TITLE: Arion: Lord of Atlantis vol. 1, Issue #1
YEAR: November 1982
COMPANY: DC Comics
Co-Created: Paul Kupperberg and Jan Duursema
Writer: Paul Kupperberg
Artist: Jan Duursema
Colorist: Tatjana
Letterer: Todd Klein
Co-Editors: Ernie Colon & Laurie Sutton
Like “Arak” which began in an appearance of DC Comics’ “Warlord”, “Arion: Lord of Atlantis” would also debut in “Warlord” issue #55 (March 1982) courtesy of writer Paul Kupperberg and artist Jan Duursema.
Kupperberg is known for creating the first comic book mini-series “The World of Krypton” back in 1978 and also “Secrets of the Legion of Super-Heroes”, “The Phantom Stranger”, “Powergirl”, “Peacemaker”, “Super Powers” and more. And Duuursema worked on “Star Wars”, “Advanced Dungeons and Dragons”, “Hawkworld”, “Hawkman” and for the Dark Horse, a variety of “Star Wars” series. And known for creating the Jedi Aayla Secura and Quinlan Vos.
“Arion: Lord of Atlantis” began as a backup story featured in “Warlord”, which would last through the 62nd issue before receiving a full series which would go on to last for 35 issues.
While one could jump into the first issue, it does help to read the previous “Warlock” issues with the Arion backstories.
The first issue begins with Arion in the cosmos and a woman/cosmic entity telling him that she gave birth to him. She tries to have Arion go with her but he denies her as he feels that his true mission is to find a way to prevent the coming ice that will affect Atlantis. Arion tells the entity that Earth is his home and Atlantis owns his allegiance.
We then get backstory of what happened to Arion and why he is in the cosmos, meanwhile, Arion’s Master has come to help him battle the cosmic entity, while on Earth, his human body has been possessed by a demon.
The warrior named Wyynde prepares to fight against the demon Garn Daanuth (the former mystical master of the city Mu) who has possessed Arion. while Wyynde’s allegiance is to protect Arion, can he fight the demon-possessed Arion and will he hurt him?
In Atlantis, the king is dealing with a potential civil war as his disapproval rating is low among the people. With disaster looming, they want to see results to defeat the disaster but without Calculha or Arion, what is Atlantis to do?
For the most part, “Arion: Lord of Atlantis” was another sword & sorcery comic book series that DC Comics wanted to support. As the genre was doing well, I found it to be an interesting series that was different from another sorcerer comic book series with Marvel Comics’ “Dr. Strange” and an Atlantis unlike its depiction in folklore or comic books of a city being submerged underwater.
The first issue was merely an introduction that kind of left some people scratching their heads as they may have felt they missed important pieces to the storyline (which stories were part as a backstory for “Warlord” issues 55-62). But along with “Warlord” and “Arak”, I found Paul Kupperberg and Jan Duursema’s “Arion: Lord of Atlantis” to be an enjoyable and entertaining comic book series.