Random Ramblings about Things and Whatever

Random Ramblings about Things and Whatever

Monday, July 12, 2010

Random Comics Review:Kazar the Savage #23,1983


Ok, we get two stories in this one. The art in the main feature is by Bob Hall and Armando Gil and the art in the second is by Val Mayerik. The writing in both is by Bruce Jones.

The first story opens in Casablanca as Kazar is chasing a man to steal a package from him. Kazar beats up some thugs who are also after the same package. Kazar grabs the package and takes it to a man in a bar. The package is a secret explosive. We also meet the man's boss, an evil woman named Ramona. We learn that she is an ex-A.I.M agent who's behind this all. She and her men previously captured Kazar and placed a device in his head that forces him to don their bidding. There's a cameo by Spiderman. Shanna is staying with Peter Parker and thinks that Kazar is dead as a result of a previous fight with Kraven the Hunter ( or something). The story ends to be continued as Kazar and Romona are crossing the dessert about to be ambushed by other bad guys.

It would be interesting to see how certain aspects of this story would be received today. At one point Romona tries to seduce Kazar. When he rejects her, she threaten to activate the device in Kazar's brain. Nothing is explicit is shown or stated. The reader is left to infer what happened, but essentially Romona coerced Kazar into having sex with her. I believe many people today would consider this rape. The story doesn't seem to treat this like that big of a deal. Kazar is shook up a little, but the story treats it like just another rotten thing he had to do along with stealing and beating people up.

Another interesting thing and it's so obvious that I'm not sure if it's a mistake or if it was done on purpose. When Kazar is in the streets fighting and running he's barefoot. When he meets his contact at the bar, he's wearing shoes. There's a caption at the top of the panel that reads "And shortly..." suggesting some time has passed, but is the reader supposed to think that Kazar just stopped at a store somewhere and purchased some footwear?

The back up story is Tales of Zabu. It's a past tale of Kazar as a boy. Basically, a cave man stabs Zabu the Saber-tooth tiger with a spear and kidnaps young Kazar to raise as his own. It ends with a page depicting Zabu laying on the ground with a spear sticking out of him as the rain falls. It's corny but um, kinda sad.

All in all, not groundbreaking but a solid old school adventure comic.With a little bronze age campiness (some intentional some not) thrown in.

2 comments:

  1. Ah Kazar, now it's been awhile since I've seen this series. I have 2 admit that I don't remember this one. Chances are I saw the Hall artwork and said; "pass". Not that he was bad, but there was just no energy 2 his work. Even with Gil; whose inks gave all that he inked a Wrightson-ish vibe just would'nt have been enough.
    Now Brent Anderson who was'nt one of my faves either...did bring enough 2 his pencils that it gave Gil something 2 work with.
    Also if I saw the lead story, that would more than likely be the reason why I didn't catch the Mayerick back-up. Shame, cause I always kinda dug Val's work.

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  2. Hey Edward! I posted the link to your blog on my blog! I would've asked you first, but I figured you'd say yes. If you don't want the link to your blog on mine just let me know!

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