Ahri'ahn (more commonly referred to as Arion) is a fictional sword and sorcery superhero published by American company DC Comics. He debuted in Warlord (vol. 1) #55 (March 1982), and was created by Paul Kupperberg and Jan Duursema. A powerful, immortal wizard from ancient Atlantis centuries before it sunk, the character originally starred in his own series taking place outside the main continuity of DC Comics. After appearing in Crisis on Infinite Earths, the character's history was adopted into the Aquaman version of Atlantis, revised to be a demigod serving as a member of the fictional group of cosmic entities known as the Lords of Order. The character's magical and scientific exploits and heroism in the fictional mythology of Atlantis makes him both a reverred figure and the cultural progenitor of the Homo magi race and their descendants, the Atlanteans. Depending on continuities, he also serves as an ancestor to various characters in the DC Universe, including Zatanna, Aquaman, and Ocean Master.
Arion appears in Young Justice.
Publication history
Creation and early appearances
Prior to the creation of the Arion character and his debut in his backup series, Kupperberg began coming up with new ideas that lead to his backup series when his then-editor, Laurie Sutton, mentioned that Dragonsword (the current backup of Warlord then) was eventually going to end. Sutton also mentioned the only requirement of the series was that it be set in the sword-and-sorcery genre. Kupperberg suggested a story of a young mage while Sutton requested it to take place in the fabled location of Atlantis. During the creation of the series, the name of the main character was noted to be a difficult process but eventually, "Arion" was settled with the names "Tynan", "Atlan", and "Orin" as contenders. Although the names weren't used for the main character, the names appeared in both Arion, Lord of Atlantis and later Aquaman titles.
Arion began as a back-up feature in the DC Comics book Warlord with issue #55, in which ran until issue #62 when Arion gained his own series, Arion Lord of Atlantis, beginning with #1 (November 1982). The series lasted for 35 issues plus a special which wrapped up the original storyline, running from November 1982 to September 1985 with the special shipping in November 1985. Concurrently between April 1985 - March 1986, Arion was one of the many characters involved in the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover title, with his history of Atlantis inserted into the main DC continuity. Arion also appeared in DC Comics Presents in a crossover with Superman.
Years later in 1991, Kupperburg sent in a proposal for what would eventually be Arion the IMMORTAL, a sequel to his original series. Originally titled Arion: Darkworld and Arion, Lord of Order, due to elements similar to characters presented in Doctor Fate and the Sandman titles, the draft was reworked as to make the characters involved in the book independent of the same Lords of Chaos and Order concept of magic different from the framework established in two DC Comic titles as to not interfere with their direction and depiction. In 1992, Arion would star in his miniseries which ended after the sixth issue, establishing him in the modern era. He would also make appearances in several Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and Justice League crossovers.
Modern stories
During the early 2000s, despite the efforts to ensure the characters and concepts in the series were dissimilar to both titles, many references books and encyclopedias later connected Arion's character, supporting cast, and villains to the same Lords of Chaos and Order characters referenced in other titles. Arion's character would play a role in the JSA title, where the character is involved in a conflict connected to the other characters involved in Lords of Order and Chaos and is killed off in the fiftieth issue of the series. Despite the character's death, a past version of the character hailing from the 1600s would appear in 2006 in the "Camelot Falls" storyline in the Superman title and is depicted as an antagonist to the story. Concurrently, a new incarnation of Arion appeared whose real name was William Knightly.