If you missed our coverage on the previous two issues of Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes you would not realize that we have ramped up and are firmly in the Levitz era. In fact, the high quality and the firm direction the main book is taking does put a lot of pressure on this series.  More so than before.

Luckily we have a very strong issue number ten that manages to answer all the questions that we have had from the previous nine. And with Jack Abel on inks there is a slight variation of the artistic style as well. But as we finish this issue there is one key question that we have, and though we already know the answer to it, it might make our lives a bit harder going forward. What do I mean? Well there is only one way to find out! Bust out your Karate gee from your closet, strap on that white belt, and get into your favorite reading stance!

Death-Duel on Orando

Homecoming: As Val Armorr unsurpassed master of all martial arts, returns to the far future from which he exiled himself mere weeks before, returns to face a foe that even he may be hard-pressed to defeat. 

A time sphere carrying two Legionnaires softly lands on the planet Orando. One of those occupants knows it well, as well as the massive castle stretched before them. For it is the homeworld of none other than Princess Projectra. As she and Karate Kid alight from the craft, Princess Projectra reminds him that Orando is much like feudal England, and they do not possess great technology. But before she can finish that sentence, her comment is cancelled out by the ringing of a powerful blast, shattering a tree right behind Karate Kid’s head. 

PP is shocked but then she immediately needs to repress that emotion because a large group of soldiers immediately charge their position. Karate Kid jumps into the fray and notices that they are quite skilled. PP tells KK not to worry, she’ll simply use her powers to create a powerful illusion. But as she tries she realizes, to her horror, that her powers no longer work. Val knows that he must fight harder, and fight he does, proving to us once again why he is the greatest martial artist that ever lived. With eight soldiers down around him, he recognizes something familiar about their uniforms. But this line of thought is quickly interrupted when he realizes that the Princess has disappeared.

And as we move away from this scene and toward the castle in the distance, we view a scene with Princess Projectra and her father, King Voxv. And she has sought an audience with the new occupier of the throne, a man called Sadaharu, also known as…the Black Dragon! The Princess demands to know who he is and the Black Dragon obliges, and also reminds us that he first appeared in Superboy #210 in the back-up story. He was trained by Val Armorr’s father, the original Black Dragon, a master villain who was killed by a hero named Sensei. When he sought Karate Kid’s help to take his revenge, Val chose the side of Sensei, and defeated Sadaharu instead. Sadaharu had since recovered from his defeat, took his mentor’s name and costume and went to Orando in order to conquer its people and set a trap for Karate Kid. A trap that is about ready to be sprung. 

Princess Projectra moves to take him down but is quickly blocked by Airn, the advisor to her father, who tells her it is no use. He is too powerful. While at that moment on the rocky parapets outside, Karate Kid scales the castle and reaches the top of the wall. He stands and sees two guards below him. He jumps and immediately attacks and disposes the guards. Back inside the castle Sadaharu holds Princess Projectra by the face and tells her she has a lot of fight, and he likes that in a woman. Karate Kid’s voice booms off in the distance telling him if he wants to fight, then a fight he is going to have. Sadaharu’s guards rush Val but it does look like the guards do not communicate with each other, otherwise they would have known that such an act would be futile. And he makes quick work of them but is also distracted. And this distraction is enough for Sedaharu to deliver a fierce flying kick to Karate Kid’s jaw. 

Like shadows played upon a fire lit wall, the two figures float, fly, fling and engage in a deadly dance of violence. Trained by the greatest of masters, their skills seem equal, their disciplines matched, thus dooming their confrontation to a frustrating, if inevitable draw. Until circumstances give one combatant an advantage that, while perhaps not terribly just, seems to assure him of the victory he so voraciously craves. And Sadaharu stares down the sight of his pointed gun right at Karate Kid.

KK remarks that although his father taught him martial arts, he failed to teach him honor. And Sadaharu agrees and knows that they have to settle it somehow. Airn makes a suggestion and informs them that the traditional Orandian method of solving disputes might provide a solution, which involves a man-to-man duel. Sadaharu agrees but suggests to make the battle more interesting. The victor not only keeps his life, but Princess Projectra as well. Airn is shocked and tells him that is impossible, but Sadaharu silences him and orders Hong Lo, one of his henchmen, to put the king and his daughter under guard until the question is decided. 

And soon, in a prison chamber beneath the castle, Princess Projectra demands explanations from her father, in particular how he is involved in Val’s exile and how he managed to procure the monitor globe. King Voxv informs her that if Karate Kid would ever ask him for her hand in marriage he would to prove himself first. Thus, he agreed to exile himself to his planet’s barbarous past. If he could demonstrate courage and nobility under such adverse conditions, he would be considered acceptable by Orandian standards. He was sworn to secrecy to prevent undue intervention by the Legion and he provided the monitor globe to keep track of his progress. 

Princess Projectra stares off into the distance. All this time she thought he had left because he chose to live in another time and away from her. When in fact he was doing it all for her. And with her faith in Karate Kid restored, we move to a nearby icy grotto, where the rules of the duel are laid out to both contestants by Airn. Guards are placed at either end of the bridge they are standing on, just in case someone changes their mind. Not only will they lose their honor, but their lives as well. Oh and if you noticed the ice ‘statues’ these are actually former combatants who took too long, because there is also a bubbling liquid below the bridge that is quite unstable. And with these possible misfortunes explained, the contest can begin. And barely are these words out of Airn’s mouth when the Black Dragon immediately delivers a high flying kick, which is easily blocked by Karate Kid.

Meanwhile, back at the ever-popular Dungeon, a guard brings Princess Projectra and King Voxv food and drink. PP goes into full seduction mode and as the guard gets very close, she hooks her flight ring onto his collar and sends him flying upward, forcing him to crash into the ceiling. King Voxv warns his daughter to be careful but she tells him not worry. She cannot save Val but she has some friends who can.

Back on the bridge, the Black Dragon reminds Karate Kid that they are both equally skilled. Val knows that if something does not happens soon, then they are both going to end up like those ice statues. But as if to read his mind, a mysterious figure takes one of the fiery lamps and throws it on the platform. The burning oil will melt the bridge, plummeting both Karate Kid and the Black Dragon to a very cold death. One of the Black Dragon’s henchmen throws them a rope but before they can act further, the Legion of Super-Heroes arrive on the scene! Superboy, Phantom Girl, Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy, and Princess Projectra attack the henchmen.

Deciding to take advantage of the moment, the Black Dragon resumes his attack but Karate Kid tells him no. They have to work together if they want to survive this. Then Val asks Sadaharu what he values more, his revenge or his life? For a long moment there is silence, as the raw hatred in the Black Dragon’s eyes softens to bitter acceptance. And he agrees. Tense explanations are made, understood, and faces harden with grim determination. Black Dragon climbs onto Val’s shoulders and Val walks to the edge of the platform. He steadies himself, and slowly and surely, he bends, allowing Sadarahu to grasp the platform on the other side and swing Karate Kid upward to safety. Karate Kid does not hesitate and offers him a hand. And within seconds after Karate Kid pulls his struggling foe to safety the chill pool erupts.

Soon, back in the throne room, a defeated Black Dragon and his henchmen bow in silence waiting for their fate. Lightning Lad tells Karate Kid that he is lucky that Princess Projectra reached the spaceship and called them in time. Val agrees but there is still one thing he does not understand, and that is how the fire was started. Princess Projectra glares at Airn and tells him she knows and points to the oil stain on his robes. Airn quickly admits to it, but tells her that he had an opportunity. He has been jealous of Karate Kid for a while so he felt like he could not only get rid of the threat to the kingdom, but also to his adversary for the Princess’ love. Airn is taken away.

Princess Projectra turns to Karate Kid and apologizes to him for the way she treats him and that her father told her everything. King Voxv also apologies and gives him permission to spend some time with his friends, before he needs to return to the past. Val is shocked that he has to go back even after saving his planet. Does that not prove anything? King Voxv agrees that it does, but an agreement is an agreement. Standing in disbelief Princess Projectra tells him she is sorry for her father. But before he goes there is one thing the Princess must know. What is his relationship exactly with Iris Jacobs? She knows that he has been seeing her a lot, but is he in love?

Val smiles and tells her he is in love. And then he swoops the Princess in his arms and kisses her passionately before replying…with her. 

Next: Val and the Princess Battle the Fatal FIve—in Superboy & The Legion of Super-Heroes #231!—on sale June 21st! Then: Back to the 20th Century New York—or is it? Don’t miss Karate Kid #11—“Disasters in Yesteryear!” 

Creative Team

Issue #10 acts as a milestone of sorts because it essentially wraps up all the dangling plot threads.

I do wonder if both David Michelinie and Denny O’Neil let out a huge breath of relief when they thought this up. You can pretty much tell that they were flying by the seat of their pants because I would make a good educated guess that they probably did not know what the monitor globe was for nor why Karate Kid was on Earth in the first place. This is probably because the book was bi-monthly and they were of course doing other stuff. I can only imagine the frustration for the readers at the time who were really invested in this story. It is a bi-monthy book, so the fact that it took quite a few issues to wrap up the plot was made even longer for the reader.

On the one hand it is pure genius that they were able to tie it back into Princess Projectra and something from the Legion of Super-Heroes. On the other, it is quite frustrating because it backtracked on the whole raison d’être of the book in the first place. If you found the book interesting and were invested in the concept as well as the supporting characters, in particular Iris Jacob, I could not imagine the frustration once this issue ended. On the other hand if you hated the book, you were probably breathing that same breath of relief. 

So look. Is this whole thing a stretch? Yes. Michelinie and O’Neil just managed to pull themselves out of the fire and you could kind of see the mental gymnastics they played when the story played out:

The monitor globe is actually from Princess Projectra’s father.

Wait, they do not have that kind of technology on Orando. 

No, Karate Kid procured it because he needed to prove his worth and this was accepted by King Voxv.

But how does Voxv know how to use it?

No you’re over thinking it. Write it up.

Okay.

If Michelinie and O’Neil were not as good as they were, I do not think they would have been able to pull this off. Not only did they link it to Princess Projectra but also to an already established moment in Karate Kid’s past, courtesy of Jim Shooter in the back up story in Superboy #210. And that is something you cannot just ‘wing’ in the moment. Therefore you cannot help but give this one an A for effort.

The overall chink in this armor is that the series could have actually ended right here. You wrapped up the plot point, realized that Val is not on a journey of self discovery, there is no reason for Iris Jacobs anymore, and he could have simply went back to the 30th Century with mission accomplished. I guess. But no, King Voxv is not satisfied so we are going to extend this thing by about another five issues, or ten months at the time the book was being released.

Which means I guess this book was doing okay, just enough to keep the show going.

Despite the above, I really liked the issue. It was a nice confrontation from Val’s past and Princess Projectra also did something other than being the damsel in distress. She is, after all, a full blown member of the most powerful teenage super-hero group of the 30th Century. So Michelinie handled this character admirably and there is no fault in that. It is a worthy addition and read for any fan of Karate Kid and of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Which brings me to the final point regarding the story aspect. You did not really need the Legion to show up. I am not complaining that they did but they were not really needed. Other than taking down some pretty basic henchmen they did not really do anything to move the plot forward.

Ric Estrada is now flying with Jack Abel and you can see the cartoony style was toned down quite a bit. The character design of Black Dragon was spot on from Grell’s depiction in #210 so there was that nice artistic bridge. The action scenes were also very well done and you can pretty much tell that Estrada has a good grasp of the various movements and actions that are required for a book of this nature. This is also commented on quite frequently within the letters page. Issue ten is a very nice book to look at, from the dynamic scenes of the fight over the bridge, to the whole Legion showing up, Estrada and Abel did a fantastic job. Artistically this might be my favorite of the series so far.

Thus, in conclusion, Denny O’Neil and David Michelinie show us why they were the best in the biz and Estrada and Abel helped stick the leading that brought all the dangling plotlines to a, more or less, satisfying conclusion. The biggest victim here is Iris Jacobs and the reasoning for the book as a whole going forward.

Karate Comments

In this installment of Karate Comments we are treated to basically four letters. One letter from Jim Mason praises the book, the second letter from Paul Emrath chides it, the third letter from Brian D. Scott says the book is neither good nor bad, while the final letter from Willian Nutt says its actually both good and bad (how is that possible?). Either way these four letters sum up the sentiment at the time and pretty much proves that a lot of fans are very divided on it. Here’s a good summary: 

1. There is still very little character development and they would like to see more of the supporting cast, especially Iris Jacobs. Which of course may now be problematic since that aspect has been more or less wrapped up. Also Mrs Geichman and Commission Banner really didn’t contribute much and they are happy to see them go. 
2. The villains are interesting or they are not interesting. Pulsar was interesting and I do agree, but he also had a good three issues worth of character development.
3. The art has been hit or miss. Some people like the more cartoony style of Ric Estrada and Joe Staton and others do not. It is revealed that Staton has left the book and is now working on the All-Star Comics and Metal Men line of books. 

So with these four letters, it does look like we have our fingers on the pulse so far on this series. As stated above, the book could pretty much have ended here with all the plot points more or less wrapped up. But there are still five issues to go and I am still curious to see if we will get a real crossover with the main Legion of Super-Heroes book and not just a quick appearance of the LSH to save the day. Time will tell.

Super-Karate Hour

If there is one thing you can definitely say about the book is that it still continues to be full of action. And this one in particular because Val flew into action on multiple occasions and each occasion was beautifully depicted by Ric Estrada an Jack Abel. So what is the defining action moment of this issue? For me it was when Black Dragon decided to resume his attack but Karate Kid told him no. He blocked his advances and then told him they needed to work together in order to survive. He put Black Dragon on his shoulders, swung down on the corresponding ledge, used the momentum to swing up again, and immediately gave Sadaharu his hand and saved him. This not only looked cool but was also a great moment, once again demonstrating why Val Armorr, the Karate Kid, is a hero and a member of the greatest team in the universe. Well done sir.

And that is it for this week’s installment! We have two issues of Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes before we return to Karate Kid #11! Until then…

Keep kickin’!