Klarion the Witch Boy

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from our years on the Internet, it’s that there’s no aspect of comics that can’t be broken down and quantified in a single definitive list, preferably in amounts of five or ten. And since there’s no more definitive authority than ComicsAlliance, we’re taking it upon ourselves to compile Top Five lists of everything you could ever want to know about comics. This week, we're taking a look at five bad guys and gals who derive their abilities not from the power of the atom, but from sorcery, wizardry, and thaumaturgy.

In October, DC launched Klarion, Ann Nocenti and Trevor McCarthy's new series re-imagining Jack Kirby's cult-favorite "witch boy". Klarion, in this incarnation, is a magical being from a parallel earth who lands in New York City and proceeds to act in the manner one might expect from a hyper-powered juvenile with a taste for chaos. Nocenti and McCarthy have big plans for their strange little boy. CpmicsAlliance caught up with the creative team at New York Comic-Con to talk about decoding Kirby, planting secret messages in art, and letting the character lead the weirdness.

Q: The new Klarion series started this week, and aside from Seven Soldiers and Batman: the Animated Series, I know little about him. What's his deal? -- @T_Lawson A: Huh. Well this one oughtta be pretty easy, T: He's a Witch Boy. He's a Boy who is also a Witch. That's pretty much all there is to it; Kirby wasn't really all that into subtlety. Now who wants to go get lunch? [Editor's Note: Chris, we've talked about this.] Okay, fine. There actually is a little more to it than that, but to be honest, Klarion is less interesting to me on his own than he is in the context of Kirby's other work. He's a Witch Boy, a strange and sinister creature rooted completely in horror, happily existing in a world built for superheroes, and that's actually pretty cool.

The Comic-Con 2014 season of big announcements is definitely upon us, and today, DC Comics has two that are very interesting. The first is that Catwoman is getting a new creative team in the form of novelist Genevieve Valentine and Five Ghosts artist Garry Brown, tying into the big shakeups coming to Gotham from the pages of Batman Eternal. As for the previous writer of Catwoman, Ann Nocenti, she'll be joined by artist Trevor McCarthy (Batwoman, Nightwing) in a new title, relaunching Jack Kirby's Klarion the Witch Boy for the New 52, with a focus on using magic as a metaphor for technology.

J. Bone is a real artistic power tool, which is why DC Comics has put him to work on books like Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Super Friends. His style lends itself to bright, kid-friendly designs with a classic feel to them. He definitely knows how to pull off a vintage Darwin Cooke-looking twinkle, but at the same time he always makes his characters look fresh...

In our recurring feature, ComicsAlliance writer Chris Sims and a rotating cast of talented artists imagine a finer world to bring you a look at the Best Comics Ever that Did Not, Will Not, and occasionally Can Not Happen! This week, Kevin Mellon (Zombie EP, Hack/Slash and the upcoming Deadline with B...