FW Team-Up: Superman and Arion

Siskoid and Coffee and Comics' Clinton Robison have a cuppa across time zones (that's a pun) to discuss DC Comics Presents #75, starring the unlikely duo of Superman and Arion, Lord of Atlantis. It's a Paul Kupperberg/Tom Mandrake original spanning 45,000 years of history (but our hosts will just take a fraction of that out of your schedule).

Listen to the Team-Up below, or subscribe to FW Team-Up on iTunes!

Relevant images and further credits at: FW Team-Up Supplemental

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19 responses to “FW Team-Up: Superman and Arion

  1. You know, I’ve never really read any Arion. My only real exposure to him was in Who’s Who and Crisis. Even though I normally bought DCCP, I don’t have this issue. Given Clinton’s love for it, maybe I should pick up an issue or two in the $1 bins at my comic shop. The art by Duresma is certainly lovely.

    I agree with you Siskoid, I prefer Mandrake on non-super hero work. Even his Batman wasn’t quite my cup of tea. Of course his Spectre run with Ostrander is top notch. I notice a JLGL (PBHN) swipe on the splash as Superman flies in, but I think DC was actually directing folks to swipe those style guide poses at this point.

    Fun show fellas!

    Chris

    1. Arion is definitely a fun read. I hope you do give it a chance. Also if you have the DC Universe app 90-95% of all of Arion’s appearances on there.

        1. Boy, ain’t that the truth! I can see how a “Search by character” option would be a bit overpowering for a list of Batman or Superman appearances, but I do wish there was something more than the current options.

          So, short version, as of the last time I checked none of the Warlord backups were on there. The entire 35 issue Arion, Lord of Atlantis series and the Arion Special that ended it are on there, as well as most of the Arion the Immortal limited (they might have finally added issue 6, but I’m not sure). No clue on anything post-Zero Hour.

  2. Don’t know how I missed this issue, but I’m glad to hear about it. Sounds like the characterization was on point. GREAT gag at the start of the Amalgam ad.

  3. Well, I guess I’m one up on Chris. My only exposure to Arion was Crisis, Who’s Who and this issue. A lot of time the team-ups were gateway drugs. Come for the main hero and get an interest in the guest star. As a kid, the cool thing about DCCP when it started was getting to collect a Superman comic beginning at issue #1. (Well, I actually have Whitman Comics Presents #1, if you want to get technical.

    Enjoyed the show guys. Thanks for featuring a more off-the-wall issue.

      1. Some of the “normal” issues are fun. My favorite DCCP is #4 with the Metal Men, and I guess that would be a normal issue, since the MM are pretty well known.

        Bob Haney’s B&B’s are pretty off the wall, no matter who the guest stars are. Any plans to do World’s Finest 219-220? You may think, “Yawn, Superman & Batman…way overdone” but I promise it is Haney at his zaniest.

        1. I’ll talk to Shagg and Rob about it, since they sometimes do a Zany Haney feature on FW. For my part, I’ve set rules for the show that preclude any “working duo” like Batman and Robin, and yes, World’s Finest.

  4. Great episode, Siskoid. Thanks again so much for having me. Glad to see people enjoying some new-ish exposure to an old character. Always nice to see niche characters getting some new love from longtime comics fans.

  5. (Slight) Correction: JLA #217 was not one of my first comics, but it is definitely one of my FAVORITE comics. It’s a simple one and done, with a sharp, fun script by Kupperberg and great art by Chuck Patton. I wish we had gotten more of these before the entire team was shoved aside in favor or JL Detroit.

    I like Kupperberg using his own characters as a backdrop, but it still works whether you were reading Arion at the time (I was not).

    Regarding this issue, I would have preferred Superman with an earring than a mullet.

    1. You weren’t reading Arion at the time. Have you read it since?

      Yeah, I really wish Supes had kept the earring. It could have been a fun little story piece that allowed him to understand different languages for a few issues before losing it. But meh. And don’t think of it as a mullet, Rob. Think of it as his head having its own super cape.

  6. I’m only familiar with Arion in his later Immortal guise. I first encountered him when he made a couple of appearances in Peter David’s Aquaman, which caught my attention as a fantasy fan. This led me to pick up the Arion the Immortal series, where I enjoyed the angle of the grumpy old hero being called out of retirement. After hearing your coverage of this issue, I now want to find some of the original Arion, Lord of Atlantis, stories. Thank you, gentlemen.

  7. This was a fun issue, so thanks for covering it! I could see this being a gateway issue for more readers to start picking up Arion at the time. A sly but time-honored tradition in team-up books. And very nicely done.

    I’ve never read any Arion, but remember the ads from back then, and I’ve liked Jan Duursema’s artwork elsewhere, so I’ll add it to my ever-growing list of comics to try on the app. If nothing else gets added, I’ll have read them all by … the time the Legion is founded. Excellent.

    Thanks to Clinton for sharing his fandom for this character. Exactly what makes this show fun.

  8. I read Arion from the start of his series and loved the sumptuous art and different take on Atlantis. The characters were great fun and the stories diverting. Plus, magnificent logo.

    This DCCP wasn’t hugely memorable but certainly was entertaining. I hate that Arion was a bad guy recently. I can recommend Arion the Immortal highly, it was quirky but not so self-consciously wacky that Rob would hate it.

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