August 1970: An Echo of Tarzan’s Yell

You might argue that the first Marvel superhero predated even Superman.

Thanks to the spectacular and continuing success of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Lord of the Jungle in the pulp magazines, novels, movies and comic strips of the 1910s and 1920s, the jungles were soon crawling with ersatz Tarzans.

Readers had their choice of Bomba, Bantan, Jan, Jongor, Tam, Tharn, Kaspa, Ki-Gor, Kioga — and Ka-Zar.

Starting in 1936, “Ka-Zar by ‘Bob Byrd’ was also featured in a magazine bearing his name for several issues," noted Richard A. Lupoff in his excellent book Edgar Rice Burroughs: Master of Adventure. “Ka-Zar, like the earlier Kaspa, was raised by lions; like the earlier Kioga, his real family name was Rand; like Tarzan, he fought with apes, befriended elephants and generally ruled a jungle domain.”

Because Ka-Zar (pronounced “KAY-sar”) was owned and published by Martin Goodman, young David Rand slipped neatly into Goodman’s seminal Marvel Comics 1 in 1939, right alongside the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner.

Then, like many another Golden Age Marvel character, Ka-Zar was revived in the 1960s — but not as David Rand. This time he was Kevin Plunder, a lost English lord discovered by the X-Men living with his sabertooth tiger Zabu in the Savage Land, a tropical wonderland hidden in Antarctica. (The X-Men 10, March 1965).

The jungle man knocked around the Marvel universe for five years before landing his own feature in Astonishing Tales, a duplex comic he shared with Dr. Doom.

Ka-Zar’s feature outlasted Doom’s, continuing through October 1973 before being replaced by It, the Living Colossus.

In whatever incarnation, Ka-Zar displays peak physical strength, speed and agility and an uncanny ability to communicate with animals.

“More than two-thirds of a century after his first appearance, Ka-Zar is probably the only one of those 1930s Tarzan knock-offs that is still appearing in new adventures,” comics historian Don Markstein noted. “Pretty good for a guy who only managed three pulp magazines before sinking into oblivion.”

July 1963: Marvel Grows By Shrinking

I must have reread Fantastic Four 16 (July 1963) more often than any other issue, and now I think I know why.

For me, this was the issue that really cemented the crowd-pleasing concept of what we would come to call the “Marvel universe.”

Two years into their run, the now-familiar and well-loved title characters were joined by another favorite superhero, the Astonishing Ant-Man, to oppose that armored prince among super villains, Dr. Doom.

The Fantastic Four had already met and skirmished with the Hulk and Spider-Man, but this time, when confronted by the peril of miniaturization, they called on Ant-Man for help.

Calling in the expert would have been a natural move in the real world, but was still a relatively rare one in comics, where — despite the existence of the Justice League and the World’s Finest teams — superheroes often seemed to pretend that other superheroes didn’t exist. In her own title, for example, Wonder Woman would frequently fend off an alien invasion by herself, with never a thought for the other heroes who might help.

With an eye on the insider-ish fanboy thrill that crossovers give readers, Stan Lee was also certainly aware that bringing newer characters into contact with the company’s most popular heroes would be a great way to provide them with wider exposure.

“And there is a lot to tell in this issue — from contacting Ant-Man, to discovering a hidden world, to helping the royal family which Doom has imprisoned to take back their throne,” comics historian Don Alsafi observed.

“And yet, as we’ve come to expect, there are wonderful little details as well. For instance, before they embark on their micro-journey, Reed tracks down Ben at his girlfriend Alicia’s apartment to test out a new serum, one that he hopes will be instrumental in someday changing the Thing back to human, permanently.”

July 1962: The Menace in the Metal Mask

Three members of the Fantastic Four were writhing and gasping for air in a gray dungeon, while the fourth — trapped behind a wall, tied up and invisible — agonized over her helplessness to save them. 

Overhead, on a giant television globe, a green-hooded, metal-masked mastermind gloated over his dials.

My 8-year-old self calculated that yup, this situation was definitely worth 12 cents. 

So I bought Fantastic Four 5 (July 1962) and met the greatest of the comic book super villains, Dr. Doom.

From the start, creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby emphasized Victor von Doom’s dominant characteristic, his overweening ego, which would always be both his strength and his downfall.

The Fantastic Four’s fractious team spirit would always prevail, standing in contrast to Dr. Doom, who could never really trust or rely on anyone but himself.  

The best super villains have their own style, their own idiosyncrasies. They are distinctive. Dr. Doom would treat you to a sumptuous feast served by robots in a cavernous banquet hall — third-person lecturing you about how great he is the entire time — and then have you locked up in an elaborate death trap in the dungeon, whereas the Joker would just giggle because he’d already poisoned your drink.

Dr. Doom’s ego was the constant in his character as the decades passed. I remember thinking how fitting it was when Doom once announced that all his remarks must be recorded for posterity. Despite his horror at what lay beneath the mask, this guy saw his true love in the mirror every morning.

Dr. Doom had a distinctive visual appeal, and a later an even more famous super villain, Darth Vader, would owe a lot to it. 

Oddly enough, that same month in 1962, an alien creature with an identical mask — riveted, harsh and forbidding — appeared on the newsstands in Tales of Suspense 31 as The Monster in the Iron Mask. 

Jack Kirby knew a killer design when he came up with one.