Arion (comics)

Arion is a fictional sword and sorcery hero published by DC Comics. He debuted in Warlord (vol. 1) #55 (March 1982), and was created by Paul Kupperberg and Jan Duursema.^[1]

Publication history

Arion began as a back-up feature in the DC Comics book Warlord with issue #55. The Arion feature continued its run until issue #62. Arion then gained his own series, Arion Lord of Atlantis, beginning with #1, (November 1982). The series lasted for 35 issues, running from November 1982 to September 1985. Arion also appeared in DC Comics Presents in a crossover with Superman.

Fictional character biography

The title character Arion is a powerful Homo Magi from the nobility of ancient Atlantis. Arion is an immortal sorcerer who was born in 45,000 BC. Ari'ahn and Garn Daanuth^[2] are the twin sons of Calculha and Dark Majistra, two very powerful Atlantean sorcerers. While Calculha raised Ari'ahn to be a follower of light and the Lords of Order, Majistra raised Garn to be an acolyte of the Lords of Chaos. His companions include an Atlantean guardsman, Wyynde,^[3] and Lady Chian,^[4] his lover and the captain of King D'Tilluh's royal guard. Among his enemies are his brother Garn Daanuth, a formidable practitioner of the dark arts and Chaon, the puissant god of evil and chaos.^[5]

In his first appearances Arion was a sorcerer who protected the ancient, then land-bound kingdom of Atlantis during an upcoming ice age. After thousands of years of adventures Arion lost his ability to channel magic directly from his body and had to rely on mystical artifacts for his magical powers.

He later appeared during and after the Crisis on Infinite Earths event where he was made part of Power Girl's post-Crisis backstory. He eventually turned up in the present day where his body was taken over by Mordru and his spirit imprisoned in Gemworld. His spirit was finally released and allowed to go to the afterlife by Power Girl and Hawkgirl (along with a recently awakened Dove), in order to weaken Mordru. Before his soul departed, Arion revealed to Power Girl that she was not his granddaughter and thus not an Atlantean.

Current status

Arion reappeared in Infinite Crisis as one of the mystics gathered in Atlantis to keep the Spectre at bay, and later in the Day of Vengeance tie-in special as one of several magical beings summoned to help rebuild the shattered Rock of Eternity. No explanation was given for Arion's involvement at the time. It was later revealed that this Arion was in fact a pretender, a native of Akron named Bill Knightley who had decided to trade on Arion's name and reputation to build himself up in the mystical community.^[6]

The real Arion's involvement begins in the year 1659, when Arion is awakened from a night of debauchery by visions of a cataclysmic future centered around the presence of Superman. Cut off from his natural magics, Arion employed certain artefacts to propel himself forward to Superman's present. Arriving in Metropolis, Arion subjected Superman and his friends at the Daily Planet to a vision of a possible future where Superman and other alien heroes' involvement in humanity caused people to become dependent on them, ultimately producing an apocaplyse as their alien intervention held back the 'natural cycle' of civilisations falling upon reaching their peak, culminating in a mass apocalypse as the darkness they had held back for so long came at them with full force. Arion hoped to force Superman to retire and prevent the predictions from coming true.

Superman was given two weeks in which to decide how he would deal with Arion's request, during which Arion illustrated his point by magically steering a "field trip" of adolescent New Gods, chaperoned by Lightray and Fastbak, to come crashing into Metropolis and go wild with their divine powers, causing untold havoc and general interference with the populace. Superman defused the situation with Lightray's help and deduced Arion's involvement. At roughly the same time, Arion kidnapped Bill Knightley from outside the Oblivion Bar, interrogated him, and nearly killed him. The only thing that saved Knightley was his knowledge of the recently begun "Tenth Age of Magic," a tumultuous change in the world's mystical equilibrium. Knightley claimed to be studying the shift and Arion decided he might have some value alive.^[7]

At the end of the two weeks, Arion and Superman met again; Superman chose to remain active as part of Earth's defense and deeply involved with humanity, refusing to give up hope that he could make a difference. Arion's vicious response was to cast a powerful mind manipulation spell, with the intent of using Superman as a weapon to remove the threat of other alien heroes. Superman was able to resist thanks to training from the Martian Manhunter after his period under the control of Maxwell Lord.^[1] Given a mystic shield by the Phantom Stranger to protect him from direct assault by Arion's magics (during which the Stranger revealed that, while Arion's prediction could come to pass, the loss of life and experience that would result if Superman simply allowed civilisation to fall meant that mankind had to try to find another way), Superman was able to defeat Arion and disarm him of his rings, amulets and charms from which he derived his magic. Arion was returned to 1659 where he plans his next move on Superman in the future.

References

External links

• DCDatabase: Arion
• Cosmic Teams: History of Atlantis
• Arion, Lord of Atlantis at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on April 4, 2012.
• Arion at DC Universe wiki