Karate Kid #14

After that horrendous realization that we had an all-reprint issue last week, it is quite nice to be back on the seventeen page comic scene with Karate Kid #14, which is the penultimate issue of the series. And it is a pity too because this thing is actually quite good.

We will dive more in the creative team section, but it is bitter sweet that the next issue will be the last. I do hope we will be able to figure out the reasons why or at least identify enough of the tea leaves to come to a conclusion.

So with that, let’s jump right into this action packed issue that has a team-up that works surprisingly well!

Diamondeth is Forever

We are thrust in the middle of a street in chaos as an Iris Jacobs, transformed into a diamond monster, is tossing civilians around like her school children. What makes this scene even more interesting is that Robin has come on the scene, since he was passing through New York City on the way to Gotham City. 

In true Robin style, he flies onto the scene and is about to hit Iris (who now goes by Diamondeth for some unexplained reason) with a well placed drop kick, but is intercepted by Karate Kid who fears the damage that could be done to Iris. Robin staggers back and KK tries to apologize, but in true Marvel style, Robin does not wait for explanations but attacks. Robin does manage to get a two legged kick in that connects, and thankfully Karate Kid continues to try to reason with him. Robin continues to hit him with some well placed combo hits and Karate Kid dodges all of them, while also pleading with him that he will get hurt, since he is the greatest martial artist of all time, and hits him with a well placed punch right in the jaw. 

Finally, Karate Kid has the room and time to explain that Diamondeth is actually Iris Jacobs, a friend of his, and he needs his help. Robin readily agrees but points toward all the looting that is going on and states there are a few things they should take care of first. Teaming up, they charge the looters and of course in true Karate Kid style, he takes out a bunch of them with some sweet moves. 

He asks Robin if he needs any help, and Robin also takes out his gang of looters with ease, impressing Karate Kid who comments that they do make a pretty good team-up and he should have looked him up first when he arrived in the twentieth century. The police arrive and thank Robin for the assist and also inform them both that Iris is now down by the waterfront. But before they can leave to check it out, Carl Teaberry arrives from S.T.A.R. labs and informs them that this monster is the product of an experiment gone awry. Karate Kid is angry but Teaberry quickly informs him that she volunteered for the experiment. But KK is having none of it and gets in his face. Teaberry realizes that he is upset, but again, she did volunteer. KK takes a breather and goes into his own inner turmoil. Why should he be upset if she turned into a big monster if they are just friends and he is not in love with her? Is he?

Questioning anyone’s reasoning who would not help a friend, we hear the quick mention of Teaberry that none of the other test subjects turned into monsters and quickly leave the scene to observe Major Disaster and the Lord of Time, who are quite happy that everything is going according to plan. Though Major Disaster hopes that the Lord of Time will not ‘hog’ all the action since KK has been fouling up his own projects for quite some time (since all the way back to issue #2). The Lord reassures Major Disaster and then informs him that Karate Kid is the key to unlocking a kingdom. Everything he has done, from turning Iris into a monster to all the other things, has been meticulously thought out to garner the proper responses. Then MD reminds him of the JLA whom the Lord just laughs off. Because by the time his project and plan is over, he will be invincible. 

Sometime later, at an abandoned warehouse on the waterfront, King Rat is talking to his henchmen of his new found friend, Diamond Monster Iris, who had smashed through their hideout but is now on their team. With her under his control they will be unstoppable. And should there come a time when she will not do what they will say, they will simply cut her up since she must worth a ton of money. But as greed overtakes this superstitious lot, they fail to see a shadowed figure, peering from the skylight above. Who is this figure you ask? You guessed it! Karate Kid! And he crashes through the skylight, taking them by surprise. 

The henchmen scatter and one reaches a fire axe, and throws it at Karate Kid. Now anyone could have simply dodged this flying object, but since Karate Kid is not just anyone but the greatest martial artist in the universe, he squares up and with one mighty open palmed motion, hits the cheek of the axe, destroying the head completely. Taking that as a sign that the cause is hopeless, the henchmen make a run for it and reach the backdoor. But when they open it, they see Robin standing there, who greets them with a punch in the face. Robin apologies for his tardiness but he did manage to get the intel they were after. Karate Kid replies with less talking and more punching, and quickly all of the henchmen are disposed of, just leaving Robin, Karate Kid, and Iris, who attacks from behind.

Karate Kid manages to dodge just enough where Iris only scratches into his uniform. He asks her if she recognizes him, and tries to remind her that they were once friends. The word ‘friends’ seems to set her off because then she attacks again, and continues to try to slam her diamond fists into Karate Kid but barely missing. KK does not want to hit her in case she might shatter into pieces. He grabs an empty barrel and slams it down on her, but with one gigantic thrust, she breaks free and destroys it. She continues her assault and KK screams at Robin that they need to try what they planned. Robin asks if he is sure and KK answers in the affirmative, but they have to strike at the right points at the same time.

They both move away, concentrate, and rush Iris at the same time from opposite sides. Karate Kid screams ‘now’, and he punches high and Robin punches low and they hit her in specific pressure points at the same time. And it works, as Iris crumbles to the floor still intact. Robin asks if they should bring her back to S.T.A.R. labs but Karate Kid says no. There is only one place he can take her if she is to have a chance. And even though he was here in order to prove to King Voxv of Orando that he was worthy of his daughter, he will have to break that oath in order to save Iris. He must take her back…

To the thirtieth century!

And as the Lord of Time watches KK make that decision, his response is a simple, “superb, precisely as I planned!”

Creative Team

Okay. This issue is like when you are in a relationship with someone that you do love but at one point you realize that it is just not working out anymore. You finally get up the nerve to end the relationship but as you do so, that last moment, which is supposed to be the last time you interact as a couple, ends up being quite a nice experience and you doubt yourself and pull out at the last minute. Hence the need for the Paul Simon song 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.

This fourteenth issue of Karate Kid is actually a pretty darn good issue. It does look like the new direction was going to be a team-up book and I do have to say, despite my doubts when I saw the cover, Karate Kid and Robin actually go very well together. I will admit (shamefully on my part) that I have not, as of yet, read the legendary New Teen Titans from Marv Wolfman and George Perez, but I could very much see Karate Kid transitioning to that team, if he had not done so. They just work well together. They both are very skillful and are loners at this point in time (Robin had left the team). Also Bob Rozakis’ dialogue was spot on, giving us a nice little world where the henchmen see Robin but at times wonder if Batman is close behind. It plopped you right down in that environment and I think for the first time, at least in a long time, I really felt that Karate Kid was in this DC Universe with the other super-heroes of this time era. Well done Mr. Rozakis.

Turning to the art, this was an immense improvement from the last issue. Juan Ortiz really shined on this one, and from flipping through this issue and rereading it a few times, his layouts were definitely tighter and well thought out. Everything was smooth, in particular the action scenes, which really made this issue hum. Also, I do wonder if Bruce Patterson is just a better inker for him, because the lines were incredibly clean and smooth, with effective shadows that gave both the figures and environments depth. This is one of the more beautiful books and it definitely has a more grown up look than what Ric Estrada and Joe Staton contributed. However, I was a fan of that look, but I can still appreciate the seriousness and realism that Ortiz provided.

Finally, this issue was action packed. If we remember from last issue’s Karate Comments they declared that they wanted to move away from the martial arts aspect of the books, and move more toward super-heroes. I suppose this is the team-up aspect, but there were quite a few martial arts moments nonetheless. All of it was exciting and again, I have to credit this to Ortiz, who perfectly depicted Karate Kid and Robin kicking some butt that you felt and knew the space they were in and how they moved together. And I must say, the cliffhanger of KK deciding not to bring Iris to S.T.A.R. Labs but take her back to the thirtieth century was brilliant. It produced some excitement and also opened up a whole new world of possibilities for the character and another meeting between Iris and Princess Projectra. Kudos once again to Bob Rozakis.

And now, for my complaints. I felt it was odd that Iris was named Diamondeth quite quickly and there really was not a reason for it. Also, the S.T.A.R. labs angle was a bit brushed under the table and the Lord of Time had a wacky design. Finally, if they keep trying to put Major Disaster as the main antagonist of Karate Kid, he did not do very much, if anything at all. He literally just stood by Time and watched. So I suppose we should expect him to do something next issue. Either way, I still think the decision of continually putting Major Disaster as KK’s arch nemesis is weird.

Nevertheless, this is a very strong issue and it is also the penultimate one of the series. And what a pity too because I feel like they sort of found their stride after resolving the Monitor Globe saga.

Karate Comments

In Karate Comments we actually have five letters! I find the letters section always particularly interesting when I know that the series is about to end. So is there a sign from the editors that this is almost it? Nope.

Instead we do have a lot of praise for the new direction of the book, in particular with Juan Ortiz’s art, which is a direction away from what Ric Estrada and Joe Staton produced (which I loved btw). There is one slightly negative letter form Gary Klein, who complained abut some of the dialogue, but does go on to praise the book. Also Klein did not recognize Colossal Boy in his old costume, and I must say neither did I. I have just grown so accustomed to his new look from Dave Cockrum and later Mike Grell (who removed his pants I guess). 

But all the responses are ‘wait until you see what we have planned for next issue’ and to not forget to ‘write in,’ which makes me think that, at the time they addressed the letters, they did not know that the book was going to be cancelled, which is possible since this was a bi-monthly book. We will have to find out next issue if they announce the end, or if we have a teaser for a second issue. See you in about three weeks for the answer!

Super Karate-Hour

I gotta say. From their last little declaration that they wanted to move away from martial arts and more toward super-heroing, there sure was a lot of action on Karate Kid’s part. And that is not a bad thing. So what is the Super Karate-Hour? It is no surprise. When Karate Kid faced off against a flying fire axe that was hurling toward his face, he simply stared at it. And then with a cool like concentration, he opened the palm of his hand, and destroyed the axe-head, shattering it to pieces. This is, almost, as cool as when he destroyed that meteor way back in the beginning of the series. If taking down a meteor was the number one coolest moment of the series so far, him taking down that axe is a definite number two.

And that is it for this week’s installment of the penultimate issue of the series, Karate Kid. In three weeks time we will cover the very last issue, but next week we return to the main series, Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, which is not a reprint issue thank the stars! 

So until then, if your significant other ends up turning into a giant diamond monster, do not think of hacking them up to take advantage of the carats, but try to move on and keep kickin’!