Ka-Zar: Lord of the Savage Land

Ka-Zar: Lord of the Savage Land #1-5

by Zac Thompson, German Garcia (Illustrator), Álvaro López (Illustrator)

Ka-Zar is back from the dead - with new, terrifying powers! The alien Cotati murdered him. The Savage Land brought him back. Now united with Shanna the She-Devil in a mystical merging of life energies, Ka-Zar has a new and vastly different perspective, new abilities, new needs…and new enemies. An ancient evil has surfaced in the prehistoric refuge known as the Savage Land - one that is rapidly reshaping the forgotten world and its inhabitants. Now Ka-Zar and Shanna must fight together to protect their home and family! But their son, Matthew, has plans of his own - and the new master of the Savage Land is about to be revealed! Prepare for an action-packed jungle adventure that will leave you breathless! Collecting KA-ZAR: LORD OF THE SAVAGE LAND #1-5.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Comic Book

112 pages, Paperback

First published April 5, 2022

About the author

Zac Thompson is a writer born and raised on Prince Edward Island, Canada. He's written titles like Marvelous X-Men, Cable, and X-Men: Black for Marvel Comics. Along with indie books such as Her Infernal Descent, Relay, and The Replacer.

In 2019, Zac became the showrunner of the Age of X-Man universe at Marvel Comics. His critically acclaimed miniseries, Come Into Me, was called the best horror comic of 2018 by HorrorDNA. His debut comic series, The Dregs, was called "lowbrow brilliant" by New York Magazine. His novel, Weaponized, was the winner of the 2016 CryptTV horror fiction contest.

Reviews

[James DeSantis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow this was pretty trash.

A son doesn't like the way his parents are doing things in the Savage land. Then he can shoot flowers out of his hands. And then they go through this trippy world of dying and...listen this is like a discounted animal man and just not worth your time. Go read Animal Man by jeff lemire or anybody.

[Ignacio · Rating 2 out of 5]

Este tebeo está muy bien dibujado por Germán García, al que hacía veinte años que no veía. Hace una buena labor en la ilustración del Kazarverso, amenazado por una nueva entidad biotecnológica que desea apoderarse de la Tierra Salvaje, y en la narración. Da gusto leer a alguien que sabe sacar partido el potencial narrativo más allá de poner cuatro viñetas apaisadas por página. La historia me funciona bastante peor. Un poco porque el Kazar que conozco es otra cosa, no un trasunto del Animal Man de Delano, aligerado de su oscuridad y con ese punto grotesco de las modificaciones animales que le crecen cuando lo necesita. Y otro porque la historia y su paisaje emocional son de una superficialidad exageradas, incluso para una historia de aventuras que empieza y termina como es el caso. Las relaciones entre los cuatro protagonistas tienen el relieve de un parking público a las 3 de la mañana. Aun así, es bonito de mirar.

[Michael J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was enjoying where this was going until the mid-point when things got really weird and the book seemed to morph into a homage to Jeff Lemire's Animal Man and the Rot plot-lines. The ending is a happy one for a change, but I can't imagine a newly not-so-Savage Land providing enough conflict and drama for future stories.
On a side note, it seems to me that a new short-lived Ka-Zar series comes along at least once every three years. I was wondering which of the second-tier Marvel characters has the most volumes, spin-offs and mini-series. Could it be Ka-Zar? There are ten such iterations that I know of. However, Moon Knight has double that amount and reins as king of the Marvel limited series.
Now it falls to occasional-Marvel-writer Zac Thompson to re-boot Marvel's version of Tarzan and Pellucidar. He makes some changes, indeed. Thompson piggy-backs onto some plot threads from the Empyre mega-event where Ka-Zar was murdered by the alien Cotati. The power of the Savage Land brought him back to life, just as it had for his wife Shanna. But renewal came with changes to his body and his mind. Son Matthew is a bit rebellious and poses a challenge for his parents to develop him into a proper protector of the Savage Land.
A new threat comes via techno-organic creatures (polyscions) attacking and spreading sickness and corruption. Behind it all is the mysterious Domovoy, the flesh weaver. The resolution to the problem and the path forward is not what you might expect (cue The Youngbloods singing "Get Together").

[Kyle Dinges · Rating 1 out of 5]

What in the absolute fuck was this about

[Kenneth · Rating 3 out of 5]

We've gotten a little far from "Marvel Tarzan" for my taste. I'm not sure the character or the Savage Land are better for the changes this storyline imposes. Still, it was competently done, so three stars. I just enjoy pulpish shenanigans more than whatever this was.

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this as individual issues...

So, how do I describe this neatly? They turned Ka-Zar into the Animal Man of the Marvel universe. The character was killed in another big event and resurrected here (aka REBOOT). It feels slightly hokey, to be honest. I know it's not a popular character and that he's already Tarzan derivative, but there had to be some way to sort him out that didn't feel like a...90's(?) shift in the character.

This feels like something I would have read in the 90's with an Earth Day release and a 'Special biodegradable cover'.

It definitely expanded what is known of the Savage Land, but when does Marvel ever really do much their unless it's to isolate a character...

Bonus: Is Zac Thompson vegan? There's a lot of the old 'meat is murder'vibe going on
Bonus bonus: Does Ka-Zar's son seriously have a flower cannon?
Bonus^3: First there was unstable molecule outfits. NOW? They can grow their own outfits in the Savage Land.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars.
Taking place right after the events of Empyre, the Savage Land has revived Ka-Zar, but given him new abilities. Together with Shanna, they are trying to raise their son Matthew.... but there is a problem. Matthew has become allied with a being known as Domovoy, a technological blight that calls himself a polyscion. Most of the comic is presenting as nature vs tech, but I'm glad that they were able to merge at the end and work together.
Not really followed Ka-Zar in the Marvel Universe very much, so reading this feels very foreign to me. I know this was a limited thing, so it will be interesting to see where Ka-Zar and his family pop up next.
Read if you love the character or the Savage Land.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this, and I kind of didn't. The art was spectacular: blew me away consistently. The story is one of those heartfelt things that you feel bad being too critical of. I agree with the creators' rhetorical goals of being more mindful about environmental impact and whatnot, and ecological posthumanism is always a fun space to play in (I've really enjoyed the current run of Poison Ivy for its willingness to think along these lines), but this ends up being a somewhat awkward reading experience. Ka-Zar is a complicated hero to resurrect in the modern age. There's some weird racial and colonialist aspects of any Tarzan-esque character that should either be addressed properly or completely circumvented by manipulation of elements of the fantastic. Instead, this book consistently pokes at those elements without having anything nuanced to say about them.

As I said, I don't really feel a desire to be hypercritical of this. This gave me some things to think about in my ongoing wrestling with the role of pulp tropes in contemporary writing, but unless that's also one of your specific interests, I wouldn't recommend this. I will be making a note to look for other work from this illustrator, though.

[Steve Howells · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a great read.

[Sean · Rating 1 out of 5]

This could possibly be the worst book I've ever finished. Author, Zac Thompson does everything in his power to make Ka-Zar DC's Animal Man and its incredibly boring. The book made no sense. Shanna and Ka-Zar now have powers because...reasons. The antagonist was awful. The series that began Ka-Zar's changes showed Matt almost fully grown so much that he's mistaken for his father. Now, he's a solid little 13 year old. Shanna acted so weird and not herself. The art was not good at all. This was a struggle to complete and I'm ashamed to have finished it.

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the story was interesting in its execution, the characters were not terrifically engaging or acting as I understood the characters save in moving the planned plot along.

In short, this felt like someone wanted to tell an Animal Man / Swamp Thing type story but had to use Ka-Zar and Shanna performing their roles.

[XMCU · Rating 3 out of 5]

there's stuff i like here. A lot of reviews mention ka-zars new powers are like dc's animal man. in not familiar with animal man. i gotta look up what savage land comics come after this, because what this comic establishes are Sony's Horizon like creatures to the savage land. i'm going to give this book three stars. with future re-reads, maybe i'll have a more definitive score.

Update: woman of marvel #1 (2022) has a story that takes plkace after the events of this book. i think they should of added this story to this book. (i haven't checked: but it's possible the woman of marvel story was out during the printing of this ka0Zar trade paperback)

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art is the hero here. I really enjoyed it, especially the first couple of issues.
The story itself isn't quite as good. The world building oozes potential but isn't really expanded upon as much as I would like. There is an element of the story/art that reminds me of Prophet, Volume 1: Remission.
I do think that Ka-Zar needed the power upgrade. I am a fan of him as in a Tarzan rip-off/homage.

[Bart Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tiene un cierto enfoque de body-horror interesante, pero de todo lo demás me olvidaré en un par de días. Un alegato ecologista que no por necesario deja poco poso. Villano genérico que ni sé muy bien de donde viene.

Gráficamente súper sugerente. El tandem German García-Matheus Lopes funciona como un cohete, elegancia a tope en el trazo y la iluminación. Los tramos de Álvaro López encajan super bien en el conjunto. El tercer dibujante ya tal.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 1 out of 5]

I barely even know what I read here.

Kevin and Shanna have been killed and resurrected?

And Kevin has become Animal Man?

And Shanna now controls biological tech or something, which I guess makes her Swamp Thing?

And they have a terribly bratty kid who doesn't understand the consequences of actions?

And there's now biotech and High Evolutionary everywhere?

What in the world is this?!

And worst of all, how can it have that high concept and be so very, very boring.

[Steven Schend · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the story was interesting in its execution, the characters were not terrifically engaging or acting as I understood the characters save in moving the planned plot along.

In short, this felt like someone wanted to tell an Animal Man / Swamp Thing type story but had to use Ka-Zar and Shanna performing their roles.

[Pat · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was not a good direction for the character. Originally a Tarzan pastiche which was enjoyable enough to now a bad copy of DCs animal man. The final image made me think of the Flintstones but not in a good way. The art was decent but could not carry the book.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

i did not care for this iteration of Ka-Zar. i remember reading him in the 70's and he was a Tarzan like character in the hidden Savage Land. this version was he has amazing powers and had died earlier.

[Hunter Lambright · Rating 3 out of 5]

An absolutely gorgeous book with a somewhat messy plot that turns Ka-Zar and Shanna into “super” heroes instead of just very gifted people. The art is fantastic. Very much enjoy Thompson bringing his love of the weird into the Marvel universe.

[Trike · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really like Ka-Zar and the Savage Land is such a cool concept but his solo books are never good for some reason.

——

Goodreads password SNAFU locked me out from April to October, so I’m just adding all the books at once. Read dates aren’t accurate.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a weird story at times it would feel right at home with dc’s animal man and swamp thing. I appreciate marvel really letting loose on this one.

[Mirosław Arka Gier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uwielbiam Ka-Zara. To moja ulubiona marvelowska postać trzeciego planu. Przygody może nie zwalają z nóg jak choćby w omnibusie, ale słabo wcale nie przędzie.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tarzan Swamp Thing Horror MashUp.

Pretty atypical art.

But while trying something new, not really for me.

[Andrew Hale · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's the archaic mentality of the writing that turns me off. The art was fine though not my favorite but the old-fashioned rhetoric that presents humans as always invasive and animals as naturally savage yet in proper alignment with nature. The meat-eating animals are justified in needing such sustenance but the humans are perceived as not being so active and important. Malarkey. Humans are presented as mindlessly violent with no addressing of the fact that violent men who have their violence under control are the most peaceful, progressive, and adept at going through life (like Steve Rogers and crew in Amazing Fantasy). The parents and the youth are a bit too black-and-white with the once-more old tale of "parents just don't understand". I was actually surprised with the honoring of fallen police at the end with the Spiderman short.