Savage Tales No. 01 Ka-Zar, Lord of the Lost Jungle The Night of the Looter Story: Stan Lee Artist: John Busema

Excerpted from...
The Story Behind the Scenes,
by Roy Thomas

October 1936
... Publisher Martin Goodman, already knee-deep in the burgeoning field of pulp magazines, gives birth to a new title: Ka-Zar. The cast: a blond-haired, blue-eyed savage, and every jungle-man's best friend - his pet lion. Seventy-six action-packed pages of derring-do set in the heart of the steaming Congo by Bob Bryd.

Final fate: cancellation of the title after three issues.


1939
... Martin Goodman enters the comic book field with Marvel Comics #1

... Notable heroes in that collectors item: The Human Torch, The Sub-Mariner, and Ka-Zar the Great (with Zar, his still-faithful lion).

... A much longer career, but never stardom - and one final day, oblivion.


1965
... In the heart of the steaming Antartic, the mutant X-Men discover a jungle that time forgot - a snarling sabretooth - and the tiger's steel-muscled master.

... Ka-Zar kicks around for a few years - plays second fiddle to Spider-Man, Daredevil, even the X-Men again.

... He's drawn by the best in comicdom: Neal Adams, John Romita, Jack Kirby, Gene Colan.

... Eventually he gets his own half-a-book series. And now, finally: the longest feature in the premiere issue of Savage Tales.