Issue(s): Daredevil #12, Daredevil #13, Daredevil #14
Cover Date: Jan - Mar 66
Title: "Sightless, in a Savage Land!" / "The secret of Ka-Zar's origin!" / "If this be justice...!"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Writer
Jack Kirby - Breakdowns
John Romita Sr. - Finishes
John Romita Sr. / Frank Giacoia - Inker

Review/plot:
Clarification of the art credits: Kirby does breakdowns on #12 & #13, with Romita doing finishes & inking. On #14, Romita pencils and Frank Giacoia (using pseudonym Frankie Ray; thanks Mark!) inks.

Daredevil leaves his law firm so that Foggy and Karen can be together (because, you know, no one can ever love a blind man).

He goes on a cruise where of course he is attacked by pirates.

The leader of the pirates is Parnival Plunder, who turns out to be Ka-Zar's brother. They end up in the Savage Land using a submarine. He is after Savage Land vibranium, and he winds up in a fight with Ka-Zar (who is still talking in cave-man speak) and Zabu.

Eventually the scene shifts to a castle, possibly in England or Scotland. Ka-Zar and Parnival each have half a medallion that unlocks the vibranium from a stone vault. DD and Ka-Zar defeat Parnival but then find out that the Plunderer's butler is part of some conspiracy that wants the vibranium, and they are both shot and left accused of murder.

Daredevil wakes up and gets back on the Plunderer's trail, and manages to defeat him and get him to confess despite the Plunderer putting on a snazzy luchadore costume.

Foggy and Karen come to England to help Ka-Zar, who was captured and put on trial, and they contribute absolutely nothing. Ka-Zar's charges are only dismissed when Daredevil beats up the Plunderer and forces him to fess up. I suspect that Nelson & Murdock win a lot of cases due to Daredevil beating a confession out of someone, but this is the most obvious example so far. Oh well. It's better than doing nothing other than reminding the witness that he is under oath.

By the way, the anti-metal ore is not actually called "vibranium" in this story. That word will first be used to describe the metal that is found in Wakanda, and a later mistake will cause this very different ore to also be called vibranium, resulting in Savage Land and Wakandan varieties.

This one is first called simply a "vibrating ore"...

...and then later in the arc, the Plunder Stone.

As demonstrated several times, it's an incredibly dangerous material that dissolves all nearby metal.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 6 - origin of Ka-Zar, first Savage Land vibranium

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Ka-Zar Quarterly #2, Ka-Zar Quarterly #3

Frankie Ray is a pseudonym for Frank Giacoia.

John Romita had previously been doing romance stories for DC, and during the 1950s he was doing all sorts of stories for Atlas/Marvel.

Lee rather obviously copies much from Tarzan's backstory as the son of a British lord. Did Lee think, as Charlton did, Tarzan had fallen into the public domain?

Now that I think about it I'm surprised the Plunderer wasn't killed off by the Scourge. I mean I like him okay as a lower level villain but you'd think his changing color and 'only my gun' gimmick would get him offed.

David,that's because he had already been killed off by Mike Carlin before the Scourge plotline started- he stayed dead for 13 years until Mark Waid decided to bring him back.

I guess I didn't read the list of appearances that closely.

It is rather obvious that Ka-Zar is a Tarzan clone but then so was the Ka-Zar of the 30's and 40's. The idea of his brother being a pirate was new but not the idea of a hero whose brother is a criminal (Prof. X, Thor, Aquaman, Lightning Lad and many others) but I did discover while working in law enforcement that it is not just a literary trope. I've met many police officers who had siblings who were career criminals.

I wonder why that weapon is never used in modern comics. Its a real beasty weapon.

I've always had a soft spot for the splash page to issue #13 because it and issue #12 were the first genuine,non-reprint Silver Age Marvel I ever purchased. It's fun to see Parnival out of his customary cloak and bow-tie and in the role of old-fashioned privateer and in his white lucha libre gear. "El Plundero", heel opponent for El Santo or Mil Mascaras! Also, Ka-Zar looks to have good form as a bronco buster on that dinosaur, with Zabu in the role of rodeo clown!