Klarion the Witch Boy

Klarion the Witch Boy is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.

Publication history

Klarion the Witch Boy first appeared in The Demon #7 (March 1973) and was created by Jack Kirby.

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.

He soon attracts the attention of the demon Etrigan, who attempts 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.

David'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... Bum, Bum, Bum... 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. Li'l 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 and the two become fast friends.

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.^[1] 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 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, takes place after Seven Soldiers.

Klarion 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."^[2]

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.^[3]

Superman/Batman Sorcerer Kings

Klarion plays a major role in the events of the Sorcerer Kings three-issue storyline in Superman/Batman. He appears on the final page of issue #82, and in issue #83 he leads the current-timeline Batman, Doctor Occult and Detective Chimp to the "witches' road" while his future self is a member of the Justice League on a magic-controlled Earth.^[4]

Batgirl (Stephanie Brown) volume 3

Klarion's last appearance before the new 52 was in Chalk (heart) Outline, a Valentine's Day themed story in Batgirl volume 3, 18. Klarion and Stephanie Brown as Batgirl must stop Teekl's rampage, which involves a trip to Limbotown.

The New 52

Klarion made his first appearance in Teen Titans: Futures End 1 in September 2014 as part of The New 52 (a reboot of the DC Comics universe).

In October 2014 he starred in his own comic book series written by Ann Nocenti and drawn by Trevor McCarthy, that ended after six issues.

Powers and Abilities

Klarion the Witch Boy is talented at sorcery. In Seven Soldiers he has also assumed control of two magical dice, a time machine, and the throne of fairy-like ultra-evolved humans from a billion years in the future, the king of whom fathered his race of blue skinned witches. Klarion is also chaos personified, meaning that he can't be contained by anything or anyone.

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.

Teekl's Powers

Other than her ability to communicate with Klarion and the fact that the witch boy needs this cat to stay anchored onto Earth's realm, Teekl's powers are largely unknown but she does have some magic abilities on her own. Klarion will often bolster Teekl's natural magic with his own to lessen the chance of himself fading away, or to give her an edge in combat (such as by changing her body into a more vicious humanoid form.)

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 Stephen Wolfe Smith. He often calls Jason 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 (Jason Blood's demonic alter ego). However, he is able to steal the branding iron and use it to take control of him, leading the demon on a random spree of havoc and violence. With the help of Batman and Robin, Blood severs Klarion's control over Etrigan. Afterwards Etrigan imprisons Klarion in a crystal ball, which is positioned to give him the equivalent of a child's punishment of being made to sit in a corner.
• Klarion the Witch Boy 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 the Witch Boy made an appearance as a villain for Zatanna in Cartoon Monsoon.
• Klarion the Witch Boy (alongside Teekl) appears in Young Justice voiced by Thom Adcox-Hernandez while Teekl's vocal effects are provided by Dee Bradley Baker. In the show, Klarion is depicted as a Lord of Chaos, and is far more powerful and villainous than his comic book counterpart. In "Denial" 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 the team opens the way looking for Kent. While later battling Doctor Fate, it is noted that Teekl is Klarion's "familiar", keeping him anchored to the present reality. In "Revelation," he is revealed to be L-7 of The Light (Project Cadmus' Board of Directors). In "Misplaced," Klarion the Witch Boy summons Wotan, Blackbriar Thorn, Felix Faust, and Wizard to Roanoke Island in a plot to get rid of all the adults with a powerful spell. This ends up getting the team, Zatanna, and Billy Batson to team up to find the source of the adult's disappearance-revealed to be that the world has been split into one dimension with kids and one that has adults. The team ends up finding Klarion on Roanoke Island within the kids dimension, while in the adults' dimension, Captain Marvel, Zatara, Batman, and Red Tornado end up attacking the other sorcerers. Zatanna dons the Helmet of Fate to fight Klarion until Nabu starts to lose her, due to the helmet (and thus Fate) being split across both mirrored dimensions. The Nabu-empowered Zatanna manages to subdue Klarion enabling both her and Zatara to break the spell, although Klarion escapes. In a meeting with The Light, Klarion and Brain reveal that the dimensional split was a diversion that allowed Riddler and Sportsmaster to steal a piece of Starro from S.T.A.R. Labs. In "Insecurity," Sportsmaster and Professor Ivo meet up with Klarion and Brain to study the Starro sample. In "Auld Acquaintance," Klarion helped Vandal Savage apply Starro-Tech on the entire Justice League to mind-control the heroes. In "Summit," Klarion remained largely silent and hidden from view during the Light's summit with the Reach within the caves of Santa Prisca. During the three-way fight between the Team, the Light, and the Reach, Klarion transforms a sword into a fire snake to subdue Miss Martian while he escaped with Vandal Savage.
• Klarion the Witch Boy appears in Justice League Action episode "Trick or Threat," voiced by Noel Fisher. In a Halloween story that is narrated by Cain, Klarion turns Batman, Doctor Fate, John Constantine, and Zatanna into children. With help from two rats that he turned into Halloween candy-stealing bullies, he lures them to the House of Mystery where he has a plot to steal the Helmet of Fate. In order to catch the child versions of Batman, Doctor Fate, John Constantine, and Zatanna, Klarion summons vampires, a werewolf, a monster that resembles Frankenstein's monster, a pumpkin-headed creature, and some small demons to help catch them. When Klarion does get his hands on the Helmet of Fate, Zatanna uses the toothbrush that she and the others got while trick or treating to get it off her mouth and reclaim the Helmet of Fate. Klarion even has Teekl transform in order to fight them. When the clock strikes midnight, Batman, Doctor Fate, John Constantine, and Zatanna were able to get out of the House of Mystery while Klarion and Teekl fail to get out as it disappears during midnight. In the episode "Supernatural Adventures in Babysitting," Klarion the Witch Boy infiltrates Professor Anderson's house to look for the Magdalene Grimore at the time when Stargirl was babysitting Professor Anderson's son Timmy. After persuading Timmy to hide, Klarion assumes his form to divert Stargirl while Teekl tries to find the Magdalene Grimore. When the Magdalene Grimore is found, Klarion sheds his disguise and starts using it's magic. Upon being called by Stargirl, Batman and John Constantine show up to help fight Klarion. After breaking through the forcefield, Stargirl, Batman, and John Constantine fight Klarion even when he summons a dimensional worm-like creature to ensnare them. With help from Timmy, John Constantine reclaims the Magdalene Grimore and sends the worm-like creature back to it's dimension where it dragged Klarion and Teekl with it.

Video Games

• Klarion the Witch Boy makes an appearance in the video game DC Universe Online. He is the main focus of their Halloween seasonal event, The Witching Hour. He steals the powers of many magic heroes and villains to unleash hell in Gotham. It's up to the heroes to help Phantom Stranger and the villains to help Tala in stopping him.^[5]
• Klarion appears in the video game Young Justice: Legacy voiced by Thom Adcox-Hernandez. Klarion plays a large role in the last part of the game, deceiving and kidnapping both Aquagirl and pieces of a statue needed for Tiamat's revival. He takes her to ancient ruins in Bialya, using her magic to revive Tiamat and keeping Marduk's Tablet of Destiny to himself as "payment". The Team arrives to stop him too late, as Tiamat is revived. However, Klarion loses the Tablet to Teekl, who carries it away. Both he and the heroes chase after it in the ruins. Klarion assists Blockbuster in stopping the young heroes as a last resort to keep the Tablet, but after it is broken, Klarion leaves. His actions make him indirectly responsible for Aquagirl's tragic death.

References

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