There was this Green Lantern issue where (at least judging by the cover ), Hal Jordan was going to die when his Power battery exploded as he recharged it. But in DC Comics’ tradition of “faking us out with a misleading cover”, it ended up being not Hal himself, but rather a gent named Guy Gardner, a substitute GL filling in for Hal at the time.
With Guy Gardner’s body presumably vaporized by the exploding lantern, it was up to Hal Jordan to inform Guy’s fiance about the accidental death, and she turned out to be this gypsy girl named Kari Limbo who was not only drop dead gorgeous, but was also gifted with Psychic powers!
This was around 1978, and I have to say that me and my friends really fell for the Kari Limbo character. First off, she was a character that was introduced in the stories we were reading, so maybe we connected to her more readily. Second, as I ‘d already mentioned, she was sultry and sooo exotic (she’s a GYPSY, for chrissakes!), and third, everything Kari did seemed to emanate “SEXY”, at least to our 6th grade minds. Every issue would find her kissing Hal for whatever reason, she appeared (quite innocently enough) in her nightgown to greet him (see pic above), and most importantly: She rocked some seriously low-plunging blouses! Take a look at that pic in the lower left hand corner. It may not seem like much in the world of Image Comics and the like, but back then, that was some SERIOUS cleavage! Totally rocked our worlds, I tell you.
In later issues, she would join Green Lantern, Green Arrow and Black Canary in tracking down villains, and soon fate found Hal and Kari falling for each other (all in three issues! MAN that is fast!) and planning to get married!
Well, as we all know now, Guy Gardner did NOT die in the explosion, he’d been taken to the Phantom Zone, and was none too happy about finding his Cherry Poptart about to marry his “business associate”! So much for those plans!
Years later, Guy Gardner would have a new life (so to speak) in Justice League and his own solo stuff, catapulting him to fame and BIG popularity! But I never did read those issues, and am not sure if Kari Limbo EVER made another appearance after the wedding disaster of GL/GA #120.
Where are you , Kari? Can SOMEBODY please revamp her character for the new millennium? C’mon, she’s got the Psychic Powers and the good looks- who could ask for anything more to work with?!
Kari Limbo
First Appearance:Green Lantern / Green Arrow #117
by Denny O’Neil and Joe Staton with Dave Hunt
Favorite Artist: Alex Savuik
