Ka-zar
As a collector of the Ka-zar marvel comics, I was very surprised and pleased to discover that Ka-zar's origins do not start in the 1970s, but in fact go back to the 1930s! "Adventures of Ka-zar the Great" was first published as a pulp magazine in 1936. Here is an excellent website that provides images and explains the full story, which is a bit dizzying to keep track of! http://home.comcast.net/~cjh5801a/Ka-Zar.htm Therefore it seems that Ka-zar was one of the original jungle heroes to have blond hair. His hair was shown as being very short in the 1930s, but became much longer in the 1970s.It has always been my understanding that Marvel Comics introduced Ka-zar in Astonishing Tales in 1970, though he also apparently had appeared in Marvel Comics #1 in 1939. In 1974 Ka-zar was given his own series, simply titled Ka-zar, which lasted 20 issues. In 1981 a new series titled Ka-zar the Savage was started. It later became simply Ka-zar which can be confusing for collectors. It lasted until 1984 with 34 issues. During the 70s or 80s, Ka-zar also found success in France where he was competing directly with Rahan, another popular caveman comic book character from the 70s. Ka-zar has also made guest appearances in other Marvel comics, such as The Uncanny X-Men in 1991 (No. 274) and Proffessor Xavier and the X-Men in 1996 (No. 11). In May 1997 Ka-zar made an official comeback with a new series, again titled Ka-zar. He has also appeared in the cartoon styled kids comic Marvel Superhero Squad, No. 6, Aug. 2010.
Astonishing Tales, Vol. 1 No. 9, Dec 1971 by Marvel Comics. Ka-Zar, Vol. 1 No. 10, Aug. 1975. Note the similarity of the two covers. Ka-Zar's head is in the same spot, facing the same direction, while the Saber tooth tiger is in essentially the same position. Ka-Zar also wrestles with gorillas just like Tarzan.
Here is Ka-zar Vol. 1, No. 2, May 1981, and Vol. 1, No.14, May 1982. Ka-zar teams up with a monkey man, but his name isn't Cheeta!
Marvel Comics Ka-zar, Vol. 2, No. 2, June 1997.
