Welcome back to Karate Kid #9, where we wrap up the Pulsar saga. And though we might wrap up one story we are heading into the other. If you remember the last issue ended with a surprise visit by Princess Projectra, who caught Val and Iris in the act of kissing. And let me tell you folks, PP is not impressed. 

Also, the mystery of the metal globe is finally solved and it was not what I thought.

And with that, there is only one thing to do. Throw on your gee, tighten up your belt, because it is time for Karate action!

The Black Belt Contract

One hour after our last story ended—a deserted riverside wharf where Pulsar, the reluctant hit-man, has fled after his near-fatal encounter with Karate Kid.

Pulsar is enraged and blasts a crate next to the ruthless mobster named Kade. Pulsar is refusing a contract on Karate Kid who had recently saved his life. Kade swiftly takes out a remote control in order to remind Pulsar of why he must do whatever he says. And with a push of a button, white-hot agony lances through Pulsar’s chest, forcing him to crumple, involuntarily, to the water-rotted wood of the dock. 

Pulsar curses Kade for having that switch. But he does, and Kade also reminds Pulsar that there is a second phase that he can activate. Pulsar has no choicest to give in to his demands. Kade expected as much and wants Karate Kid dead by the evening. And as the throbbing pain slowly ebbs from Pulsar’s chest, he promises Kade that he will get results, but they will not be the ones he is expecting.

We then return to the apartment of Val Armorr, otherwise known as Karate Kid, as a not-impressed Princess Projectra tells Val that she came back because she thought he could use her help. But she sees he already has plenty of activity to keep himself occupied. Iris brushes it off and states that she is glad that Princess Projectra is there. She always wondered the real reason he left the future and now she sees exactly why. As the Princess and Iris bicker, Pulsar quietly makes his away to the open window and sets his sights on all three with only one real target in mind. Karate Kid tries to calm them down and Pulsar takes aim and waits until he has a clear line of sight. Once it happens, he fires and blasts Karate Kid.

Pulsar leaps through the window and the two of them battle. Karate Kid quickly delivers a nice punch, followed by a swift kick, and knocks him back out through the window. Princess Projectra wants to cast an illusion but Karate Kid tells her no. She must stay put and protect Iris while he chases Pulsar down. But before she can protest any further, Val jumps out the window, leaving the two women alone, which must be awkward as hell.

And in the streets below Karate Kid catches up with Pulsar and delivers punches and kicks that Pulsar just manages to dodge. With one mighty aim he blasts and hits Karate Kid again. KK quickly regroups and Pulsar continues his attack. However, Karate Kid starts to anticipates the blasts and is able to get nearer. Pulsar also changes tactics and instead of aiming at Karate Kid, he instead blasts a boiler behind him, which explodes and covers Val with scolding, hot water. The pain startles him and Pulsar swoops in to deliver a mighty thrust with his staff, hitting Karate Kid, and knocking him out cold.

Oddly enough, Pulsar takes no joy in his victory but seems lost in bleaker thrusts, so lost that he fails to notice a low, incessant tone coming from Karate Kid’s waist band, the origin being the mysterious monitor globe still in his apartment. Princess Projectra wonders what the sound is and Iris tells her it is just his TV. But as Princess Projectra studies the object further she is astonished because it is no TV but in fact a Thirtieth Century monitor globe. Val has been in contact with someone from the future but who? The question goes unfinished as the monitor screen clears to reveal the shockingly unexpected answer. Because as Princess Proejctra peers closer, she sees the image of…

Her father!

Time passes, the scene shifts, and it is now early evening at a posh east side restaurant. A fancy eatery which, upon visiting a certain back room, proves to be something more than it seems. Kade sites behind a desk hearing the results of their illegal activities for the month, when suddenly Pulsar bursts in the door with a captive Karate Kid. Kade is furious that he would bring a super-hero to his established but Pulsar brushes it off. He has Karate Kid in his atomic bonds created by his staff, bonds that only he can deactivate. He demands Kade hand over the switch that is controlling his life, or he will let Karate Kid go and together, they will take apart everything that Kade has built. 

Kade smiles and tells Pulsar he has a trump card of his own. And with a snap of his fingers, his henchmen bring out his wife, who is currently tied up. Pulsar is defeated once more but Kade tells him he has had enough with his reluctance and is now too much of a risk. With another snap of his fingers, he orders his henchmen to attack, and one whacks Pulsar in the back, knocking him unconscious. 

Moments later Pulsar comes to and he finds himself bound with Karate Kid. Kade stands before him with his henchmen and tells him that he is now in one big microwave that can cook an entire side of beef in ten minutes. So it should have no trouble leaving them well done in about five of them. He slams the door shut, leaving our hero and is former adversary alone. As the warmth begins to fill the room Pulsar tells Karate Kid that he never wanted this to happen and he deserves an explanation. Ignoring the immediate danger Pulsar decides to launch into his backstory. 

“I was born Benjamin Day with one big strike against me; a congenital heart defect that kept me from gettin’ decent work and made me turn to crime to support my family. 

“I was one of Kade’s thugs when cops busted up a job, and in the excitement my old ticker just up and gave out. I figured I’d wake up to angels but the lab I came to in was far from heaven.

“Later, I learned that mob scientists had saved my life by giving me an experimental atomic heart, as well as increasing my muscle power with new surgical techniques. Of course, the mob isn’t known for its charity and that’s when the other shoe fell.

“Circuitry had been implanted between my heart and a contact in my hand and whenever a special fiberglass staff touched that contact, it turned me into Pulsar, focusing the power from my heart into pulse-bolts. And I became an assassin. 

“I didn’t want to kill, but Kade had foreseen that…and had a two-phase control switch made. The first phase shuts my heart off, giving me a simulated coronary attack. The second phase overloads my heart, turning me into a walking atomic bomb. And Kade never let me forget what would happen if that second phase was activated while I was with Liz and the kids.”

Moved by his story, Karate Kid already cooked up (pun intended) a plan. He tries to bend the staff and after giving it enough tension and pointing himself in the right direction, he is able to break the chain, while also propelling himself toward the locked microwave door. In mid air he flips and crashes into the door, feet first, shattering it and finding himself on the other side. 

He instructs Pulsar to deactivate the bonds. Seconds later and elsewhere Kade is telling Pulsar’s wife that it is a pity to dispose of such a beautiful woman but she knows too much and she must be dealt with. But he will have to wait because suddenly Pulsar and Karate Kid rush in. Kade’s henchmen rush them both but dispose of them easily. However Kade still has the remote control and puts it into phase two. Pulsar’s body starts to glow and realizes he is overloading his heart and will become an atomic bomb. Kade then runs off and Pulsar begs Karate Kid to take his wife and get out. However, Karate Kid refuses because he still believes there is a chance to save everyone. 

He chases Kade up a flight of stairs, uses Pulsar’s staff as a javelin, and kicks Kade right in the back, forcing him to loose his group on the remote control. Karate Kid quickly scoops it up and deactivates the button, then returns to Pulsar to help him mop up the rest of the henchmen. Shortly thereafter the police arrive and take Pulsar into custody. However, Pulsar is relieved that everything is finally over and both him and his wife thank Karate Kid for ending it once and for all.

Hours later, as Karate Kid once more returns home, he is not looking forward to having to meet two jealous women. However, when he opens the door Princess Projectra is troubled, and tells Val that she saw his father on his monitor globe. But that is impossible because her culture is still in the middle ages. How could this be?

Karate Kid has no time to explain, because Voxv’s transmission was not due for another two days and something is wrong. He tunes the dials on the globe and Projectra’s father reappears. Her father tells Val to help and that ‘he’ has to be stopped or the planet is doomed. And then he loses the transmission. Princess Projectra asks what he means and Karate Kid does not know. The only thing he does know is that they have to find out. Which means they have to go…

BACK TO THE FUTURE!

Next issue: The return to the future! The return of an arch villain! And the real reason for Karate Kid’s self-exile! Don’t miss it!

Creative Team

First off, I have enjoyed what I am terming to be the Pulsar saga. Pulsar, Benjamin Day, ended up being a very nice antagonist. Michelinie really put a lot of thought into him and we could not only relate to him and the predicament he was in, but also see his thoughts in how he felt when he had to kill others, specifically Karate Kid. I think that is what made these past two and a half issues really great. With Pulsar being introduced in Karate Kid #7 basically as the B-Plot, Michelinie had a lot of time to discover and explore who he was. And it really pays off.

Another strength of Michelinie’s that is also prevalent here is the pacing of the book. We do get that classic Marvel style with action in the beginning, a bit of exposition in the middle, followed by action once again that brings about the resolution. But it works and it works well because Karate Kid is a street-level book. I guess if you were to point to the DC line at the time, Karate Kid is the one that resembles a Marvel book the closest. And that is not necessarily a bad thing.

The only nagging point I see is the resolution of the mysterious globe. It definitely was not what I was expecting but I do think it was a bit of a stretch. There are a lot of unanswered questions, one being why the heck did it have to take out Mrs. Geichman? Was King Voxv’s secret that important that Mrs. Geichman would have compromised the whole set up? I do not read ahead so I do not know if this is answered in the following issues, but the whole thing does seem like a stretch. But hey, Michelinie tied it into the Princess Projectra drama and gave her a reason for being there, other than jealousy, and it brings just enough mystery to want to know what will happen next. So we have to give him kudos on that at least.

Now for the art. Last issue I did feel the art scaled more to the cartoony side. Thankfully with this issue it is back in balance. This is definitely partly due to the appearance of Kade and his design. Estrada and Staton did a fine job with him and he just conveys creepiness. I would say this is probably the best designed villain of the series so far. 

Moreover, the duo continue to demonstrate a very apt handling of the various movements that are required for martial arts. The book not only has a lot of action, but a lot of movement. There is running, jumping, leaping through windows, getting whacked, falling back, etc. And it’s all done very well. It is wrong to say that the art finally has grown on me, because I have always liked it. But I do appreciate it more and more especially when it is in balance and I am looking forward to how Estrada and Staton work the style in future issues.

Karate Comments

There is not a lot of opportunities to ‘peak behind the curtain’ as it were, and gain an insight into where the series is heading. What was the course last issue is the same this one. We have one letter that is for the book, and one letter that is very much against it. In fact, according to the replies it does seem to be a controversial book, with the readership pretty much split down the middle. And I do understand it. The book is floundering at the moment and there does not seem to be a specific direction. Thankfully, as stated in the above section, that does seem to be changing. We have finally closed off some plot points, are finding a bit more characterization in the supporting cast, and are now slowly crossing over to the main book. But then that begs the question. Is Karate Kid a strong enough character to have a stand alone? Or does he need the rest of the Legion?

The only item of interest is the third letter, which is from Sam Stahl who comments that the design of Gyro-Master was short of the mark to put it nicely. The reply is interesting because the intention was to actually bring back The Top. But when they did their research they realized The Top was actually dead. So they had to redo all the costume and look, and there you go, Gyro-Master.

Super-Karate Hour

This issue was pretty action packed and there are a lot of moments to choose from. Albeit they are pretty standard in what we have seen from Karate Kid. However, I can confidently point to one such action packed ‘hour,’ which actually resulted in Karate Kid’s defeat. 

My selection for the Super-Karate Hour is therefore the time when Karate Kid leaps out of his apartment building and chases down Pulsar. He catches him, delivers a nice little punch, followed by a solid kick, but then is blasted dead on by Pulsar’s staff. Now from this point on we know what that staff can do and the destruction it is capable of. So to take a blast like that, come back, and still catch up with him, is a testament to how powerful Val Armorr is, and he does not even have super-powers. It was a great moment even though it ended up in his defeat. 

And that is it for this week’s detour folks to the Karate Kid spin-off series! Will we see an actual crossover between the two titles? Will Karate Kid go back to the future and leave Iris behind for good? You can find out here at the Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes blog!

Be there or be shuriken. 

Okay maybe that sounded better in my head.