Arion: Lord of Atlantis

It came from the 50 cent bin.

Since I'm not a fan of most contemporary comics, I spend a lot of time in the used back issues section of my comic book store.  Sure, you have to root through several piles of "Rise of the Midnight Sons" crossovers and Dakota North, but every once in a while you find what you're looking for.  Or, you find something that you've never tried but always meant to.

Such is the case with Arion: Lord of Atlantis.  I'd heard of the character before and even read his crossover with Superman back in the middle of the last decade, but I never read Arion solely.  Other than that, my only working knowledge of the character came from 2002 when I finally sat down and read Crisis On Infinite Earths start to finish.  In that opus, Arion became a significant figure in Power Girl's post-Crisis background.  Perhaps I should back up.

Arion started out in 1982 as a backup in the DC Comics series, Warlord.  I was reading that series around then too, but my backup was Omac.  Not that bad, but I didn't get introduced to Arion.  But I digress...

Arion is a wizard, a powerful mage from the kingdom of Atlantis.  The character's birth was set in the year 45,000 B.C., so that should give you an idea of the setting where the series takes place.  On his many adventures, Arion is aided by the trope of two companions, thus creating a triad.  One of these characters is Wyynde, an Atlantean Guardsman and Lady Chian, Arion's hot squeeze and master of the sword.  What's interesting to me is how both of Arion's adventure companions are representative of the cool mixing of cultures that the Arion series provides.  Somewhat hinting at the theory that states that during the time of Atlantis, all of the world's cultures intermingled.  Wyynde is based on Native Americans while Lady Chian is Japanese in nature.  There are other influences, including Egyptian, Mayan, and medieval European.

These aforementioned adventures included staving off an ice age and sword and sorcery battles with the evil wizard, Garn Daanuth.  Almost too many battles, that is if one of the reader letters in the issue I have is accurate.  That said issue is number 22, wherein Arion and his companions sail the high seas and have pirate-like shenanigans in a coastal port of call, all of it involving ombudsmen and the magical properties of a golden icon.  Great fun.

That's what I have on him.  The DCU wiki has precious little else.  
I therefore need to find more Arion comics.  That means more time tunneling through the 50 cent bins.

 I am just fine with that.


My e-novella, Hound of Winter is available for only 99 cents

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