Ka-Zar is a comic series about the eponymous Marvel Comics adventurer and superhero. The Ka-Zar name has been used by two different characters over the years, with the second version far better known.
The original Ka-Zar was created in 1936 by writer Bob Byrd. David Rand was an American boy who grew up in the Congo, becoming a Jungle Hero who's friends with an elephant (Trajah) and a lion (Zar). Byrd's initial Ka-Zar tales were first published as text stories in the eponymous Ka-Zar pulp magazine, then adapted into comic form and continued with sequels from 1939 onwards, by which point the original pulp magazine had been cancelled. In these stories, Ka-Zar initially avenges his father's murder by the villainous Paul de Kraft and then goes on to assist the Allies against Axis forces during World War II.
The second Ka-Zar (Lord Kevin Plunder) was introduced by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1965, appearing in an early issue of X-Men. This version of the character went on to become an established part of the Marvel Universe and star of several solo comics. Like his predecessor, he's a Tarzan-style Westerner who's been raised in the jungle (and like Tarzan — and unlike his predecessor — Plunder is British nobility). However, instead of the jungles of Africa, Ka-Zar becomes lord of the Savage Land, an artificially created hidden jungle in the Antarctic. The Savage Land contains dinosaurs, humanoid tribes and superhuman threats.
Plunder eventually settled down with another jungle adventurer, Shanna the She-Devil, and they now have a son, so more recent Ka-Zar stories have tended to focus on them as a family, not just on Ka-Zar as a solo hero.
For the most part, the Ka-Zar comics have used the Savage Land as their setting, with Ka-Zar himself as a Badass Normal hero in that environment. However, some stories have taken a very different approach, taking the cast to an urban environment or turning him into an Empowered Badass Normal.
Ka-Zar has appeared in the following works:
Ka-Zar Comic BooksKa-Zar I (David Rand):
- Marvel Comics (1939)
- Marvel Mystery Comics (1939)
Ka-Zar II (Kevin Plunder):
- Ka-Zar (1970)
- Ka-Zar (1974)
- Ka Zar The Savage (1981)
- Ka-Zar (1997)
- Ka-Zar (2011)
- Ka Zar Lord Of The Savage Land (2021)
Ka-Zar's comic appearances contain the following tropes:
- Loincloth: In many stories this is all (or almost all) Ka-Zar himself wears, and it's also common clothing for men and boys from many of the Savage Land tribes. Matthew used to wear one as well, but seems to prefer shorts in more recent stories.
- Lost World: Initially played straight with the Savage Land. Located in a hidden part of Antarctica, it mainly has the environment and wild life of the Triassic period. It’s implied that there are other areas in the Savage Land that have preserved other prehistoric periods. Later stories subvert the "lost world" aspect as the outside world does now know it's there, and outside interference is a recurring threat.
- Nature Hero: Kevin, Shanna and their son Matthew are all jungle heroes who seem completely at home in the wild.
- Remember the New Guy?: Stories are prone to add entirely new tribes to the Savage Land population when they're needed as allies or antagonists.
