Thursday, September 2, 2021

"Frenzy On The Fortieth Floor!"

 

When Marvel's two new double-feature mags, Astonishing Tales and Amazing Adventures, premiered in 1970, artist Jack Kirby received assignments for each. For Astonishing Tales, he would provide art for Stan Lee's two-part Ka-Zar story featuring Kraven the Hunter; and for Amazing Adventures, Kirby would both write and pencil a two-part tale featuring the Fantastic Four and the Inhumans, followed by another two-parter which had the Inhumans going up against the Mandarin. Along with his art on the final issue of Silver Surfer, and his lead-in to the Sub-Mariner/Magneto story in Fantastic Four (and we should also include some of his work salvaged for issue 109 of that title), this would be Kirby's closing work for the company before resigning his position.

This being my first read of the Ka-Zar story, over fifty years after it was published, I was still amazed at how well Lee and Kirby could mesh their talents in a clash between opponents who were fairly well-matched in their abilities, particularly when Lee didn't skimp on his dialog and took an active interest in the characters' interaction. That might be understandably hard to pull off when it came to Ka-Zar, who in 1970 was still a character who conversed in only the most basic manner and generally reacted to hostilities by lashing out without much verbal elaboration. (Contrast that with Ka-Zar's follow-up meeting with Kraven in Ka-Zar The Savage in late 1982, where Ka-Zar's thoughts and speech were indistinguishable from practically any American man-on-the-street from the '80s.) Lee received some help from Kraven's ego in that regard, however, as both characters tended to refer to themselves in the third person.

Yet it bears mentioning that Kraven has the edge in this matchup, even without taking into account his steadfast belief in his own fighting prowess. Aside from the fact that he will first spend time researching his prey's habits and potential weaknesses, while his unsuspecting target has no such advantage, he will usually have prepared the means to incapacitate and/or capture his intended victim rather than rely solely on a hand-to-hand struggle. (When was the last time you saw a hunter who didn't pack gear against which their prey would be defenseless? Only Wolverine has a blunt but rational assessment concerning the so-called "skill" needed to kill.) That said, Kraven, unlike Ka-Zar, pairs his instincts with a knowledge of strategy, tactics, and physical vulnerabilities--and, yes, belief in a superiority over your foe probably doesn't hurt, either.

The twist in this story, however, is the fact that Ka-Zar is only a means to an end when it comes to Kraven's true target.



Even nowadays I wouldn't be surprised if stories are probably still referring to the Savage Land as the "hidden jungle," since it probably continues to add an air of mystery and drama to this prehistoric region in the South Pole. Naturally, the locale is all Kraven could ask for in pursuit of his goal, a "hunt" which is accomplished with (you'll pardon the word) astonishing ease.


With the sight of Kraven's helicopter in the distance, it would be easy to believe that it would be pointless for Ka-Zar to attempt pursuit; as a matter of fact, the Ka-Zar we meet in the '80s might well have reached the same conclusion and begun to consider other options, few as they would have been. This Ka-Zar, however, is going to have only one response.





Fortunately passing jets drop an inflatable raft which keeps Ka-Zar afloat while they radio for assistance--but even with two strikes against him when it comes to stopping Kraven, Ka-Zar's single-minded perseverance in reclaiming Zabu, an animal which has become his friend, leaves no doubt as to what his next move will be once he reaches what is likely to be Kraven's destination.


Judging by the opening pages to the next issue, it looks like Ka-Zar isn't a bad hunter himself, as his "jungle instinct" appears to have no problem tracking Kraven in a steel and concrete city the size of New York--specifically, to the Arlington Arms, a strange place to take your captured prehistoric saber-toothed cat (but what do I know). For what it's worth, Kraven doesn't have the advantage this time of having planned ahead for dealing with Ka-Zar; still, having the confidence from a prior victory over the jungle lord, it doesn't take long for Kraven to once again have his foe on the ropes (so to speak), though Ka-Zar has also learned a thing or two about his enemy's tactics.



When it comes to a battle between these two in a city environment, Kraven's hotel turns out to be as good a site as any, though it doesn't take long for their brawl to move outside, where Kirby choreographs a visibly riveting struggle between the two. Kraven's reliance on weaponry continues to be a source of pride for him, even against a defenseless foe--but against Ka-Zar's persistence and his own impressive skill, Kraven finds that a standoff is the most he can achieve, at least this day.







(No worries here--one snarl from Zabu should dissuade hotel management from sticking Ka-Zar with Kraven's bill.)

COMING UP:

Just how much frenzy was going on in the Marvel Universe??
The PPC runs it down for you!

14 comments:

dangermash said...

Often I don't like Kirby's versions of non-Kirby characters (Spider-Man, Sandman, Magneto,…) but his Kraven is great. A bit older looking than the eternally youthful Romita version, which adds a bit of character. And I like the look of these Granger inks too - I'd have put money on them being the work of Chic Stone.

Anonymous said...

No doubt in my mind that someone other than a Kirby did a few panels here, especially of Kazar. Maybe John Romita did a touch up or two?

Yoyo

Kid said...

Er, Magneto IS a Kirby character (and a Stan Lee one too).

Big Murr said...

Bagging a sabretooth is a special trophy (for those who like that sort of thing), but in a Hidden Jungle chock full o' prehistoric mammals and dinosaurs, the cat is hardly that amazing. In my opinion, the only reason Kraven is nearly peeing himself with excitement is because getting to Zabu will mean tangling with Ka-Zar.

Kraven only lights up at a chance to "hunt" intelligent beings.

I've lost track if Kraven is alive or dead these days, but I'd think Devil Dinosaur and Moon Girl would make him twirl his mustachios...they're just over on Yancy Street, if I'm not mistaken.

Comicsfan said...

That's a good call, Yoyo. The GCD entry for that issue speculates it might have been the work of Barry Smith and/or Marie Severin, which does seem likely.

Murray, I don't know--Kraven's costume motif is of a lion, which suggests he has an affinity for the challenge a full-grown lion or tiger provides, particularly in the ferociousness and stalking departments (though I can't say he truly tested himself with Zabu, as prepared as he was). Also, I certainly didn't get the impression he had any interest in Ka-Zar beyond disposing of him and getting out of the Savage Land with his true prize. You raise an interesting prospect, however: would even Kraven take on a dinosaur? I can't see him doing so at close quarters, being far outmatched in both strength and weight--but if anyone could surprise me, it's probably Kraven.

dangermash, I'd agree with Kid on Magneto, who goes back along with Kirby to early X-Men issues. If I remember correctly, I think the jury is still out on whether Kirby created Spider-Man, isn't it? Or has that finally been put to bed?

Kid said...

Kirby certainly never created the Spider-Man we know, though he did give Stan a very-slightly reworked version of The Fly, likely in response to Stan's request for a Spider-type character. Jack also claimed he showed Stan a Spiderman logo (no hyphen), though this was produced by Joe Simon when he and his brother-in-law Jack Oleck were thinking of doing such a character, which they later renamed The Silver Spider and was drawn by C.C. Beck - though I don't think it was ever published. With a change to Kirby as artist, it became The Fly, and once Steve Ditko pointed out the similarities to Stan, the pair of them developed the Spidey that we know and love.

Anonymous said...

It's hard to see how someone who could tackle Spider-Man would have difficulty with Ka-Zar. However, we know that Kraven is only able to fight Spidey because of the secret jungle herbs/potion he drinks that grants him equivalent superpowers. So I am assuming he does not drink any potion here and fights Ka-Zar at pulp human levels of power.

Since Kraven fights for the challenge of it, I was disappointed when he turned into a mere generic supervillain after Ditko left. He had different motives than most other villains. He lacked the noble or redeeming qualities of the Sub-Mariner, but he also lacked the typical criminal motivations of other supervillains. He wasn't a thief or a world conqueror.

I think he would have worked well as a Sub-Mariner like anti-hero, or perhaps anti-villain would be a better term in his case. Someone who might conceivably fight on the same side as one of the heroes in the right circumstances. He should have been shown as relatively acceptable or popular in law abiding society although prone to break the law if it meant providing him with a real challenge. That's why I like seeing him at this hotel.

Chris

Comicsfan said...

It's funny you put it that way, Chris, because it took me back to Kraven's first appearance where he was regarded by the public as a celebrity of sorts, known worldwide as (what else?) the greatest hunter of all time--though my impression was that he was known only by reputation, and didn't parlay his skills into making a living for himself. It may be a leap to paint him as having no criminal motivations, since he seemed to have cash to throw around on four-star hotels and the various gear he used; my guess is that he took on the occasional job in his association with the Chameleon to keep himself solvent, or perhaps a wealthy client here and there who wanted their hunting jobs to stay under the table.

dangermash said...

Yes - Magneto is a Kirby character (X-Men #1). Don't know what I was thinking there.

Colin Jones said...

In popular imagination the sabre-tooth cat is always huge like a lion but actually they were about the size of a dog.

Big Murr said...

Sorry, Colin, but that turns out not to be the case. Like modern big cats, there was a size range among the saber-toothed cats (Smilodon). Smilodon gracilis came in at around 100 kg, so a damn big dog. At the other end of the selection is smilodon populator averaging 300+ kg.

Being a comic book hero's sidekick, one can only assume Zabu was of a premium size and genetic lottery winner.

Colin Jones said...

I stand corrected :)

Anonymous said...

Even a hundred-kg Smilodon sounds like bad news to me, Murray!

I like Kirby's Kraven. I've noticed a lot of artists like to model characters, particularly super-villains, after actors or other real-life people, and Kirby did that too, on occasion.
Kirby's Kraven? I'm thinking Joe Stalin. Maybe that's who Ditko was thinking of too, when he created the character. He was no admirer of Communism, that's for sure.
I've seen Norman Osborn drawn like Tommy Lee Jones and James Caan. Being a big fan of both, I enjoyed both renditions.
Y'know, if Ian Mcshane were 30 or 40 years younger, he'd make a great Kraven on film.

M.P.

dangermash said...

Yes, Kraven would have made a great anti-hero. I've been trying to work out when exactly it was that he genuinely became a villain rather than just someone with a screw loose. I think it's ASM Annual #1 when the Sinister Six kidnaps Aunt May and Betty Brant. It makes sense that he ends up in the nick at the end of that one.