Synopsis
Ka-Zar (1997 series) #6 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
Ka-Zar was attacked in the Savage Land by Gregor hired by Kevin's brother Parnival Plunder. KZ came to New York and confronted PP, closely followed by his wife Shanna. Last issue they and Zabu the smilodon set up home in the Plaza Hotel opposite Parnival's office building. However Plunderer used gamma rays to increase the strength and intelligence of Rhino and sent him against his brother at a party in the Natural History Museum. And Rhino caused a blue whale exhibit to fall on him ...
... but Ka-Zar manages to roll out of the way. Battle recommences between the 2. Shanna grabs a stone axe, attaches a vine to it, tosses it to hubby and pulls him free. After which they have a quick bicker about him relying on modern tech too much lately. Then they notice the foe glow green and shrink withing his Rhino suit, and also lose his grammatical ability. But then his decline rebounds in time to fend off an attack by Zabu, and he ends up even bigger than before. However the cycle starts again with a wider swing. The foe traps Kevin against a pillar with a horn to his throat but KZ delays the killing blow by suggesting that what's happening to Rhino is Parnival's fault and it will probably kill him. Another extremely week and dumb spell frees Ka-Zar and makes Rhino agree to an alliance.
Next we see a room in PP's penthouse suite decked out like a jungle where Parnival dressed like Tarzan kills a Zebra (which is a surprising thing for a germaphobe to do). He returns to his office to find a business minion named Karen Conroy rifling through his files looking for something she needs. She knows no-one's supposed to enter without permission, but is shocked when he fires her and tells her that he'll wipe her identity from existence. After she leaves the building an ATM confiscates her credit card and when she gets home her apartment is empty.
Meanwhile the earlier 4some (with Rhino in bigger mode) invade Plunderer's building and wade through his armed guards seeking the gamma ray equipment. As Rhino shrinks again he manages to indicate the last door to break through. They get into the room and shut the door. Unfortunately they can't figure out how to work the machine until Rhino gets big and brainy again and does it for them. And he's also deduced that if he left it 1 more cycle he'd be dead. As the soldiers break in Rhino stabilises himself back in his normal mode, but that's still enough to take out the soldiers. He then goes after Plunderer, and Ka-Zar and co leave him to it.
They return to their Hotel and listen from a distance as Rhino smashes his way up inside the skyscraper. Parnival panics and remotely orders his men to stop Rhino and/or find him a way to escape. But then he gets a summons from his secret master and steps through the door which leads into an interdimensional void where he's asked for a progress report. Plunder admits he's hit some snags but the big bad's patience is wearing thin. Parnival exits back to reality and contacts operatives in the Savage Land. They've been sent to look for something and now they've found it. They're standing on a huge cubic mechanism (surrounded by dinosaurs).
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Shanna (
Shanna Plunder).