Issue(s): Ka-Zar the Savage #1
Cover Date: Apr 81
Title: "A new dawn... a new world!"
Credits:
Bruce Jones - Writer
Brent Anderson - Penciler
Carlos Garzon - Inker

Review/plot:
Ka-Zar is having a bit of a midlife crisis.

He's wondering if he should give up the jungle life and head to the comforts of modern civilization. He parts from Shanna for a bit to try and find Zabu, who has uncharacteristically wandered off.

The trail leads him to a vast new section of the Savage Land.

We'll eventually learn that it's called Pangea, but not this issue. He finds a lady named Leanne with her own pet sabertooth; a female.

He rescues her from some savages...

...but it turns out that she is the queen of a a large medieval city called Lemuria.

They have a brief affair...

...but she leaves him because he's too uncivilized.

I'm not sure what sort of relationship that Ka-Zar and Shanna had at this point, but by conventional standards he's clearly being unfaithful with Leanne here. Nonetheless, this is an incredibly mature and well written story. In fact this entire series is a hidden gem in Marvel's vast output. There's a lot of intelligent dialogue, full of wit, intelligence, and philosophy. Even Ka-Zar's infidelity makes sense in the context of his midlife crisis. And it's complimented by a very nice art style.

Quality Rating: A

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - first Pangea

Chronological Placement Considerations: The first 6 or so issues of Ka-Zar are displaced from their publication dates due to Ka-Zar's appearance in Marvel Fanfare #1-2.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

In one early issue of this series, an art panel was absent for a chunk of the print run. I have no idea if this was censorship or a production error. Anybody know what was in the panel?

The creative team first announced for this title was DeMatteis/John Buscema/Sinnott.

Oddly, the start of Ka-Zar and Shanna's relationship has never been shown far as I can tell.

Shanna first met Ka-Zar in the first two issues of his previous series.

http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/kazar_12.shtml

And she was last seen in the issues you covered already in Daredevil #117

http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/daredevil_117.shtml

She had appearances in the meantime in 1975's "Savage Tales" #8-10 and "Rampaging Hulk" #9 (June 1978).

There are a few stories in Marvel Comics Presents and Marvel Fanfare that may have told the tale, but were published much later (and I did not read them, so I don't know).

There's a flashback in Ka-zar the Savage #21 that shows some of it.

This series was a completely new direction for Ka-Zar. This is the first time he was shown speaking colloquial English instead of his old half-barbarian-half-English-lord patois. And his domain was suddenly portrayed as being much larger and varied, increasing the range of stories that could be told in his book. And yes, at this point his relationship with Shanna was pretty casual. I'm pretty sure this is the first time they were shown as a couple at all.

There was clearly some attraction between them in Ka-Zar 1-2 but yeah, this is the first time they were shown as an actual couple.

I find the dialogue pretty terrible. Ka-Zar keeps using American colloquialisms and refers to the "Cardinals" at one time. When exactly did he spend enough time ine the States to pick that up?!?

You may consider this semantics, but it seems you dislike the direction of the series more than the dialogue per se (which is still your prerogative, ofc). The series will show how Ka-Zar keeps up with the outside world.

I just recently acquired a copy of the "Ka-Zar: Savage Dawn" TPB which collects the first five issues of this series. I'm now going to search the local comics stores to see if I can find more. The Jones/Anderson run was a special one, the one that humanized Kevin Reginald Plunder in a way not attempted by other teams. Understandable growth due in large part to the jungle lord finding his soulmate/kindred spirit in Shanna, who is more than simply a sultry "she-devil". Nice of the team to remind readers of her path "back to nature" and background as a veterinarian. In addition to the stories and dialogue, Brent Anderson's art is exceptional. Nice touches of humor as well without falling into "screwball" territory. Arguably, this series was Marvel's best-kept secret from the time period.