Countdown Review - Karate Kid: The OMAC Virus

Rolling right along with my Countdown reviews comes Karate Kid: The OMAC Virus! If you missed the previous reviews, check out the introduction post first and then hit up the Darkseid, Holly Robinson and Challengers reviews. Once you're all caught up, get ready for this Karate Kid review and be sure to check back later for this week's Post-Crisis Comic Book Previews and maybe even another Countdown review! More after the jump.

Karate Kid: The OMAC Virus

Val Armorr’s storyline began with what is one of the biggest complaints lodged against the series – the so-called ‘back bone tie-in’. Just about every issue for the first month or two featured several pages dedicated to disjoint and out of order scenes from the ill-conceived JLA / JSA Lightning Saga storyline. Random scenes, such as Val sitting in his cell in the JLA Watchtower or the exact same fight with Batman that happened weeks earlier in JLA.

It took a while, but after the Lightning Saga ended, Karate Kid and Una stay behind in this time period as the rest of the Legion team heads back to the future. Brainiac 5 has informed Val is journey is not over and he needs to stay in the past to help out. Una eventually leads Karate Kid to Oracle for help. How Una knew of Oracle and where she lived is another one of Countdown’s great plot contrived mysteries.

Upon reaching Oracle, we find her gripped in an excruciating, for the reader, “cyber battle” with the Calculator. With Calculator defeated, Val reveals he is dying and that Oracle is the only one that can save him. Using some magic molecular biology machine that Oracle happened to have for just such an occasion, Val is diagnosed and it is revealed that either the virus is too advanced, or alien in origin, and that Oracle cannot help him. Yes, the computer expert can’t figure out how to cure his mysterious infection. Imagine that.

Oracle then sets the duo on the path to find Mister Orr who, after several issues of Val beating on Superman villains (yes, he physically defeats Superman strength class villains with his kung-fu), who tells Val that his virus is possibly related to the OMAC virus, but far more advanced. The duo gets sent on yet another mission to find someone, this time Buddy Blank. Once the group is gone, Mister Orr goes on to report his findings to Desaad, another clue relating back to the Darkseid storyline.

Once they meet up with Buddy Blank, we find out he is the original creator of the AI that Batman’s Brother Eye satellite was based on. After taking the duo to see his own version of Brother Eye, it is revealed that Val is infected with a future strain of the OMAC virus and Eye goes on to reference the “Great Disaster” and how it has come to him in the form of Val. After a brief scuffle with Brother Eye’s defenses, the team is directed to Bludhaven, where they are currently searching for more clues with Buddy Blank and his grandson.

Of note, the bunker below Bludhaven that the team is looking for is called Command D. This all relates back to Buddy’s grandson, who will eventually go on to become Kamandi, the Last Boy. Whether it all plays out exactly like that series did remains a mystery.

Kirk Says: This storyline has been fairly dull and listless. Nothing has happened and those first few weeks of Val and the Lightning Saga tie-ins were nothing but a waste of space. The last few weeks have progressed the story more than the previous 20 or so weeks, but none of it really matters anymore, as the story has dragged on too long with no major developments or events to keep the reader engaged. I think most are just waiting for this storyline to end and for the creative team to just move on at this stage. Hopefully Dini has something planned in relation to Kamandi with this trip to Bludhaven.

Verdict – Terrible. There’s a hint of promise in this storyline’s conclusion, but I won’t be holding my breath. It’s better than the Amazon stuff, but not by much.

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