Karate Kid # 1

Karate Kid # 1 Cover Dated April 1976, Cover Price .25
"My World begins in Yesterday" Paul Levitz Writer, Ric Estrada and Joe Staton Artists, Joe Orlando editor. Mike Grell cover artist.
Karate Kid is battling Nemesis Kid, the villain who can counter any heroes power. Nemesis Kid is countering Karate Kid with a force shield that explodes knocking the kid down. Nemesis boast that soon he will adapt a new power and finish him off. When the Legion Time Bubble arrives and allows Nemesis to vanish. Mon-El, Brainiac-5, Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad jump out of the bubble. They chastise him for not telling them what century that he was following Nemesis kid to. Karate Kid tells them because he did not want any of them to follow him. and it was their fault that he escaped. Nemesis can only teleport away when faced with more than one foe. They bicker among themselves for a bit and Mon-El berates him for coming back by himself with no special powers. This piss the Kid off and he tries to punch Mon-El and fails. Karate Kid explains that they all have special powers but he had to train himself every day to develop his abilities and that someone like Mon-El can't understand emotions like Fear or Pride and he can't understand him. The Legion turn away from the Kid and return to the Time bubble to begin their journey back to the 30th Century. Back in present day New York, police officers are giving him a hard time thinking that he is part of a movie shoot. The Kid leaves them and flies away using his Legion flight ring. But shortly the flight ring stops working and Karate Kid enters a window three stories up. He scares a knock out red head in glasses and tosses his ring away. He tells her he just wanted to retrieve some of his things on the roof. The red head introduces herself as Iris Jacobs a school teacher in the building. The Kid reflects that the schools he went to where nothing like this and that he would of loved this place. On the roof Karate Kid notices that his time bubble is missing and that only Nemesis kid could of stolen it. Nemesis kid left him a chronal energy detector to trace the bubble but he knows he will be walking into a trap. Iris gives him a bus token after he asks for a air car. On the street he notices that someone is carrying a 30th century blaster walking the street. The hood fires the weapon at the kid and he disarms him and then goes all Bruce Lee on the guys ass. The guy who was not Nemesis Kid weapon has a label on it saying it was manufacture by a company called Future Tech. Shortly after he finds himself out side the future tech's building. The chornal readings are so high that the time bubble must be in the building somewhere. Using his ability he smashes the Bedrock solid Quartz that looks like glass into pieces. Waiting for him are 7 highly skilled martial art fighters, while each of them are skilled in one discipline, Val Armorr The Karate Kid has been trained since birth in all manners of martial arts. After dispensing with his welcoming party the Kid smashes int the elevator shaft and starts to climb up using the cables. The shaft is mined with Laser turrets and while the kids avoids most of them one destroys a boot and injures a foot. Ignoring the pain Karate Kid continues on. He leaves the shaft and finds himself in a door less hallway, so he leaps into the air and cracks open the ceiling. He is now face to face with Nemesis Kid. They trade threats for a minute and Nemesis power turns his body into steel. Avoiding the machine parts being thrown at him Val pulls the rug out from under his foe knocking into the banks of computers destroying them. Val Leaps at Nemesis but he catches him and throws him out the window. Val uses his skill and using his toes stops his decent. Some how Val is able to propel himself back through the window but Nemesis avoids him. Nemesis powers adapt into nuclear bursts and he starts firing them at Karate Kid. But Val much quicker and agile manages to dodge them and knock nemesis out. Feeling better than he has in years about being a Hero Val recovers his time bubble and leaves a note on the sleeping body of his enemy and sends the Bubble and Nemesis Kid BACK TO THE FUTURE, while Val starts a new life for himself in the 20th Century.

Wow, this was interesting, in a what the hell is going on kind of way. I am going to skip Page by page on this one and just get to my likes and dislikes.

Guest stars

• Brainiac-5
• Saturn Girl
• Lightning Lad
• Mon-El

Villain

• Nemesis Kid

Likes:

• Karate Kid featured in his own book. One of my favorite members of the team off on his own good concept, not sure if it was handled correctly.
• Paul Levitz as writer. While the story is messed up, this is Paul's first time writing any of the Legion characters and  one day he would write the team better than anyone, but you have to start somewhere.
• Iris Jacob, they introduced her here and she seems like she will be a good supporting character for Val, that and I have a thing for red heads.
• Nemesis Kid as a villain is a good choice he debut at the same time as Karate Kid and I always thought they made good foes for each other.
• Limited use of the Legion,

Dislikes

• We are all over the place, story wise. We open in the 20th century and we are not even told that is where we are.
• Nemesis Kid's power is to adapt to any foe he fights but he just develops random powers.
• The Legion being dicks to Karate Kid.
• This was mostly one huge fight scene trying to capitalize on the Bruce Lee martial art craze.
• The Art. Estrada and Staton are great Artist and I cannot draw to save my life but coming from the Grell Legion stuff to this is a bit of a let down, the style look a bit more cartoon like than I enjoy.
• Superboy on the cover and he never makes an appearance inside.

My dislikes aside I do remember enjoying these as a kid and I do own all 15 issues so we might continue with this for a while but with probably shorter synopsis.

Next time Superboy # 216 the debut of a new Hero.