Blue Beetle

Blue Beetle
Blue Beetle
	File:BlueBeetle03.png Ted Kord as the Blue Beetle (III)
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics; Originally Charlton Comics
First appearance	Captain Atom #83 (Nov. 1966)
Created by	Steve Ditko
In-story information
Alter ego	Edward "Ted" Kord
Team affiliations	Justice League, Extreme Justice, The L.A.W., Super Buddies
Abilities	Genius-level intellect. Used numerous gadgets which included suction pads, sight-enhancing lenses and a protective costume. His BB gun had several functions such as reflectors and a grapnel device. He was a capable hand-to-hand combatant and stealthy acrobat. Blue Beetle's ship, the Bug, is filled with weaponry and can fly at 600 mph.

Three fictional superheroes have used the name Blue Beetle as of 2005.

The most promiment is the character published by DC Comics, which in the 1983 acquired the rights to to the name and character from Charlton Comics. That character, with the civilian name Ted Kord, had evolved from an earlier Blue Beetle, civilian name Dan Garrett, created in 1939 by the pseudonymous Charles Nicholas Template:Fn for Fox Feature Syndicate. Charlton purchased the rights from Fox in the 1950s, and eventually revised the character, retaianing only his civilian name. Charlton then introduced the completely new Blue Beetle that DC would acquire.

Fox Feature Syndicate

The original Golden Age Blue Beetle was Dan Garrett, son of a police officer killed by a criminal. The Fox version of the character first appeared/debuted in Mystery Men Comics #1 (1939), and began appearing in his own 60-issue series shortly thereafter (first issue dated simply 1939, the next dated May-June 1940, the last Aug. 1950; a separate company, Holyoke, published issues 12-30). Dan Garrett had invented a bulletproof costume, and had gained superhuman strength from a mysterious vitamin. A popular character of the era, he had his own short-lived comic strip, drawn by a pseudonymous Jack Kirby and others, and a radio serial. When superheroes fell out of vogue in the late 1940s, Fox downplayed the Beetle's superheroic aspects (his superhuman abilities were removed) and eventually relegated him to a host for true crime stories before he was finally put to rest.

Charlton Comics

Dan Garrett (1950s)

Charlton Comics obtained the rights to the Blue Beetle, and reprinted some stories in its anthology titles and in a four-issue Blue Beetle reprint series numbered 18-21 (Feb.-Aug. 1955), continuing the numbering of the defunct Charlton title The Thing.

Dan Garrett (Silver Age)

During the genesis of the Silver Age of comics, Charlton would revise the character for a new Blue Beetle series. It ran a total of ten issues, numbered 1-5 (June 1964 - April 1965) then 50-54 (July 1965 - March 1966, taking up the numbering from the discontinued Unusual Tales). Charlton's new Blue Beetle retained the original's name, but none of his powers or origin. This Beetle was an archaeologist who obtained a number of superhuman powers (including enhanced strength, flight and the ability to generate lightning) from a mystical scarab he fought in Egypt. This version by writer Joe Gill and artist Tony Tallarico was played at least initially for camp, with stories like "The Giant Mummy Who was Not Dead".

Ted Kord

File:CaptainAtom83.jpg

Captain Atom #83 (Nov. 1966), debut of the Ted Kord Blue Beetle. Art by Steve Ditko (pencils), Ditko and Rocke Mastroserio (inks).

Charlton's next Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, was created by Steve Ditko, and first appeared as a back-up feature in Captain Atom #83 (Nov. 1966), with Gary Friedrich scripting from Ditko's conception and plot. This third Blue Beetle was a genius-level inventor and a gifted athlete, sharing much more in common with the Fox original than did Charlton's earlier reimagining of the character. This Blue Beetle's signature equipment is his bug-shaped personal aircraft, which he enters and exits typically with a cable suspended from the cockpit. He also generally eschews personal weaponry except for a pistol that makes a blinding flash of light and, additionally, a strong airblast to gain the advantage when he closes in for hand-to-hand combat.

Ditko is best known as the co-creator (with Stan Lee) and original artist of Spider-Man at Marvel Comics. While Blue Beetle and Spider-Man have some similar characteristics, such as being wise-cracking, acrobatic, arthropod-themed urban heroes, they evolved into very different characters. Both characters are accomplished inventors (Ted Kord is considered one of the premier minds of the DC Universe), great athletes and skilled acrobats. Both characters also have strong (if sometimes ill-timed) senses of humor that they use to mask their insecurities — more in the case of the Beetle, who has no powers of his own (and in later years has to deal with occasional weight gain). On the other hand, the Beetle has none of the angst associated with brooding vigilantes like Batman. Unlike Spider-Man, Blue Beetle is a team player and a loyal friend; Beetle is the only hero who put up with the narcissistic pretty-boy superhero Booster Gold when the two were paired in the Justice League.

The Ted Kord Blue Beetle ran as a backup feature in Captain Atom #83-86 (Nov. 1966 - June 1967) before getting his own title, which ran from #1-5 (June 1967 - Nov. 1968). A sixth issue was produced, but published in the Charlton Portfolio. The Question ran as a backup series, with the fifth issue featuring a quasi-team-up in which the Blue Beetle story continues in part in the Question tale.

File:BlueBeetle3.jpg

Blue Beetle #3 (Oct. 1967). Beware the proto-Creepers. Art by Steve Ditko.

An origin was given in #2, linking Ted Kord to the previous Blue Beetle. Ted was revealed as a former student of Dan Garrett, and when they were investigating Ted's Uncle Jarvis, they learned the uncle was working to create an army of androids to take over Earth. Garrett changed into Blue Beetle, but was killed in the battle. As he died, he passed on the responsibility of being Blue Beetle to Ted, but wasn't able to pass on the mystical scarab. There was a hint that one android was still left in stasis, but this was never resolved.

In the early 1980s, the first issue of Charlton's in-house fanzine Charlton Bullseye, featyred had a team-up of the Blue Beetle and the Question. Later, AC Comics would publish a story intended for Charlton Bullseye in Americomics #3, and a one-shot of a team-up of all the Charlton "Action Heroes", as the comapany called its lineup.

DC Comics

DC acquired the Charlton heroes in the mid-1980s, and used the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event to integrate them all into the DC Universe. During this period Blue Beetle had his own series, written by Len Wein. Also published during this time was Secret Origins #2 (cover illustrated by Gil Kane), which explained the origins and careers of the Ted Kord and Dan Garrett Blue Beetles in the post-Crisis continuity. They would also follow up on the hinted android in stasis from the Charlton series, having this android pretend to be Dan Garrett, but Ted Kord stopped him.

Ted Kord is sometimes shown as an industrialist, the owner of Kord Industries; more often he is short on money, leading to his entering "get-rich-quick" schemes with Booster Gold.

A brief appearance in JLA: Year One showed the young Ted working in Kord Industries R&D, where he designed the JLA HQ security system. Upon meeting the heroes he thought, "Screw the family business. I want to be one of those guys", possibly explaining the company's fluctuating status since he took over. In recent comics, it has been implied that Kord Industries has become a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises, headed by Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman.

The Justice League

BB is probably best known as the wisecracking member of Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis's lighthearted, five-year run on various Justice League of America titles (notably Justice League International), where he was memorably partnered with fellow third-string hero Booster Gold, and the two quickly became best friends. After Giffen and DeMatteis left, Justice League America continued to run until #113. Dan Jurgens tied the "Death of Superman" storyline into JLA, in which Doomsday left Blue Beetle in a coma during his murderous rampage. Beetle and Booster both subsequently joined the short-lived Justice League offshoot known as Extreme Justice.

Blue Beetle then entered a period of relative obscurity. The miniseries The LAW (Living Assault Weapons) reunited Blue Beetle and the other heroes acquired from Charlton, but the series met with critical disfavor. Following this, Beetle appeared for a time in Birds of Prey.

In July 2003, Giffen, DeMatteis, and original JLI artist Kevin Maguire reunited for the six-issue miniseries Formerly Known As The Justice League, where many of the original JLI characters reteamed with a storefront office. Beetle, who has grown in maturity, was an important member of this new team, the "Super Buddies" (see Super Friends). A sequel story arc, "I Can't Believe It's Not The Justice League", was initially slated as a second miniseries but abut instead ran, delayed, in JLA: Classified #4-9. This created the unfortunate circumstance of running after the devastating, companywide Identity Crisis: A running joke involves the possibility of Sue's pregnancy, and seems morbid given the Identity Crisis events.

Death

In the 80-page special Countdown to Infinite Crisis, published on March 30, 2005, Blue Beetle discovered a renewed Checkmate organization led by Maxwell Lord, former bankroller of the JLA. He attempted to escape after discovering Checkmate's database of superheroes, but was shot in the head and apparently killed by Lord.

Earlier in the same story, it was revealed that Ted Kord had come into possession of the mystic scarab which powered the Dan Garrett version of the Blue Beetle. The wizard Shazam took the scarab upon encountering Kord, fueling speculation about the possibility of the character's return during DC's Infinite Crisis series. This possibility was dashed when it was asked in the WizardWorld convention if Kord would ever return; DC's answer was no. "There was a breeze blowing through his brain, and he was incinerated," writer Greg Rucka stated. "How much clearer can it be?" [1]

File:BBeetle01.jpg

The new Blue Beetle. Art by Cully Hamner.

The new Blue Beetle

In Day of Vengeance, after the wizard Shazam (see above) was killed by the Spectre, Kord's scarab landed in El Paso, Texas.

Writer Keith Giffen announced in a 2005 news article that he will be creating a new Blue Beetle, who is scheduled to star in his own series beginning March 2006 after the conclusion of Infinite Crisis. [2]

Alternate versions

Blue Beetle was seen in Alex Ross and Mark Waid's comic Kingdom Come. He is shown with the rest of the Charlton 'Action Heroes' as a member of Magog's Justice Battalion, but apparently left before the death of Captain Atom. He would be shown later in the title in a blue beetle armor outfit, powered by the mystic scarab, working with Batman's team, before being killed with most of the other heroes at the end.

Trivia

In many stories and character entries, it is noted that "Ted" is an abbreviated form of "Theodore". The character Barbara Gordon in writer Chuck Dixon's Birds of Prey has clarified that "Ted" is actually short for Edward. A similar truncation exists for Senator Edward Kennedy, known as Ted Kennedy.

Footnotes

Template:Fnb Three early comics creators used the pseudonym "Charles Nicholas". Jack Kirby used it only as the Fox Feature Syndicate in-house author's name for the 1940 comic strip The Blue Beetle. The remaining two creators are Chuck Cuidera (c. 1915-2001) and Charles Wojtkowski (1921-1982). According to Cuidera, speaking on a panel at the 1999 San Diego ComicCon (transcription published Sept. 1, 2000) [3], he is the Charles Nicholas who created the Blue Beetle and was the first artist of Blackhawk. Will Eisner, at that same panel, said an artist named Charles Wojtkowski (1921-1982) later took up the Charles Nicholas pen name.

Template:Fnb Both the original Dan Garrett Blue Beetle and the Ted Kord Blue Beetle were adapted in the Alan Moore comic book miniseries Watchmen as The Nite Owl. The original BB was the basis for the original Nite Owl, while the Ted Kord BB was the basis for the second Nite Owl. The Watchmen were all version of Charlton characters.

Template:Fnb The Blue Beetle has guest-starred in comics of an indepedent publisher called Americomics.

External links