Synopsis
Ka-Zar (1997 series) #11 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
Thanos (or a reasonable facsimile) was trapped in a pocket dimension. To help him escape and achieve galactic domination, Ka-Zar's brother Parnival Plunder brought the machine that powered the Savage Land's existence as a prehistoric tropical jungle in Antarctica from the SL to New York and turned that into an urban jungle. Kevin's wife Shanna has persuaded SHIELD to transport it back to save the Land and the life of their son Matthew. But Thanos has realised that his pocket dimension is the source of the power of the 'terraformer', and he'd been absorbing it all along. So now he doesn't need the machine and he's begun altering planets across more than 1 galaxy. But KZ tricked him into following him through the maze inside the machine hoping to dump him in the freezing Antarctic Ocean when they got to the exit. But he was too late and now he's brought the villain to the Land itself.
Now we see Matthew Plunder's young nanny Zira trudging through snow and carrying him from their home where they were attacked by pterodactyls. But the cold and blood loss make her collapse and the baby crawls away to be menaced by a dinosaur. Except daddy Ka-Zar snaps its neck and picks him up just as Shanna and Zabu the smilodon join them from the SHIELD camp. The energy of Thanos' presence is defrosting the Savage Land but he tells her about the Titan's wider effects. (We see the Statue Of Liberty, the Watcher in the Blue Area of the Moon, and Skrulls on another planet all engulfed in vegetation.)
Meanwhile giant-size Thanos is defeating SHIELD forces with his mighty fists as well as invasive vines. Kevin leaves Matt with Shanna while he and Zabu go to tackle the big bad alone. The fight is of course brief but then Ka-Zar waves the medallion, which was both the key to open the machine and a map of the maze inside, and continues his bluff that it will be the cause of the Mad Titan's downfall. He reminds him how similar artefacts like the Cosmic Cube and the Infinity Gauntlet had been turned against him in the end. And indeed Thanos does look somewhat smaller now.
KZ then swings away on a vine, correctly confidant that the Titan will chase him just to be *sure* that it's only a bluff. He leads him up the side of a nearby active volcano and when he gets to the lip of the lava lake within he leaps off it ... and lands on a ledge that he knew was there, hoping that the lumbering giant will just fall in. But Thanos is cleverer than that and just smashes through rock to pluck him from the ledge. But Ka-Zar manages to break free and topple his foe into the boiling lava.
Then he leaves the mountain and joins SHIELD led by Dum Dum Dugan. He tells them to get ready to destroy the terraformer. Shanna is aghast because that will also kill the Savage Land, but he says it's the only way to save the universe. He didn't expect the big guy to die in the volcano, and indeed now he approaches dripping hot lava. KZ waves the medallion again to get the Titan's attention and points out to him what I noted earlier, that he's getting smaller. He suggests this is because he's no longer inside the machine (or rather its power source, the pocket dimension). And Thanos sense it is true that his power over the many planets is waning. And Ka-Zar points out that the medallion is the only map through the maze back to the PD, and then he smashes that.
The angry Titan leaps at him, but then past him to enter the machine. KZ and SHIELD get ready to blast the machine to smithereens. Shanna tries to get as many little dinos away as she can, battling through fires ignited by the villain's journey. Kevin Plunder sees Matthew alone and crying and picks him up to comfort him. Shrinking Thanos runs through the maze and we see him actually in sight of the gateway to the PD. But SHIELD concentrate all their fire and the terraformer goes up in a mushroom cloud.
Ka-Zar and everyone else weather the blast. But when he looks around he sees the Savage Land in all its former glory with all the ice gone. But when he reunites with Shanna he senses something different about her, and he sees the spinning world in her eyes.
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Matthew Plunder, Shanna (
Shanna Plunder), Zira.