Blue Beetle
The Blue Beetle
Much like Batman Begins, this short takes a look at the humble beginings of Ted Kord as he becomes the 2nd Blue Beetle. And unlike the his comedic portrayal in the comics, this film shows The Blue Beetle in a more serious, competent and plausible tone. Blue Beetle: Ted Kord – Chris .R. Notarile, Jarvis Kord – Tony Dadika, Madmen – Evan Rubin & Dave Lawyer and Camera work – Niki Notarile, Mike Cannetti & Nathaniel Fernadez.
Dan Garrett, Ted Kord, and Jaime Reyes. Art from the Blue Beetle Companion, by Tom Feister.
Blue Beetle is the name of four fictional superheroes that appear in Americancomic books published by a variety of companies since 1939.
Publication history
The original Blue Beetle, Dan Garret, first appeared in Fox Comics‘ Mystery Men Comics #1 (cover-dated August 1939), with art by Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski (asCharles Nicholas); though the Grand Comics Database tentatively credits Will Eisner as the scripter. A rookie police officer, he wore a special bulletproof costume and took “Vitamin 2X” which enabled him with super-energy, and he was assisted by a neighborhood pharmacist in his fight against crime. Blue Beetle starred in a comic book series, comic strip and radio serial, but like most Golden Age superheroes, he fell into obscurity in the 1950’s. The comic book series saw a number of anomalies in publication: 19 issues, #12 through #30, were published through Holyoke Publishing; no issue #43 was published; publication frequency varied throughout the run; and there were gaps where issues were not published, with large ones occurring in early 1947 and between mid-1948 and early 1950.
In the mid-1950s, Fox Comics went out of business and sold rights of the Blue Beetle to Charlton Comics. That company published a few sporadic adventures of the Golden Age character before revamping the hero in 1964. Charlton tried three times to use the character to carry a self-titled series. Two of the attempts retained the numbering of a previous title. These also were eventually replaced with new titles that carried on the numbering.
The new series was short-lived, and in the pages of Captain Atom #83 (cover-dated November 1966) through #86, Charlton introduced Ted Kord, a student of Dan Garret’s who took on the role when Garret died. Kord was an inventor hero, using a variety of gadgets. This Beetle received his own series in 1967, but the entire Charlton “Action Heroes” line of comic books ceased publication in 1968. With the rest of the Charlton line-up, he was sold to DC Comics in 1983 and appeared with several superhero groups, including the Justice League.
In 2006, DC introduced a new Blue Beetle, teenager Jaime Reyes, whose powers are derived from the scarab, now revealed as a piece of advanced alien technology. The series was initially written by Keith Giffen and John Rogers, with artist Cully Hamner. Giffen left in issue #10 and Rogers took over full writing duties, joined by a new artist, Rafael Albuquerque.[10] Rogers left the title with issue #25 in order to concentrate on his television series Leverage. After three fill-in issues, Matt Sturges became the main writer in issue #29, but the series was cancelled with issue #36. Editor Dan DiDio put the cancellation down to poor sales and said that Blue Beetle was “a book that we started with very high expectations, but it lost its audience along the way.” In June 2009, Blue Beetle was brought back as a “co-feature” of the more popular Booster Goldcomic. In September 2011, a new Blue Beetle comic was launched as part of The New 52 initiative, with Jaime Reyes’s history being rebooted with a new origin and without any apparent history of Kord or Garrett as prior Blue Beetles. The new book was written by Tony Bedard and drawn by Ig Guara.
Dan Garret – Fox Feature Syndicate and Holyoke Publishing
The first appearance of the Blue Beetle,Mystery Men Comics #1 (1939). Art by Charles Nicholas.
The original Golden Age Blue Beetle was Dan Garret, son of a police officer killed by a criminal. This Fox Feature Syndicate version of the character debuted in Mystery Men Comics #1 (August 1939), and began appearing in his own 60-issue series shortly thereafter. Fox Feature Syndicate sponsored a “Blue Beetle Day” at the 1939 New York World’s Fair on August 7, 1940, beginning at 10:30 a.m. and including 300 children in relay-race finals at the Field of Special Events, following preliminaries in New York City parks. The race was broadcast over radio station WMCA.
Rookie patrolman Dan Garret originally fought crime as the Blue Beetle without the benefit of superhuman abilities. Garret later donned a bulletproof blue costume (described by Garret as being chain-mail made of a cellulose material which was “as thin and light as silk but stronger than steel”) and temporarily gained superhumanstrength and stamina by ingesting the mysterious “Vitamin 2X”. Like the Green Hornet, the Blue Beetle would use his signature scarab symbol to bedevil criminals, leaving it to be easily found, hanging it down into a room on a string and even projecting its enlarged image onto a wall with a flashlight.
The supporting cast remained fairly stable throughout this original run and included Joan Mason, a beautiful blond reporter for theDaily Blade who would ultimately star in her own backup stories, and Mike Mannigan, Dan’s stereotypically Irish partner on the force who believed despite all evidence to the contrary that the Blue Beetle was a criminal and was always trying to arrest him with little success. Dr. Franz, a local pharmacist and inventor of the bulletproof suit and 2-X formula (as well as many other handy gadgets, including a portable wireless telephone a good half century before they came into common use), played a large role in the early issues but eventually faded from the cast. The Beetle also had a short-lived spunky kid sidekick in the form of Sparkington J. Northrup (Sparky), who originally wore an abbreviated version of the Beetle’s costume but later went into action wearing his regular clothes.
During World War II, Dan Garret became a government agent who was often sent overseas on secret missions, but after peace was declared he returned to his old role of neighborhood cop. The Blue Beetle’s powers slowly increased over time with him eventually gaining the ability to fly and x-ray vision among other bizarre talents that changed from issue to issue at the whim of the writers. However, when superheroes fell out of vogue in the late 1940s, Fox started to downplay his superheroic aspects and his superhuman abilities were removed, and his now considerably darker adventures became full of sadistic violence and scantily-clad women until he was eventually relegated to hosting true crime stories before the character went on hiatus.
A popular character in his era, the Blue Beetle had his own short-lived comic strip, drawn by a pseudonymous Jack Kirby and others, and a radio serial that ran for 48 thirteen-minute episodes.
Charlton Comics
Blue Beetle vol. 2, #1 (June 1964). Cover art by Frank McLaughlin.
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.
In 1964, during the Silver Age of comics, Charlton would revise the character for a new Blue Beetle series. Charlton’s new Blue Beetle retained the original’s name (adding a second “t”), but none of his powers or origin. This Beetle was archaeologist Dan Garrett, who obtained a number of superhuman powers (including super strength and vision, flight, and the ability to generate energy blasts) from a mystical scarab he found during a dig in Egypt, where it had been used to imprison an evil mummified Pharaoh. He would transform into the Blue Beetle by saying the words “Kaji Dha!” 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”. The Charlton Dan Garrett version of the Blue Beetle ran only until 1966 before his replacement debuted.
AC Comics
Both Blue Beetles (indeed, all three Blue Beetles) reappeared in the third issue of Americomics, a title published by AC Comics in 1983/1984. In the first story in this issue, Ted Kord fights a bogus Dan Garrett, but the second story is more significant. It reveals that the original 1940’s Dan had been reincarnated as the Silver Age version (minus his memories of his earlier existence) by some unspecified “gods,” presumably the ones responsible for his mystic scarab. The gods subsequently resurrect Dan again and send him off to save Ted Kord’s life (leaving him a note saying simply, “Try not to get killed this time”), after which Kord turns the Blue Beetle name back over to Dan. Americomics was canceled after issue #6, and so far this story has never been referenced by any other publisher.
DC Comics
The Charlton version of Dan Garrett was spotlighted in the second issue of DC’s 1980’s Secret Origins series, in which his origin was retold along with that of Ted Kord. Subsequent appearances by Dan Garrett (in flashback stories) include guest spots or cameos in Infinity, Inc., Captain Atom, JLA: Year One, and Legends of the DC Universe.
The character briefly returned in DC Comics‘ first run of Blue Beetle, resurrected by his mystical scarab to battle against his successor. He can also be seen in various flashback stories. His 1940’s incarnation is briefly glimpsed in DC’s 1993 limited seriesThe Golden Age.
Dynamite Entertainment
In issue #0 of the Project Superpowers miniseries, the Fox Feature Syndicate version of the Blue Beetle appeared in flashbacks. To avoid trademark conflicts with DC Comics, he is referred to in this series by the nickname “Big Blue.”
Legacy
It was eventually established that the Charlton Comics incarnation of the Dan Garrett Blue Beetle made his debut on August 14, 1939. The Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle has met Daniel’s granddaughter, Danielle, and has also met Dan himself.
Ted Kord as the Blue Beetle. Art by Dick Giordano.
The replacement Blue Beetle created by Charlton Comics, and later published byAmericomics and DC Comics, is Ted Kord, a former student of Dan Garrett, a genius-level inventor and a gifted athlete. Kord and Garrett were investigating Kord’s Uncle Jarvis when they learned Jarvis was working to create an army of androids to take over Earth. Garrett changed into Blue Beetle, but was killed in battle. As he died, he passed on to Kord the responsibility of being Blue Beetle, but was unable to pass on the mystical scarab.
Ted had the scarab for some time, but never used it. He carried it during the Crisis on Infinite Earths when he was chosen by the Monitor to protect the multiple Earths, but it only reacted when he was attacked; it did not give him superpowers.
During the “Death of Superman” saga, the Blue Beetle and the other JLA members tried to stop Doomsday‘s path of destruction. Doomsday displayed his near-invulnerability and, while brutally defeating the League, put the Blue Beetle into a coma. Upon recovery, he continued his tenure with the JLA as well as its offshoot, Extreme Justice.
Blue Beetle discovered a renewed Checkmate organization led by Maxwell Lord, with a database containing information on every metahuman on Earth. He was captured and executed with a single gunshot to the head. Before dying, he had used the scarab in an attempt to contact Captain Marvel, but was forced to leave it with Shazam in the Rock of Eternity when the wizard sent him back to Earth.
Some time later, Booster, along with Jaime, Dan, and the Black Beetle in the guise of a Blue Beetle from the future, travels back in time to rescue Kord moments before his death.
Jaime Reyes. Promotional art for Blue Beetle vol. 7, #2 (2006), by Cully Hamner.
Jaime Reyes is a teenager who lives in El Paso, Texas, with his father, mother, and little sister; his father owns a garage and his mother is a nurse. Jaime has offered to help his father out at the garage, but his father has turned him down. He feels Jaime should enjoy his childhood for as long as he can, and should attempt to further his education. He finds the scarab in a vacant lot and it fuses with him while he sleeps. After Booster Gold revealed Jaime’s new powers to him, Jaime was swept up in the climactic battle with Brother Eye during Infinite Crisis. He later becomes a member of the Teen Titans, and is good friends with Rose Wilson (Ravager), Robin, Static, and others. In Teen Titans vol. 3, #83, he takes a break from the team to be with his mother.
Jaime has a girlfriend, the young sorceress Traci 13, who gets along well with Jaime’s family. His large and loving family is a major source of strength and guidance for Jaime. Both Peacemaker and Doctor Mid-nite have been kind and wise mentors for the young Blue Beetle.
Jaime co-starred along with the rest of the former Justice League International in Justice League: Generation Lost.
Following DC’s Flashpoint event, Blue Beetle was one of 52 monthly titles launched in September 2011, again starring Jaime Reyes. The series was cancelled after 17 issues in January 2013.
The scarab
The Blue Beetle scarab, previously shown as an artifact of magic, is later retconned as a tool of war of the Reach, an ancient race of cosmic marauders. After being defeated by the Guardians of the Universe thousands of years ago and forced into a truce, the Reach poses as benevolent aliens lending their advanced technology to budding civilizations. The scarab is a gift for that world’s champion, giving him amazing powers and the knowledge of the Reach to protect his or her peers. Secretly, the scarab is part of an advanced hive mind, with its own artificial intelligence covertly supplanting the wearer’s own. The wearer is turned into the “ultimate infiltrator,” a covert agent intended to take over its own world.
In The New 52, the Reach foregoes the secrecy, and each wearer immediately becomes possessed by the scarab. It then uses its host’s knowledge to decimate the world and prepare it for a full invasion by Reach forces.
