Arion Lord of Atlantis

In the 70s and early 80s, DC had a line of sword and sorcery and war titles.  These titles were to DC basically what toy tie-ins were to Marvel, their big non-super hero sellers.  Marvel had ROM, Shogun Warriors, US1, Mirconauts  etc.  DC had Warlord, Arion, Amethyst, Sgt Rock, and the LOSERS.  And just like Marvel's toy comics, DC's non-hero comics were generally pretty good.

Which brings me to Arion.  I always loved Arion, I still do.  I think he's one of the most misused characters in DC history but I just love the concept.  So when Arion had his own series I bought it and here's an example I picked up for a quarter.

 

The story begins with Lady Chian, Captian of the Atlantian guard returning to the city only to find it in ruins.

 

Meanwhile Arion walks around looking like a pimp when he's met by another Lord who wants to use Arion's influence with the king.  

 

Arion is not amused and sets the guy's crotch cape on fire.  Arion decides to see the king anyway.  Meanwhile the Atlantians decide to use prison labor to rebuild the city including Arion's enemy S'Net the Jackal.  

At the palace Arion finds there's a line for a royal audience.  Luckily this guy who doesn't look suspicious at all allows Arion to take his place.

 

Meanwhile S'Net leads a worker rebellion and makes his way to the palace to capture the king.  He confronts Arion who should pose no threat now that he's been stripped of his magic.  

 

Whoops!  Last issue while S'Net was chilling in jail Arion got his mojo back.  But S'Net has come prepared with his own mage.

 

 Arion without the time to cast a spell does what anyone would do in the situation.  Impales his foe with a sword.

  

And that's pretty much that.

Better than this actual comic were the ads.

 

Remember this?  Age 10 to adult my ass.  I seem to remember this game having a hyper-complex stat system.

Then there was this...

 

It's hard for me to think about the fact that multiverse as I knew it has not existed longer than it existed.

 

Amethyst..

 

Squeeze his legs to activate his fists.

Because it's been so long since I last made a post here's a double shot of Arion.

 

So Arion has come to the future to help to get rid of alien influences because they're holding back the natural cycle so something to that effect.  So step one in his plan is to mind control Superman into being his pawn.  Once again, Arion dresses like a pimp.

 

Panicked about the idea of a mind controlled Superman the government launches Squad K they're Supermanbusters.   Of course this being comics and all, they're totally unaware that Supes has successfully fought off the mind control.

 

Superman uses his powers to throw Squad K off balance and uses his super-speed to flee the area.  And he flies straight into a giant pie, courtesy of the Prankster.

 

Superman clears the lead laced cream from his eyes to see some Justice type folks have arrived.

 

Because this comic is written by Kurt Busiek instead of mindlessly fighting, they talk and Superman convinces him he's free of Arion's control.  Meanwhile Arion does some sinister stuff while being watched by a couple of juvenile New Gods who are skipping school or something.

 

Having lost Arion's trail Superman goes to meet Squad K's commander who as it turns out is a big Superman fan.

 

With that wrapped up Superman plays a visit to the Prankster.  

 

Finally he makes a speech for Arion's ears only.

 

2 out of three frequent hosts of the Geek Fallout podcast agree Kurt Busiek is simply one of the best writers working in comics today.  I really don't care for the whole Arion comes to the future to cause trouble idea but it's so well handled and the story in this comic is so good I forgot I disliked the premise.

Next time: Something that changed DC comics forever.