Ka-Zar the Savage Vol 1 3

Days after the defeat of the Pterons, the Aerians celebrate by playing bala, a game that resembles American tennis (except for being played 300 feet above the treetops) and is reserved for only very special celebrations. Since Ka-Zar and Shanna had been instrumental in defeating the Pterons, they are given the honor of playing the first game against M'Dom Typ and his young bride, Wena. As the humans cannot fly, they ride large bat-like creatures called skites as mounts. During the game, Ka-Zar expresses his desire to get away on his own for a while which gets him in trouble with Shanna, who has a hunch he just wants to go searching for Leanne. Shanna gets so angry that she takes a swing at him with her bala racket, accidentally throwing herself out of her skite's saddle and forcing Typ to save her. When Ka-Zar expresses his surprise at Shanna'a lousy temper, Wena tells him that it's because she's a woman in love and suggests that he talk to her about it, but only if he's really interested.

The next day, Ka-Zar and Lord Typ are watching unarmed fighting matches in an arena when Buth, a large and muscular Aerian who has never been beaten, wins his latest match and asks if the Earth-dweller would give him the pleasure of a bout. Ka-Zar initially refuses until Buth asks if he's afraid, and then he accepts the challenge and is able to quickly beat Buth down. Buth's girlfriend, Dephine, is in the audience but, instead of being upset by Buth's defeat, finds Ka-Zar to be very impressive. After the match, Dephine tells Ka-Zar that she has been asked to present him with an award for his valor and leads him to a room with a bed where she attempts to seduce him. Ka-Zar turns her down but she seems determined to press on until Zabu shows up. Making his escape, Ka-Zar goes to talk to Shanna who he finds packing to return to the Savage Land. They have an awkward talk about their feelings for each other that doesn't resolve anything, but they do end up making out, displeasing Dephine, who has been spying on them.

That afternoon, a kelta tournament begins, a no holds barred battle royal fought with wooden swords and shields by two teams, with Typ leading the Blue Team against the Red Team. Typ tells Ka-Zar that kelta isn't just a game because he, as the leader of the Aerians, and his team are expected to win the battle. Losing a kelta wouldn't banish him from office, but it wouldn't look good on his record.

Meanwhile, in the stable yard, Dephine shows up for work late, and Buth expresses his irritation about having seen her leave the arena with Ka-Zar. Before going to attend the games, Buth tells Dephine not to let anyone ride a certain spotted skite because she's a mare who is hoxing (in heat) and will fly straight for her native island if she's let loose.

Back at the tournament, Shanna falls out of her saddle while avoiding a sword blow, but this time it's Buth who catches her. Since her skite was dazed by the blow, Shanna goes to the stable to get a fresh mount. When she asks if the spotted one is available, Dephine initially says no, but then, upon noticing who is asking, instead says that she's all ready to go. After strapping Shanna onto the saddle, as a safety precaution, Dephine releases the skite who immediately flies away, with Shanna unable to control it.

Back at the tournament, which is now being fought by torchlight, Typ notices that his blue warriors are suddenly suffering heavy casualties, falling after receiving only slight scratches and not getting up again. Khup, his first lieutenant, warns him of trouble because one of the physicians has detected a drug in the blood of the fallen warriors. As Khup leads Typ off to speak to one of the captured red banded warriors, Ka-Zar is distracted by Dephine, who renews her attempt to seduce him.

At the field hospital, Chan tells Typ that it was his own Red Team who were responsible for downing him. Chan confesses that the games were fixed as part of a plan to overthrow the kingdom, that the Blue warriors will survive because the wooden swords with which they were attacked were only dipped in a mild drug, and that Typ is to be assassinated by someone wielding a sword that has been dipped in snake venom but exactly who is to kill Typ is a secret that none of the conspirators were told. Typ sends Khup to gather Ka-Zar, Shanna and those Aerians who had been with him the longest while he goes to find his wife.

Still trying to seduce the unwilling Ka-Zar, Dephine lets it slip that she know that Shanna won't be around to bother them for days. When Ka-Zar confronts her about this, Dephine reveals that she sent Shanna far away to a private little island by putting her on a hoxing skite. A just-arrived Khup overhears this and reveals that he had brought that skite from the island of Nahgen. Khup then tells Ka-Zar that a hoxing skite will return to its birth-place no matter where it is, and that, since the island of Nahgen sank six days ago, that means that the skite will just fly in circles around where its home island should be until it falls into the sea. Typ and Wena then arrive and reveal that someone is plotting to assassinate him. Ka-Zar demands to know when Shanna left the stable and, Dephine, horrified by what's she's done, reveals that she left no more than fifteen minutes ago. Ka-Zar wants to get to his own skite but is delayed when Buth arrives and attacks him with a wooden sword, leading everyone to believe he's the assassin. During the battle, Buth's sword cuts Ka-Zar's arm and Typ declares that Ka-Zar will be dead in seconds, but Ka-Zar, instead of dying, then defeats Buth who is puzzled when Ka-Zar accuses him of plotting to kill his own ruler. The truth is revealed when Khup, the real assassin, stabs Typ with the poisoned sword, but his victory is short-lived because Ka-Zar then uses his lethal sling to take care of him. A dying Typ uses his last moments to ask Buth to promise to help Ka-Zar restore the kingdom, and then says good-bye to Ka-Zar and asks him to say good-bye to Shanna for him.

Ka-Zar can't stay to mourn as he still has to fly out to rescue Shanna. Dephine doesn't know where the island of Nahgen should be, but Buth does, so he leads Ka-Zar there. Hours later, over the Gorhan Sea and in the middle of a heavy storm, they reach where the island should be, but it's not there so Buth concludes that it must have sunk. Ka-Zar refuses to leave until he finds Shanna, even though, with his skite weakening, he'll drown when it falls into the sea.

Notes

Lord M'Dom Typ is fatally poisoned in this story. Although his death is not actually depicted in any panel, it is presumed to have occurred before Ka-Zar left in search of Shanna because, in the next issue, Ka-Zar reminds Buth that Khup had killed his ruler. M'Dom Typ is otherwise never seen (or even mentioned) again in this series.
- A similar-looking Aerian addressed as "Lord Typ" was depicted as being the leader of Aerie Shalan when it was destroyed in Avengers #257. However, Avengers, Thor & Captain America: Official Index to the Marvel Universe #8 confirms that M'Dom Typ died in this issue and suggests that the later "Lord Typ" was a relative who had inherited the position of leadership.
The home of the Aerians is called "Aerie Shalhan" in this story. It will start being called "Aerie Shalan" in the next issue.
Lord Typ's young bride, Wena, first appears in this issue. Although she is referenced, mentioned or addressed by that name five times in this story, Ka-Zar also calls her "Wend" once. This has caused her to be confused with the Aerian High Priestess named Wend who appears in Ka-Zar the Savage #28-30. However, since the coloration of Wend's wings and hair are different from Wena's coloration, they're (probably) two different characters, and Ka-Zar, while upset after learning only seconds earlier that Shanna was perhaps flying to her death, just misspoke Wena's name.
Exactly why Chan was struck down by one of his fellow conspirators in the Red Team is never revealed.
Khup speaks of the island of Nahgen but Ka-Zar calls it the island of Nahgan. The name is later consistently spelt as "Nahgen."
- Buth tells Ka-Zar that the island is due south of Aerie Shalan. This will later be contradicted by maps, beginning with the one presented in Ka-Zar the Savage #8, that show that Shalan is itself located south of the Gorhan Sea, meaning that any island in that sea must be north of the aerie.

Trivia

As with the previous issue, the title is a play on the famous observation by Alexander Pope, "To err is human, to forgive divine."

Links and References

References

Ka-Zar the Savage Vol 1 3

Appearing in "To Forgive Dephine!"

Synopsis for "To Forgive Dephine!"

Notes

Trivia

See Also

Links and References

References