Klarion the Witch Boy
Encyclopedia
Klarion the Witch Boy is a fictional character
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 in the DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...

 universe character first seen in the pages of The Demon in 1973.

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
Black magic
Black magic is the type of magic that draws on assumed malevolent powers or is used with the intention to kill, steal, injure, cause misfortune or destruction, or for personal gain without regard to harmful consequences. As a term, "black magic" is normally used by those that do not approve of its...

. 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
Familiar spirit
In European folklore and folk-belief of the Medieval and Early Modern periods, familiar spirits were supernatural entities believed to assist witches and cunning folk in their practice of magic...

, 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
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 . The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986....

 (whose then-friend and roommate Etta Candy
Etta Candy
Etta Candy is a fictional character from the DC Comics Wonder Woman series.-Golden Age:In her 1940s introduction, Etta Candy is a sickly malnurished woman Wonder Woman discovers at a local hospital. When next she is seen Etta is transformed into a spirited, rotund young woman who has a great love...

 was sent to Hell
Hell (DC Comics)
Hell is a fictional location, an infernal underworld utilized in titles published by DC Comics. It is the locational antithesis of the Silver City. The DC Comics location known as Hell is based heavily on its depiction in Judeo-Christian mythology...

 by them), the Flash
Flash (comics)
The Flash is a name shared by several fictional comic book superheroes from the DC Comics universe. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in Flash Comics #1 ....

, Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...

, Chase
Chase (comics)
Chase was a comic book series published by DC Comics. It was written by Dan Curtis Johnson, illustrated by J.H. Williams III and inked by . It lasted ten issues . The character of Cameron Chase first appeared in Batman #550, January written by Doug Moench and drawn by Kelley Jones...

, and Superboy
Superboy
Superboy is the name of several fictional characters that have been published by DC Comics, most of them youthful incarnations of Superman. These characters have also been the main characters of four ongoing Superboy comic book series published by DC....

'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
Young Justice
Young Justice is a fictional DC Comics superhero team consisting of teenaged heroes. The team first appeared in Young Justice: The Secret , before graduating to their ongoing monthly series...

: 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
Peter David
Peter Allen David , often abbreviated PAD, is an American writer of comic books, novels, television, movies and video games...

, 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
Young Justice
Young Justice is a fictional DC Comics superhero team consisting of teenaged heroes. The team first appeared in Young Justice: The Secret , before graduating to their ongoing monthly series...

 #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
Ariella Kent
Ariella Kent is the Supergirl of the 853rd century. She is a fictional character from DC Comics' Supergirl series. The character first appeared in Supergirl #1,000,000, created by Peter David and Dusty Abell.-Fictional character biography:...

, 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
Grant Morrison
Grant Morrison is a Scottish comic book writer, playwright and occultist. He is known for his nonlinear narratives and counter-cultural leanings, as well as his successful runs on titles like Animal Man, Doom Patrol, JLA, The Invisibles, New X-Men, Fantastic Four, All-Star Superman, and...

'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
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...

 witch descendants of the lost population of Roanoke
Roanoke Colony
The Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island in Dare County, present-day North Carolina, United States was a late 16th-century attempt to establish a permanent English settlement in what later became the Virginia Colony. The enterprise was financed and organized by Sir Walter Raleigh and carried out by...

. Limbo Town is actually located beneath New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

'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
Manhattan Guardian
The Manhattan Guardian is a DC Comics costumed hero. Created by Grant Morrison and based on the character The Guardian, he first appeared in The Manhattan Guardian #1 which was part of the Seven Soldiers of Victory "megaseries"....

), 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 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
New Gods
The New Gods are a fictional race appearing in publications by DC Comics, as well as the title for four series of comic books about those characters. They first appeared in New Gods #1 , and were created and designed by Jack Kirby....

 for the New God-Neanderthal hybrid Aurakles
Aurakles
Aurakles is a fictional character, a superhero published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Justice League of America vol. 1 #100 , and was created by Len Wein and Dick Dillin.-Publication history:...

, in the form of a pair of dice (in Sheeda tongue it is called a "Fatherbox"). He then took control of Frankenstein
Frankenstein (DC Comics)
Frankenstein is a DC Comics character who is based on Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's original Frankenstein's monster, but is physically and mentally more reminiscent of the classic Universal representation of the character...

 and had him take him to Sheeda-Side where he now has incredible power.

Klarion also appeared in Infinite Crisis
Infinite Crisis
Infinite Crisis is a 2005 - 2006 comic book storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous, seven-issue comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway, and a number of tie-in books...

#6 along with many other members of DC's mystic community, an appearance which, according to Grant Morrison, takes place after Seven Soldiers.

Most recently, Klarion has appeared in January–February 2007's Robin
Robin (comics)
Robin is the name of several fictional characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, originally created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson, as a junior counterpart to DC Comics superhero Batman...

#157–158. In this story, he encountered Robin while pursuing another inhabitant of Limbo Town to Gotham City
Gotham City
Gotham City is a fictional U.S. city appearing in DC Comics, best known as the home of Batman. Batman's place of residence was first identified as Gotham City in Batman #4 . Gotham City is strongly inspired by Trenton, Ontario's history, location, atmosphere, and various architectural styles...

. 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
Countdown to Final Crisis
Countdown, known as Countdown to Final Crisis for its last 24 issues based on the cover, was a comic book limited series published by DC Comics. It debuted on May 9, 2007, directly following the conclusion of the last issue of 52...

 series, Klarion encounters Mary Marvel
Mary Marvel
Mary Marvel is a fictional character, a comic book superheroine, originally published by Fawcett Comics and now owned by DC Comics. Created by Otto Binder and Marc Swayze, she first appeared in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 in...

, who has recently been given Black Adam
Black Adam
Black Adam is a fictional comic book character, created in 1945 by Otto Binder & C. C. Beck for Fawcett Comics. Originally created as a one-shot villain for Fawcett Comics' Marvel Family team of superheroes, Black Adam was revived as a recurring supervillain after DC Comics began publishing Captain...

'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
Brightest Day
Brightest Day is a year-long comic book maxi-series that began in April 2010. The story follows the ending of the series Blackest Night and how the aftermath of these events affect the entire DC Universe.-Plot:...

, Klarion is possessed by Alan Scott
Alan Scott
Alan Scott is a fictional character, a superhero in the and the first superhero to bear the name Green Lantern.-Publication history:The original Green Lantern was created by young struggling artist Martin Nodell, who was inspired by the sight of a New York Subway employee waving a red lantern to...

's Starheart power and driven insane. After wreaking havoc throughout an urban area, he is tracked down and defeated by Jade
Jade (comics)
Jade is a fictional character, a superheroine in the . Known affectionately as "Jennie" or "Jen", she is the daughter of Alan Scott, the Golden Age Green Lantern. Her mother is Rose Canton, the Golden Age villain known as Thorn...

 and Donna Troy
Donna Troy
Donna Troy is a comic book superheroine published by DC Comics. She first appeared in The Brave and the Bold vol. 1 #60 , and was created by Bob Haney and Bruno Premiani...

.

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.

Television

  • Klarion appears in The New Batman Adventures
    The New Batman Adventures
    The New Batman Adventures is the successor to Batman: The Animated Series produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Although bearing different character designs and animation styles, both shows take place in the same continuity, with TNBA set two years after BTAS. The series aired on The WB from...

    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
    Batman
    Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...

     in an auction for an ancient branding iron which supposedly had mystic properties given to it by Morgaine le Fey
    Morgaine le Fey (DC Comics)
    Morgaine le Fey is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain published by DC Comics. She debuted in The Demon vol. 1 #1, , and was created by Jack Kirby...

    . 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
    Batman Beyond
    Batman Beyond is an American animated television series created by Warner Bros. Animation in collaboration with DC Comics as a continuation of the Batman legacy...

    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
    Zatanna
    Zatanna Zatara is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Murphy Anderson, Zatanna first appeared in Hawkman vol. 1 #4...

     in Cartoon Monsoon.

  • Klarion appears in the Young Justice
    Young Justice (TV series)
    Young Justice is an American animated television series created by Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti for Cartoon Network. Despite its title, it is not an adaptation of Todd Dezago and Todd Nauck's Young Justice comic series, but rather an adaptation of the entire DC Universe with a focus on young...

    episode "Denial" voiced by Thom Adcox-Hernandez
    Thom Adcox-Hernandez
    Thomas Herman Adcox is an American actor and voice actor, perhaps best known for his role as Brian in the prime-time soap opera Falcon Crest and the voice of Felix the Cat in The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat.-Life and career:...

    . 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
    Abra Kadabra (comics)
    Abra Kadabra is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain in the DC Comics universe and an enemy of the Flash. He first appeared in Flash #128 and was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino.-Fictional character biography:...

     into trying to steal the Helmet of Nabu from Kent Nelson
    Doctor Fate
    Doctor Fate is the name of a succession of fictional sorcerers who appear in books published by DC Comics. The original version was created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Howard Sherman, and first appeared in More Fun Comics #55...

    , kidnapping him and entering the Tower of Fate, when Young Justice opens the way looking for Kent. Kent escaped the two with Wally West
    Wally West
    The Flash is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. He is the first Kid Flash and the third Flash....

     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
    Doctor Fate
    Doctor Fate is the name of a succession of fictional sorcerers who appear in books published by DC Comics. The original version was created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Howard Sherman, and first appeared in More Fun Comics #55...

    . 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
    Secret Society of Super Villains
    The Secret Society of Super Villains is a group of comic book supervillains that exist in the DC Universe...

     (Project Cadmus
    Project Cadmus
    Project Cadmus is a fictional genetic engineering project in the DC Comics Universe. It was created by Jack Kirby as the DNA Project in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #133 , and was run by the former Newsboy Legion...

    ' Board of Directors).

External links

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