Thursday, October 4, 2007

1970's Flashback: Karate Kid


Karate Kid (Val Armorr) is a member of DC Comics super-team the Legion of Super-Heroes. He is a master of every form of martial arts to have been developed by the 30th century. The extent of his skill is so great that he can severely damage various types of hard material with a single blow and was briefly able to hold his own against Superboy through the use of what he called "Super Karate". His introduction occurred in Adventure Comics # 346 (July 1966), but for a brief period in the 70's Val traveled back in time to the regular DC Universe as the star of his own series. Val did this in order to prove his worthiness for the hand of his team-mate Princess Projectra (whom he later wed) , so he took a leave of absence and spent about a year in the primitive 20th century. Karate Kid #1 debuted in March 1976 and lasted for fifteen issues.

Trivia: Columbia Pictures had to get permission from DC Comics for usage of the name of the Legion of Super-Heroes comic book character Karate Kid. Although their film version and its sequels (starring Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita) did not resemble the original comics creation, DC did get acknowledgement during the end credits.

1 comment:

texascheeseman said...

Maybe the KK movies would have been better if they had been about a time travelling martial artist versed in human and extraterrestrial combat skills on a quest to prove his worthiness to marry a member of an alien royal family.

I'm just sayin' that is a hell of a premise right there.

puff