“Yesterday’s Comic> The Blue Beetle #20

Now he’s not even on his own cover. Unless that’s Spunky disguised as a Japanese war propaganda stereotype.

The Blue Beetle #20

Sorry.

The NEW Blue Beetle #20

Holyoke Publishing Co. (April, 1943)

There are two versions up at Comic Book+. I’m using the “alt” version since it appears to be cleaner. Follow along with me here.

I have to wonder if Holyoke was trying to kick Dan Garret off of his own title at this point. Now he’s not even on the cover, which proclaims itself to be the “New” Blue Beetle comic. The Beetle is only in two stories, one in the front and the other buried in other stories. Just end the title and do an anthology not named after one of the characters. You decided to continuing the Fox numbering and use the character.

Frankly, I’m surprised the character lasted long enough for Fox Features to get him back.

The Blue Beetle

• “Aero Plant Sabotage”: Mike’s back, and they misspelled Dan’s last name with two T’s, just as Charlton would do later on when they reimagined the whole concept. Somehow Mike is an idiot but still saves the day, so…hurray for him? It’s Japanese spies posing as Chinese laundrymen while sabotaging plants making supplies for the war effort and the Blue Beetle…barely does anything except get knocked out while doing some investigating. Yeah, they’re trying to get rid of him at Holyoke. On the plus side? No Sparky Spunky blackmailing sidekick kid.
• “Submarine Sabotage“: After a Blue Beetle text story following his cover replacements, we get our next Blue Beetle adventure. Traitors working for a Nazi scientist are sabotaging submarines (hence the story name) and the Navy asks the Blue Beetle to investigate. So the Navy has more respect for the superhero than the police? Also a man named Sparks get killed but it probably wasn’t “Spark” Stevens. Actually, that could have been an interesting team-up. He’s not even in this issue.

The other stories

At this point can I still call them guest stars?

• Crime Reporter: “Wanted Vern (Machine Gun) Miller” by golly nobody wants to cope to working on this comic: The first of our new characters, showing that while Holyoke is trying to get rid of Dan Garret they’re at least trying to come up with new ideas. This is a tale from the 1920s about a killer for hire who is so good that one of his clients gets worried and bumps him off. One page seems to have a different letterer and the first two panels of the story could have been one panel, but for the most part it’s an okay story. Nothing special but not bad either.
• Scoop McLuke–Correspondent At Large: Our hero is actually a jerk nobody is going to miss when he decides the real reporting is in Europe due to the war. Long story not short enough, Scoop comes upon a Nazi agent and accidentally gets their briefcases switched so he decides to mess with the Nazis. This story…exists, and already that was a waste of time.
• The Adventures Of Sinbad The Sailor: The first of what threatens to be a more lighthearted retelling of tales from Arabian Nights, Sinbad is shipwrecked, finds a giant bird to get him off of that island only to find another and get tormented by an old many before finding a Genii’s treasure cave and makes a boat out of one of the treasure chests. It’s…better than the last story is all I’ve got. The story is way too packed in to really be a decent telling, though a full version like this might be interesting.
• Tiger Squadron by Barry & Ulmer: Our last two stories actually have credits. Meet the Tiger Squadron, trying to clear the skies of Japanese Zeros. You have Tiger himself, Chicago, Harvard, and Confusion the…Chinese guy whose portrayed as an idiot? Can we blame this nicknaming on the 1940s? The Flying Tigers were protecting China from Japan back when China was good and Japan was evil…the roles clearly switched by 2023. The Tigers were happy being a ragtag bunch but after Pearl Harbor their CO agrees to join with the military proper. Harvard takes over the squadron to get them more in line but his actions gets one of the members, Red, killed off and is questioning his own judgement. Also, Confusion steals a plane during one of the battles. The concept is fine and it’s one of the better stories in the book but we’ll see if it’s worth relegating the title hero to the background.
• The Monkey Fencer by L. Golden: This is the last story of the issue. Our “monkey fencer” is Duke De Montray, who is very agile in the trees, hence his nickname. It beats Tiger Squadron’s nicknames anyway. It’s not a good sign when the introduction is him pointing out all the physical flaws of his valet, Pebbles, and telling us he gave up his fortune and position but plans for it to only be temporary. Why give up his fortune? Beats me, but now he’s interested in one of the noblewomen who turns out to be a lady in waiting to the queen and ends up fighting a less honorable duke after rescuing her from his advances. This one has time to breathe and tell a full story, and it ends with the hero getting the girl and a new fortune. Also De Montray fights his enemy tied up and having to hold the sword in his mouth. Another good story, probably better than the Tiger Squadron story.

I’m still not happy about the Blue Beetle being reduced in his own comic but at least Holyoke found some good writers and artists. Also, no Spunky, a trend I hope continues in the next issue.