Ka-Zar (Kevin Plunder)

Ka-Zar (pronounced "KAY-sar") is the name of three jungle-dwelling fictional characters. The first appeared in pulp magazines of the 1930s, and was adapted for his second iteration, as a comic book character for Timely Comics, the 1930s and '40s predecessor of Marvel Comics. The third and most prominent is a heroic character in the modern Marvel Comics universe.

Ka-Zar (David Rand)

Publication history

The first, David Rand, was a typical "jungle lord" in the Tarzan vein, also known as Ka-Zar the Great, who first appeared in the pulp magazine Ka-Zar #1 (1936) from Manvis Publishing, one of many magazine companies owned by Martin Goodman. Writer-artist Ben Thompson adapted the pulp story "King of Fang and Claw" by Bob Byrd for Goodman's first comic book, Marvel Comics #1 (Oct. 1939). In the 2000s, the David Rand Ka-Zar was integrated into mainstream Marvel continuity, in the All New Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe.

Ka-Zar (Kevin Plunder)

Ka-Zar
File:Ka-Zar Intro.jpg The first appearance of Ka-Zar and Zabu (1965). Art by Jack Kirby & Chic Stone.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	The X-Men Vol. 1, #10 (March 1965)
Created by	Stan Lee Jack Kirby
In-story information
Alter ego	Lord Kevin Reginald Plunder
Abilities	Peak physical strength, speed, agility and reflexes, Ability to communicate with some animals

Publication history

The second Ka-Zar started as a similar character, but reminisncent of both Tarzan and writer-artist Joe Kubert's popular 1950s caveman character, Tor. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in The X-Men Vol. 1, #10 (March 1965), he lives in the dinosaur-populated Savage Land, which was hidden beneath Antarctica by extraterrestrials.

Originally written as a primitive and belligerent savage who spoke in broken English, Ka-Zar later became more articulate and civilized, although he retained a certain degree of distrust toward civilization and was generally wary of outside visitors to the Savage Land. Kevin Plunder refers to himself (and is called by others) the "Lord of the Savage Land," but the title has no formal weight.

He has had two self-titled series.

Fictional character biography

Ka-Zar is Lord Kevin Reginald Plunder, the eldest son of Lord Robert Plunder, the English nobleman who discovered the Savage Land. After his parents were killed, Plunder was found and raised by the sabertooth tiger Zabu, who possesses near-human intelligence thanks to a mutation caused by radioactive mists. Ka-Zar and Zabu are constant partners.

In the Savage Land, some territories are populated by several human or humanoid tribes, and while most of them are on friendly terms with Ka-Zar, some of them consider him an outlander and an enemy. He acts more like an unofficial general protector, preventing outside commercial exploitation, such as poaching and mining, as well as enforcing peace between tribes and serving as goodwill ambassador to friendly visitors.

After the Savage Land became known to outsiders after a visit by the X-Men, many people began travelling to the territory. Among them was Ka-Zar's brother Parnival, who had become the supervillain called the Plunderer. Ka-Zar has also become romantically involved with female visitors, the first being S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Barbara Morse (who later became the Avenger named Mockingbird) and the adventurer Shanna O'Hara (Shanna the She-Devil) who married Ka-Zar. They have a son, Matthew.

Ka-Zar has teamed up with several of Marvel heroes. The X-Men are recurrent visitors to the Savage Land and Ka-Zar has been a frequent ally, helping the mutant team defeat both inside and outside menaces such as Sauron, Garokk, Zaladane and Magneto. He has met Spider-Man on several occasions, one of which involved stopping Stegron the Dinosaur Man from invading New York City with Savage Land dinosaurs. Ka-Zar has also assisted the Avengers in their attempt to repel the space conqueror Terminus, but while they rescued many natives, they were unable to prevent the destruction of the Savage Land. The territory was later reconstructed by the High Evolutionary, and Ka-Zar and Shanna resumed their previous roles. Ka-Zar had a cameo in Alias, in which he asked Jessica Jones for her assistance finding Zabu.

Alternate versions

What If?

He appears in a What If story, where the Savage Land terraforming has taken over New York. He has a son, Matthew, but it is obvious that Zabu has been killed as his skull is seen on Ka-Zar's head. Both he and Parnival sacrifice themselves to return New York to normal, with Shanna the only survivor of his "family."

House of M

Kevin Plunder appears in a short article in The Pulse: House of M Special Edition. The article explains that he has been granted asylum in the US and feature a picture of him alongside his faithful companion Zabu.

Appearances in other media

Ka-Zar appears in the 1981 Spider-Man cartoon, trying to rescue Zabu from Kraven the Hunter in "The Hunter and the Hunted".

X-Men: The Animated Series

Kazar appeared on the X-Men animated series in the episodes "Reunion" parts 1 and 2, and in "Savage Land, Strange Heart" parts 1 and 2.

Trivia

• During the early 1980s, Marvel experimented with the then-new comic book specialty outlets by turning three of their monthly comic titles into "direct distribution only" titles. These comics were printed on harder paper stock than the newsprint commonly used for comics at the time, were removed from under the aegis of the Comics Code Authority, and were written and drawn with more mature, adult themes. They were only available via subscription or from a direct distribution comics specialty store. Ka-Zar was one of the three titles to receive this treatment. (The other two were Moon Knight and The Micronauts.)
• The Jungle Lord in Warren Ellis' Planetary is named Kevin Sack, a reference to Kevin Plunder.

References

• Spiderfan.org: Ka-Zar
• International Hero: Ka-Zar (1930s)