Jeremy Karne

Jeremy Karne

Kid Karnevil (center) on the cover of Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #37 (May 2010).
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance Shadowpact #1
(July 2006)
Created by Bill Willingham (writer/artist)
In-story information
Alter ego Jeremy Karne
Team affiliations The Fourth Reich
Justice Society of America
The Pentacle
Partnerships Mr. America
Notable aliases Billy Armstrong, All-American Kid, Kid Karnevil
Abilities Possible immortality
Skilled athlete, gymnast, torturer and murderer

Jeremy Karne, better known as Kid Karnevil, or simply Karnevil, is a fictional supervillain in the DC Comics Universe, a member of different supervillain teams such as The Pentacle and the Nazi organization called The Fourth Reich. Kid Karnevil first appeared in Shadowpact #1 (July 2006), and was created by Bill Willingham.

Kid Karnevil rose to prominence when he starred in the third volume of the Justice Society of America series. He had pretended to be Billy Armstrong, the All-American Kid. He became a member of the Justice Society, but only for a short time as he quickly infiltrated them because of his involvement with the team he was really on, which was The Fourth Reich, a Nazi supervillain team that the Justice Society had faced before.

Publication history

In 2006, Jeremy Karne made his first appearance in Shadowpact #1. He appeared in two more issues and then was not seen again for a year. He then appeared in issue #13, marking his final appearance in the series. A year later, in 2008, he appeared in nearly every issue of the seven-issue mini-series Salvation Run.

Then, in early 2009, he made a very brief appearance in Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #24. He didn't appear again until issue #29, in which he became an important role to the series. Jeremy recently finished starring in the series. Between issues #29 and #40, he appeared in every issue, except issues #35 and #39. He last appeared in issue #40.

Fictional character biography

Jeremy Karne, just a teenager, was a murderer and sociopath who had gone by the name Kid Karnevil. He was on a team called The Pentacle, an evil counterpart to the Shadowpact. He claims that he once died and was sent to Hell for his sins but was kicked out and brought back to life because he scared the demons.[1] When The Pentacle fought against the Shadowpact, Jeremy captured Detective Chimp and tied him to a post, where he prepared to torture and kill him.[2] However, Detective Chimp broke free and subdued Jeremy, leaving him tied to the post. Later, Jeremy and the rest of his team were transported to the Black Tower, a prison in another dimension.[1] Jeremy later escaped the dimension through a portal bringing in goods from Earth after he beat his guard and boasted that he had been quietly planning it for months.[3]

Jeremy was then sent to Salvation where he met the Joker and told him that he was his role model and would try to outdo him by being more like Joker than he was himself, but Jeremy planned to do this by killing him one day. Joker felt with almost no concern as he said, "Many have tried. None have succeeded."[4] Later, as they were escaping Salvation, Joker slapped Jeremy across his face saying, "Nobody likes a copycat!" [5]

Infiltrating the Justice Society

Jeremy disguised as All-American Kid.

Jeremy then took the alias Billy Armstrong, the All-American Kid, and lied to the Justice Society of America, saying that his ancestor, William Armstrong, was the first All-American Kid and was a sidekick to Tex Thompson. "Billy" was then placed as Mr. America's sidekick.

Jeremy soon pretended he was under mind control and pretended to resist as he took a knife and stabbed Mr. Terrific in the back.[6] When the JSA interrogated him, he lied, saying he did not remember anything.[7] He got them to turn their accusations toward King Chimera as he made up questions about King's power and as soon as they heard Jeremy pretending to resist on their security tape, unbeknownst to them.[8]

When the Brownstone was attacked by numerous villains, Jeremy grabbed Obsidian, who had degenerated into a blackened egg. A woman in a dark, shadowy form, later named Shadow of War,[9] appeared and Jeremy gave her Obsidian as part of his mission. Shadow of War left and an alive Mr. Terrific appeared and told him that he knew who he really was. Jeremy revealed that he stabbed Terrific because he knew he would figure out his true identity. Jeremy also revealed that days ago he set off an illumination device that transformed Obsidian into an egg. Jeremy prepared to kill Terrific but Mr. Terrific's T-Spheres attacked him first, knocking him out.[10]

The Fourth Reich

After the JSA split into two teams, the JSA kept Jeremy in custody. When they planned to hand him over to the authorities, Jeremy's team, a Nazi organization called The Fourth Reich, instantly attacked the JSA.[9] It was revealed that The Fourth Reich wanted Obsidian to use him as the power source for their Darkness Engine, a machine that negated all super powers, which they activated during the attack on the JSA.[11]

A time jump then took place, revealing that twenty years into the future the meta-population had been decimated and the survivors, one of them being Mr. Terrific, were held in concentration camps. Jeremy, as an adult, was the Führer of The Fourth Reich.[12] As part of Mr. Terrific's plan, he and the other former heroes rebelled against the Nazis in order for Mr. Terrific to get to the Darkness Engine and shut it down. However, when he made his way to the Darkness Engine, he decided to make a call to his past self and intervene in The Fourth Reich's plan from the beginning.[13]

When he made the call, it was just before he was about to be pronounced dead from having been stabbed by Jeremy. The injured Mr. Terrific blurted out how to hatch Obsidian, who was still in his egg form. Obsidian was hatched and the Brownstone was attacked, and when Jeremy was looking for Obsidian, thinking he was still in his egg form, Obsidian appeared, in full form, and knocked Jeremy out. Obsidian later revealed that Jeremy and the rest of The Fourth Reich were put into prison, awaiting trial.[14]

Characterization

Jeremy has always been portrayed as a murderous, deceptive, cruel and insane teenager. His teammates in The Pentacle knew him for his reputation of various murders and crimes he had committed and for his obsession with murder. Jeremy stated that he only killed those who annoy him, those whom he would find it amusing to kill, or anyone else who could attract his interest. Jeremy was not even above killing his own teammates, telling Strega, the leader of The Pentacle, that he would kill her sooner or later. She admitted that although he was the least powerful among the team, he was the most monstrous.[1]

Jeremy displaying his insanity.

Jeremy is best known for deceiving his teammates, or anyone he claims to like. Although admitting to the Joker that he was his role model, he stated that he would kill him one day and use his skin as a cape.[4] Mr. Terrific once stated that Jeremy has over thirty murders on his record.[10] In the alternate future, when Jeremy was the Führer of the Fourth Reich, he showed racism towards Mr. Terrific and ridiculed him for his nationality.[12]

Origin

An official origin was never revealed for Jeremy. It was stated by Bagman, a teammate of Jeremy's in The Pentacle, that he heard that Jeremy died and went to Hell for his sins but was kicked out because he "scared the staff". Jeremy claimed that although the demons had a frightening reputation, they turned squeamish when they were confronted by him, a person who is, as he put it, "someone who really knows what he's doing". Jeremy then stated, "Let's just say I taught them a thing or two about their so-called area of expertise."[1]

Depiction

Jeremy has been depicted in a few different costumes. In Shadowpact, he wore a black mask, had a red bandana tied around his neck, wore a brown shirt, black pants, and gray boots. He wore exactly the same costume in Salvation Run except his shirt was orange instead of brown. When he used the alias of All-American Kid, he looked much older, his hair was shorter, and he wore a red, white, and blue costume which represented the American flag as he was the sidekick to Mr. America. On the cover of Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #37, he wore a black and red costume with the Nazi symbol on it; however he was never seen wearing this other than on the cover of the issue.

Powers and abilities

Jeremy has no superhuman abilities but claims that he once died and scared the demons in Hell so much that they returned him to life, hinting at possible immortality.[3] At the same time, Jeremy explained that his true strength comes from his willpower and that no one can tell him what to do. He is skilled in all manners of torture and murder and has exhibited levels of acrobatic and gymnastic ability in numerous appearances.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Shadowpact (vol. 1) #3 (September 2006)
  2. ↑ Shadowpact (vol. 1) #2 (August 2006)
  3. 1 2 Shadowpact (vol. 1) #13 (September 2007)
  4. 1 2 Salvation Run #2 (February 2008)
  5. ↑ Salvation Run #7 (July 2008)
  6. ↑ Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #29 (September 2009)
  7. ↑ Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #31 (November 2009)
  8. ↑ Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #32 (December 2009)
  9. 1 2 Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #36 (April 2010)
  10. 1 2 Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #33 (January 2010)
  11. ↑ Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #37 (May 2010)
  12. 1 2 Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #38 (June 2010)
  13. ↑ Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #39 (July 2010)
  14. ↑ Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #40 (August 2010)
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