KA-ZAR #5-6 (1997)

Back in New York City to stop his brother Parnival’s various acts of evil using tech stolen from the Savage Land, Ka-Zar ends up fighting Rhino–sicced on him by Parnival.

Mark Waid does an interesting thing with Rhino. Rhino got his power from Gamma Ray treatments, and now they are starting to wear down his intellect. Parnival has drugs that can slow that process–but Rhino has to agree to work for him to get those drugs.

The battle is fun. Zabu plays a part.

Pino Rinaldi takes over on art for #6. It’s still good, but not Andy Kubert good.

The fight is epic and takes up mosts of these two issues, but we also get the big reveal that Parnival’s employer is no less than Thanos.

Thanos!

He’s trapped in a dimensional void, and Parnival has the tech–from Savage Land–to free him.

I can imagine the pitch for this story: “Yeah,” says Mark Waid, “I’ll write your Tarzan rip-off character, but only if you let me have him take down the most powerful being in the universe!”

Such a great run.

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