The Great Karate Kid Yada Yada of 2017 (part 4)

Concluding the Great Karate Kid Yada Yada of 2017! Back in 2017, I put this together for a couple of episodes of the podcast, but this blog was on hiatus at that time and I never got around to posting it here. This is (retroactively) number 2b - part 4 of 4 - in a continuing series of Great Yada Yadas, where the motto is “We read them so you don’t have to”. Listen to it at Legion of Substitute Podcasters episode 464.

Kamandi 58 (Aug/Sept 1978), on sale 5/2/78

Harris, Rozakis/Ayers/Bulanadi

Kamandi and Karate Kid find themselves in a movie, and each thinks the other is not real until Val mentions Canus and Bloodstalker, which convinces Kamandi that he’s real. The two figure out they’re trapped in a movie, while the two dogs defeat some lobsters and break into the projection room to try to rescue the two men. The lobster audience is upset at the lack of action in the movie and get the men out, and then blow up the projection house. Flying around, Pyra sees the flames and they rescue Kamandi and Val. She says that Val and Iris are displaced from their time stream and have to get back home before too long or they might not ever be able to. Pyra can use The Vortex, the source of power for the Great Disaster, but since it’s so far away she has enough energy to either turn Diamondeth back to Iris one more time or to send them home, but not both (somehow they also repaired the Time Bubble in the meantime), and Val says he’ll take her back home to his 30th century and see if someone there can help. Meanwhile, the Lord of Time is bummed because Pyra can tap into the Vortex but he can’t (it’s a time traveler thing), and if she sends him home that way then Val will elude them for all time. Val tells Kamandi it was an honor meeting him and that he’d make a great Legionnaire, Kamandi replies that it was great to meet another intelligent human. Canus muses that in Karate Kid’s reality, Kamandi might already be a Legionnaire.

Continuity: Published same month as S/LSH 242. There’s a house ad for the DC Explosion, featuring Cinnamon (Roger McKenzie and Jack Abel) in Weird Western Tales, Shazam (Bridwell, Newton, Schaffenberger) already in World’s Finest, and the Human Target (Wein, Giordano) in Brave & Bold. Meanwhile, OMAC by Jim Starlin returns as the Kamandi backup starting next issue. The Lord of Time next appears in JLA 159 and Major Disaster next appears in Superman 341, and to the best of my knowledge, neither of them mention their teamup or their fight with Karate Kid again. Karate Kid with Diamondeth in tow arrive in the 30th century in S/LSH 244 just in time to help out with Earthwar.

Kamandi 60/Cancelled Comic Cavalcade 2 (1978) /The Kamandi Challenge Special 1 (2017)

But wait, there’s more! At the end of Kamandi #59, they open up the Western Wall and a voice speaks to Kamandi. Then the series was cancelled abruptly, and issue 60 never came out (the OMAC backup was relocated to The Warlord later), but what would have been #60 was published in black and white in Cancelled Comic Cavalcade #2 in 1978 (and later in the same format in Kamandi Challenge Special #1 in 2017). In that story, the voice says to Kamandi (among other things) “… Know that there are many other earths, each created differently depending on the twists and turns of certain times! On your earth – in your reality – a Great Disaster occurred, changing your world for all time. Behold! Glimpse the world that exists in a reality in which the Great Disaster never happened!” The page shows a string of infinite earths, and we see the Legion clubhouse. Kamandi says “It must be Karate Kid’s earth!” Then the voice shows Kamandi alternate earths (Flashes of Earths 1 and 2, and Johnny Quick of Earth-3) and alternate Kamandis in other times and places. The voice tells Kamandi that he can go anywhere at any time, but if he leaves his time it’ll all disappear. He chooses to return to his friends, but then the Sandman’s Brute and Glob bring him into the Dream Stream, thinking he’s their friend Jed. Issue 61 establishes that Kamandi and Jed are the same person in alternate timelines, and much later (in the History of the DC Universe) we learn that he’s also Tommy Tomorrow in the post-Crisis timeline (even though Tommy is in the 22nd century).

Continuity: This issue reminds us that Kamandi's Earth, A.D. (After Disaster) is actually an alternate Earth, not just an alternate future. In fact, this is designated as Earth-295, according to the Crisis on Infinite Earths Compendium (named after Superman v1 295).

Overall continuity notes: Issues 5-10 make up one continuous story, and 11-15 plus Kamandi 58 are another one, and due to the publishing history of the title, two years pass in our world while only seconds pass between issues. Karate Kid left the 30th century while Superboy 215 came out, and he returned for good in issue 244. I’m not sure exactly how to reconcile his appearances in the main book with continuity in his own title. The Diamondeth cure is addressed in S/LSH 246, and after that she goes back home to 1978.

One more bonus issue to cover, tying up some loose ends.

Brave & Bold 198 (May 1983), on sale 2/17/83

Mike W. Barr, introducing Chuck Patton, and Rick Hoberg

It’s Batman and Karate Kid teaming up! The GCPD is on a stakeout of a suspected terrorist gang, the Black Hearts, and they kill some cops before Batman arrives. Some of them escape, and the leader remembers Katy, the woman who betrayed him and them. They will need help getting her. Meanwhile in New York, Karate Kid arrives via Time Bubble and finds the apartment of his former landlady, Mrs Geichman. He’s looking for Iris, but she tells him that Iris moved to Gotham not long after he left. Batman watches over the building holding Katy, but Pulsar blasts his way in. Batman rescues her but she escapes while the men fight. Pulsar blasts Batman, as Katy kills a bystander for his car. Wounded in the battle, she crashes the car in front of Iris Jacobs’ apartment, and Iris unknowingly lets her in. While Katy is off in the shower, Val shows up in the apartment (sneezing, with a cold) and wants to tell Iris something, but he sees the news footage of Pulsar and leaves to get him. Val goes to the building where Pulsar attacked, and meets up with Batman who introduces him to Gordon as an ally. The cops find the dead motorist, and a shred of cloth on the murder weapon. The Black Hearts overhear radio chatter about the car crash, while Batman notices that the handkerchief Val is using when he sneezes matches the cloth shred, and since he got it at Iris’ apartment, now everyone is going there. The bad guys and Pulsar arrive simultaneously with Batman and Karate Kid, and yada yada it’s Batman vs terrorists and Karate Kid vs Pulsar, who tells Val that when he went to prison (after issue 9) the mob bosses he used to work for killed his wife and kids and all decent feelings he had left, so when the Black Hearts asked him to join, he did. Val uses his belt to grab Pulsar’s blasting staff, but the Black Hearts leader decides to take out Karate Kid by blowing up Pulsar’s atomic heart via remote control (spoiler alert: Val survives). Batman gets the last of the terrorists while Iris captures Katy. As the cops take the bad guys away, Iris talks to Val. “When you left me, I hated you for a long time, but now that you’re back, it’ll be just like it was.” “Er, well, no, it won’t, Iris, I didn’t come back to 1983 to live here, but to invite you to my wedding. To Jeckie, remember?” “Your wedding? Val, how could you! Do you think I could stand to see you married to someone else, after the way I cared for you… the way I care for you?” “Iris, I didn’t think…” “No! You didn’t think about the way you hurt me, used me… I think you’d better leave!” Batman consoles her as Val leaves, “This is the last thing you want to hear now, miss, but you’ll get over this.” “I >sob< suppose, but right now, my heart’s about to break.” I think that she’s either delusional about how she thinks he felt about her and what he did to/for her (when did he hurt her or use her?), or writer Mike W. Barr didn’t write her well.

Continuity: Published same month as LSH 299. This takes place between Val’s appearances in LSH 296 and 300. He married Jeckie in LSH Annual 2, which was between issues 303 and 304. Batman had met the Legion twice before, first in JLA 147-148 and then in Brave & Bold 179, but Karate Kid was in neither of those stories. Batman recognizes Val on sight, so Superman must have filled him in at some point. This is Iris Jacobs’ final appearance, not counting a later “Who’s Who in the Legion” appearance that just recapped her role in the series.

The end!

The Great Karate Kid Yada Yada of 2017 (part 3)

Continuing the Great Karate Kid Yada Yada of 2017! Back in 2017, I put this together for a couple of episodes of the podcast, but this blog was on hiatus at that time and I never got around to posting it here. This is (retroactively) number 2a - part 3 of 4 - in a continuing series of Great Yada Yadas, where the motto is “We read them so you don’t have to”. Listen to it at Legion of Substitute Podcasters episode 464.

Issue 11 (Nov/Dec 1977), on sale 8/2/77

Harris/Estrada

Fill-in writer Jack C. Harris (“with additional material by Barry Jameson”). Following the events of last issue, Val returns to New York but there are prehistoric cavemen in the street. He runs past the Warner Communications building and into a wall that’s painted to look like NYC. A mysterious person starts an earthquake, and Val finds that there’s machinery beneath the streets but also finds that the cavemen destroyed his Time Bubble. With the help of a caveman he’s named Ugly, he battles a fire and finds a giant cable that goes through the wall, and breaks through to find himself in a prehistoric swamp. They avoid car crashes and then Val realizes they’re a series of major disasters, so he must be in Major Disaster’s testing grounds (he escaped after their fight in issue 2). Val realizes that the control center must be in the World Trade Center, so he climbs up the side of the building to find MD on top, getting ready to fly away in a time ship. Ugly follows him and throws Val high enough to get into the ship before the city self-destructs. Back in the 20th century, the cops take MD away, and Val goes to his apartment to see Iris. She says she’s got some things to settle with him and she’s missed him, he replies that he missed her too and it’s great to have a friend like her. He wonders what she wanted to settle, and she says it’s already been settled, as she walks away crying.

Continuity: Published same month as S/LSH 233. The letters page says that Paul Levitz will re-take over scripting duties with next issue. Spoiler alert: no, he doesn’t. The letters page from issue 13 says that it was decided that the book should be given a new look, a new direction, and a new team to make the magazine appeal to a wider audience, and we see this issue close out the “Barry Jameson” era.

Issue 12 (Jan/Feb 1978), on sale 10/4/77

Rozakis/Ortiz/McLeod

New creative team, new logo, new direction. Picking up where last issue left off, Iris is walking away crying and suddenly Val gets zapped. She turns around and he’s gone, and thinks to herself that if he’s going to see her as more than a friend, she’ll have to prove that she’s better for him than Jeckie, and she goes to a S.T.A.R. Labs testing center. Karate Kid gets dumped back in time to Smallville, where he finds himself in the middle of another earthquake. Is it another of Major Disaster’s testing grounds? No, it’s Superboy himself! Val thinks that Superboy has gone berserk, and he doesn’t recognize Karate Kid. He uses some interplanetary fighting techniques to escape from Superboy. Meanwhile in the present, Iris is accepted into whatever program she’s applying for, she says she needs a challenge. Meanwhile in the past, Karate Kid is holding his own against Superboy, and yada yada they fight for 3 pages. He finds that a warehouse is just a mockup, so he thinks that Superboy is fake too. Cut to inside some machinery, it’s Major Disaster and someone else running the show. Superboy says he’s the real thing, but this Smallville is fake, he helped set it up to help some scientists study the effects of earthquakes on a small town. Val says OK but then puts Superboy in a headlock, as this can’t be the real Boy of Steel since they know each other from the Legion. But then in comes a bunch of Legionnaires in their Silver Age costumes (Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Colossal Boy, Sun Boy, Chameleon Boy, and Lightning Lad).

Continuity: Published same month as S/LSH 235.

Issue 13 (March/Apr 1978), on sale 12/1/77

Rozakis/Ortiz/McLeod

Superboy and the Legionnaires don’t recognize Karate Kid, so he thinks they must be fakes created by Major Disaster. Yada yada they fight for 4 pages, until Cosmic Boy magnetizes him and encases him in iron. Saturn Girl mind-probes him and discovers he will be a Legionnaire in their future, so they let him go, and Val suddenly realizes that’s why they’re all wearing their old costumes. While the heroes discuss how they got here, we find that Major Disaster has teamed up with the Lord of Time. Superboy hears distress calls of major disasters in Smallville, Metropolis, and Midvale. Karate Kid teams up with Saturn Girl to go after Major Disaster while the others help in the cities. Yada yada, 3 pages of heroes helping citizens and stopping the disasters. Meanwhile in 1977, Iris is getting injections as part of an “Adaptability to the Future” program, having hydrocarbon serum get into her blood “to see if we can adapt the human body to the increasing amounts of pollution in the atmosphere.” Back home, she goes to sleep telling herself that she’s doing this to prove she’s as strong-willed and brave as that princess he loves in the future. But while she sleeps, an energy beam zaps her, radically changing the effects of the injections. Meanwhile in the past, Saturn Girl and Karate Kid find the Lord of Time and Major Disaster and wreck their machinery, but they activate a fail-safe and send the Legionnaires back to their time with no memory of this meeting, send Karate Kid back to 1977, and teleport themselves out. Val arrives back in New York only to see Iris as a diamond-like creature going berserk.

Continuity: Published same month as S/LSH 237, so somewhere Val must have taken the time to visit the 30th century to attend the wedding of Imra and Garth (even though issues 11-15 are continuous). The Lord of Time was last seen in Justice League #50. The Legionnaires are said to have come from after they meet the Bizarro Legion in Adventure 329, but I’m not sure why that particular issue. In the letters page, they say that they have discussed the possibility of a Karate Kid/Man-Bat teamup, either in this book or in Detective Comics (paging Travis Ellisor, is this a commission you have yet?). And this is what Karate Kid was talking about when he mentioned in S/LSH 245 (the last part of the Earthwar story) having recently taken on Superboy.

Issue 14 (May/June 1978), on sale 2/7/78

Rozakis/Ortiz/Patterson

Robin is passing through NYC on his way to Gotham, and stops by to fight Diamondeth, formerly Iris Jacobs (and we hadn’t heard her new name before, apparently Robin coined it). Karate Kid doesn’t want him to harm Iris, so yada yada they fight for a page until Val tells him what’s going on, then they team up to fight some looters. A guy shows up and explains that Iris had been undergoing treatments at STAR Labs but she’s the only one of the volunteers who had this happen to her. Meanwhile, the Lord of Time explains to Major Disaster that he’s the one who messed with Iris, as Karate Kid is the key that will unlock a kingdom which will make him truly Lord of all time. Meanwhile, down on the docks, some bad guys have taken Iris and want to use her to help them rob stuff, but Val and Robin find them and yada yada 3 pages later the bad guys are down. Iris appears to recognize Val, but he thinks it’s with hatred in her eyes. And 3 more yada yada fight pages later, he and Robin strike at two opposite stress points on her body to immobilize her without shattering her. He tells Robin that he was not to return to the 30th century without King Voxv’s approval, but saving Iris is too important and he wants to take her there. The Lord of Time, watching, is happy that his plan is working.

Continuity: Published same month as S/LSH 239. Val says that Voxv said he can’t return to the 30th century without approval, but he’s been at least 4 times since the start of his series, not counting rescuing Orando. And it’s never explained how Karate Kid is the key that will unlock a kingdom that will make the Lord of Time truly the Lord of all time.

Interlude

Issue 15 takes place between Kamandi #57 and #58, after which Karate Kid returns to the 30th century. So a brief digression into Kamandi continuity to set up this crossover. The world was run by giant corporations, as seen in the original OMAC series by Jack Kirby. Issue 50 of Kamandi established that OMAC (Buddy Blank) was Kamandi’s grandfather. Sometime in the not too distant past, the Great Disaster happened and yada yada animals got intelligent and changed into humanoid forms (walking upright, etc.) while humans got stupid and pretty much can’t talk. Kamandi’s friends include Ben Boxer, a human mutant; Dr. Canus, a dog; a human named Spirit; two dog detectives named Bloodstalker and Doyle; and an alien named Pyra, who has a living spaceship. In issue 57, Kamandi & co. are looking for the power source of the Great Disaster, and end up in Australia. Kamandi is kidnapped by some surfing lobsters – because he’s human and can talk, they think he’s a god – and taken to a drive-in movie theater on the Island of God Watchers where he’s put into a pod that goes in a machine that puts him in the movies. Now on to Karate Kid 15…

Issue 15 (July/Aug 1978), on sale 4/6/78

Rozakis, Harris/Ortiz

After leaving Robin, Karate Kid and Diamondeth reach the 30th century in a Time Bubble that the Legion sent to him so that he could come back (it’s a special Uber Time Bubble), but it’s actually Kamandi’s timeline. Val thinks this is yet another of Major Disaster’s testing grounds. The Lord of Time explains to Major Disaster that it’s an alternate future (or more accurately, an alternate Earth). Val meets Canus and Bloodstalker and beats them up, but Pyra zaps him and ends the fight. Val’s all like “this place is whack, I’m going back home” but the Time Bubble doesn’t work due to something the Lord of Time did. The lobsters surf in on a giant wave, and their wave breaks the Time Bubble. They think Val is a god too because he’s smart and he talks, and want to take him to the Island of the God Watchers. He tries but fails to defeat them, and is knocked out. Meanwhile, Pyra successfully turns Diamondeth back into Iris Jacobs, but she understandably freaks out and so Pyra has to return her to that form. Canus and Bloodstalker hitch a ride with the lobsters who are taking Val to the movie theater, where he’s put into a capsule next to Kamandi - and together, they “star” in the Bruce Lee film, “Enter the Dragon”. To be continued in the next issue of “Kamandi”.

Continuity: Published same month as S/LSH 241. The letters page explains that the book is cancelled as of this issue. “There are some big changes coming from DC in a couple of months and to make way, the books at the bottom of the list had to be cut. However, sales reports on our new direction issues are not yet in, so there’s still a chance we could be back again in the future. Meanwhile, our current saga winds up in Kamandi #58, and then watch for our hero back where it all began in Superboy & The Legion of Super-Heroes!” Spoiler alert: they did not come back. Coming this summer: the DC Explosion!

The Great Karate Kid Yada Yada of 2017 (part 2)

Continuing the Great Karate Kid Yada Yada of 2017! Back in 2017, I put this together for a couple of episodes of the podcast, but this blog was on hiatus at that time and I never got around to posting it here. This is (retroactively) number 1b - part 2 of 4 - in a continuing series of Great Yada Yadas, where the motto is “We read them so you don’t have to”. Listen to it at Legion of Substitute Podcasters episode 463.

Issue 6 (Jan/Feb 1977), on sale 10/7/76

Jameson/Estrada/Staton

The Legion shows up – Sun Boy, Star Boy, Cosmic Boy, and Princess Projectra – and stops Val from killing Blud, who escapes. Iris is worried that Val might need her, but she seeks Jeckie cradling him and sulks off. The Legionnaires had detected someone trying to tamper with the time stream and traced it back. Val tells the Legion that they allowed Blud to escape and he sulks off. Jeckie tells Cosmic Boy that he’s not acting the way he normally does, and he replies that he thinks there’s more to him being in the 20th century than he told them back in issue 1. Meanwhile, back at Val’s apartment, his landlady Mrs Geichman turns on the monitor globe that she thought was a TV, and it shows a castle. A voice says she’s seen too much and it zaps her. Val is moping through the streets of NYC when he’s captured and brought to Blud’s underwater HQ, he wants Val to tell him where and when the next world war will be and threatens the members of the Legion who he captured off-panel. Val runs to Jeckie and suddenly the underwater dome starts cracking and letting in water. Nope, just an illusion so Val could rescue the Legionnaires, who destroy Blud’s robot warriors and help Val capture Blud. Jeckie invites Val to come back home, but he tells her his work in the 20th century isn’t done yet. He wanders off and finds Iris, who apologizes for leaving earlier, but when they get to their apartment building, the cops are there and arrest Val for murder.

Continuity: Published same month as Superboy 223. The letters page mentions that Denny O’Neil (who also co-created Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter) has become the new Story Editor of both Karate Kid and Superboy starting with 224 next month, and Paul Levitz will be coming on as scripter for the Legion book starting with 225.

Issue 7 (Mar/Apr 1977), on sale 12/7/76

Jameson/Estrada/Staton

The cops are arresting Val, but a giant tunnel boring machine erupts into the street in front of the Metropolitan Museum (which is on the Upper East Side of NYC, although it was previously established that the apartment was on the Upper West Side, and despite the fact that an elementary school teacher can’t afford a solo apartment on either side, especially not across the street from the museum). The Gyro-Master goes in to steal a gyro, and remembers his origin story which made him able to spin like a top. Karate Kid breaks out of police custody but can’t stop him, and both escape. Meanwhile, family man Benjamin Day gets an ominous phone call. Val and Iris go back to their building, where Val talks to the monitor, which tells him that Mrs Geichman isn’t dead, she’s merely pining for the fjords. It tells Val that his hardships are part of his trials, unless the prize isn’t worth the peril. He fights off a couple of cops, then gets a hint from Iris which explains where Gyro Master has been hiding. Yada yada, they fight and Val wins. Later, Val and Iris stroll through Washington Square Park (because he can hide among all the freaks in weird clothes), while Benjamin Day changes into an assassin named Pulsar.

Continuity: Published same month as Superboy 225. Somewhere in issues 5-7, Karate Kid appears with the Legion fighting the Time Trapper in Superboy 223 and against Pulsar Stargrave in 224. There’s a publishorial in the issue that explains that Jenette Kahn is the new Publisher of DC Comics. And as revealed in the letters page for issue 9, they were originally going to use the Flash villain The Top in this story, but he inconveniently died over in Flash, so the story had to be reworked into someone new.

Issue 8 (May/June 1977), on sale 2/1/77

Jameson/Estrada/Staton

Pulsar blasts Washington Square – but it’s not Karate Kid he’s after, it’s an old guy who ratted on the Mob. He blasts Val, who’s trying to save the guy, but the old man runs into the street and is killed by a horse-drawn carriage. The cops show up and arrest Val, while Pulsar’s costume disappears and he’s just another guy on the street. Meanwhile, in the morgue, Mrs Geichman wakes up. The cops take Val up to Commissioner Banner’s office just in time for the news of Geichman’s non-murder to get there, and he’s released. Over in Long Island, Benjamin Day is visited by his boss, and he tells him that he’s quitting the hit-man game, but the boss reminds him of a dead-man’s switch that will apparently harm his family. At Madison Square Garden, Banner tells a convention of law enforcement officers that organized crime is the greatest threat and he wants to stop Pulsar. Back at the apartment, Mrs Geichman doesn’t remember anything, and Val says his TV must have short circuited and he’ll get it checked out. He hears over the radio that Pulsar is at MSG. Yada yada, he gets there, they fight, and Val stops him from being electrocuted. Pulsar escapes, and later Banner thanks Val for saving him from Pulsar, they shake. Getting back to the apartment, Iris tells Val that she’s stupid for being jealous of Jeckie since she’s in the future and not here now, and she kisses him. Suddenly the light turns on and Jeckie is waiting there for him.

Continuity: Jeckie last appeared in Superboy 226-227 against Stargrave. The letters page has one by future DC writer Mike W. Barr, in which he wonders if “Barry Jameson” is a pseudonym. The editor basically admits it and challenges the readers to guess who it is (but it’s never revealed by the end of the series). Published same month as Superboy 227.

Issue 9 (July/Aug 1977), on sale 4/5/77

Jameson/Estrada/Staton

Pulsar gets the assignment to kill Karate Kid but refuses, because Val saved his life. The boss takes out the remote control and stops Pulsar’s heart before restarting it as leverage. Back at the apartment, Jeckie tells Val that now she knows the real reason he went back to the past, for Iris. The women argue over him, while Pulsar is on a rooftop nearby and blasts Val. He tells Jeckie to stay behind and guard Iris while he goes after Pulsar. Yada yada, they fight and Pulsar wins, but his wrist band starts beeping like back in issue 5. The monitor in the apartment beeps too, and Jeckie recognizes it as a 30th century monitor globe – and it’s her father on the screen! Dun dun DUNNNN! Later that night, Pulsar brings Karate Kid to his boss’s restaurant and threatens to let Val go if the boss doesn’t give him the heart clicker. But the boss is holding Day’s wife hostage, and since he’s no longer loyal, the boss has Pulsar knocked out. He wakes up next to Val inside a giant industrial microwave oven, and while they get ready to be nuked, Pulsar tells Karate Kid his origin story. He was a thug who got experimented on with a new atomic heart, which can be deactivated (looks like a heart attack) or overloaded (looks like a nuclear bomb). Karate Kid breaks them out of the oven, they fight the boss, and Val stops Pulsar’s heart from blowing up. The cops arrest him even though he was forced to commit his crimes. Back at the apartment, Jeckie tells Val that she saw her father on the screen even though Orando is medieval, but Val said that his next transmission wasn’t due for another two days. Voxv appears on screen and says “he has to be stopped, or our planet is doomed! You must help us!” Val tells Jeckie that he has to go back to the future, even if it means giving up everything he came to the past to achieve.

Continuity: Published same month as Superboy 229.

Issue 10 (Sept/Oct 1977), on sale 6/9/77

Jameson/Estrada/Abel

Val and Jeckie take her Time Bubble to Orando. Some foreign soldiers are there, they don’t recognize them, but Jeckie’s powers don’t work. Yada yada, they fight, and Jeckie’s gone. She’s been taken to the throne room, where Sadaharu the Black Dragon sits on the throne. (You might recall that we last saw the Dragon in Superboy 210 in Karate Kid’s origin story, he was trained by Val Armorr’s father who was the first Black Dragon, a villain killed by Karate Kid’s Sensei.) He neutralized the Orandian’s native illusion-casting powers (what?!?) and set a trap for Val. Yada yada 3 pages of fight scenes, it’s a draw between Val and the Dragon, until he picks up a gun. Some random Orandian suggests a man-to-man duel, and the Dragon says that the winner also gets Projectra. In a prison chamber, we finally learn why Karate Kid has been in the 20th century – he is not of royal blood, and as Voxv expects the two of them to eventually get married, he wanted to make sure Val was worthy. “Thus, Armorr 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 under Orandian standards. He was sworn to secrecy to prevent undue interference from the Legion.” Jeckie realizes that he went to the past for her, not because he chose to. Cut to a nearby icy grotto, which has a pit of liquid oxygen that’s somehow unstable and erupting, and Val will fight Sadaharu on a platform above the pit. Meanwhile, Jeckie escapes, and while the two men are fighting, someone knocks over a brazier of burning oil which melts the ice bridge they’re on. Suddenly the Legion appears, Jeckie called in Superboy, Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, and Phantom Girl. Val convinces Sadaharu to stop the fight so the two of them can both escape, and it turns out that the random Orandian who suggested the fight was the one who knocked over the brazier, he wanted both men out of the way because he was in love with Jeckie. Voxv tells Val that he can visit his friends for a while but still has to return to the past, and Jeckie tells him that she knows he’s been seeing Iris and wants to know if he’s in love. He says he is, with Jeckie. Awww.

Continuity: Published same month as S/LSH 231. Val joins Jeckie in S/LSH 231 as they fight the Fatal Five, you may recall the scene where they’re on the bridge of the Legion Cruiser and she starts climbing all over him. The letters page in issue 12 says they goofed here when they said that all Orandians have illusion-casting powers.

The Great Karate Kid Yada Yada of 2017 (part 1)

Back in 2017, I put this together for a couple of episodes of the podcast, but this blog was on hiatus at that time and I never got around to posting it here. This is (retroactively) number 1 in a continuing series of Great Yada Yadas, where the motto is “We read them so you don’t have to”. Listen to it at Legion of Substitute Podcasters episode 463.

• 1 & 2: Karate Kid (broken down into 4 sections: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4) in 2017 (18 issues), episodes 463 & 464
• 3 & 4: Crisis on Infinite Earths (Arrowverse) (part 1, part 2) in 2019 (5 TV episodes plus 2 comics), episodes 583 & 588
• 5: Timber Wolf (1 part) in 2020 (5 issues), episode 624
• 6 & 7: Eclipso (part 1, part 2) in 2021 (20 double-size issues), episodes 638 & 651
• 8 & 9: Valor (part 1, part 2) in 2021 (11 issues) episodes 655 & 659
• 10: The New Golden Age (JSA/Stargirl and related) (1 part) in 2024 (all or parts of 49 issues), episode 844

At the time, we didn't want to do 15 episodes of Karate Kid's series, because frankly the series wasn't that good. But we did want to cover it for the show because it's a Legion book. (We did the same for Timber Wolf and Valor, and we'll be doing the same for Legion Science Police later).

The Karate Kid series was an attempt to cash in on the Bruce Lee kung fu/martial arts fad at the time, though by the time the first issue came out, the fad had already peaked. Karate Kid journeyed into the past (our present) for an unknown reason – the first hint came in issue 2, but it was several issues before we the readers found out. Towards the end of the series, with the fad long over, it became basically another superhero book, complete with a change in logo, and the reason for his journey to the past as stated in the beginning (he went to find himself) wound up being completely changed by the end of the series (to prove himself worthy to marry Jeckie).

A brief recap of the 3 issues we already covered in this podcast (episodes 311, 312, and 314), and then we’re going to yada yada the hell out of the rest of the series. Ordinarily we’d recap each issue with plot and dialog, but in the interests of not having the listeners sit through 13 more issues, I’ll just cover the highlights of the plot and focus on the stuff that’s relevant to the Legion as a whole. Since there are no sound effects, take a drink when I yada yada. Also, take a drink when a villain recalls his own origin story.

Issue 1 (March/April 1976), on sale 12/4/75

Levitz/Estrada/Staton

Nemesis Kid has escaped his prison cell by teleporting to the past since the last time he fought the Legionnaires (Superboy 208). Karate Kid went back to 1975 solo, and the rest of the Legion followed him, but he sent them back to the 30th century because he’s just a normal guy who developed his skills and he wants to do this on his own. He flies off to get his Time Bubble off the roof of a nearby building, but his flight ring got damaged and he lands in the classroom of teacher Iris Jacobs. Yada yada, he finally defeats Nemesis Kid, puts him in the Time Bubble and sends it back to the future with a note saying that he’s staying in the 20th century until he can find himself.

Continuity: Published same month as Superboy 215. After this issue, Val goes back to the 30th century to help recruit Tyroc (Superboy 216).

Issue 2 (May/June 1976), on sale 2/12/76

Michelinie/Estrada/Staton

Val shows up at Iris Jacobs’ school and tells her he’s looking for a place to stay and tries to tell her he’s from the 30th century, but she doesn’t believe him. Suddenly there’s Major Disaster, who wants the UN to vacate their building in 3 hours. Yada yada they fight, and Val beats Major Disaster’s goons while the boss gets away. Turns out MD took a contract from the neo-Nazis of Nurike to drive the UN out of the US “to enforce our America for Americans philosophy”. Val gets to go on TV and tell the city who he is, but Iris rescues him in a taxi, which is soon stopped by an earthquake. Val sees where the quake is being controlled from and runs into a building to confront MD, yada yada the building is destroyed and MD is missing. Iris invites him to stay in her apartment.

Continuity: Major Disaster hadn’t been seen since Green Lantern #57, in 1967. In the letters column, it is revealed that the mystery of why Val is in the past involves another character that Jim Shooter created. Published in the off-month between Superboy 216-217.

Issue 3 (July/Aug 1976), on sale 4/15/76

Jameson/Estrada/Staton

Val and Iris are at a bank, depositing a check that the city’s Good Samaritan Fund gave him. He’s been staying at her place for the last few weeks. Suddenly a bad guy with armor and a bolo whip named The Revenger breaks in and kills the bank manager, leaving a note that this is #1 of 3. He reminisces about his origin story while tending to his pigeons on the roof. Val and Iris visit Mrs Geichman, the landlady of her building, and she rents Val a room. Yada yada, the Revenger kills another guy. Val figures out who the third guy is and confronts the Revenger before he can act, and the building they’re in is conveniently the one where his birds are. They fight on the roof, but the Revenger is apparently killed trying to save his birds from a falling sign.

Continuity: Val goes back to the 30th century and is on duty when Absorbancy Boy tries to attack (Superboy 218). Published same month as Superboy 218.

Issue 4 (Sept/Oct 1976), on sale 6/10/76

Jameson/Estrada/Staton

Karate Kid is briefly back in the 30th century, helping the Legion fight a giant robot that is immune to the powers of Lightning Lad, Mon-El, Brainiac 5, and Princess Projectra. Brainy reminds Val that his powers aren’t super, that’s why he alone could defeat the robot, and Val mopes that he wants to be sent back to the 20th century where he feels he fits in better with “normal” people. He gets back to New York to find that a terrorist has taken over Iris Jacobs’ school, said terrorist being a horribly racist Japanese caricature named Master Hand (who’s got a sword for a right hand and a hook for a left), who wants all Western trade cut off with the Orient within a month or the streets of America will run red with blood, starting with Iris Jacobs if the US doesn’t agree in 24 hours. Val tries to fight his way into the building but is stopped by Police Commissioner Banner, who tells Val that he needs to stay out because it’s official police business. Master Hand recounts his origin, which is basically he doesn’t like Western culture’s influence on Japan, to Iris. Meanwhile, Karate Kid drops onto the roof via helicopter, beats up some ninjas, and confronts Master Hand by challenging him to a duel since killing kids isn’t honorable. Yada yada, they fight and Val wins, then stops Hand from killing himself in shame. Banner tries to arrest Val for interfering in official police business, but a guy from the Governor’s office shows up and says that Val has been awarded the status of Special Police Officer in New York, answerable only to the Governor. Banner’s pissed off.

Continuity: takes place between Superboy 218-219. Published same month as Superboy 219.

Issue 5 (Nov/Dec 1976), on sale 8/5/76

Jameson/Estrada/Staton

I own the original Ernie Chan/Mike Grell cover art, by the way. Val is the guest of honor at the 1976 Veterans’ Day Parade, and some bad guys are disguised as soldiers. They try to capture Iris, but before he can help, he gets beeped on his gauntlet and runs away to his apartment. He talks to a voice in a metal globe, we don’t know who it is, but he tells Val “You knew the rules when you agreed to this test, and one of those rules is to report to the monitor globe whenever the signal coil commands. Just how well you overcome your personal obstacles to follow these rules will weigh heavily in the final judgement, and the final verdict.” This is the first we’ve heard about there being another reason for Val being in the 20th century besides to find himself. And is that a crown or just some shading hash marks on the TV screen? His landlady Mrs Geichman comes in and thinks he’s watching TV. He leaves, and is handed a clue on where to find Iris. He ends up in a sub-basement in the Empire State Building and finds Commander Blud, who wants Val to give him the secrets of future tech so he can make weapons and prolong wars to change the future. Yada yada, they fight and Val wins, but Blud uses some knockout gas and straps Val into a pain/brainwashing machine, then Val is tortured into becoming a berserker. End of part 1.

Continuity: Published same month as Superboy 221.

(The podcast covered issues 1-10, but I'll stop here, and do 5 issues in each blog post.)

Legion Worlds: coming eventually

Here's an excerpt from a project I've been working on since May 2015. I call it "Legion Worlds" (for now, at least). Or maybe it should be "Where's Where in the Legion of Super-Heroes"? I guess "Encyclopedia Galactica" is already taken.

This logo by Josh Beatman of Brainchild Studios, as seen on Todd Klein's blog of Legion logo studies here.

Back in 2007, Geoff Johns (who apparently read my blog at the time) emailed me to ask if I could help with a project he was working on, which later turned out to be Legion of 3 Worlds. He asked "Do you know where I can get a list of the members of the United Planets from the original series - up to Crisis?" I was able to give him the list of UP worlds in a list that combined the "World Book" and the "Atlas of the DC Universe" from the Mayfair role playing game, "Who's Who in the LSH", and Mark Waid's Legion index (later published as "The Official Index to the LSH" from ICG). I came up with a list of 158 named worlds. If he used anything from my list, I don't know for certain.

But that exchange got me thinking, "I should do some more research to find out if such a list exists". Never found anything that had been created as part of Interlac of the Legion Outpost. But I eventually found a list generated by "Portfolio Boy" on the Legion Worlds message board in 2014, and it was just what I was looking for - but it only went up to Adventure Comics #349.

So beginning in 2015, I went back and looked up every Legion story starting with Adventure Comics #247, and made notes on every dimension, galaxy, solar system, star, planet, country, city, and building that I could find, including whatever history was given, notable inhabitants or animals, whose homeworld it is, and anything else the Encyclopedia Galactica said about it. I'm up through LSH v3 #45 now, covering up to early 1988 ("only" 30 years of history!). I intend this first volume to cover the Pre-Crisis, Post-Crisis, Five Years Later, Retroboot, and New 52; the Reboot, Threeboot, and Rebirth versions will come later (and will be far shorter). This should be the definitive list of Legion-related worlds (plus some 20th century places they visited).

Once I'm done (eventually), I will release it with a Creative Commons license.

This is just the list of "A" places (1958-1988). Who remembers all of these? I have 93 pages of notes so far, covering A-Z plus numbers and unnamed places.

1. Aarok
2. Aegea
3. Aktar
4. Aldebaran
5. Alkoz
6. Alkrania
7. Alpha-4
8. Alpha XVII
9. Altair
10. Althar
11. Amadus
12. Amarta
13. Amazonia
14. Ananke (12th Moon of Jupiter)
15. Andalu
16. Andromeda Galaxy
17. Angtu 
18. Anakar
19. Ankar
20. Antares II
21. Anterio
22. Anti-Matter Universe
23. Anv
24. Anvor
25. Apokolips
26. Arane II
27. Arbro
28. Arctoraan
29. Arcturus
30. Ardemo
31. Arguv
32. Arion Star
33. Arnak
34. Arok-1 and Arok-2
35. Arturus
36. Asteroid 108
37. Asteroid Archipelago
38. Asteroid 73-Q
39. Asteroid Belt
40. Asteroid X52
41. Asteroid YW-89
42. Asteroid Z
43. Asteroid Zone
44. Asteroid ZYX-1W
45. Avalon
46. Avatanda

What's new in the Field Guide to Legion Cover Variants in 2025

The Field Guide to Legion Cover Variants

1958-2005, 2006-2007, 2008-2009, 2010-2011, 2012-2014, 2015-2018, 2019, 2020, 2021-2022

Unused covers, Second printings 

I have updated the Field Guide to Legion Cover Variants 1958-2022 (in 9 parts, as of this writing). There were no new updates to this guide in 2024. New for 2025 is the unused cover to LSH v5 #7 cover dated Jan 2011, which appeared in a comment that I had accidentally left in the queue for "hold for moderation" for over 2 years!

Let me know if you find something that you think I should add!

• Unused covers
• Added the Jan 2011 unused cover for LSH v5 #7

2024 at a Glance

I was going to present this on our podcast for the show in between Christmas and New Years, but it ended up being a rerun so I get to present it here instead.

Behold! This year in Legion News:

COMICS

• Blue Beetle tribute to Keith Giffen
• Dreamer
• Suicide Squad: Dream Team miniseries
• Dreamer: Bad Dream (origin story)
• Absolute Power 
• JSA, including the Subs and the Legion
• Crisis on Infinite Earths #1-9 facsimile editions
• Kneel Before Zod – Emerald Empress appears
• Zero Hour 30th anniversary special
• DC All-In Special – Darkseid’s Omega Legion of the Absolute Universe
• Action Comics #1070-1081 – Superman enlists the help of Mon-El from the Phantom Zone
• Superman – return of the Time Trapper

REPRINT COLLECTIONS

• Justice Society of America v4 Vol. 1: The New Golden Age
• Green Arrow v7 vol 1: Reunion
• Fourth World Omnibus Vol. 2 HC
• Booster Gold: The Complete 2007 Series Book 1
• Justice League Dark: Rebirth Omnibus HC
• Absolute Superman by Geoff Johns & Gary Frank HC
• Superman: The Triangle Era Omnibus vol 1
• Brave and the Bold Vol. 1: Lords of Luck TPB (2024)
• The Great Darkness Saga TPB (2024)
• Elseworlds: Superman vol 2 TPB (2024)
• DC Finest: Events: Zero Hour Part One TPB
• DC Finest: Legion of Super-Heroes: Zap Goes the Legion TPB

VIDEO

• Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Parts 1-3 (digital & DVD/Blu-ray)

TOYS

• Lightning Lad 7" action figure from McFarlane Toys (2 versions)

THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2025

• January
• Crisis on Infinite Earths #10 Facsimile Edition
• DC Horror Presents #4 (“a Matter-Eater Lad tale that'll have your stomach churning”)
• February
• Brave and the Bold Vol. 2: The Book of Destiny TPB
• Justice Society of America v4 Vol. 2: Long Live the JSA
• Superman v6 #23 (Time Trapper)
• March
• The Great Darkness Saga Deluxe Edition HC
• DC Finest: Team-Ups: Chase to the End of Time TPB
• Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor #2
• April
• Five Years Later Omnibus vol 1 HC
• May
• DC Finest: Events: Zero Hour Part Two TPB
• Superman: Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds: The Deluxe Edition
• Suicide Squad by John Ostrander vol 1
• The Curse Deluxe Edition HC
• June
• DC Universe by Steve Ditko