Issue(s): Ka-Zar the Savage #5
Cover Date: Aug 81
Title: "The ties that bind!"
Credits:
Bruce Jones - Writer
Brent Anderson - Penciler
Carlos Garzon - Inker

Review/plot:
This issue is mostly flashback, as Ka-Zar tells the story about why he's been questioning his life in the Savage Land. We find out that Tongah, a supporting character from Ka-Zar's previous series, has died from rabies he contracted from a sabretooth tiger (originally thought to be Zabu, but actually just another tiger).

Ka-Zar's been questioning the value of a life without modern medicine. In a civilized society, Tongah could have been cured.

In one of the few non-flashback scenes, Ka-Zar loses his vibranium knife in a fight with a pleisiosaur.

As always, it's a great story with superb characterization and nice art.

Quality Rating: A-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

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

About this time, an announcement was made that the Savage Land would be invaded by some superhero groups, but evidently that didn't happen.

If there is any complaint about Anderson's art here, it's the inconsistency in the length of Zabu's tusks. Of course, that's just nitpicking, and doesn't undermine the great Jones/Anderson run with Lord Kevin and company.