In 1971, Marvel partnered with Magazine Management, their parent company, to produce a line of bigger-sized monthlies with a significantly higher price point. Savage Tales was the first, and the launch issue featured several Marvel characters–but many issues of this series would focus on franchise characters like Conan and King Kull, who I won’t be covering here because they’re beyond the intended scope of this site, which focuses on the Marvel 616 universe.
I will say that the Conan stuff is pretty cool, though. The first Marvel story here was by Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas, debuting a swamp-dwelling, alligator-wrestling mound called Man-Thing.
His origin, told as a flashback, is that Ted Sallis was working at a lab that was creating a “chemical that will be used for killing,” and his girlfriend turns out to be a spy.
Of course there’s only one vial of the formula, and to keep its composition secret, he injects it into himself.
That’s an odd thing to do. But it’s unclear whether Ted was a scientist or some other sort of government worker, especially because the narration tells us that he didn’t know the true purpose of the formula, so … I guess it makes sense?
Anyway, he turns into Man-Thing, of course, and then at the end the narrator tells us it was a super soldier serum.
It was beautifully illustrated, but it’s not part of official Marvel canon. In fact, the story had written many years earlier as a one-off by Stan Lee and Roy Thomas. Lee has taken credit for the name (and it may be one of the best character names in history, in truth), while he and Roy created multiple possible origin stories.
Unclear plotting and writing, but solid art and an enduring concept that would grow and improve in the years to come.
The second tale is a Stan Lee/John Buscema joint about Ka-Zar. Great art, of course, and a pretty generic story. Ka-Zar still talks like a caveman.
That’s the launch. After this, it’s Conan and reprints until Ka-Zar appears for a new stories in issues #6-7, mostly written by Conway with art by John Buscema, and they’re all generic with great art. Nothing worth hunting for unless you’re a big fan of Ka-Zar.