“Escape from New York!”
Writer: Bruce Jones
Artists: Ron Frenz & Armando Gil
Ka-zar is angry and dying as he fights Spider-man in the hospital. Spider-man is able to easily avoid the angry Ka-zar so he starts to have a more rational conversation. Spider-man eventually agrees to help Ka-zar see Shanna which is a good thing. Because at that moment the A.I.M. doctors are giving her electro-shock treatment. They want to make her psychosis permanent. Ka-zar and Spider-man make short work of the doctors and get Shanna to safety.
They part company after Ka-zar gets to his fisherman friend. The fisherman smuggles Ka-zar, Shanna and Zabu to the airport where Ka-zar hi-jacks a small Cessna. The plane was about to be sole flown by a young teenager who just got his license. So the gang flies all the way to the Savage Land and parachutes out. Ka-zar at the end collapses as if dead. Shanna is delusional. Zabu has brought Buth of the Aerie to help.
“The Final Blow”
Writer: Bruce Jones
Artist: Val Mayerik
Young Ka-zar is poised to spear his best friend Zabu who is trapped. He stabs and stabs the helpless sabretooth. Maa-gor is filled with pride that his new adopted son shows such brutality. But maybe a little too brutal. His constant stabbing might ruin the meat. So he goes there and discovers that instead of stabbing Zabu he was breaking the trap that held him. Ka-zar then stabs Maa-gor in the foot and the two run away. They find plants that heal the wounds and settle in to rest.
This was a fun and exciting issue. Ka-zar finally manages to rescue his beloved Shanna. We see that he has deep feelings for her. There is also a fair amount of comedy. The inhabitants of the psych ward were hilarious as was the fisherman that helped them. Then the young man and his sister that were kidnapped to fly them to the Savage Land. There was also moments of anger and friendship. They get back and we are left with another cliffhanger ending. This series has it all.
The Tales of Zabu was also enjoyable. Ka-zar comes out of his daze and rescues his buddy. It shows that Ka-zar has lost his innocence with the killing of another human and is coming into adulthood. This was a great idea for a backup story.
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