The New Blue Beetle

As delightful as Ditko's earliest Captain Atom stories are, as true to his philosophy is The Question, the best thing Steve Ditko created for Charlton was the "New" Blue Beetle. He took a hero who despite some tasty misadventures was a sign of a bygone era. 

After the demise of Fox and Holyoke, another publisher that had the character, Charlton Comics picked him up and offered up some reprints. Then when the superhero boom started to take off in the 60's they tapped Joe Gill, Tony Tallarico and Bill Fracchio to revive him, this time an archeologist named Dan Garrett (why mess with success) who comes across a magical scarab that gives him vast superpowers. Blue Beetle had two short runs and then folded his tent. 

Then came Ditko who took the Dan Garret character, killed him off, and replaced him with a young scientist named Ted Kord. Kord had no superpowers at all, but rather he relied rather on technology to give him the advantage in his run-ins with criminals. He wore a snappy protective costume, had a mask that defied villains slipping it off his face, sported a buzz gun that was also a flash (that was also what we today call a "smart gun" in that only the original user could work it), and went into battle aboard "The Bug" his totally awesome aircraft (and water craft for that matter) that functioned almost like his partner in crime. This was an utterly new and modern Blue Beetle, and sans powers fit perfectly into Dick Giordano's mandate for his "Action Heroes" not being world beaters. 

The All-New Blue Beetle lasted five issues with the fifth coming out nearly a full year after the fourth. By this time Charlton's "Action Hero" line was down for the count and Steve Ditko along with editor Dick Giordano and many other Charlton talents had moved on to DC. Ditko's Beware The Creeper already reached its fourth issue. The final issue of Blue Beetle, a sixth one was prepared by Ditko at long last saw publication in the mid 70's by the CPL Gang in their portfolio celebrating the Charlton Comics. Blue Beetle would be revived by DC in the 80's after being purchased along with the other "Action Heroes" and has become a rather important part of the DCU, though Ted Kord himself is not the main bug anymore (I think). 

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To read the four All-New Blue Beetle back up adventures above follow the handy-dandy links. Then Blue Beetle got his own title. For those links look for individual takes on the issues this next week. 

I think, sales aside that The All-New Blue Beetle might've been Ditko's most thoroughly successful mainstream creation, utterly Ditko but also very, very entertaining. Blue Beetle is utterly modern in every respect. The Blue Beetle gets reinvented every decade or so it seems and has become one of comicdom's most enduring heroes. 

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Thunder Agents Classics Volume Three!

THUNDER Agents Classics Volume 3 is a rock solid collection of Silver Age superhero action with a vintage espionage flavor. At this point the agents are firmly developed. The sometimes dim-witted Len Brown as Dynamo continues to succeed, sometimes in spite of his efforts in classic tales by Wally Wood. NoMan, the android able to switch bodies on a whim continues to use his invisibility cloak to good effect in stories drawn exceedingly well by John Giunta. Lightning, a capable agent and former leader of the THUNDER Squad uses the life-destroying speed suit and fights a wide variety of unusual threats in wacky stories by Mike Sekowsky. With the death of Menthor, a new agent is introduced. Raven joins the team, though after the initial story drawn by George Tuska he seems to be operating in a whole other world than the other agents thanks to some wild stories and wilder artwork by Manny Stallmann. Steve Ditko did not contribute the issues in this collection. 

The threat of the Subterraneans, the threat which has motivated THUNDER since the first issue is finally laid to rest after the eighth issue, though echoes of the struggle keep popping up here and there, especially in stories featuring the superhuman Subterranean creation Andor. But that aside, the new menace is S.P.I.D.E.R. This super-organization of human criminals stands as the opposite of THUNDER in many respects as reflected in their name Secret People's International Directorate for Extra-legal Revenue. The switch is not immediately apparent in the tone of the stories since many of the villains formerly associated with the defeated Subterraneans switch over to SPIDER such as Demo, Dr.Sparta, and even the Iron Maiden. New baddies do emerge such as Tarantula and Mayven.

There are some real gems in this particular collection, my favorite story being "The Black Box of Doom" which has the whole team (minus Raven) trying to keep the enemy world powers from getting their mitts on a mysterious but deadly box from space. Other offbeat highlights are some lighter-toned stories by George Tuska in a broader style featuring Weed of the THUNDER Squad which give the books some needed laughs.

Solid entertainment! Here are the covers of the issues in this third volume. 

In the fourth volume we'll see that NoMan gets his own series.

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Blue Beetle #54 - Eye Of Horus!

Blue Beetle #54 featuring the mystical Dan Garrett Blue Beetle hit stands in 1965. The series picked up the numbering of Mysterious Worlds. Novice writer Roy Thomas writes the script for the last issue of the classic Blue Beetle from Charlton. The team of Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico are still on hand to supply the artwork. 

Thomas creates a story which delves into Blue Beetle's origins and features the curse of the Eye of Horus. Beetle must seek wisdom from the ancient pharaoh who was himself Blue Beetle and defeated the Eye. This story has a real classic Shazam feel to it and I'm certain that if Thomas had been given a few more issues, he'd have given Blue Beetle a partner in the form of a young boy who gets zapped in the course of the story. 

This one features another great house ad. In the modern day of the internet, it's difficult I guess for fans to recollect just how evocative these ads could be. Often a fan would see a comic which was long gone and out of reach. It was gratifying to get my mitts on all of the classic comics featured in these Charlton ads. 

And this ad just cracks me up. It's just bizarre. For just a buck one could have their dreams shattered. Ain't capitalism a blast! 

Read the complete comic at this link. 

The all-new Blue Beetle makes his debut next time. 

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Blue Beetle #53 - The People Thieves!

Blue Beetle #53 featuring the mystical Dan Garrett Blue Beetle hit stands in 1965. The series picked up the numbering of Mysterious Worlds. Joe Gill is the scripter and Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico supply the artwork for the insides as well as the stark cover. This was my very first issue of Blue Beetle and is marked in my young memory. 

Hunter Mann The Praying Mantis Man returns and this time his scheme is to use giant insects to eradicate the human population, and he will restart society using selected humans he has frozen in advance. The Blue Beetle gets involved and saves the day yet again. 

I was most eager to get my mitts on the comics featured in this ad. It would be decades before I got to read them all. "The Beetle's Nest" is gone and replaced by one of Charlton's typical prose pieces.

Read the complete comic at this link. 

More Blue Beetle tomorrow. 

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Blue Beetle #52 - Magno Man!

Blue Beetle #52 featuring the mystical Dan Garrett Blue Beetle hit stands in 1965. The series picked up the numbering of Mysterious Worlds. Joe Gill writes the script and Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico supply all the artwork for this one. The cover is perhaps their best. It's certainly a dramatic one. 

Magno is one Dr. Forte, a scientist who is desperate to prove that mankind evolved underground. When he's embarrassed by Dan Garrett, he begins a reign of terror as Magno who uses his knowledge to form a gang of men and create earthquakes beneath Europe and the United States. Blue Beetle has all he can handle in putting this madman down, even with the assistance of Renee Du Bois. 

This is one of my favorite ads from Charlton. I still remember getting excited when I saw these images of comics I'd have to wait until I was an adult to find and read. 

"The Beetle's Nest" is still up and running. This installment features a letter by Tony Isabella, a pro who has long praised Charlton's efforts. Charlton's two martial arts characters -- Judomaster and Thunderbolt get a plug. 

Read the complete comic at this link. 

More Blue Beetle tomorrow. 

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Blue Beetle #51 - Mentor The Magnificent!

Blue Beetle #51 featuring the mystical Dan Garrett Blue Beetle hit stands in 1965. The series picked up the numbering of Mysterious Worlds. Joe Gill is the writer and the team of Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico supply the art for both the cover and the interiors. 

We meet the obnoxious Dr. Jeremiah Clugg, who is a professor who feels belittled and so uses his talents to implant his mind into a robot named Mentor the Mighty. It's up to Clugg's colleague Dr. Dan Garrett the Blue Beetle to stop Mentor who proves to be a menace to the entire world. It's too bad that Clugg doesn't know that the love he craves is to be found in the lovely Miss Appleton. 

Charlton's band of action heroes continues to grow. 

"The Beetle's Nest" holds on for another issue but it's days are numbered. Tarzan gets some love as does Charlton's underrated western hero line-up. 

Read the complete comic at this link. 

More Blue Beetle tomorrow. 

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Blue Beetle #50 - Mister Crabb And The Scorpion!

Blue Beetle #50 featuring the mystical Dan Garrett Blue Beetle hit stands in 1965. The series picked up the numbering of Mysterious Worlds. Joe Gill is the writer and Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico are still in charge of the artwork as the series moves to a new home. That team also takes up the challenge of supplying the cover art. 

In this colorful adventure Blue Beetle battles the crimson Mr. Crabb and his mechanical Scorpion. The threat is to the oil supply and Beetle gets involved as Dan Garrett and then as his superheroic self. 

The house ads are hyping the adventure and superhero series that Charlton is launching. In this ad we see Captain Atom resurrected and Blue Beetle gets a logo mention. Sarge Steel and The Fightin' 5 will get a look in the coming months as will Son of Vulcan, one of Charlton's earliest Silver Age efforts in the arena. I might even get a chance to revisit Charlton's brief but contentious handling of Tarzan. 

Charlton is still trying to connect with its readership in much the same manner as Marvel and DC, but with each issue the effort shows less and less support graphically. The editors address the bizarre numbering change, a commonplace in Charlton lore. 

Read the complete comic at this link. 

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Blue Beetle - The Movie!

Blue Beetle the movie came out in 2023, and I finally got around to watching it. It ain't bad, not bad at all. My hesitation in catching a movie starring such a revered comic book name came because I was almost totally unfamiliar with the Jaime Reyes version of Blue Beetle introduced into the comics in 2006 in Infinite Crisis. I left the new comics sphere in 2007, and aside from that appearance I have never read a single comic featuring this rather successful version of the character. I have no idea how he integrated with the earlier versions of the hero and if he was connected to Dan Garrett or Ted Kord at all. So it was with an almost utterly open mind that I approached this flicker. And I liked it. 

I'm not one of those crusty fanboys who thinks heroes need to be frozen in amber and never change with the times. The shift in the last several decades to give us heroes from a range of cultures and with a range of skin tones and gender identifications is a positive move and showcases how comics can be a force for positive social change, leading the way by showcasing such varied identities for readers who might not otherwise have any familiarity with such  differences. So, I'm totally accepting of the Jaime Reyes version of Blue Beetle, I was just not familiar with it. 

I don't know how accurate the movie is to the comics, but I liked how the movie did tie the scarab to the earlier incarnations and I was especially gratified to see so much of Ted Kord's technology on display, especially The Bug. I am curious to know if Jaime's family play as important a role in the comics as they do in the movie, a big and pleasant surprise. I imagined they'd show up for a the first third of the movie then fade into the background, but that was not the case at all. I winced when I saw George Lopez in the cast, but I soon learned he was a fun character and added some spice to the proceedings. It was a strong cast, and the grandmother was a hoot. 

The movie features the classic wealthy maniac as the villain, and I for a time found this to be a bit of a cliche, though often accurate. With the way of the world now, with regular folks in a pitched battle with billionaires to retain their own sovereignty, I'm much more sympathetic to the rich asshole as baddie trope. Susan Sarandon was sufficiently malignant as a corporate overlord with no regard for the little people she crushed to consolidate her power and wealth. 

Overall, I give the movie a strong "B" grade. It's not a perfect film, but it has enough strong beats and enough cool callbacks to Blue Beetle details I personally love, that I was entertained. It didn't hurt that Jack Kirby's OMAC got a shout out as well. 

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Thunder Agents Classics Volume Two!

The second volume of THUNDER Agents Classics from IDW is chock full of vintage Silver Age goodness. With artwork by a who's who of the time, the reader can feast on some of the core stories which created the myth of this Tower Comics phenomenon. Wally Wood continues on the lead feature, but finds more help from Reed Crandall, Mike Sekowsky, George Tuska, Gil Kane, John Giunta, and especially Steve Ditko and Dan Adkins. Many of the stories are credited to Steve Skeates, something of a surprise to me.

The real surprise is the key story in this collection which includes THUNDER Agents #5, 6, and 7 along with the debut issue of Dynamo is a blockbuster tale titled "A Matter of Life and Death" written and designed by Dan Adkins, drawn by Steve Ditko and inked by Adkins and Wood.  This is the story upon which much of the Agents' reputation sits, the story which changed the game. Early in the series Egghead, a member of the THUNDER Squad died with little fanfare, but in this story one of the headline members of the agents meets his maker as Menthor is killed in action.

Unlike the ballyhooed and bombastically hyped "deaths" in modern comics which seem to occur on nearly a monthly basis, this demise was a true surprise. Heroes didn't die in the Silver Age, at least not mainstays like Menthor seemed to be. He was one of the original three THUNDER Agents before the advent of Lightning. Raven would hop onto the scene soon after, filling the void somewhat, but there was no denying the death of Menthor was a big deal in the Silver Age of comics.

Here are the covers of the issues included in the second volume.

Upcoming is the third volume of IDW's reprint series which debuts the weirdness of Manny Stallman and the end of the the threat of the Warlords and their minions. 

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Blue Beetle #5 - The Red Knight!

Blue Beetle #5  featuring the mystical Dan Garrett Blue Beetle hit stands in 1965. Under yet another striking Dick Giordano cover we get the fifth and final issue in Blue Beetle's run. He will return for more adventures, but under different numbering. (More on that next week.) 

We actually get credits this issue featuring writer Joe Gill and artists Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico. The Beetle battles an old friend who has come under strange influences and becomes a strangely powered Red Knight. Chess is established as something of an inspiration for this wild story of space travel and world domination. 

In the "Beetle's Nest" this time we get a look at work by Alan Weiss when he sends in a revised Blue Beetle costume. There's a letter by Dave Kaler, a fan who will become part of the Charlton firmament sooner than later on Captain Atom. Read the complete comic at this link. 

More Blue Beetle to come.

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