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I just realized! The last we saw of the Wasp, she was unconscious after being hit by a Maggia bullet in Count Nefaria's castle (Avengers #13). Now here she is, three weeks later in Tales to Astonish - fit as a fiddle! Assuming that Stan is going to continue the "dyin' Dyne" storyline in Avengers 14, that means that this Giant-Man story isn't concurrent with the other Marvel series, at least for this month, and that this story takes place between TtA 65 and Avengers 13.

Not particularly good planning between the two series. Was Janet's cliffhanger ending in Avengers 13 an eleventh-hour addition to that story? If not, why wouldn't Stan at least include one of his patented splash caption disclaimers such as: "Note to dedicated Marvelites: this story takes place before last month's Avengers #13!"?

I haven't read Avengers 14 yet but it would have been cool if Stan had elected to give us a 12-page GM story in which he had to fight some villian solo while frantic with worry for the comatose Janet, before she recovered in the Avengers.

"I am Ka-Zar!"..."I am Ka-Zar!" - Ka-Zar

We've come to the end of the first volume of X-Men Masterworks. This is a decent enough story to end with, although it's mostly just visual spectacle. I don't know if Stan really thought Ka-Zar was going to catch on as a popular Marvel character with this persona, but he doesn't have much personality with which to do it (Ka-Zar, that is). Poor dialogue and overly rudimentary speech patterns: "No touch!!...No talk!...No return!" Is this the sort of riveting characterization that's going to make Ka-Zar a draw at the spinner rack? I know the character's name was first used in Marvel Comics #1 back in 1939, but was that the same actual character as regarded by this new Marvel Age continuity? My guess is that it was, but I have no idea. I'd be interested to learn what had been the most recent Ka-Zar appearance prior to X-Men #10 and to what extent he had been updated or reimagined for his Marvel Age debut. For instance, did he live in a forgotten jungle underneath Antarctica before this issue, or did he just live in a normal jungle?

We get a couple good illos of this "new" character, most notably the cover (where Zabu's tusks look like that of a walrus - should they curve forward rather than inward?). The splash is decent and there's also this nice panel of their first appearance in the actual story.




Not to mention this closeup, featuring some visual comedy from the X-Men.

Of course the X-Men have to be made to tangle with Ka-Zar, but couldn't Stan have thought of a better instigation? The battle occurs because Beast tried to feel Ka-Zar's muscles. This is certainly a far cry from having to keep the Avengers from attacking Lucifer so that a dead man's trigger won't decimate the region. But I guess I shouldn't complain - I'm just glad Ka-Zar happened to be in that area of the enormous jungle when the X-Men were attacked. (Speaking of which, what reason would young readers imagine for why the marauders selected Marvel Girl in particular to be kidnapped?)

During that five-panel tussle, Ka-Zar "muzzles" Cyclops by covering his visor with his hands. Cyke doesn't want to blast him (although I thought he's already made use of a mild stun setting in previous issues), but that doesn't appear to bother Cyke on the cover.

It doesn't seem that the term "Savage Land" is used in this story. (I couldn't help but be reminded of my first Savage Land story though - the ultra-classic Marvel Fanfare #1-4, featuring Paul Smith and the Man-Spider.) What I don't understand about the Savage Land is how there can be open blue sky miles underneath the ground, "buried far beneath the frozen wastes of Antarctica". For instance, take Ka-Zar's brief description of his "Mole Man" origin: "Many moons ago...other men...on surface...attacked Ka-Zar! Ka-Zar fled...down here!" Many "moons"?? Where is he seeing the moon? Is there a hole in the sky somewhere where he sees through to the second sky above the ground (the ground which is itself far out of sight overhead)? Maybe it's more likely that Ka-Zar makes periodic journeys to the surface for some reason (he has something in common with Namor). Anyway, I would have liked some small, pseudo-scientific excuse from Stan to explain the underground sky and light source.

Kirby's "prehistoric creature" illos are the highlight of the issue, starting with the Angel's close encounter with Not-Sauron:



...and a brontosaurus...



...and some mastodons. I mean you can even hear their trumpeting roar in this illo.



There's even a "King Kong" sequence when Warren and Jean are tied atop a hill to be eaten by an emerging Tyrannosaurus Rex. Jean is so hysterical with fear, she imagines she's with Scott in their dying moments: "Scott...listen!!" I'm sure Warren takes this in stride given the circumstances, and anyway he's already shown in a previous issue that he knows Jean chose Scott instead of him.

You can see how scared Jean is.




I think Stan almost descends to condescension by making Jean so much more afraid than the men. But whereas she used to have trouble lifting Hank off the ground, now she can topple a Rex.

Here's a scene where she almost seems to be visibly praying for a "wild man without clothes".




Stan really makes use of his romance comic experience, laying it on thick in Scott's and Jean's frustrated thoughts:

Scott: "Almost as unbelievable as your beauty, which leaves me breathless!"

Jean: "But to you, I'll never be anything more than Marvel Girl!"

Scott: "I've got to change the subject! When she stands this close to me, I forget everything but my desire to reach out...to embrace her!"

Jean: "Is that the normal concern of a leader for an ally...or, do I detect another note in his voice?...One that I've been longing to hear?"

I'm guessing these asides are only for the benefit of readers past a certain age, but I sure would like to see the impatient reaction from the younger readers, who probably agree with Warren: "I'm okay, too, Cyke! Or hadn't you noticed?!!"

Speaking of Warren, am I supposed to believe that his huge curved wings are smashed down so tightly as to be totally undiscernible under his shirt?



And didn't he used to be a blonde? Oh wait, he's blonde again on the next page, but still without any hint of wings.



And then his blonde hair is gone again on the next page. But what joy on the face of the Beast!

_____Apple pie!____________________________________Malt beverage!__



Jean's "eyes" in that panel seem to finally offer a vital clue to the Volume One mystery of the ever-pupilless X-eyes. It looks like someone was using white-out to "erase" the pupils, either in the original floppies or the Masterwork (for what purpose, I can't fathom).

How about a couple amusing illos of McCoy's Beastly Toesies? Here he hangs solely by the strength exerted between two toes.




Really I think this chair should just go ahead and fall over.




A couple odds and ends...

Xavier claims that either he or Cerebro would have sensed a mutant even as far away as Antarctica. That's a pretty far reach. So do they know about every mutant on Earth? Unless half the circumference of the globe is too far for their detecting capabilities, the only "new mutant" surprises should be from ones who have just recently entered puberty (if the puberty-onset aspect has even been invented at this point.)

The U.S. government still liasons with Xavier. Is this the first time that's been seen since #2? I'm surprised they still trust him, what with the Brotherhood showing the world what mutants are capable of.

How do Iceman's eyes and ears work when icy? For this reason, I'd have to say his power is the most impressive of the five students'.

There's a nice use of an occasional deep red background in various panels from page 8 onward, but I'm loathe to scan from a forced-open Omnibus when I have a Masterwork to use instead. The Masterwork colors are pretty far off compared to the Omnibus. This Masterworked issue really loses a lot compared to the more vibrant color choices in the Omnibus, where the pterodactyl is even green.

Stan claims that "these two mags [X-Men and Daredevil] take longer to create than most of our others due to the type of stories we use". Why? I'm not sure I believe that. I don't see why Jack "Quickly" Kirby should need more time for The X-Men than he does for The Fantastic Four, for instance. And six of the nine magazines each feature a single penciller, so "most" of them don't benefit from a shared workload.

Stan also warns that if readers aren't excited by Ka-Zar, he might "bring Magneto back for another four issues!"

I wonder why we don't have more younger guys posting here. We have Storytime's Sons who are pretty young and we're very fortunate that Storytime takes the time to read to them and interview them and present their thoughts to us. But I've seen kids as young as 10 reading Essentials, and surely some of them are allowed filtered internet accounts by their parents. If this site can be located by a Google search with keyword "Marvel", I'd like to think at least a few of the thousands of Marvel-reading kids across the country would want to talk here. Does Yuku require a certain minimum age to create an account? How is that managed and verified? And would this site not appear to teenagers who have a teen filter on their internet account?