Real
Name: Buth
Identity/Class: Terrestrial
human
sub-species (hidden race); Aerian race
Occupation: Soldier, stable boy
Group Membership: Aerian race
Affiliations: Children of Dis, Dephine,
Dherk,
Garvan, Ka-Zar (Kevin, Lord Plunder), M'Dom
Typ, Shanna the She-Devil (Shanna,
Lady Plunder), Skites and other animals
in the Aerians' stables, Lady Tal, Wend, Zabu;
worshipped Tilbrok
Enemies: Belasco,
Cerberus robot, Charon robot, griffin,
harpies and various Pangean animal-men within the "Inferno"
region accessed via Mt. Flavius, Leanne
of Zarhan (while she was under Belasco's control)
formerly Dherk (when he was under Belasco's control), Ka-Zar
griffin;
at least formerly Lemurans (Kamin and Ular)
and Pterons (notably Phangor), Tubanti
Known Relatives:
Aliases: "Little Birdie" (from Belasco)
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly Aerie Shalahn,
Pangea, the Savage Land, Antarctica
First Appearance: Ka-Zar
the Savage I#3 (June, 1981)
Powers/Abilities: Like other Aerians, Buth
is a a humanoid possessed of various avian characteristics, like
large-feathered wings (with a
wingspan of perhaps 15') with which he could fly, at
speeds of perhaps 30-60 miles per hour.
Exceptionally large and strong
for an Aerian (perhaps peak or slightly enhanced human), Buth
could also fly carrying at least two adult humans in addition to
his own body weight.
He was an experienced warrior
both in hand-to-hand combat, as well as in swordsmanship. He is
also experienced in the sport of bala.
The Aerians may have had feathers instead of hair or they may have had hair in addition to feathers.
He likely had adaptations to assist in flight, such as porous, bird-like bone, and/or eyes adapted to resist high-speed winds, etc.
Although he speaks like a
human, he can also sing like a canary.
He may have enhanced healing,
as a femur fracture apparently stabilized to the point of no
longer needing a cast in just a few days.
Weight: Unrevealed (difficult to estimate as his bones may be porous like a bird's)
Eyes: Dark (possibly brown or black)
Hair: Black (or dark brown)
Skin: Green
History:
(Ka-Zar the Savage I#2 - BTS) - Buth was presumably involved in
the battle against the Pterons.
(Ka-Zar the Savage I#3 (fb) - BTS) - Buth was
renown for his strong qualities as a soldier and his size and
strength. He apparently was never defeated in combat.
(Ka-Zar the Savage I#3 (fb) - BTS) - During
peaceful times, Buth worked in a stable alongside his
girlfriend, Dephine, tending to the Aerians' animals, including
the Skites, winged steeds used by non-winged visitors/guests of
the Aerians.
The crowd cheered as they entered the ring, and Buth proudly announced, "They are cheering for me, my friend!" However, as Ka-Zar turned to face him, Buth caught him with a powerful blow to the face. Angered by the cheap shot, Ka-Zar turned and delivered a pair of body blows followed by two strikes to the head as he told a bird joke, and Buth collapsed to the ground. Typ's wife, Wend, comforted Dephine over her boyfriend's humiliating defeat, but Dephine found herself smitten with the powerful outsider.
(Ka-Zar the Savage I#3 (fb) - BTS) - Buth observed as Dephine left the arena, fawning over Ka-Zar.
(Ka-Zar the Savage I#3) - That evening, while other Aerians participated in a Kelta tournament, Buth worked in the stable yard, feeding a variety of beasts including a roost of skites (giant bat-like creatures). As Dephine arrived, he noted her lateness as well as her interest in Ka-Zar. When she mocked his defeat, Buth countered that Ka-Zar had been lucky, but she further mocked how Lord Typ treated Ka-Zar like nobility while Buth remained a stable boy.
Reminding Dephine that she was a stable girl, Buth instructed her to finish feeding the Skites as he had to attend the games. Dephine questioned the need for the creatures since they could all fly, but Buth explained that they used them for their many non-winged guests, and he further warned her to be careful of the hoxing ("in heat") Skite, as she was wild and if cut free she would fly straight to her native island. As he departed, he told her to be nice to the guests.
(Ka-Zar the Savage I#3 - BTS) - When Shanna came to pick up a new skite, Dephine jealously gave her the hoxing skite, which carried off her.
As the tournament continued into the night, a plot to assassinate Lord Typ was discovered. As Ka-Zar learned of this, Dephine again tried to seduce Ka-Zar, but when he learned what she had done, which threatened Shanna's life, he angrily grabbed Dephine and demanded more information.
(Ka-Zar the Savage I#3) - As Ka-Zar asked for his skite to go after Shanna, Buth appeared and challenged Ka-Zar. Believing Buth to be the assassin, Ka-Zar attacked, while Buth assured Dephine her boyfriend wouldn't suffer for long. Taunting Ka-Zar' as slowing, Buth dodged his knife strike and then struck Ka-Zar in the forearm with his wooden sword; Buth raised his sword and prepared to strike the staggered Ka-Zar in the back, but Ka-Zar shattered Buth's sword with his dagger and then dropped him with a devastating blow to his chest. However, as Ka-Zar sat astride his chest, dagger raised, accusing him as a traitorous assassin and preparing to execute him, a surprised Buth argued that he couldn't be an assassin with a wooden sword (he was unaware the assassin's sword was poisoned).
After Khup then revealed himself as the real traitor and struck M'Dom Typ with his poisoned sword, Ka-Zar dropped Khup with his sling, and the dying Typ told Buth to promise to help Ka-Zar restore the kingdom. Buth agreed.
Buth subsequently led a skite-riding Ka-Zar in journey out 16 miles over the Gorahn Sea to Nahgen Island; finding the island missing, Buth told Ka-Zar it was hopeless and that they must get back before the storm drove them into the ocean, but Ka-Zar refused to give up.
(Ka-Zar the Savage I#9 (fb) - BTS) - When Aerie
Shalan was beset by an immense griffin (which had escaped after
being unwittingly removed by Shanna from its containment in a
Pangean chamber that kept at at miniature size), Buth may or may
not have amongst the Aerians who engaged it. At some point, the
griffin snatched Dephine.(Ka-Zar the Savage I#9) - Under a hail of spears, the griffin dropped Dephine, and Buth flew skyward "faster than the mighty eagle," anger and fear blazing hotly in his eyes. He safely caught her and brought her to the ground and greeted Ka-Zar and Shanna, noting that the Aerie would need all the help it could muster to defeat this monstrosity, which seemed likely something from the bowels of Hell.
(Ka-Zar the Savage I#9 (fb) - BTS) - They returned to the Aerie, where Dephine was treated, and Shanna presumably revealed how she had released the griffin. Aerian physicians informed Buth that Dephine was in critical condition, as her wings had nearly been ripped from her body.
(Ka-Zar the Savage I#9) - Relating Dephine's condition to Ka-Zar and Shanna, Buth told them that he wanted that aberration stopped immediately. When he noted they would form an organized hunting party, another Aerian revealed they had designed an artificial wing apparatus.
Ultimately, Ka-Zar drove the griffin into Mt. Flavius, Pangea's only active volcano, the magma of which apparently slew it. Additionally, it's body apparently sealed the volcano's molten surface, and the pressure caused an eruption, which ripped a gash in the volcano's base. Buth investigated alongside Ka-Zar, Shanna and the android Dherk, and they found the entrance to a dark cavern, with an inscription stating "Abandon hope all ye who enter here," and from which issued sinister laughter.
(Ka-Zar
the Savage I#10) - Buth asked Dherk -- as his people had built
Pangea -- if he knew anything about this place, but he did not. As
they entered the tunnel into the subterranean hellish realm, Buth
wondered why the griffin had been trying so intently to get back
to this area. When they encountered Charon who ferried them across
the waters, Ka-Zar wondered why he did not speak of fiery
darkness, and Buth suggested that perhaps he had not read the
book. Shanna feared that they were going to die, and Buth
suggested that they were perhaps already dead. Determining that
they were actually being pulled along by an underwater chain,
Ka-Zar correctly determined Charon to be a robot and tore off his
head. Charon's headless form nonetheless attacked Ka-Zar, and
Buth, Dherk and Shanna pulled off Charon's decapitated body and
cast it into the water. Dherk suspected this place to be part of
an ancient Pangean amusement park and the Charon robot to have
malfunctioned; Buth suggested that he had just lost his head (ba-dump-bump).
Inside the second circle of Hell, Shanna was caught in some kind of wind vortex, but Buth recovered her, noting that he had flown against worse winds before he had his pin feathers. However, the group decided that the effect was fun, and they floated around in it until the winds abruptly died down. In the third tunnel, they countered a giant Cerberus, who cast Dherk down into a deep crevasse. Zabu -- who had followed them in there -- aided them against the flesh and blood creature, and Buth stabbed it in the neck. Buth offered to fly down after Dherk, but as it was it was pitch black down there, Ka-Zar suggested they stick together and find another way down.
When seeming boulders rolled down a hill at them, Buth flew Ka-Zar and Shanna to safety, but they found the "boulders" to be something akin to paper mache. Following a long and narrow corridor to a cavern at the bottom, they were then attacked by a group of flesh and blood animal-men (including centaurs, harpies, satyrs, wolf-men, etc. When Phlegyas the ferryman arrived, Buth, Ka-Zar, Shanna and Zabu rushed into his boat, and the animal men stayed ashore, apparently afraid of the water. They eventual arrived the City at Dis, the portal to the damned, after which Shanna found a locket with a picture of Beatrice, providing evidence that they were in the realm written about in Dante's Inferno.
(Ka-Zar the Savage I#11 (fb)) - Buth prepared to fly ahead and check the place out, but Ka-Zar grabbed his ankle and stopped him, noting they had already lost the strongest of them, Dherk, and that they should not risk other losses by separating.
(Ka-Zar the Savage I#11) - When creatures emerged from the nearby water and tried to pull Shanna in, Buth flew down, pulled her away from them and carried her to safety. When they prepared to enter the city, lasers were fired on them (Ka-Zar presumed that automated defenses were activated by Buth's flying above. Buth and his allies dodged, but the other creatures fled into the water. Buth's strength was able to lift the portcullis (metal gate) long enough for them all to get under it and into the city. They then encountered the blind Children of Dis who bowed before them, after which they found a room containing a portrait of Beatrice and the Vesper's ship log of Captain Dante Alighieri, which told of Belasco's abduction of his bride and Dante's pursuit and subsequent adventures.
Kevin speculated that the Children of Dis were the result of 600 years of de-evolution after being trapped in the city and that Belasco had revived and was manipulating the city in an effort to kill them. After feeding on a rat meat and mushroom meal provided by the Children of Dis, smeared themselves with the fungus the Children used to keep away the demons, and they continued their descent. At the bottom, they found a river and the entrance to the seventh circle of Hell where they confronted by a seeming minotaur until Buth realized it was just a projected hologram. They were next fired upon by living centaurs, and they took cover until Buth flew Ka-Zar and Shanna high into the air and away from them, leaving Zabu behind for a subsequent trip. In the air, however, they were attacked by harpies, and Buth was forced to land as they tore at his wings. As they plummeted awkwardly, Ka-Zar was knocked unconscious.
(Ka-Zar the Savage I#11 (fb) - BTS) - Buth and Shanna were separated from Ka-Zar.
(Ka-Zar the Savage I#12 (fb) - BTS) - Buth and Shanna were captured by Belasco who mesmerized them. While Belasco sought to marry Shanna and perform a ritual via his bloodgem pendant to some his "elder god" masters, he was also pleased to capture one of the "mighty race of winged warriors" who had aided Dante against him 600 years earlier. He had Buth's wings clamped to a cross-like structure, mimicking a crucifixion.
(Ka-Zar the Savage I#12) - After Ka-Zar located Belasco, the demon-magician showed him the restrained Buth and demonstrated his control by forcing Buth to sing like a canary. He then summoned a horde of his bow and arrow-wielding demons, released the clamps holding Buth and commanded him to fly into their air, and had his demons fire on him. Although Ka-Zar attacked the demons, Buth was struck by arrows and plummeted end-over-end repeatedly until striking the tarn (small mountain lake) far below.
Zabu pulled Buth to the shore, and he revived, observing the moon through an opening in the rock above them.
(Ka-Zar the Savage I#12 (fb) - BTS) - Buth returned to Aerie Shalan and gathered an army of Aerians to travel to the top of volcano
(Ka-Zar the Savage I#12) - Buth and the Aerians -- joined by Zabu, born aloft on a disc/saddle atop some pteranodon, presumably domesticated by the Aerians -- aided Ka-Zar against harpies, allowing him to interrupt Belasco's ritual and hurl the pendant into the lava. The elder gods cast Belasco and the harpies aflame for this failure, and Belasco fell into the chasm below.
Buth stated that the deep pit had lots of places to hide, particularly for an immortal, and he wondered <if Belasco survived?>.
(Ka-Zar
the Savage I#13 (fb) - BTS) - Dherk was reassembled and joined
Buth and the Aerians in returning to Aerie Shalan, while Ka-Zar,
Shanna & Zabu.(Ka-Zar the Savage I#26 (fb) - BTS) - Returning to the Savage Land after time and injuries that occurred during a stay in Manhattan, New York, Ka-Zar collapsed, while Shanna was in a semi-comatose state. Zabu rushed to the Aerie and convinced Buth to come to their aid.
(Ka-Zar the Savage I#26) - Traveling with Zabu to the site where the two remained, Buth wondered what had happened to the two of them. Finally rousing from her stupor, Shanna claimed that that was not Ka-Zar, as Ka-Zar had died (which was what she had believed prior to her loss of full consciousness).
(Ka-Zar the Savage I#27) - When the delusional Shanna saw him in monstrous form and fled, Buth caught her, tied her to a tree to prevent her from running off, left Zabu to watch her and then flew Ka-Zar all the way back into Pangea and Aerie Shalan, delivering him into the care of Dherk, who placed him in his resurrection module. Buth then brought a Skite and a modified flight apparatus back into the Savage Land to fly back Shanna and Zabu, respectively.
With regards to Shanna, Dherk related the massive risks associated with the Atlantean treatment for insanity, but acknowledged that she would likely remain insane without the treatment. Dherk arranged for himself, Buth, Zabu and Ka-Zar's minds to enter Shanna's mind, and they all lied supine, wearing a mind-transfer headpiece connected to a main unit under the guidance of his chief assistant, Garvan, who was also a top Aerian scientist.
Just before Garvan directed the transference, Dherk instructed Buth and Zabu that they would meet at the waterfall at the entrance to the Savage Land, believing Zabu would help them find Ka-Zar, at which point they could explain to him what was happening.
Within Shanna's mindscape, Dherk, Buth, and Zabu met at the waterfall as planned, and Zabu swiftly led them to Ka-Zar, where they saved Ka-Zar from a lethal manifestation of Ramona Starr (who had caused Ka-Zar and Shanna's problems in New York) before explaining the nature of their quest to him. Their efforts to locate Shanna within her mindscape were aided by her memory of Mele of the Botor/Tree People. Mele guided them to the "Land of Memories," where they witnessed several of Shanna's tragic life experiences.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#27 / Ka-Zar the Savage#28 (fb) - BTS) - Belasco drained the energies of Aerie Shalan and other nearby locations to enhance the power of the renegade Aerian Sep's machinery and revive the unconscious Leanne. This threatened the equipment that maintained the others' presence in Shanna's mind.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#27) - Mele perished as Shanna remembered his death (but Dherk stated that he would live again in her memories once she was well). As the others approached Shanna's shrine to Ka-Zar, they were attacked by black serpentine manifestations.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#27 / Ka-Zar the Savage#28 (fb) - BTS) - Another power drain occurred.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#27) - Ka-Zar saved Buth from
being crushed by one of the serpentine creatures, which the
group collectively destroyed. Buth and his allies then continued
on until they found Shanna's mental self imprisoned in a
nightmarish tower. After a manifestation of Nekra attacked and
Zabu destroyed it, Buth flew up to the top of the tower while
Ka-Zar and Dherk ascended the stairs. Shanna felt momentary hope
when Buth told her Ka-Zar was alive.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#27 / Ka-Zar the Savage#28 (fb) - BTS) - Another power drain occurred.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#27) - The most recent surge so
sufficiently depleted the power that Ka-Zar's mental
manifestation weakened as did his body. Sensing this, Shanna's
anxiety increased markedly, and she was attacked by a
dragon-like manifestation of Leanne, a former rival for Ka-Zar's
affections. Realizing her anxiety was risking Ka-Zar's life,
Shanna was able to use an existing key to free herself from her
own prison. When Buth tried to help Shanna by attacking the
Leanne manifestation, Dherk tackled him, explaining that this
was Shanna's battle and that she must fight and win herself to
reclaim her sanity. Shanna rescued Ka-Zar and carried him back
towards the waterfall, where they would be safe, and when she
briefly faltered, Dherk explained that they could delay the
Leanne manifestation to buy Shanna some time. Buth and Dherk
toppled a tree on top of the Leanne dragon.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#27 (fb) - BTS) - Just then, the skies above Aerie Shalan cleared, and, with full power restored to the machinery, Garvan ordered the alpha-particle projector to be positioned and used on Ka-Zar, strengthening his life force.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#27) - As Ka-Zar stabilized and with Shanna's sanity restored, Buth and his allies assaulted and destroyed the Leanne manifestation. As Shanna's brainwaves normalized, Garvan had the sojourners returned to their bodies. But revived in time to see Shanna bring Ka-Zar back to consciousness, after which Ka-Zar proposed marriage to Shanna.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#28) - With Ka-Zar and Shanna having rested for two weeks, Buth convinced them to join him and the Lady Tal in a game of bala, men vs. women. However, Ka-Zar and Shanna had found themselves at odds with each other over the stress of their impending marriage (particularly as Shanna was concerned about her loss of independence), and when a storm approached, they refused to call the game and continued playing atop their skites. Finally the winds knocked them off their steeds, while Buth was smashed into a pillar, breaking his right femur. Ka-Zar caught himself and Shanna an a projection from the pillar via his sling.(Ka-Zar the Savage#28 (fb) - BTS) - Buth received a cast to stabilize his broken leg. Dherk arranged an emergency meeting of the Aerian high priestess Wend's advisory council to decide a course of action in the face of impending doom. Buth, Ka-Zar and Shanna were also present.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#28) - Dherk warned that Mt.
Flavius was about to erupt, and that if they were not prepared,
Aerie Shalan would be inundated with lava, forcing an
evacuation, and the entire Pangean ecological balance might be
disrupted. He then explained his plan to set an explosion at a
designated point at Flavius' base that would create a crude
vent, enabling them to channel the lava southerly, into a nearby
uninhabited canyon.
Buth was unable to participate
due to his broken leg, and Dherk had to stay behind to repair
the delicate climate control machinery, and Ka-Zar and Shanna
despite their recent strife.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#28 - BTS) - Ka-Zar and Shanna
successfully placed the bomb and diverted the lava flow, during
which time they resolved their differences and agreed to pursue
their marriage.
(Ka-Zar the Savage I#29) -
Buth was present at the Temple of Vant for the wedding of Shanna
and Ka-Zar, seemingly conducted by Wend (but actually by a
magically-disguised Belasco). After Belasco revealed his true
identity and transported away with Ka-Zar, Shanna and Leila,
Buth took to the air to aid his fellow aerians against the
Tubanti and Lemurans (who were led by the Belasco-controlled
Leanne). However, before he could gain significant altitude, the
Belasco-controlled Dherk grabbed the bottom of his cast. Pained,
Buth invoked Tilbrok to forgive him as he was being forced
against a friend.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#29 - BTS) - Ka-Zar and Shanna
banished Belasco.
(Ka-Zar the Savage I#30) -
With Phangor having manipulated the Lemurans and Tubanti to side
with the Pterons against Ka-Zar, Shanna and the Aerians, Buth
(who was apparently sufficiently healed to no longer need a
cast) and Wend were bound in a cage while Ka-Zar was forced to
wear a blinding helmet in a mock trial by combat. While it was
apparently intended for Ka-Zar to unwittingly slay Shanna, Buth
cheered when she instead knocked a Tubanti into Ka-Zar, leading
him to strike down the Tubanti. Wend chided Buth that this was
serious, but he acknowledged the gravity of the situation. After
Dherk freed Ka-Zar, he in turn cut the rope suspending Buth and
Wend's cage, which shattered when it hit the ground, freeing
them as well. Leila subsequently returned with the Botor, who
joined the fight against the Pterons,
Tubanti and Lemurans.
However, upon seeing that they were aiding Ka-Zar, who had (inadvertently) slain their former leader, Mele, the Botor turned against him instead. Bluffing that he would decapitate Leanne, Ka-Zar coerced the Lemurans and the others to have a peace council. While Wend considered that Ka-Zar's efforts could lead to peace for Pangea, she also noted that his methods were questionable; Buth countered that they were no more questionable than the Pterons' methods. Ultimately, while the tribes negotiated peace, they resolved that Ka-Zar was central to conflict among them and that there would be peace only if Ka-Zar was banished from Pangea for all time. But silently bowed his head as Wend accepted that it appeared that there could be no other course of action.
(Ka-Zar the Savage I#31) - A
subsequent Pteron attack on Ka-Zar cast some doubt to the
Lemurans and the peace council on the intent of Phangor and the
Pterons, after which Dherk told the story of the first Pangean
war and the heroic Tilbrok to remind the tribes of their origins
and how they had first come to peace. As members of each race
recalled that Tilbrok had been one of their tribe, Buth
commented that he was quite sure Tilbrok was Aerian. Regardless,
the Botor insisted on Ka-Zar's banishment.
After Ka-Zar, Shanna and Zabu had departed Aerie Shalan, Buth flew out and called to them, but they either didn't hear him or just didn't reply and continued on their way. Futilely apologizing, Buth flew back to the Aerie.
The
Aerians' sub-profile in Savage Land Races in Official Handbook of the
Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition I#19 looks a lot like and is dressed like
Buth. I never saw a crest like that on Buth, although he was usually
wearing a helmet, and it may have just been flattened when he took the
helmet off ("hat head").------------------->
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