ad interim – Brave and the Bold #198

Welcome to a very special addition to our ad interim series. Okay, I admit it. I am cheating a bit here because as you can see from the release date above, this issue came out a good three years after Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes ended, and three years after the Legion of Super-Heroes series began. But guess what? I don’t care, so there!

But thank goodness for this issue. What was a very weird, bizarre, and unsatisfying end to the Karate Kid series in Kamandi #58, we do have a bit of a reprieve in Brave and the Bold #198, which featured a team-up of Batman and…you guessed it, Karate Kid! But also, as you can see from the cover we see both an old friend and an old enemy, Pulsar, a villain introduced in the Karate Kid series. And frankly, this is a very special book because it is a direct nod and continuation of the Karate series, with one glaring omission. But we will get to that soon.

I am proud to say, grab that gee out of your closet, put on that white belt one last time, because we are in store for a treat!

Terrorists of the Heart

We are in Gotham City as Commission Gordon and his police squad have cornered the Black Heart army and its leader, Peter Travers, who have taken hostages. They demand the hostages release but are met with a fury of gun fire. Batman arrives and crashes in from the ceiling. He takes out a couple of goons but Travers swings his uzi and blasts Batman who flies out the window. Travers orders everyone to go out in front and kill anyone who gets in their way. They blast their way out front and make a run for it down the street, before finally finding a hideout that no one knows about. including Katy. Ahh yes, Katy; Travers’ ex-lover and the person who betrayed their gang. Travers promises them that Katy will die but in order to get to her he will need special help.

We cut to New York City and watch a Time Bubble suddenly appear on one of its rooftops. Karate Kid alights from the craft and makes his way down the fire escape stairs and knocks on one of the windows with no answer. He moves to another one and sees a sleeping figure. He slowly enters the room and shakes her awake. It is Mrs. Geichman! He asks her where Iris Jacobs is and Mrs. Geichman tells him she moved to Gotham City not long after he left.

We return to Gotham City to a brooding Batman who still has not been able to find the Black Heart army. However, he knows Travers will have figured out Katy betrayed them and she is in protective custody and behind three feet of solid concrete block. It would take an earthquake to get to her. And right on cue the building shakes and shatters, and the door to Katy’s room explodes. Pulsar stands proudly before her with his staff and Katy is his next hit. He blasts her with the staff and misses, but she crashes out of the window. Batman swoops in and catches her. He sets her down then immediately attacks Pulsar. Batman demands to tell him who hired him, while Katy uses the distraction to make her escape and picks up a piece of sharp glass as she leaves. Pulsar of course refuses and aims his stick and blasts Batman, sending him crashing through the wall.

Katy runs out into the street and sees an approaching car. The car stops and she pleads for the man to help her, while putting the sharp piece of glass in position. The man tells her to not worry, that a police station is just down the street, but before he can finish his sentence, Katy carefully places the shard of glass in a handkerchief and then slides the sharp glass through his chest, killing him. She climbs into the car and as she drives off, the wound in her shoulder continues to bleed, and she loses control of the car, and crashes into a fire hydrant. She stumbles out and continues to run and collapses. She sees a young woman approach and asks her for help, saying that she was mugged. The woman picks her up and brings her over to her apartment so she can get her help, and introducing herself as our very own Iris Jacobs!

Iris tends to her wounds and Katy takes a shower while Iris also suggests to make some chicken soup. Katy inquires if she lives here alone and is obviously vetting her for information, when suddenly Val Armorr comes through the window, surprising a very happy Iris. She rushes over to him and kisses him. Val is also happy to see her and sneezes. He forgot to pick up the proper immunizations in the Thirtieth Century before departed. Iris hands him a handkerchief and Val has something to tell her. But before he can finish a news report on the television set conveys the battle between Batman and Pulsar. Recognizing Pulsar immediately Karate Kid leaves so he can also hunt him down. Iris is then lost in thought and fails to notice Katy appearing on the news report, which is quickly turned off by Katy to hide her true intentions. 

Meanwhile, Karate Kid arrives at the scene of the battle and investigates. As he steps over the rubble, a gloved hand grabs his ankle and Karate Kid immediately does a back flip and readies for action. Batman slowly emerges and the two recognize each other. Commissioner Gordon and a few police officers arrive on the scene and Batman quickly tells him that Karate Kid is an ally. Gordon happily accepts his offer for help and Karate Kid and Batman follow Katy’s trail. They quickly find the car and the body of the man Katy killed. Batman inspects the body and finds a piece of cloth. The police arrive and announce over the radio they found the car crashed against a hydrant in Park Heights. Unfortunately the frequency is being monitored by Peter Travers who orders his men to check out the area.

We return to Batman who continues to examine the piece of cloth and Karate Kid sneezes again. Batman asks if he is okay and Karate Kid takes out the handkerchief that is immediately snatched by Batman. Het takes the piece of cloth he found at the scene and matches it to the one Karate Kid is holding. But how could that be if he received it from Iris? They quickly run to her apartment, leaving a bewildered Commissioner Gordon behind. 

On the way Batman fills Karate Kid in on the Black Heart, and Val is very aware of how dangerous the situation is. In the meantime the police start a door-to-door search as Travers and his gang arrives, having followed the blood trail to Iris’ apartment. They knock the door down but Batman and Karate Kid crash through the window at the same time. Travers points his uzi at Iris and threatens to kill her if they do not allow him to take Katy. Karate Kid tells Batman he will draw their fire but Batman does not even think and acts. He throws his batarang at Travers, hitting him in the head. 

Pulsar then arrives on the scene, who is still after Katy. Karate Kid is furious at him because he told him he would give up his life of crime. He hits him in the face, and follows up with a knee to the gut, and then flips him over. However instead of crashing him into a wall, he misjudged and Pulsar crashes through a window instead. Karate Kid jumps out the window after him, and knows that he has given Pulsar enough time to construct his staff and he needs to be alert. Back in the apartment Batman still faces down Travers’ henchmen and disarms one, while another one springs onto him with a knife. Iris screams to look out.

We return to Karate Kid ’s chase of Pulsar. As he searches for him, he sneezes again and Pulsar rises from above and zaps him with his staff, knocking Karate Kid back. Karate Kid cannot believe that he would do this and return to a life of crime. Pulsar cooly stands over him, with his staff raised. He tells Karate Kid that while he was in prison, the mob bosses that he had turned on killed his wife and child. Any feelings he had are now gone and when the Black Heart asked him to join them, he had no reason not to. Karate Kid slowly takes off his black belt and swings at his staff and flicks it away. He squares up against Pulsar and tells him it is pretty much over, since that staff was his only weapon that is powered by the special motor under his heart (as we remember from the Karate Kid series). Karate Kid delivers a left kick to Pulsar’s face and follows it up with a solid punch, knocking him down. Travers witnesses the battle and pulls out the device that is linked to Pulsar’s heart monitor and clicks the button. Pulsar immediately feels his chest is on fire and knows the bomb has been activated and he explodes. 

Back at Iris’ apartment, Batman continues to make quick work of his henchmen. Travers still has the uzi and he raises it and has Batman dead to rights. Suddenly, Karate Kid explodes through the window, with a two fisted dive that connects with Travers’ face, knocking him down. Iris meanwhile has penned Katy to the ground, making sure that she will not be any trouble. 

Commissioner Gordon and the police arrive and round up the gang, with Travers and Katy spatting at each other. Iris remarks how they used to be in love but now they hate each other other. She turns to Val and mentions that when he left her, she hated him too but now that he is back it will be just like it was. Val looks at her awkwardly and tells her he came to see her not to come back to live here, but to invite her to a wedding. His wedding because he and Jeckie, Princess Projectra, are getting married. Iris stares at him in disbelief and then tears slowly appear in her eyes. She turns away from him and tells him he should leave. He slowly returns to the Time Bubble as Batman tries to console Iris. He tells her she will get over it and she agrees. But right now, her heart’s about to break.

Creative Team

First off, thank the Computer Gods of Colu that this issue exists. Karate Kid #15 and Kamandi #58  did a huge disservice to the series as a whole and it was just very weird. What is interesting is that the entire creative team had nothing to do with the Karate Kid series, but did a fantastic fan service to it. Was Mike W. Barr a fan because it sure seems like he was. He even brought back Mrs. Geichman of all people, which put a smile on my face when Val rapped on her window, looking for Iris. Also, I can safely say that probably one of the more interesting villains of the Karate Kid series was Pulsar, with a huge thank you to both David Michelinie and Ric Estrada who brought him to life. I was a fan of Benjamin Day and when I read the line how his wife and child ended up being killed regardless, it was a shocking moment. It is a pity that he ended up this way and after being in prison could not return to his loved ones. But it did make for some excellent drama when Karate Kid confronts him and Travers ends up pressing the device that we remembered was connected to his chest, causing him to explode. Though if memory serves I believe it was a nuclear like device? Oh well, I cannot chide Barr to much for it or Len Wein, because they did bring the goods. This was a very nice book-end to the series.

Like I said, I was made aware of this recently and in fact, this issue does mark my first and only issue in the Brave and the Bold series. So it was doubly surprising when I opened this issue up and saw the words “and Lein Wein, editor, introduce[s] Chuck Patton, penciller!” I had no idea that this was Patton’s first professional work! I love Chuck Patton and continue to love him. He was fantastic on the Justice League of Americam, bringing to life the very much under-rated and under-appreciated Detroit era of the team. In my mind, when I close my eyes and picture Aquaman, I always think of Patton’s depiction. And boy, does he really give this book justice, in particular both Karate Kid and Batman. His figure work is clean, which is a trademark of his and his ability to juggle action as well as the quiet moments really makes him one of those masters of sequential art. His style just elevates this issue as a whole and his quality of art is something that Karate Kid deserved and was needed. Thank you Mr. Patton for this contribution, you really did save the day.

Now for the elephant in the room. As I stated, I am just about finished with the Earthwar saga in Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes and so far, Iris Jacobs as Diamondeth has not been addressed nor resolved. I have not read far ahead, and I will shamefully admit that once Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes turns into The Legion of Super-Heroes, it is quite a big blindspot for me in terms of Legion history because I did not jump onto this series until the prestige format that came out a year or two later from this issue of Brave and the Bold. Will the Iris Jacobs/Diamondeth fiasco ever be addressed? I do not know and I do not want to look it up because I want to be surprised. But just from reading this issue, and the fact that Karate Kid never mentions it nor does Iris Jacobs, I would venture to say they never addressed it and it looks like they glossed over it pretending it never happened. And hey, that is okay by me.

To conclude, I loved this issue and I am very relieved by its existence. With the strong writing of Mike W. Barr, editing by Len Wein, and pencils by a young Chuck Patton, I can safely state that the Karate Kid series can finally rest in peace because it did receive the ending it deserved. 

Super Karate-Hour

And again, thank goodness this issue exists because in the last installment of our ad interim series we did not have a Super Karate-Hour moment. Kamandi #58 literally had zero action and Karate Kid did not do anything but just stand around. Luckily, there was a ton of action in this issue and Karate Kid did back flips, squared off a bit against Batman, and completely pummeled Pulsar. So what is the moment for the Super Karate-Hour?

It definitely is when KK exploded through the window, just as Travers was about to pull the trigger on the uzi and kill Batman. He flew through that window and delivered a high flying, stretched out two fisted punch that sent Travers flying. All from the beautiful pencil of Mr. Chuck Patton. That, my fellow Karate Kid fans, is the Super Karate-Hour.

Now comes the part where we truly say goodbye to Karate Kid in his own book. A big thank you to Paul Levitz, David Michelinie, Ric Estrada, Joe Staton, Denny O’Neil, Mike W. Barr, Len Wein, and the man himself, Chuck Patton, for delivering some truly great issues that told the adventures of the greatest martial artist of the universe. Was it perfect? No. But it sure did have some great moments, courtesy of the talent listed above. And as we say goodbye to Karate Kid and continue our coverage of Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, always remember as our fellow Missourian Bob Rodi used to say,…

Keep kickin’!