I picked up the recent Showcase Presents Blue Beetle volume from DC. I never got this title when it first ran in the mid 80's but I have in more recent years collected up the issues, though truth told I have never gotten around to reading them all through. With this purchase hopefully the hand nature of the phonebook reprint will encourage me to give them a proper read.
Of all the Action Heroes who DC picked up, Blue Beetle was the one least changed from his Charlton persona. What we have are the further adventures of Ted Kord as they pretty much left off nearly two decades earlier. Steve Ditko's The Question is a frequent guest-star and the other Charlton Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett gets lots of page time as well.
Here are the issues in this volume.
What put over the top on this reprint was the inclusion of the second issue of Secret Origins with some stellar Gil Kane artwork. This was a very neat series and this is one of the best issues, reprising the convoluted history of the character. Even though it preceded the series it's the last issue in the reprint.
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Beautiful covers! The Steve Ditko-designed Ted Kord costume is Perfection…Not a fan of the blue scarab armor/winged character DC would later foist on the comic-buying public…
ReplyDeleteI have to agree. For all my affection for the vintage Dan Garrett look, this might well be Ditko's strongest design and I include Spidey in that estimation.
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