Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
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Ka-Zar: Sibling Rivalry #-1
Issue(s): Ka-Zar: Sibling Rivalry #-1
Cover Date: Jul 97
Title: "Life lessons and lies"
Credits:
Mark Waid & Todd DeZago - Plot
Andy Jozefowicz & Todd DeZago - Script
John Cassaday - Penciler
John Cassaday - Inker
Matt Idelson - Editor
Bob Harras - Editor-in-Chief
Review/plot:
Even though Ka-Zar had an ongoing series in 1997 during the Flashback event, this issue is a standalone one-shot tagged "Sibling Rivalry" that came out in addition to the July issue of the regular series (perhaps because the book was only on issue #3 by that time).
The issue contains a brief recap of Ka-Zar's origin (Father Plunder finds Vibranium in the Savage Land, splits a vault-key amulet between his two sons, and is then killed in the Savage Land by cavemen. Son Kevin is rescued by Zabu the sabre-toothed tiger and becomes Ka-Zar) then does a "tale of two brothers" story that shows both Kevin and Parnival growing up without their fathers.
Ka-Zar is semi-raised by some lizard people tribesmen and continuing to develop his bond with Zabu.
Parnival grows up in New York City with his family's deceitful manservant Willis.
Nothing too exciting here. I guess it kind of provides a motive for Parnival Plunder but not enough really for him to become a super-villain and hate his brother.
Nice early art by John Cassaday.
Quality Rating: C
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: Ka-Zar is still an adolescent here so it should take place a little while before his first appearance in Uncanny X-Men #10. Since we know that Ka-Zar and Zabu have been exposed to mists that increase their longevity, this could potentially take place some time before that first published appearance. We also have Parnival's age to contend with but Parnival has generally been depicted as looking somewhat older than Ka-Zar whereas in this book they seem to be about the same age. I've dropped this into the Hero gap, giving Ka-Zar enough time to grow up before his meeting with the X-Men; it could easily take place a little later as well.
References: N/A
Crossover: Flashback
Continuity Insert? Y
My Reprint: N/A
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Comments
Parnival's relationship with Willis here looks intended as a play on Batman's and Alfred's.
Hi, i have already done a marvel universe reading order on the marvel wikia. Check it out. I am sure it will help you.
Seeing this here makes me nostalgic for the Mark Waid run on Ka-Zar. The Waid/Kubert run brought me back to reading Marvel after a long absence, at the time I was reading mostly DC's or picking up some random back issues. Funny how much of the boom years of the early-to-mid '90's I missed due to school/work/life. But I digress. This was neat to see aspects of Kevin and Parnival's formative years, and it's cool to see early John Cassaday. It is strange to see Zabu without the giant teeth, but hey, big cats apparently have awkward formative years as well.
Wait, Ka-Zar has increased longevity too? Is there an Infinity Formula type reason for this because Ka-Zar isn't linked to any specific time period AFAIK. OR are they confusing him with the Golden Age character?
My comment about the longevity is based on the Place of Mists part of his origin from Astonishing Tales #11 and Astonishing Tales #12-13. As noted in the comments on those entries, the effects of the Place of Mists has been ignored by later writers.
