Given how last issue ended, this cover doesn’t bode well for our man. I guess. You can barely tell what’s supposed to be happening. Not the best cover we’ve seen. We somehow got through a whole issue of Savage Land hijinks last time with no sign of Ka-Zar, and this one rectifies that on page one, as the Tarzan knock-off and his faithful sabretooth tiger Zabu rush in to rescue Tanya from the T. Rex. In an unusual move, the opening splash is actually page 2…
Tanya helpfully passes out from fear so she can recap last issue for anyone who missed it, and Michael Golden redraws the same panel of the T. Rex for the 2nd time this issue and 3rd overall before she wakes up screaming, safe(?) in the arms of the man she came looking for, Karl Lykos, aka Sauron.
Ka-Zar gives us more exposition so we’ll know about the evil mutants from last issue, and then said evil mutants’ forces attack… with some very special guests.
Angel makes off with Tanya as we’re told what’s left of Peter Parker in the spider thing gains control long enough to stop trying to kill Ka-Zar and just leaves.
At the evil citadel, Tanya wakes up strapped to one of the tables, and Brainchild explains he’s curious to see what his devolver ray will do to a regular person. Then the good guys show up, but not before Brainchild can flip the switch and start zapping Tanya.
All the weirdos fight for awhile, with Angel helping the bad guys and Spider-Man-Spider hanging on the sidelines resisting the urge to do the same… until Ka-Zar is about to be killed, that is. Spidey saves him, but in the process, he destroys the machine!
That plan doesn’t make any sense at all! But…
Whoops. So, I guess this is Sauron’s re-entry into the Marvel Universe. He’d go on to turn up in a lot of X-books over the years. But wait, there’s one more page to this weird story…
Ok… wait. Like… do Sauron, Ka-Zar, Angel and this random Tanya lady all know Peter’s secret identity now? Kinda seems like they have to. And what of Peter’s reason to be here? JJJ said come back with great pictures or not at all, and once again, Peter goes home from The Savage Land empty handed. Kind of a mess here in the 2nd half of this story, and not much of a Spider-Man comic. Not much of an Angel comic, even. They got us here last issue and just faded into the background. I am disappointed. The rest of the book is a Mr. Fantastic story, no concern of ours. Next time, we’ll get back into regular programming.