The Brave And The Bold #198

The Brave And The Bold #198 
"Terrorists of the Heart!"
written by Mike W. Barr
pencilled by Chuck Patton
inked by Rick Hoberg
lettered by Todd Klein
colored by Adrienne Roy
edited by Len Wein
cover by Jim Aparo
cover date: May 1983
review by Russell "Bilingual Boy" Burbage
dedicated affectionately to Glenn "Continuity Kid" Walker

The last time we saw Karate Kid in a solo adventure he was leaving 1978 to head back into the future. He was desperate to try to cure Iris Jacobs, who had been transformed by Major Disaster and the Lord of Time into Diamondeth.

As we saw in several issues of Legion of Super-Heroes, he was successful in not only reaching the future but also in curing Iris.

However, we did not ever see another solo Karate Kid adventure, or any Karate Kid-centric Legion story that wrapped up his "banished into the past" story-line. Specifically, the confrontation between him, Princess Projectra, and her father, King Voxv, was never shown; that would have been a hugely dramatic scene that all Legion fans at the time were hoping for! Therefore we have no choice but to  imagine how Karate Kid and Projectra must have convinced His Majesty that this Earthling "peasant" was somehow worthy of marrying his daughter. Unfortunately, none of the Legion writers between 1978 and 1983 deemed that family drama worth sharing.

Then, in the winter of 1983, Karate Kid suddenly showed up on the newsstands again! This time he was a co-star with Batman in The Brave and The Bold....the only Legionnaire besides Superboy and Supergirl so honored! This was the last time Val Armorr ever got co-star billing in pre-Crisis continuity. So...what kind of conclusion do we get for Karate Kid? Let's find out!

The terrorist organization The Black Hearts are holding up in a rundown apartment village in Gotham City. They would have been safer in New York! The police and Batman try to force them out of their lair, but they blast out at the forces of good in a violent display rare for comics of this era. In the literal shower of bullets, the group manages to sneak out the back way. Their leader, Peter by name, believes that his former girl-friend, Katy, has betrayed them to the police, and he wants revenge against her.

Speaking of New York, Karate Kid arrives on the roof of his old apartment building in NYC and visits his former land-lady, Mrs. Geichman. He asks her about Iris Jacobs. She tells him that Iris moved out soon after Karate Kid disappeared; she thinks she moved to Gotham City. I think I see a pattern developing.

At Gotham City Jail, Batman is watching over Katy on the assumption that The Black Hearts are going to make a move against her. He thinks she's probably safe in her jail cell until suddenly, Pulsar uses his power-staff to break down the walls to get at her. Batman saves Katy and then fights with Pulsar. In the milieu, Katy gets escapes. In another violent act, she murders a Good Samaritan who offers to help her. She steals his car, leaving behind a bit of ripped handkerchief around the slice of glass she had used as a murder weapon. Of course, shards of glass don't kill people, people kill people. Or something like that.

Unfortunately for Katy, she was injured by Pulsar's attack and can't manage to drive the man's car very far. She ditches it and walks into the city where she is met by (who do you suppose?).....Iris Jacobs! Iris feels sorry for her and brings her back to her apartment, which is nearby.

As Katy heads into Iris' bathroom to take a shower, Karate Kid returns! He has finally tracked her down and wants to talk, but then sees that Pulsar is fighting Batman nearby. Feeling responsible because Pulsar was the only real arch enemy he ever had, Karate Kid heads off for a re-match. Not before he sneezes, though, and borrows what he thinks is Iris' handkerchief. Ewww---!

Katy comes out of the shower just in time to miss being seen by Karate Kid, but just as the news starts to talk about her escape from jail. She turns the TV off before Iris notices.

At the jail, Karate Kid finds Batman digging himself out of the rubble. They act as if they know each other; Batman even introduces the Kid to Commissioner Gordon. They also investigate the murdered man found close to the jail, and Batman matches the torn swatch on the murder weapon to Karate Kid's handkerchief (ewwww!). They rush off to Iris' apartment.

On the way, Karate Kid comments that terrorists are scum. He's trying to start a conversation with Batman, but the Dark Knight prefers to not be chatty about his feelings. Karate Kid thinks he likes Robin better. He was going to ask the Darknight Detective how the Teen Wonder is doing, but thinks better of it and keeps his mouth shut....

Unknown to our heroes, Peter and his gang of terrorists have also tracked Katy down and are in Iris' neighborhood. They break in to Iris' apartment just as Batman and Karate Kid arrive. Batman stays to battle the terrorists, as Karate Kid and Pulsar "take it outside."

Pulsar admits that he intended to go straight after battling Karate Kid before, but while he was in custody his former crime organization killed his wife and children. Having nothing to live for, he went back to his life as an assassin for hire.

Karate Kid manages to grab Pulsar's lance, then defeats him in hand-to-hand combat. He *is* Karate Kid, after all.

Watching from the apartment window, Peter fingers some small tool and then "activates the mechanism," causing Pulsar to explode.

Back in the apartment, Batman has stopped most of the Black Hearts until Peter is about to gun him down. Propelled back into the apartment by the explosion that kills Pulsar, Karate Kid stops Peter, as Iris stops Katy!

As Katy and Peter are arrested and carted off, Iris notes how love can sometimes turn to hate....like her feelings for Karate Kid. She admits that she loved him, then hated him for going away, and is now ready to love him again. Karate Kid, however, tells her that the only reason he has come back to 1983 is to invite her to his wedding. She is furious, and heart-broken, and tells him to go. Batman tries to console her, but you know he's not good at that mushy stuff.

And with that, Karate Kid disappears from "today" and returns to the 30th Century, heading towards his own destiny. We never see Iris Jacobs again....

One has to wonder why this particular story was told. It clears up the Karate Kid continuity, sort of, but actually spoils the character of Pulsar by having him return to crime (with a vengeance) and still have his self-destruct mode in place. You would have thought it would have been surgically removed in prison, or something.

Still, there are quite a few nice things about this story. In the credits, editor Len Wein "introduces" Chuck Patton....is this his very first comic-book story ever?!? According to Mike's Amazing World of Comics Chuck drew two Creeper back-up stories in The Flash and a Green Lantern Corps story before this issue was published. Chuck, of course, went on to fame as a penciller for the Justice League and the New Teen Titans. He does a more than adequate job here, with his layouts flowing naturally and no panels anywhere in the story making the reader go "huh?" In fact, his Karate Kid fight scenes are well choreographed and his scenes of the Kid and Batman travelling the city skylines are well done.

I do not fault artist Chuck Patton for any sequences; I assume it is writer Mike W. Barr who chooses to break up the fights between Karate Kid-Pulsar and Batman-the terrorists on pages 18-20. I further assume that he was going for a type of "parallelism" but the timing seems off, somehow. Karate Kid accidentally tosses Pulsar out of the window just as the terrorists attack Batman. We then get a whole page and a half of fighting between Karate Kid and Pulsar, but in the meantime only one panel of time has happened to Batman? The chronology of this sequence bothers me every time I read it.

As for the story itself, it seems to veer between ultra-violent  and sentimental. The shoot-out with the police at the beginning is very graphic, and the murder of the Good Samaritan is more graphic than usually makes it into a Comics Code book (see reprints above). Conversely, Iris is still in love with Karate Kid and moons over him most of the story. I don't necessarily mean this comment as a criticism, as it seems that super-heroes (or common police, for that matter) would have to deal with all extremes of situations in a relatively short period of time. I just wanted to point it out, as it is not the common comic scenario.

One last comment/criticism, which is minor but I notice it every time I re-read this story. Iris Jacobs has bright red hair. So does the second woman in the terrorist group. Wouldn't it have been better to make her a blonde? In the final scenes when Batman is fighting the terrorist, for one second I always mis-identify her as Iris. There is no point in the story for them to both be red-heads; I can't help but think that it was just laziness on the part of the colorist.

One of the most interesting things about this story is the meeting between Batman and Karate Kid on page 14. They act as if they already know each other, but....as far as I can tell, they have never met! Batman met the Legion of Super-Heroes twice: in the JLA-JSA team-up of JLA #s 147-148 and in The Brave & The Bold #179. However, neither time was Karate Kid shown to be in attendance. The densely plotted adventure of B&B #179 precludes any down-time opportunities for Batman to have met Karate Kid off-screen, so the only option is a potential meet-and-greet after the conclusion of the JLA-JSA team-up....unless there is an untold story out there somewhere? I guess we'll never know...

And so we say good-bye to Karate Kid the series, the one solo Legionnaire book that ever existed.... until November 1992, anyway.

Fights Per Issue:
Batman vs. the terrorists : 5 pages
Batman vs Pulsar: 2 pages
Batman vs Karate Kid: 1 page
Karate Kid vs Pulsar: 3 pages

Science Police Notes:  

• This was the last appearance of Iris Jacobs (and Mrs. Geichman). 
• Pulsar originally appeared in Karate Kid #8-9.
• Karate Kid's next chronological appearance was in Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #300. 
• Karate Kid married Princess Projectra in Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #2 (1983). 

Status: 
This issue has not yet been reprinted.

Milestone: 

Karate Kid was the only solo Legionnaire to ever co-star with Batman in The Brave & The Bold. No solo Legionnaire ever teamed up with Superman in DC Comics Presents.