the X-Men benefited from having him in its ranks in spite of his aggressive and at times provocative style of handling a situation. On rare occasion, however, we also were witness to situations where Wolverine was allowed to step out from behind the shadow of Cyclops and demonstrate his leadership potential and his capability to cope with a crisis by depending on his own judgment and instincts. The results were surprising, and remarkable. From a reader's perspective, it seemed like Wolverine was growing into his own, and the character's popularity began to grow as well.

When Cyclops left the team after the death of Phoenix, Storm was chosen by Charles Xavier to lead the X-Men in his place, perhaps in light of the fact that still so little was known about Wolverine and his activities prior to his affiliation with the Canadian government. That's no legitimate argument for disqualifying him, of course--with the possible exception of Banshee, one could say the same of Storm, or any of the new X-Men and their respective histories. There's also the fact that Xavier could have made inquiries regarding Wolverine, had he wished (to say nothing of making use of his mental abilities); perhaps he simply preferred for Wolverine to be more forthcoming on his own.  As it was, the question of his judgment in battle situations was still a cause for concern.

And so the instances we see of Wolverine exercising his initiative prior to Storm assuming the team's leadership are particularly interesting, since his decisions affect her along with the other X-Men and her reactions are those of a team member rather than a team leader. What you may notice most of all is how quickly, and easily, those he's with at the time adapt to Wolverine's style of leadership, as well as how well Wolverine himself adapts to this type of role.

First, let's look back at when the X-Men had detoured to the Savage Land following the destruction of Magneto's Antarctic base. Along with Ka-Zar, they're investigating the so-called city of the Sun God--a huge structure built by Garokk (said Sun God) and his high-priestess, Zaladane, which tapped into the power of the geothermal heat sink that gives the region its warmth and dense foliage but disrupts the delicate ecological balance of the Savage Land as a result. A surprise aerial assault deprives the X-Men of key personnel in their group--leaving Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Storm to proceed on their own.

The way that Wolverine "handles" Zabu, the saber-tooth tiger that accompanies Ka-Zar, admittedly goes a bit far in giving Wolverine an apparent rapport with animals; perhaps it's more fair to say that he can reach more savage-minded beasts on a fundamental level. And while it's fair to balk at the specific instructions he's able to relay to Zabu here (something I don't recall even Ka-Zar doing, though someone will have to fact-check me on that--I'm not a big Ka-Zar reader), to see Zabu and Wolverine... oh, let's say, establish an understanding with each other, is still an interesting scene to watch.

(How Tongah, on the other hand, is going to figure out from Zabu's snarls that the X-Men have been ambushed by Garokk's warriors is anyone's guess.)

Soon enough, these X-Men make their way into the city via conduits that are understandably low priority from a security standpoint. Thanks to this segment, Storm and Nightcrawler learn significant information about their comrade--as well as confirmation that Wolverine operates by a code that is as yet foreign to the X-Men.

You may find it curious that Storm raises no tone of outrage at Wolverine's act of cold-blooded murder of Garokk's sentry, as she did when she thought he was hunting for prey in the forest; perhaps Wolverine's strike is somewhat mitigated in her eyes by the fact that the victim was an enemy. Writer Chris Claremont seems to feel that the unspoken reactions of both Storm and Nightcrawler are sufficient, while Wolverine's lack of either hesitation or regret in making his kill comes as little surprise to anyone. If Cyclops were present, perhaps he would have picked a later time to have a frank discussion with Wolverine on the matter, in order to tell him in no uncertain terms that this isn't how the X-Men operate.  And perhaps he wouldn't have. Cyclops isn't blind--he has to be aware of the kind of operative he has in Wolverine, and what kind of man he's taking on missions with him, and he's certainly intervened to stop killing strikes from Wolverine often enough.

At any rate, Wolverine and his team succeed in reaching the others and setting them free--and from that point he continues to defer to Cyclops calling the shots.

Some time later, when a teenager named Kitty Pryde is being evaluated for the school, part of the team travels to Chicago to meet with her and her family, unaware that specially-prepared hirelings of the Hellfire Club plan to intercept them. While Xavier speaks to her parents, Kitty is taken by the others to a malt shoppe, where all hell breaks loose--fortunately for the shoppe's testy manager, who unknowingly came close to learning the downside of the phrase "when push comes to shove." Regardless, Wolverine thinks on his feet when the attack occurs, and his comrades benefit from his instincts.

Finally, let's skip to Ottawa, where Wolverine is attempting to settle his differences with James Hudson, leader of Alpha Flight, who has twice attempted to return Wolverine by force to government custody. Xavier has sent Nightcrawler with Wolverine as a precaution--and with their first stop being the Hudson residence, Nightcrawler not only learns a bit of Wolverine's past, but also his comrade's name.

What becomes a two-part story is a strong focus on Wolverine and how he operates in group situations other than in his status as an X-Man. Where Alpha Flight is concerned, that may be problematic, considering that he'd no doubt ruffled a few feathers by escaping their custody in their last encounter; but while he makes clear that he won't back down if provoked, he makes every effort (with Nightcrawler's help) to give tempers a chance to cool.

The truce is accepted, and Wolverine learns why Hudson, Shaman, and Snowbird are in the area--investigating reports of a missing Canadian mountie and his family, with only the mountie's son recovered and the evidence at the site suggesting that the man had been devoured. In the process of offering his assistance, Wolverine asserts his personality and skills in a way that smoothly integrates into the overall mission of finding answers, leaving the others with a clear impression that they could use his help and removing any lingering objections from their minds. And when Wolverine is shown further evidence from the attack, his particular perspective on what happened will make his arrival a fortuitous one for Alpha Flight.

("We've tried just about everything else." Snowbird couldn't shift to a form that could track the wife and infant? Really?)

It's gratifying of course to see Hudson and Wolverine mend fences--but also to see another example of Wolverine's capabilities as a field operative and decision-maker, attributes that are coming to light for the character slowly but surely. And how well they serve him against another confrontation with the Wendigo is something you can see for yourself in the PPC's review of that story in a prior post.

COMING UP:

Wolverine and Nightcrawler join forces again to face--the Brotherhood of Badoon!

(Might be a time to call in reinforcements on this one!)

More Running Than Walking, Actually

Thanks to a special feature added to the issue of Marvel Tales which reprinted the story from Amazing Spider-Man #103, the main story ("Walk The Savage Land!") would need to be edited to be split into two separate issues.  Consequently, artist Gil Kane is tapped to pencil a second cover for the story which only takes its first half into account, while leaving Part Two's cover essentially intact to match the original.

Kane was no stranger at this point to providing different interpretations of cover art for reprinted stories, yet it's something of a treat to have him take another look at his own work and do things a little differently, even if he's simply following the dictate that only a part of the story needs to be represented. I can't say I'm particularly fond of the looming Spider-Man figure--though, aside from possibly Jameson, there otherwise wouldn't have been any other visual elements on the cover to entice a Spider-Man fan to buy the issue. (I would have thought "Starring: Spider-Man!" in large bold letters would have covered that base.) It's interesting to wonder what Kane would have substituted for the figure of Spider-Man--tribal structures? Maybe a silhouette of Ka-Zar and Zabu?

As for the wrap-up issue, the "box" aspect to the original cover is removed to allow Kane's imagery to be expanded, with a darkening of the title area to give the illusion of the trees now filling the entire cover space (though obliterating most of Spider-Man's webline in the process). There's not much you can do to improve on Gog's mammoth, menacing aspect, and it would certainly be challenging to bring even more of him into the available space--made even less available by our friendly barcode symbol, which shrinks Zabu a bit to appear closer in proximity to Ka-Zar than he originally was.

One final observation concerns how all three covers expand on the story's title. Perhaps only writer Roy Thomas could tell us why he worded the title as he did--"Walk The Savage Land!" sounds as if it's paraphrased from some other source, but for the life of me I can't pin it down. It doesn't particularly make a great deal of sense when applied to this story, other than in a romanticized, adventurous way of presenting Jameson's expedition. Both the original cover and its facsimile reapply the title to reference Gog; frankly, paring it down further to "He Who Walks The Savage Land!" would have worked well on both the cover and on the splash page. Kane's revised cover even goes so far as to make stronger changes in the wording, apparently feeling that "walking" the Savage Land hardly conveyed the boldness involved in exploring such a region.

Beware Spaceships Bearing Gifts

I don't know why we're all sitting around reading comic books--because if we had any brains, we'd be out scouring the countryside looking for crashed spaceships, because then we could pick up some nifty super-powers! Just look at all the people in comics that seems to happen to--they just come across a spaceship or an alien, and voilà, they've suddenly got power beyond their wildest dreams. It's true what they say, folks: We just don't get out enough.

Take the Mandarin, who started out disgraced and penniless, when he decided to go hiking and wound up attaining almost unlimited power. And a good thing, too, because it's obvious he wasn't interested in getting anywhere by being nice to his countrymen.

Strange, Unusual, Fighting Teens

I think one of the first stories where I became familiar with the art of Neal Adams (if not the first story) was X-Men #63, which had made its way to a back issue stack in an old bookstore. I picked it up on a whim, but when I got it home it turned out to be quite a find. The issue was of course part of Adams's celebrated run on the title, though I didn't realize at the time that the cancellation of X-Men was just around the corner from this story.

I hadn't been a reader of X-Men during its original run, and I can't say that "War In The World Below!" made me regret that to any degree. Writer Roy Thomas would find his niche on other titles, but the original X-Men team would prove daunting to not only Thomas but to many other creative talents at Marvel as far as having the team strike a chord with readers. With Adams's pencils, you always had the feeling you were looking at a splendid story--but try as the writing might, the X-Men themselves would fall short of hooking you and reeling you in. There were other books I recall (e.g., Ms. Marvel, Nova, even Sub-Mariner) where I would find that to be true--but with X-Men, it was always a head-scratcher why this team just didn't click.  It just seemed they should.

By this point, the title was well past the death of Charles Xavier, and the team for all intents and purposes was operating on its own. It wasn't a bad experiment to try--removing them from the direction and safety net of Xavier and making the the X-Men stand on their own, in a kind of "sink or swim" gambit. Now with just three issues to go before the title's cancellation, this story will give you an idea of how incoherent the team still comes across, even after twenty issues of its members operating on their own. All of the individual members of the X-Men are certainly characters within their own right--but there is no direction here, no thought as to where they might head as a team, or why they are a team.

So, where do we find the X-Men in this story? In the Savage Land, where the Angel has accidentally ended up and where the other X-Men have come in search of him. (An improbable set of circumstances which gives you a good idea how, with no real self-direction on the part of the X-Men, the burden must fall on the story to choose one for them.) With injuries sustained from an attack of pteranodons, the near-death Angel is found by a man known as "the Creator," and taken to his lab to receive treatment. There he learns that the Creator is something of a Savage Land Xavier--locating mutants in this environment and teaching them how to use their powers. But his operation has put him at odds with Ka-Zar, who ostensibly rules the Savage Land, and whom the Angel learns the other X-Men have allied themselves with.

In return for the Creator having saved his life, the Angel offers to stop Ka-Zar and the other X-Men and mediate the dispute. But when the Angel departs, we discover a tiny detail about the Creator's true identity: