STORY: "Strangers in a Savage Land" (20 pages)  The Angel falls into the Savage Land after a fight with pteranodons, and gets rescued by Magneto - but doesn't recognise him.  The rest of the X-Men follow, and end up joining forces with Ka-Zar in his fight against Magneto's new Savage Land Mutates.

What you need to know:
The Angel has made his way to Tierra del Fuego separately, and blunders into the Savage Land after an encounter with the same pteranodons that Karl Lykos met in his origin flashback in issue #60.  Somehow or other, by falling down a big chasm (the, ahem, "Endless Abyss"), he ends up in the Savage Land. 

This would seem to suggest that the Savage Land is somehow below Tierra del Fuego, which doesn't make a great deal of sense, since it isn't an underground kingdom.  Oh, and Tierra del Fuego is nowhere near Antarctica.  In fact, the X-Men point this out to Ka-Zar, who simply answers that "My jungle kingdom is huge."  Unless the creators were planning to do a "magical portal" angle, it's really very difficult to explain all this.

Angel is killed in the fall, but found and revived by the Savage Land Mutates and their "Creator."  The Creator, it turns out, is Magneto, who's been hiding out down here ever since being beaten by the X-Men and the Avengers in Avengers vol 1 #53.  A flashback elaborates on this next issue, but doesn't really add much.  Since Magneto's out of costume, the Angel doesn't recognise him.

Magneto gives the Angel his new blue and white costume.  Later, during the reprint period, Avengers #110-111 revealed that the costume is actually a device of Magneto's which is draining Angel's energy.  Angel's desperately grateful for Magneto saving his life, and cheerfully signs on to help him against the X-Men, pretty much taking his claims of good intentions at face value.

It's also the first appearance of the Savage Land Mutates - Amphibius, Barbarus, Brainchild, Equilibrius, Gaza, Lupo and Piper - all of whom are Swamp People from the Savage Land who have been given powers by Magneto.  Considering that they're really just a bunch of henchmen, the Mutates have proved surprisingly enduring over the years, and continue to show up from time to time today.  Magneto tells the Angel that they're simply local mutants whom he's helping. 

The original printing didn't carry any credits, presumably due to a production error.

The story is reprinted in X-Men Visionaries: Neal Adams and X-Men Classics #3.

A more innocent time:
Ka-Zar's dialogue is spectacularly overblown.  At this point they were still writing him as a sort of noble savage, but the end result was to make him sound a bit like Thor.  "Listen, X-Men, to those fluted strains from nearby...!  I have never seen their maker ... but whispered tales call him the Piper!  When he makes music, death and destruction are his dread refrain!"  Bear in mind that it's now 1969, and he's the only character in the book still talking like this.

Comments:
I've never been a big fan of the Savage Land, which has always struck me as a concept bolted on to the X-Men for no particularly good reason.  But it doesn't matter so much when it's Neal Adams, because a Savage Land story provides him with the opportunity to draw lots of dinosaurs, and that's almost a good enough reason to go there in itself.

The story also makes very clever use of Magneto, at first suggesting that he's a local version of Professor X, but taking clever advantage of the fact that we've never seen him out of costume before.  The big reveal doesn't come until the final panel when he reaches for the helmet, and it's very effective - not only is it unexpected, but it's the first time the character really moves beyond the ranting nutcase of the early Silver Age.

FEATURE CHARACTERS
Cyclops, the Beast, Iceman and Marvel Girl I (all also behind the scenes in flashback between pages of issue #61)
The Angel (also in flashback preceding this story)

GUEST STARS
Ka-Zar and Zabu (both last in Incredible Hulk vol 2 #111)

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
Alex Summers and Lorna Dane (both only in flashback; both next in issue #65)

VILLAINS
Magneto (last in flashback in issue #63)
The Savage Land Mutates: Amphibius, Barbarus, Brainchild, Equilibrius, Gaza, Lupo and Piper (first appearance for all)

OTHER CHARACTERS
Tanya Anderssen (in flashback; next in Marvel Fanfare vol 1 #1)
Dr Anderssen (in flashback; no further appearances)
 

Updated: 1 September 2005

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