Issue(s): Ka-Zar #3, Ka-Zar #4, Ka-Zar #5
Cover Date: May-Sep 74
Title: "Night of the Man-God" / "Into the shadows of chaos" / "A man-god unleashed"
Credits:
Mike Friedrich - Writer
Don Heck - Penciler
Michael W. Royer / Mike Esposito - Inker

Review/plot:
Maa-gor enters the mystic mists that apparently keep all of the prehistoric creatures in the Savage Land alive (and even give Ka-Zar his strength!), and he comes out a godlike Man-God.

For some bizarre reason, he decides he needs the super obscure and generally useless El Tigre as an ally, so he teleports him in from South America.

They attack Ka-zar, possessing Zabu and knocking Ka-zar out.

He is revived by Bobbi Morse, a SHIELD agent that appeared in Ka-Zar's Astonishing Tales run and who will later become Mockingbird.

Together they launch a second attack on Man-God and El Tigre. The fight continues all through the next two issues of this arc with plenty of reversals.

Man-God's power levels attract the attention of SHIELD, but they decide to let Agent Morse handle it on her own.

The Man-God is defeated in the end when he enters the mists again and winds up being split into separate "logical" and "emotional" beings.

El Tigre also enters the mists but they mutated him into a primitive state, and he kills himself.

This is Friedrich's last issue on Ka-zar. These issues were agonizingly pointless, with endless scenes pitting Ka-zar against a boring opponent way beyond his power levels and no real motives. In the end the threat defeats itself, making Ka-zar's involvement unnecessary. Heck's art, as usual, is simple and sketchy.

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Marvel Team-Up #19 takes place in between pages 9 and 10 of this issue #3 (the caption box says "somewhat later"). It is long enough for Zabu's shoulder wound, sustained in Ka-Zar #2, to heal. I'm placing this based on the majority of the issues; i.e. after Marvel Team-Up #19.

References:

• El Tigre was last seen in Uncanny X-Men #25-26. The footnote is for Uncanny X-Men #73, which reprinted #25.
  
• Ka-Zar teamed up with Spider-Man to fight Stegron in Marvel Team-Up #19.
  
• Ka-Zar left Bobbi Morse in New York in Astonishing Tales #20.
  
• Ka-Zar wiped out Maa-gor's tribe in Astonishing Tales #11
  
• Astonishing Tales #14 (which was actually a reprint of the Ka-Zar story from Savage Tales #1) mentioned Vibranium.
  
• Nick Fury considered Man-God "the greatest threat since the Yellow Claw returned" in Captain America #165-167 ("and he's back next month in Iron Man #69!").
  
• In Astonishing Tales #12-13 and Astonishing Tales #20, Nick Fury had been pushing Wilma Calvin, a SHIELD scientist to create a new super-serum formula. This resulted in the "Victorius case", which convinced Calvin that the formula should not be pursued. Victorius first appeared in Astonishing Tales #18 and then attacked SHIELD agent Bobbi Morse in #19-20.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

I must admit to grinning when I see the future Mokingbird in spectacles, mini-skirt and go-go boots. It's like a hybrid of Daphne AND Velma!(And yes, Scoobyphiles, I know neither of them wore go-go boots, but work with me here, huh?)

Self-correction time again: MOCKINGBIRD. That out of the way, I do agree that scan of Don Heck's Savage Land map is pretty underwhelming.