Loading Up On Karb, Part 1: Introduction

This week I'm going to shine the spotlight on one of Superman's strangest Bronze Age villains. I'm talking about Karb-Brak.

I know what many of you are thinking: Who?


Well, Karb-Brak is the name of an alien from the Andromeda Galaxy living on earth disguised as a human construction worker with the oh-so-clever alias of Andrew Meda.

Why is he stuck living on Earth? Because of a unique medical condition.

In this case, what they call "super-powers" are essentially Kryptonian-level strength, speed, flight, and invulnerability, with a side order of J'onn J'onnzian pulling-powers-out-of-one's-ass.

Anyway, the Andromedan doctors send Karb to Earth to rest and recuperate, but there's a super-fly in the ointment.

You see, Karb's malady is one of those wacky Cary Bates-concocted afflictions in which the sufferer exhibits increasingly crazy-ass symptoms as the disease progresses. Besides the fever and the glowing, Karb's symptoms here include transmitting his high fever to Clark...

...followed by energy waves which distort everything in the general area...

...and finally, this.

(Thanks for the visual, Curt Swan!)


I'd like to say Karb-Brak handles this adversity with heroic stoicism, but....not so much.


First, after narrowing down Supes' secret identity between Clark and Steve Lombard, he starts out by trying to kill the latter.

(Nice dodge there, Steve! You'll probably be hurting in the morning, though.)


After Supes saves Steve, thus eliminating Lombard from the suspect list, Karb turns his attentions to Clark. And here he gets...creative. He has some assistance, though.


Allow me to introduce: The Psi-Machine.

The Psi-Machine is a device Karb brought from Andromeda. Its true function is to serve as our story's resident deus ex machina plot device, allowing Karb to implenent a series of Rube Goldbergian schemes to rid him of our Man Of Steel.


First, Karb uses the device to brainwash the entire Metropolis population to love and worship Clark Kent "Everybody Loves Xander" style in the hopes that Clark will hold back against a Brak attack for fear of endangering the adoring throngs following him.

When that doesn't work, Karb follows that up with something even more convoluted.

Yes, you read that right. Karb uses the Psi-Machine to banish Superman to the year 1776, rewrite history so that Clark Kent is a reporter for the Pennsylvania Gazette, and alter Clark's memory accordingly. Also, it lets Brak view the whole thing.

Man, that thing can do anything. Except, apparently, cure his damn disease!

Why not just use that contraption to simply brainwash Superman into leaving Earth for another planet? Why go with 1776 at all? Well, it's because this story came out in 1976, which, for America, was a very special time.

Yep, nothing like tying into our nation's 200th birthday.


However, something occurs to me: Through all this, Brak had a much simpler solution that didn't even require his Psi-Machine. All he really needed to do to stay alive and get healthy was stay the hell away from Superman.


Seriously, the only real reason he kept encountering Superman and getting sicker is because he stayed in Metropolis. Instead of acting like an entitled asshole and trying to kill the guy or force him off the adopted planet he's lived on for nearly 30 years, maybe Karb/Andrew should've just tried moving to another city. Or another state. Another country, even.


(Uh, maybe this is why Karb-Brak is a long forgotten Supes villain.)


To find out how the plan Karb does use works out for him, tune in tomorrow for our next installment.


(Cary Bates, Curt Swan, and Tex Blaisdell introduce one the weirdest, and most dickish, members of the Man Of Tomorrow's rogues gallery in Action Comics#'s 460-463.)