Synopsis
Ka-Zar (1997 series) #9 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
The conflict between Kevin Plunder (Ka-Zar) and Parnival Plunder (Plunderer) has come to a head when the large machine (and some dinosaur eggs) PP's men brought from the Savage Land to Central Park turned New York into a prehistoric jungle.
Now KZ and his wife Shanna fight a pterosaur in the sky and bring it crashing into that jungle. They grab a vine hanging from the Empire State Building, avoid being eaten by a large dinosaur and slide down the long necks of some large vegetarian dinos. They join Zabu the smilodon on the ground among a panicking crowd. They remember back to the end of last issue when Parnival hit the switch that initiated this. He informed them that he'd been hired to get hold of the machine and test that the technology worked outside the Savage Land. They left to see if they could stop the machine working.
Now Ka-Zar grabs a discarded motorbike and uses it to deter a dino from snacking on a citizen. Shanna gets on the back and urges him to head for their target. But he chooses this moment to reject modern technology (which Shanna has been trying to get him to do all through this series). But she says this isn't the time and they set off followed by Zabu.
Kevin remembers (last issue again) that he'd worked out why he's had a yen for tech since their son Matthew was born. And he chooses (again) now to stop the bike and explain it to Shanna. He thinks it's an attempt to return to the toys of his cut-short childhood because he's never really grown up and so isn't ready for the responsibility of a son (who he loves). Shanna hits him for thinking that she would have agreed to have a child if she didn't believe he'd be the good father she knows he is. So he'd better shape up. They kiss and make up.
Later they've battled through to the site in the Park. PP's soldiers have it completely surrounded. Ka-Zar alone rides the bike at them. They fire blasts at him which he dodges and then dives into the lake. They think they've killed him but he surfaces riding a large aquatic dino which makes short work of the armoured guards. Meanwhile Shanna and Zabu have sneaked in and she's found something interesting, an indentation which neatly fits the medallion that Kevin's father (discoverer of the Savage Land) left his sons. KZ watches as she slots it in and a door irises open. Inside (which is much bigger than the outside) they see a stone-walled maze which seems to match the pattern on the medallion. She intends to use the medallion as a map to get her through, hopefully to somewhere she can shut the machine down. She tells Ka-Zar to stay behind and force Parnival to take him to his leader. He sends Zabu to look after her.
Plunderer has used the portal in his penthouse office to get to the Pocket Dimension where his master Thanos is trapped. He reports that the transformation of New York worked, and Thanos says that he already feels more powerful. Soon he'll be strong enough to escape, and use the 'terraformer' to take over the Galaxy. And he reaffirms that Plunder will have his promised world. But the Titan still hasn't fathomed the connection he feels between this dimension and the transforming machine.
Chased by a triceratops Ka-Zar reaches Parnival's skyscraper and then climbs the vegetation-covered outside, fighting off more pterosaurs. Reaching the top he finds germaphobe PP in his protective armour contemplating ruling Earth. Kevin persuades his brother to admit that his boss is Thanos. Interspersed with this we see S&Z making their way through the maze. Now she reaches the exit portal ...
... to the space where the Titan is trapped. They're both equally surprised. She tells him how she got through a maze to the heart of the machine to find the source of its power. Thanos realises now what the mysterious connection is, and why he was instinctively drawn to the Savage Land machine. This pocket dimension is the source of its power, which he has been absorbing all along. So the power he sought is now within *him*. But he, again possibly instinctively, grabs the medallion and then declares his intent to kill Shanna, over Zabu's objections.
And Ka-Zar wonders what's taking her so long.
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Shanna (
Shanna Plunder).