TEX'S BACK-ISSUE QUEST #28 (Orión El Atlante)

Hello again, my brothers and sisters!

   Happy Thursday! And I'm back on the grind once again to share some gems from my collection, and their cool backstories! Today, we'll be delving into my collection of foreign comics! Are you ready to rock?

   Well let's rock.

    

   It's "Orión, El Atlante" (Orion the Atlantean) #1, featuring the very first appearance of Orion the Atlantean! Orión is a superhero created in Mexico in 1972 by Modesto Vázquez Rodríguez and penciled by Luisa Marcos, published by both Mexican publishing house, Promotora K, and Colombian publishing house, Editora Cinco. That amazing cover was done by José Luis Gutiérrez. WOW.

I adore the painted "portadas" (covers) of Mexican comics - the painted "portada" has a long tradition in Mexico. They are simply amazing testaments to the skill and passion that Mexican artists have been putting in to comics for decades. Here are some others from the collection, after which, I'll tell you the story of Orión:

Aren't those covers just the best knees?

     So, who is Orión? Glad you asked.

    Thousands of years before the birth of Christ, there existed the fabled empire of Atlantis, an advanced civilization that valued truth, justice, strength and knowledge. Orión, a young warrior training among the best the civilization has to offer, has been selected along with others of his quality  to participate in a deadly test to replace the aging Atlas, the current Supreme Regent of Atlantis. Unfortunately, Crato, one of the other men selected to complete, is a traitor. Crato kills Orión's beloved Noraya, and tries to ambush Orión to murder him. Orión is in peril, but so is Atlantis - Serápis, wise advisor to the Supreme Regent, has discovered that an enormous comet is going to cause the destruction of Atlantis. The deadly trials must commence immediately, and a new Supreme Regent must be chosen that can save Atlantis. Finally, after another murder attempt, Crato is exposed as the traitor, and Orión is chosen as Supreme Regent. Orión is given one of the seven cybernetic keys that will give him access to The Cave of Wisdom - a cache of vast knowledge gathered through thousands of years that Atlantis has existed, wisdom that Orión must use to save the empire. Given one of the cybernetic keys, and a powerful time-traveling ship called the Cronos-7, Orión is hurled thirty years into the future to seek the other six cybernetic keys, find the Cave of Wisdom and save the Atlantean Empire from total destruction.

    On to the FUN FACTS!

FUN FACT 1: Orión's outfit is actually Atlantean armor, complete with a dagger, and metal bracelets.

FUN FACT 2: Orión wears a sacred gem on his forehead that can heal him of injury and sickness if the gem is charged and if the sickness or injury is not deadly.

FUN FACT 3: Orión is one of the most powerful warriors Atlantis ever produced, trained in many forms of armed and unarmed combat; however, he values knowledge and peace. Violence is never his first choice, and he would rather triumph using his wits instead of his fists.

FUN FACT 4: The creator of Orión first named him "Luxus"  - one who seeks the light, but soon opted to change his name to "Orión" - rising in the sky/dawning.

    Mexico has a wealth of great comics and superheroes that I love to explore. I hope that you have enjoyed this foray into my foreign comics collection. In several countries around the world, comics are just as popular as they are in the USA. Of course, their comics, heroes, superheroes, supervillains and villains are going to reflect their own beliefs and culture, as do ours.

   More to come!! Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading!

(PS - If you enjoy these articles, please click the plus 1 buttons below, and on Google Plus, and share them with your friends! Thank you.)