Nearly limitless magical powers (flight, teleportation, energy projection, etc.)
Extensive knowledge of the supernatural
Psychic link to Teekl
Capable trickster
Klarion the Witch Boy is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, having first appeared in The Demon #7 (March 1973) and was created by Jack Kirby.[1] The character is typically portrayed as a powerful but mischievous, immature extradimensional warlock who serves as both the archenemy of Etrigan the Demon and is a reoccurring adversary for various mystic characters and teams in the DC Universe.
Klarion as he originally appeared in The Demon #7 (March 1973). Art by Jack Kirby.
Kirby's Klarion
Klarion is a young practitioner of the dark arts from Witch World, an otherworldly dimension whose inhabitants all possess some skill in dark magic. Being a child, he was constantly under the direction of adults who dictated the usage and study of his magic. Frustrated by this, Klarion secretly used his power to open a gateway into the normal universe, and he 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 dimension several times.[2] 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, sending her then-friend and roommate Etta Candy to Hell; 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.
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 that Klarion 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 Klarion, 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.[3] The new version of Klarion is an inhabitant of an underground community known as Limbo Town, located under New York City and inhabited by the Puritan witch descendants of the lost population of Roanoke Colony. 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 driven by underground piratess, 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 not to do so. 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 (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 Frankenstein 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 Earths 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".[4]
Countdown
During the Countdown series, Klarion encounters Mary Marvel, who has recently been given Black Adam's powers and is struggling to control them. Klarion offers to help in return for a fraction of her 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.[5]
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.[6]
Batgirl (vol. 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
In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Klarion made his first appearance in Teen Titans: Futures End #1 in September 2014. He additionally starred in a six-issue series written by Ann Nocenti and drawn by Trevor McCarthy.
Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths
Klarion would later appear in a tie-in during the events of Dark Crisis, having since allied himself with Deathstroke's Dark Army and ascended into becoming a Lord of Chaos.
Powers and abilities
An extremely powerful and talented warlock, Klarion is considered one of the most dangerous magic users in creation despite his appearance and temperament.[1] He has a plethora of knowledge of various magic and spells, affording him nearly limitless abilities such as being able to transform himself, travel into other dimensions, energy projection, shapeshifting, telekinesis, etc.[7][8] Much of these powers are tied with his witch-cat familiar, Teekl, able to have a psychic link and able to perform magic so long as Teekl is intact, who exhibits some magical powers of their own. Klarion will often bolster Teekl's natural magic with his own to lessen the chance of himself fading away, or to give them an edge in combat (such as by changing their body into a more vicious humanoid form).
Despite his grand power, Klarion is still a young adolescent who's often characterized behaving as such; acting in an unpredictable and immature manner when situations do not pan out in his favor, even lashing out in temper-tantrums. Due to Teekl being his familiar, Klarion requires them to stay anchored to Earth's realm. While an apt spell-caster, more experienced spell-casters such as Sebastian Faust have bested him in battle.[9]
Other versions
Earth-11
On Earth-11, a heroic, gender-swapped incarnation of Klarion named Klarieene the Witch-Girl appears as a member of Teen Justice and student of Zatara.[volume&issueneeded]
Flashpoint
In an alternate timeline depicted in Flashpoint, Klarion was recruited into the Secret Seven before he seemingly killed himself, though it is suspected that Shade, the Changing Man killed him while under the M-Vest's control.[volume&issueneeded]
Batman: Lil Gotham
In Batman: Lil Gotham, Klarion tries to hire a carpenter named Jenna Duffy to build a cage for his pet demon, Etrigan, but she kicks him out since it is her day off.[volume&issueneeded]
In other media
Television
Klarion as he appears in The New Batman Adventures.
Klarion the Witch Boy and Teekl appear in The New Batman Adventures episode "The Demon Within", with the former voiced by Stephen Wolfe Smith.[10] Using Morgaine le Fey's magic branding iron, he takes control of Etrigan, but is eventually defeated and imprisoned in a crystal ball.
Klarion the Witch Boy appears in Justice League Beyond.[17] He joins forces with several magic-users to assist the Justice League fight Brainiac.
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References
1 2 Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; Manning, Matt; Wiacek, Win; Wilson, Sven (2016). The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe. DK Publishing. p.169. ISBN978-1-4654-5357-0.
↑ Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Manning, Matthew K.; McAvennie, Michael; Wallace, Daniel (2019). DC Comics Year By Year: A Visual Chronicle. DK Publishing. p.149. ISBN978-1-4654-8578-6.
↑ Waid, Mark. Who's Who in the DC Universe #12. DC Comics.
↑ Nitz, Jai(w). Suicide Squad: Black Files: Fortune's Wheel(2019).
1 2 3 4 "Klarion the Witch Boy Voices (DC Universe)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved April 13, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.
↑ "Teekl Voice - Young Justice (TV Show)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved April 13, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.
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