I’m sure Dan Garret is in one of those planes. Maybe.
The (New) Blue Beetle #21
Holyoke Publishing (May, 1943)
I have to give this comic an odd sort of credit. Just when I think I’m about to beat a dead horse with a complaint it turns up a different problem. Right now that problem is that the original Blue Beetle is being shoved out of his own comic in favor of anybody else. In this issue the Blue Beetle’s adventures bookend the supposed guest cast. It’s like Holyoke is trying to turn The New Blue Beetle into the name of the anthology comic rather than the title of it’s main character. It’s rather disappointing really.
Read along with me at Comic Book Plus.
The Blue Beetle: “The Black Genie” by writer Dan Barry and artist/editor Chas M. Quinlan
No SparkySpunky kid, so that’s a plus. Instead “Willie The Weasel” narrates his own story about how he tried to rob a Hindu…sorry, “Hindoo” because we’ve got more accented dialog (though better than anything last issue)…curio shop and accidentally drank a Genie because all he heard of “Djinn” was the “gin” part. Now when the genie is inside him he has super strength and immunity from bullets while outside he’s a giant. Willie and his genie start a criminal gang and even defeat the Blue Beetle until he comes up with a plan to separate them. Or so goes the story he told while being tortured in hell! You know, for kids! It’s always weird when a Blue Beetle story takes on a bit of the paranormal. Maybe Ted if he’s with the Justice League on a mission or Jaime fighting aliens I can understand but Dan fighting monsters and demons and zombies and stuff is always weird.
“Ali Baba & The Forty Thieves”
Like the previous issue it’s a comedic take on the “Arabian Knights” tale of Ali Baba, who finds the hidden cave of Ali Satrap and his band of robbers. Can’t say I laughed once. It wasn’t terrible but it was rather dumb.
Crime Reporter: “Wanted For Murder…George Leslie!”
George Leslie decided to move to big time robbery and managed to do well on his first one, though they killed people at the bank. The police are determined to bring his gang in and get their chance when the gang pulls off an armored car robbery. Leslie is injured but manages to escape the cops long enough to pay back his men for abandoning him before succumbing to his own bullet wounds. A short but decent story. There’s a lot of focus on criminals this issue. Nobody tell Dr. Fred.
Wing Lee: Boy Patriot Of China And The Flying Tigers chapter 1
What a difference time is. In this comic we condemn Japan and support China and in 2023 we…are apparently back to doing the same thing despite Japan being the good guys now. Wing is a fourteen year old boy whose village is taken over by the Japanese army and the comic also infers his little sister was killed for wanting her doll back. Wing fights back but is captured. Then he and some other boys escape and join the Chinese army performing sabotage. When they hear about a planned Japanese attack they managed to cause them trouble until America’s “Flying Tigers” show up and save them. The planes are more like a plot device than actually mattering. Just as Wing starts his plan the Tigers show up and bomb the area. On the plus side there’s no overly yellow skin and exaggerated accents. Shame the buck teeth are still there, though. It’s an okay story.
“14 Days Against Japs And Jungle” by Chas M. Quinlan
The allegedly true story of Wallace E. Wynn, who survived an attack by the Japanese but he and his fellow survivors were slowly worn down by parties of Japanese scouts until he was the last one to get to a Marine unit. It’s one of those stories meant to get the cheers on for our men fighting in World War II but might make an interesting movie if they can decide if the story is narrated by Wynn or an outside narrator.
“A True Story”
Simple title. The Pvt Wynn in this story may or may not be the same guy. Different creator according to the Grand Comics Database but it’s the same goal of pro-American war story getting us on the side of winning the war. The framing device is Akiyoshi Hasamuto leading his surviving men to be captured in the hopes the Americans will be merciful to prisoners. Yeah, this goes on and on about how awesome the Americans are and how he wants to move to America when the war’s over…I kind of question how “true” this story actually is. Were Americans kinder to the “Jap” prisoners than they were to ours? Maybe, though I bet there were a few individuals who were somehow crueler. Overall it’s a propaganda piece that isn’t as interesting a story as the last one.
The Blue Beetle: no title on this one
Our last story actually features the title hero. What a shock. I get the feeling they changed crimes halfway through from robbing a train to killing American soldiers on that train. That or the Nazis hired petty crooks to kill soldiers. Also, two “t”s for Dan’s last name again and he also operates as the lights out guy which is how he found out about the criminals. It’s as basic a story as it can get.
Overall, this was not a great issue. It’s better than some previous Holyoke period stories so maybe they were finding their footing but I still can’t help but think they were trying to get rid of the title character. We’ll see what happens in the following issues.
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