KING OF FANG AND CLAW
(Oct 12, 2003)
From the October 1936 issue of KA-ZAR, this is the origin story of the venerable blonde Tarzanite. There would be two more issues of this pulp in 1937, featuring the stories ROAR OF THE JUNGLE and THE LOST EMPIRE. Then Ka-Zar got reassigned over to four-color pages and appeared in the first twenty-seven issues of MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS. Our boy was eventually dusted off, revamped and souped up by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee in 1965 as a guest star in X-MEN# 10; he's drifted around Marvel Comics ever since, never a top star but always in the cast somewhere.
To be honest, the revised version of Ka-Zar had much greater possibilities than the pulp original. For one thing, his companion is not a regular mangy ol' African lion but a huge imposing Smilodon named Zabu (I've always been fascinated by Sabretooths, along with Dire Wolves). Also, the current incarnation is not running around in the mundane tawdry Congo but in the Savage Land, a very cool lost world in the arctic regions, complete with dinosaurs and strange civilizations and alien outposts and all that. It's essentially "Tarzan In Pellucidar" and it's a great premise for an ongoing series.
If the 1936 Ka-Zar had this rich backdrop, he might have done much better and be fondly remembered today. As it is, not only is he is a blatant imitator of Tarzan, he's a toned-down, less extreme version of the Apeman. Still, he's okay as jungle heroes go and his first adventure KING OF FANG AND CLAW is enjoyable lightweight entertainment, written in a straightforward classic pulp style. It's not as epic or wildly creative as the best Tarzan books but it's sure better than some of the later threadbare efforts by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and I'd love to see the two remaining Ka-Zar stories made readily available again.*
Although he grew up stranded (by a plane crash) in the depths of the Belgian Congo, Ka-Zar does not quite share Tarzan's origin. Instead of being raised from infancy by great apes, little David Rand was fortunate enough to have his father John survive and provide much-needed protection and guidance until he reached the age of thirteen.
This may not have the mythical implications of growing up with apes, but it is a bit more plausible. The father teaches David survival skills, some rudimentary literacy, and enough modesty to wear a lion cloth. Unfortunately, Dad is a bit whacko after being hit on the head by a falling tree and he teaches his son that they are the rightful rulers of the jungle and must protect it against any outsiders. This gives KaZar some interesting motivation, a delusional belief of his own monarchy, that makes him not entirely a noble Boy Scout sort of hero.
John Rand is killed by an intruder who might as well have VILLAIN painted on his shirt. Paul DeKraft (crafty, eh? that's subtle) is fat and greasy and has poor social skills; he's wanted all over Africa for every crime except parking in a handicapped spot. Wandering into the area, he finds emeralds in a stream (not that emeralds are usually lying around loose like that) and DeKraft naturally thinks this wild-looking crazed hermit and his half-nekkid little boy will try to keep him from making off with the jewels. The father gets a bullet in the back, and the son gets a classic arch-enemy. We will meet again, this ain't over yet, you haven't seen the last of me, etc.
After his father's death, the boy joins up with an enormous lion named Zar (he rescued the big cat from quicksand, actually better than removing a thorn from a paw when it comes to befriending a lion). Zar belongs to the disputed species "Felis leo pulpis", which do not hunt in packs on the grasslands but which are solitary forest animals like tigers.Young David takes the name Ka-Zar (which means "brother of Zar") and set out to patrol his own jungle empire.
Ka-Zar, it turns out, can literally converse with all the animals. Not with body language and grunts, either. The animals in these books really speak in complete sentences to him and to each other, listen to stories thoughtfully and make helpful suggestions. Time to crank up that old suspension of disbelief a few more notches. For all his sermons about how noble and pure the wild creatures were, Tarzan usually seemed to be only interested in them when he was hungry (except for Tantor, of course). Even his dealings with his own great apes was always a bit iffy and uncertain. Ka-Zar in contrast is able to call a conference of all sorts of beasts to make an announcement. Quite an image, that: elephants, lions, vultures, antelopes, boars, monkeys... all sitting peacefully in a circle because a human has summoned them. (There is a lot of Mowgli influence here, much more than in Burroughs.)
In addition to palling around with a dignified old elephant and his lion Jad-Bal-Ja Zar, our golden boy also has a mischievous monkey in his entourage. N'Kima Nono is as much of a nuisance as he is a help though, showing distinct signs of kleptomania (also known as Ryder Syndrome.) But Ka-Zar does not have Tarzan's friendly relations with a native tribe like the Waziri, nor does he have that dual heritage of the hereditary English peer and jungle beast that makes the early Tarzan concept so intriguing. He is a much simpler and less ambiguous character than the Apeman. The brother of Zar does have his own battle cry, the roar of a male lion, though, easily as intimidating as the victory cry of the bull ape. (and probably a bit rough on the old vocal chords.)
The return of DeKraft after those pretty stones lads to random slaughter of wildlife, and the fact that these intruders are bipedal hairless apes like Ka-Zar himself means that the animals' trust in the jungle lord is shaken. If he doesn't want his tenous rule to abruptly end by being devoured by his subjects, our teenage hero must deal decisively with these invaders, thunder sticks or not. KING OF FANG AND CLAW is by no means a classic that you would forcefully recommend to your friends in the pulp community, but it is unpretentious, brisk, slightly goofy fun.
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*This book has fortunately been reprinted (although that was back in 1976 in Odyssey Publicaion 5, so it may as hard to find as some pulps themselves). Even more happily, it has generously been made available on Clark J. Holloway's site The Holloway Pages: Address:http://home.comcast.net/~cjh5801a/Pulp.htm The Holloway Pages are terrific, very attractive and informative, covering not only Doc and the Shadow but Tailspin Tommy and Sheena; if you haven't checked them out, you really should click over there. |