Karate Kid vs. Luke Cage by Francis Portela

I've been a fan of Francis's art for years, going back to when I first saw it in The Resistance. When he started drawing the Legion of Super-Heroes, though, it felt like he stepped up his game and his art was better than ever before. That said, he never did get to draw my favorite Legionnaire while he was one the book: Karate Kid! So when I saw that Francis was going to be at Wizard World New Orleans, I knew that I wanted to get a commission from him, and got in touch with David Macho at Spanish Inq to set it up. I gave Francis a few opponents to choose from and he went with Luke Cage. Of course we had to go with Luke's old school costume, and Francis did a fantastic job depicting it. I love the poses, the look on Luke's face, and breaking ground. Big thanks to Francis and David for this fantastic commission!

Luke used to have sparring sessions with Iron Fist back in their Heroes for Hire days, and he did learn a few moves from Mr. Rand. That said, Iron Fist is no Karate Kid, and Val's gonna mop the floor with Luke. Karate Kid just has to avoid Luke's blows long enough to put him down, which will probably take a few strikes because of Luke's steel-hard skin. But yeah, Val Armorr wins. Sweet Christmas!

If you like this piece then please do go buy some books featuring Francis's work in either physical or digital format and/or go commission him yourself.