The high point of the panel had to be when, in response to a fan question, Giffen voiced his ire for the character Karate Kid.

“I hate that character,” he said good-naturedly. “I agreed to come on Countdown only if I could kill him. If I come on Legion again, he’s dead.” 

Why does he hate him so much? “Two words put together. Super-Karate.”

“Everyone in this field has characters they hate,” Giffen said. “I just have the bad taste to say it out loud.”

KARATE KID I (Val Armorr)

Silver Age Karate Kid:
-Karate Kid is a character who can unfortunately only create giggles with his mention sometimes, thanks in part to a movie released nearly two decades after Val Armorr debuted in a Legion comic. Not that “Karate Kid” is a particularly good nickname anyhow. The character was initially a bit forgotten on his own team, before getting one of the greatest death scenes in comic history, but has since been kind of admired these days as a bastion of either Silver Age Silliness (“Super Karate” that can do anything) or good, old-fashioned Power Geeking.

-A kid so bad-ass that he could tangle with super-villains using only his martial arts, he was notable for tossing around Superboy in his first appearance (thought it should be noted he didn’t actually HURT ol’ Clark; he just knocked him over once and dodged his punches- some people act like he should be PL 14-15 because of that). He didn’t get as much use as many other Legionnaires, probably because he was less flashy than them and often acted like a tool, but he had a resurgence with the Martial Arts fad of the ’70s. 

-Val Armorr is the son of one of Japan’s greatest crime lords, but his American mother (a secret agent), tried to hide him. She was killed for her efforts, and Val was adoped by Japan’s greatest hero, who trained the boy in the martial arts. After failing to please his supervisor in Earth’s martial arts, he traveled the universe to find more forms to study. When the Legion announced try-outs to build an army to battle the Khunds, and was selected when he proved capable of giving SUPERBOY trouble in a fight, despite lacking any “super-powers”. He was framed by fellow recruit Nemesis Kid, but the treachery was discovered, and the villain expelled (he would not forget this slight).

-Val would prove himself on numerous occasions, like beaten three members of the Fatal Five simultaneously, but his biggest thing was sheer courage- he would throw himself into unarmed combat with monsters like Validus and Darkseid! Falling in love with Princess Projectra, he would leave the Legion to woo her, and also moved to the 20th Century for a time, having his own solo book for fifteen issues, starting in 1976. He would quit the Legion to become Projectra’s consort on Orando. Alas, this would not last.

One Hell of a Death:
-Val would end up getting a GREAT death scene, when a vengeful Nemesis Kid arrived on Orando with the Legion of Super-Villains, quickly taking over. Val fought back, but the baddie taunted him- his own ability (to counter the powers of any rival) allowed him to AUTOMATICALLY gain abilities greater than those Val had fought his entire life attaining. With Val beaten nearly to death (so badly they couldn’t even show his injuries on panel!), he managed the force of will to ignore Nemesis Kid and sacrifice his life to stop the bad guys’ technology from separating Orando from regular space. His burned, charred body were all that remained- a heartbroken Princess snapped the villain’s neck, as was her right as ruler of her planet. Keith Giffen, co-creator at the time, admitted that he killed Karate Kid largely because he thought “Super-Karate” was a dumb power, but wow- what a way to go out.

-A guy named Myg would take the role of “Karate Kid II” and join the Legion, and we’d also see an “SW6” clone, but he would die fighting the Dominators in the “Five Years Later” era.

Karate Kid- Power-Geek’s Dream:
-I actually remember him most from the old WizardWorld forum, back when their “SuperHero ShowDown” forum featured prospective battles between comic characters. Usually it was just endless Superman (vs) Thor, Superman (vs) Hulk, Hulk (vs) Thor, Superman (vs) Goku, etc., battles between the most-famous Top Tiers, BUT every once in a while, a new character would become popular after someone pimped some of his old feats. At one point, Wundarr the Aquarian became super-popular and made the rounds between all the other Top Tiers. Then, we had Pre-Crisis Superman with a Magic Sword (from… some issue. I have no idea). And at one point, in came Val Armorr, with stories of his planet-breaking Karate Chops and ability to beat Kryptonians (nowadays, people would demand scans. This was years ago). Thankfully, I never get involved in “Versus Battles” these days (it seemed WAY too much effort to put into what I consider a less-important part of comics, especially since I prefer books where most people could win in fights against each other), though in a way, determining PLs is the same sort of thing.

Later Karate Kids:
-The Reboot era saw a version of Karate Kid- this one joining the “Workforce” team so that he could travel to different planets and learn new martial arts. He eventually abandoned the team when he saw how immoral their leader was, and joined the Legion. “Threeboot” Val would be depicted with more Asian features… until he wasn’t, because an artist probably forgot. Here, he dated Shadow Lass and had a crush on Phantom Girl (which was not reciprocated), and also grew close with Light Lass. 

-Karate Kid was central to the rebirth of the old-school Legion in the Post-Infinite Crisis era. He is announced as being the same one who’d died fighting Nemesis Kid all those years ago, and chooses to stay in the past, rather than return to the 31st Century. However, he is killed in some story involving Brother Eye and Una (the remaining “Duo Damsel” duplicate) after contracting an illness- this is said to be Keith Giffen wanting to kill the character AGAIN, simply refusing to accept his “silly” powers.

-The late Keith Giffen’s eternal grudge against the character was bizarre, petty, an affront to anyone who actually enjoys the character, and something I would ABSOLUTELY do if I ever got real power in comics- can you imagine how much fun it would be resurrecting and then killing the Sentry over and over again? I’d ruin that character’s credibility so bad he’d never recover! It would be AWESOME!! But it’s still very weird- no other writer indulges their grudges this way. Never mind that Giffen loves friggin’ MATTER-EATER LAD, who is a thousand times more stupid than Karate Kid could ever hope to be (and certainly never hurts the entire credibility of the LOSH franchise like Tenzil does just by existing).

KARATE KID II (Myg)
-The second Karate Kid was created after Timber Wolf & the original Kid’s Sensei were brought to the battle world of Lythyl as part of Val Armorr’s last will and testament. Spreading his ashes, they meet a teen named Myg, and smuggle him away from the world so that it won’t corrupt him (as it had corrupted Val’s father). Humbled by the respect given to Val, Myg follows the same path, joining the Legion Academy & Substitute Heroes. He finally joined the team proper in the “Five Years Later” era, but didn’t stick around following some discord between team members. He is later killed by Radiation Roy in Legion of Three Worlds (while decrying the very nature of the Legion), never really getting a chance to succeed as a character.