ARCHON

Real Name: Archon

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (Thuvrian) Dire Wraith weapons-user (although he did not appreciate they were of Wraith design until minutes before his death)

Occupation: King, lord, and protector of Thuvria and its people

Group Membership: Kingdom of Thuvria

Affiliations: Thuvrian people; Rom, Starshine (Landra), his unidentified steed;
    formerly seemingly the "Wise One"

Enemies: Terminator, "Wise One";
    formerly Rom, Starshine;

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: King of Hearts, Lord of Thuvria, Protector of the Realm

Base of Operations: Castle/Court of Archon, Thuvria, third from the sun in the Lomyra system, Milky Way galaxy (he perished and was likely buried there; where his spirit may be is anyone's guess.

First Appearance: Rom#19/2 (June, 1981)

Powers/Abilities: Archon wore a full suit of metal armor, carried a lance, and rode atop some sort of reptilian quadruped. 

    At the time he encountered the Spaceknights, he wielded Dire Wraith designed shield able to resist even the Terminator's blacklight beam; a sonic lance, which could project sonic waves that could paralyze whatever nerves or circuits were within their metal casings; and electro-shackles to restrain them. 

    For reasons unexplained, he used a heart design on his shield and his steed's blanket.

History:

(Rom#19/2 (fb) - BTS) - Archon, King of Thuvria, took a solemn vow to safeguard his planet and his people.

(Rom#19/2 (fb) - BTS) - The Thuvrians were on good terms with the Galadorians. 

(Rom#19/2 (fb) - BTS) - The "Wise One" (secretly a Dire Wraith) told the Thuvrians that Galador had been overrun by Wraithkind.

(Rom#19/2 (fb) - BTS) - Rom detected a faint energy trail from a Galadorian hospital ship, which had been attacked by Dire Wraiths, to the planet Thuvria. He led his fellow spaceknights Starshine and Terminator there to investigate.

(Rom#19/2 (fb) - BTS) - The Wise One warned Archon and his people of the coming of "armor-encased demons." The Wise One further noted that these demons would descend from the sky, professing friendship and claiming to be from Galador, but they would in actuality be Galadorian-disguised Dire Wraiths. 

    The Wise One delivered weaponry to the Thuvrians that would allow them to combat these "demons," including a shield able to resist even the Terminator's blacklight beam; a sonic lance, which could project sonic waves that could paralyze whatever nerves or circuits were within their metal casings; and electro-shackles to restrain them. 

(Rom#19/2 (fb)) - After Rom, Starsine, and Terminator arrived, Archon confronted them atop his reptile-steed. Telling the "demons" to stand their ground, he introduced himself, noted that he had been forewarned and that he had taken a holy vow to safeguard his planet and his people from their "Heaven-cursed ravagings," and then charged them.

    While a surprised Starshine noted that there had never been an enmity between Galador and Thuvria, Terminator considered that there now was. He fired his blacklight eyebeams as he stated, "Let this rash potentate sample the staggering power of a Spaceknight." However, Archon used his shield to deflect the blast and then subdued them with his sonic lance.

(Rom#19/2 (fb) - BTS) - The Spaceknights were brought into the castle, bound in the electro-shackles, and stood before the Court of Archon.

(Rom#19/2 (fb)) - After the Spaceknights revived, Rom instructed the others that while they could break free of the shackles, he wished to first learn why the Thuvrians had responded aggressively to them.

    When Starshine introduced herself as being from Galador and asked why they were treated as enemies when they had come there to save their world from evil, Archon denounced her as a lying witch. 

    After Archon revealed the information foretold to him by the Wise One, Starshine used her lighteyes to expose the Wise One as a Dire Wraith in front of the assembled Thuvrians. 

    Breaking free of the shackles, Terminator then slew the Wise One, but -- maddened by his human form having perished -- his blacklight beams cut a swath of destruction through the castle, causing the gentle Thuvrians to flee in terror. 

    Archon rushed forward, ordering Terminator to stop and asking why he was menacing innocent people after the enemy had been destroyed. 

    Terminator then blasted Archon, slaying him while claiming to be teaching him not to place his faith in false armor. 

    After Starshine confronted him with what he had done, Terminator calm down, noting that a madness had come upon him, and he agreed to return to Galador to stand trial.

(Rom#19/2 (fb) - BTS) - On Galador, Terminator elected death as his punishment for his actions, but he secretly teleported to safety during his seeming disintegration by Mentus (the evil aspect of Galador's Prime Director) who then manipulated him to fall under his influence. 

Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema.

    Archon is the only one we saw suited up in armor, so we don't know if there were other such knights. 

    Further, was Archon really the king of the whole planet? 

Traveling on his reptile quadruped, it is hard to believe he had any communication/influence over places hundreds or thousands of miles away

...or maybe the small kingdom was the only populated portion of the planet

...but the OHotMU has the population of Thuvria was 3.2 billion.

    Archon appears to be at least two feet taller than his squire/aide by his side as seen here.

Perhaps his squire was a youth, or perhaps his armor only made him appear to be taller, like Lord Farquaad in the Shreck movies. 

Or, more likely to me, Archon was a relative giant amongst the Thuvrians, with him being about 6' tall, but the others being closer to 4'.

Even Archon doesn't look that tall when he is confronting Terminator.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Archon should be distinguished from:

• ARKON the MAGNIFICENT - leader of Polemachus--Avengers I#75
• other Archon, Arkon, etc. characters, groups, items, events, races, or places

Archon rode a reptilian quadruped upon which he placed a pair of blanket-like structures around its neck and abdomen, each adorned with winged hearts. He rode atop a saddle with a girth-strap securing the saddle to the creature's torso.     The creature had sharp teeth on both its upper and lower jaws. It front legs had three (and possibly four) clawed digits on each paw, and its back legs had four digits.      Its hide was gray and scaled, and its tongue was forked.  It's back end stood significantly higher than its front end. --Rom#19/2      Archon did not identify the creature by name in any of the five panels in which it was seen, or in the two other panels in which he and the steed were both involved by not seen.      The creature is also pictured here and  here in the main profile.      I would ASSume that this creature was native to Thuvria and was not the only one of its kind, but we only see the one, and no further detail is provided.      IF I ever received the opportunity to identify this creature, I would give it the name Atcanemm, and I would identify its species as the Lasilb.

Archon's golden shield was emblazoned with a winged heart.      It was able to resist even the Terminator's blacklight beam; prior to that time -- the Spaceknights knew of no metal the could turn the beam aside.      Rom did not have a chance to draw his neutralizer, so it is unrevealed whether the shield could withstand that as well. (Rom#19/2 (fb) - BTS) - The Wise One -- a Dire Wraith posing as a Thuvrian prophet -- warned Archon and his people of the coming of "armor-encased demons" who would friendship and claim to be from Galador, but that they would in actuality be Galadorian-disguised Dire Wraiths.      The Wise One delivered weaponry to the Thuvrians that would allow them to combat these "demons," including this shield. (Rom#19 (fb)) - When Archon charged the real Spaceknights -- Rom, Starshine, and Terminator -- who arrived on Thuvria, his shield deflected Terminator's blacklight beam, allowing him to subdue the knights via his lance.      When Terminator went crazy and continued to blast Archon's castle after slaying the exposed Wise One, Archon charged him, but Terminator fired a blast that avoided the shield and fatally struck Archon. --Rom#19/2 Note: Perhaps if the Dire Wraiths could design a shield to deflect assault's as powerful as Terminator's blacklight beams, they should have used those shields themselves.      The shield can also be seen more clearly in the image here and the two images below it.

Archon's lance could release sonic waves that would paralyze nerves in organic beings or circuits in robotic beings.      The sonic waves were powerful enough to swiftly incapacitate powerful Galadorian Spaceknights such as Rom, Starshine, and Terminator before they could respond.      The pulsating soundwaves hammered at the Spaceknights' audio receptors. (Rom#19/2 (fb) - BTS) - The Wise One -- a Dire Wraith posing as a Thuvrian prophet -- warned Archon and his people of the coming of "armor-encased demons" who would friendship and claim to be from Galador, but that they would in actuality be Galadorian-disguised Dire Wraiths.      The Wise One delivered weaponry to the Thuvrians that would allow them to combat these "demons," including this lance. (Rom#19 (fb)) - When Archon charged the real Spaceknights -- Rom, Starshine, and Terminator -- who arrived on Thuvria, his shield deflected Terminator's blacklight beam, allowing him to blast the knights via his lance.     With a swiftness that stunned the senses, the Spaceknights collapsed before Archon's shattering sonic assault --Rom#19/2 Note: Perhaps if the Dire Wraiths could design a weapon that could so easily incapacitate Spaceknights such as Rom, Starshine, and the Terminator, they should have used some of those themselves.      The lance can be seen in most of the images in the main profile.

The electro-shackles were used to restrain prisoners, including powerful beings such as Galadorian Spaceknights.      However, the Spaceknights swiftly appreciated that they could break free when they wanted to do so, and confirmed this when they did so. (Rom#19/2 (fb) - BTS) - The Wise One -- a Dire Wraith posing as a Thuvrian prophet -- warned Archon and his people of the coming of "armor-encased demons" who would friendship and claim to be from Galador, but that they would in actuality be Galadorian-disguised Dire Wraiths.      The Wise One delivered weaponry to the Thuvrians that would allow them to combat these "demons," including the electro-shackles. (Rom#19/2 (fb) - BTS) - After Archon subdued the Spaceknights, they were brought into the castle, bound in the electro-shackles, and stood before the Court of Archon. (Rom#19/2 (fb)) - After the Spaceknights revived, Rom instructed the others that while they could break free of the shackles, he wished to first learn why the Thuvrians had responded aggressively to them.     After Archon revealed the information foretold to him by the Wise One, Starshine used her lighteyes to expose the Wise One as a Dire Wraith in front of the assembled Thuvrians.      Breaking free of the shackles, Terminator then slew the Wise One, but -- overcome with rage -- he slew Archon as well. --Rom#19/2 Note: While the shield proved a solid defense against powerful Spaceknights, and the lance proved able to swiftly incapacitate them, the electro-shackles failed miserably and were more like most of the Dire Wraith's weapons used against the Spaceknights.

Appearances:
Rom#19/2 (June, 1981) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Sal Buscema (artist), Al Milgrom (editor)

First posted: 02/21/2023
Last updated: 02/16/2022

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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