Klarion the Witch Boy

Klarion the Witch-Boy
Promotional art for Seven Soldiers: Klarion the Witch Boy #1 Art by Frazer Irving.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	The Demon (Vol. 1) #7 (March, 1973)
Created by	Jack Kirby
In-story information
Alter ego	Klarion Bleak
Team affiliations	Seven Soldiers of Victory
Abilities	Sorcery, transformation into Horigal

Klarion the Witch Boy is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe character first seen in the pages of The Demon in 1973.

Fictional character biography

Kirby's Klarion

Klarion is a young practitioner of the dark arts originally hailing from Witch-World, an otherworldly dimension where everyone is at least somewhat knowledgeable about black magic. The problem was, being a child, he was constantly under the direction of adults who dictated what he could and could not do with his powers, as well as what kind of sorcery he could study. Using his power to open a gateway into the normal universe, Klarion and his cat familiar, Teekl, embarked on a journey to learn all there was to know about witchcraft, as well as cause some chaos along the way.

It had not been long before he attracted the attention of the demon Etrigan, who attempted to send him back to his own dimension several times. A rivalry sparked between the two, and their battles often came down to a competition of spellcraft. In addition to Etrigan, Klarion also crossed paths with Wonder Woman (whose then-friend and roommate Etta Candy was sent to Hell by them), the Flash, Batman, Chase, and Superboy's Ravers.

Not only could Klarion use his magic to wreak havoc, but his cat, Teekl, could assume a were-form under his direction. This granted her increased agility and strength, as well as augmenting her already ferocious personality.

Davids's Klarion

Klarion played a significant part in the 2000 "Event" Young Justice: Sins of Youth, in which he became involved in a plot by the Agenda to turn the public against the metahuman community, targeting juvenile super-heroes as the weakest link in the chain. He increased distrust and confusion at a rally for young heroes, by casting a spell that turned the teenage heroes present into adults and the adult heroes observing the rally into teenagers. In this story, under writer Peter David, he began referring to himself as "Klarion The Witch Boy," an affectation he has since ceased.

David's version of Klarion also appeared in July-June 2000's Young Justice #20- Time Out and #21 Young, Just Us Too. In these issues, he expressed a feeling of loneliness after turning various villains into children during the Sins of Youth storyline and wished for a playmate of his own age. 'Lil Lobo returned to attack Klarion and demand he return him to his normal age. A massive fight between Klarion, Lobo, and Young Justice breaks out, which Klarion seems to enjoy but in the end, Klarion still feels "incomplete". At the end of issue #21, Ariella Kent, Supergirl of the 853rd century, crash-lands in front of the Witch-Boy. The two become friends. It appears that Klarion has something of a crush on Ariella, though she is still only 6 years old.

Morrison's Klarion

In 2005, a new version of Klarion starred in his own mini-series as one of the seven main characters in Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers of Victory. Morrison described this character as a return to the original Kirby version with some updates, including the return of Klarion's original overall look, and a move away from the Peter David version. The new version of Klarion is an inhabitant of an underground community known as Limbo Town, inhabited by the Puritan witch descendants of the lost population of Roanoke. Limbo Town is actually located beneath New York City's subway system. Being a rebellious sort, Klarion clashes with the controlling and pious Submissionary Judah, the religious leader and defender of the town. Klarion attempts to leave, but in doing so attracts the attention of a terrifying entity known as the Horigal.

The Horigal is severely crippled by a passing subway train (being driven by underground pirates from another Seven Soldiers project, The Manhattan Guardian), and Klarion manages to escape. In the tunnels below New York, he encounters a Witch-Man of Limbo Town called Ebeneezer Badde. Badde tries to defuse Klarion's enthusiasm for the outside world and later betrays the Witch-Boy, almost selling him into slavery. His conscience prompts him to help Klarion at the last minute but the unforgiving Witch-Boy allows Badde to be killed. Although it is not directly referenced in the story, there is speculation^{[citation needed]} that Badde may in fact be Klarion's own missing father, Mordecai.

Eventually, Klarion makes it to the world above ("Blue Rafters"). There he is ensnared by the mysterious Mr. Melmoth (the Sheeda-King who spawned the Limbo Town people centuries ago with the women of the Roanoke colony). Melmoth encourages him to join a band of young super-delinquents. These children, along with Klarion, use their powers to steal an enormous digging machine from a New York museum of superheroes which, unbeknownst to Klarion, Melmoth plans to use to pillage Limbo Town.

When Teekl sees Melmoth pushing a member of the gang through a portal to 'the red place', Klarion tells the rest of the group of his evil, then abandons them.

Despite wanting to continue his adventures on the Earth's surface, Klarion returns to Limbo Town. There, the townsfolk try to burn him at the stake for blasphemy, but the arrival of Melmoth and his thugs convince the townsfolk. Klarion raises the alarm, then meets the dying Submissionary Judah, who passes on the title of Submissionary to Klarion now that all of the other Submissionaries are dead. With this comes the ability to become the Horigal (actually a gestalt form of the Submissionaries and their familiars), and Klarion promptly kills the thugs and cripples Melmoth, who vows to return after the Harrowing.

Afterwards, Klarion refuses his mother's offer to replace Submissionary Judah as leader of Limbo Town, saying, "I would like to be many things before I die, Mother." "Today ... Today I shall be a soldier."

In Seven Soldiers #1, Klarion betrayed the fight against the Sheeda when he acquired the complete version of Croatoan, a powerful machine created by the New Gods for the New God-Neanderthal hybrid Aurakles, in the form of a pair of dice (in Sheeda tongue it is called a "Fatherbox"). He then took control of Frankenstein and had him take him to Sheeda-Side where he now has incredible power.

Klarion also appeared in Infinite Crisis #6 along with many other members of DC's mystic community, an appearance which, according to Grant Morrison^{[citation needed]}, takes place after Seven Soldiers.

Most recently, Klarion has appeared in January–February 2007's Robin #157–158. In this story, he encountered Robin while pursuing another inhabitant of Limbo Town to Gotham City. It appears that the previous version of Klarion and Teekl has been completely wiped from the DCU, as Robin has no memory of anyone by that name upon first meeting Klarion. Furthermore, Klarion dubs Robin a friend and hero at the end of the story. Such a wipe and re-introduction on a minor character in the DC universe is usually due to erasure for character reinvention during one of the DCU multi-verse reshaping "Crisis" storylines, e.g. "Crisis on Infinite Worlds" and "Infinite Crisis."

Morrison states in the annotations of the collected versions of Seven Soldiers that "DC continuity freaks may also see how easy it is to imagine Klarion proceeding from the finale of SEVEN SOLDIERS and heading back in time to make his first appearance in Kirby's THE DEMON issue #6."

Countdown

During the Countdown series, Klarion encounters Mary Marvel, who has recently been given Black Adam's powers, and is finding them hard to control. Klarion offers to help, in return for a fraction of Mary's power. This turns out to be a ruse, and Klarion attempts to absorb all of Mary's powers, but he is soundly defeated by her.

During the events of Brightest Day, Klarion is possessed by Alan Scott's Starheart power and driven insane. After wreaking havoc throughout an urban area, he is tracked down and defeated by Jade and Donna Troy.

Powers and Abilities

Klarion the Witch Boy is talented at sorcery.

Teekl's gender

Teekl's gender appears to have changed between Kirby's and Morrison's versions. Kirby's version (and appearance in animation) was female (including an alternate humanoid form), while Morrison's is characterized as male.

In other media

Television

Klarion as seen in The New Batman Adventures.

• Klarion appears in The New Batman Adventures episode "The Demon Within" voiced by British actor Stephen Wolfe Smith in his final performance before his death shortly after. He often calls Blood "Uncle Jason", even though the two are not related. Blood claims that Klarion does it for mere amusement. He is outbid by Bruce Wayne in an auction for an ancient branding iron which supposedly had mystic properties given to it by Morgaine le Fey. He planned to use this as a way to finally get the upper hand on Etrigan, who also made an appearance. However, he is able to steal the branding iron and use it to take control of Etrigan, leading him on a random spree of havoc and violence. Soon, Etrigan imprisons Klarion in a snowglobe.

• He is later referenced in the Batman Beyond episode "Revenant." An elderly Bruce Wayne talks about how he believes in the supernatural due to encounters with everything from zombies to "witch-boys".

• Klarion made an appearance as a villain for Zatanna in Cartoon Monsoon.

• Klarion appears in the Young Justice episode "Denial" voiced by Thom Adcox-Hernandez. In the show, Klarion is more dangerous then he looks due to the fact that he is depicted as a Lord of Chaos. He collaborates with Abra Kadabra into trying to steal the Helmet of Nabu from Kent Nelson, kidnapping him and entering the Tower of Fate, when Young Justice opens the way looking for Kent. Kent escaped the two with Wally West and Artemis using his magic Kane. Abra Kadabra subdued the rest of the heroes while Klarion chased Wally and Kent to the top of tower, to the helmet of fate. Kent died after making a shield to protect Wally and himself from Klarion's attacks, telling Wally he had to believe in magic. Klarion's attacks ripped through the shield just as Wally donned the helmet of Fate, allowing Nabu to possess his body and become Dr. Fate. Klarion battled the new Dr. Fate, and seemed to gain the upper hand until Dr. Fate hit Klarion's cat Teekl, enraging Klarion. Teekl being Klarion's "familiar", keeping him anchored to the present reality, Klarion was forced to teleport away, leaving his accomplice Abra Kadabra to be beaten and captured. In "Revelation," he is revealed to be L-7 of The Light (Project Cadmus' Board of Directors).

External links

• Morrison's 7 Soldiers: Klarion, Comicon, September 8, 2005
• Seven Soldiers: Klarion annotations at Barbelith
• Klarion at the Grand Comics Database
• Klarion at the Comic Book DB