“Yesterday’s” Comic> The Blue Beetle #32

“How do all these blue costumed people get in here and punch me?”

The Blue Beetle #32

Fox Features Syndicate (July, 1944)

Well, last issue was a disappointment. Looking over the list of creators in this issue I’m not sure it will be any different. I’m guessing Fox couldn’t get back the old creators and these new ones need breaking in. The writing has gone down and so has the art not only from the first Fox run (which certainly weren’t the best comics I ever read but weren’t this bad) but the mediocre Holyoke run. I’m curious how this character endured long enough for Quality to completely reimagine our friend Dan.

[Read along with me here]

The Blue Beetle> “Bridge To Heaven”

Wait, Dan’s back to being a cop and Joan’s paper is the Daily Planet? The first one is confusing and the second one really should have come into play when DC bought the characters but they were going by Quality and Charlton’s re-imagine. Also, Mike lost his mustache. However, they’re still fighting Nazis, this time tricking old ladies whose sons have died by pretending to summon their ghosts who talk them into working against the war effort. In other words…Nazis created the hippies! Okay, not really. Would have been funny though. Otherwise it back to form for the Blue Beetle. All we see is the Vitamin 2X superstrength, Beetle doesn’t get knocked out, and Mike is actually a good cop (though he still can’t tell his partner is the same dude in chainmail he’s trying to arrest). This is more like what I was hoping to see. I didn’t even cared that Dan is back to being a cop, though I bet that confused the kids back then.

The G.I. Laffs still aren’t funny and the Minute Mystery had a good plot but needed more than a minute to make the story of a crooked mayor caught in his own scheme make sense. I don’t even know what the point of the kidnapped girl is. Moving on.

The Blue Beetle> “The Secret Weapon”

The Nazis steal a secret weapon from an American base with a rather clever method. They’re still no match for the Blue Beetle, who manages to get the weapon back and steal the Nazi’s secret weapon. What does either weapon do? I don’t know. It’s a secret to the readers, too. Still, if all you want is a bit of action and the occasional fight this works. Just be warned we see a black character…and it’s the 1940s. You know what he looks like, but at least he speaks like a normal person.

After a Blue Beetle text story…which means unlike the Holyoke run the Blue Beetle is a main character in his own comic, we get this issue’s Joan Mason solo story.

Joan Mason: Reporter> “Murder On The Diamond”

Are Joan and now handsome Mike Mannigan dating? Given Mike’s makeover and if Dan still has his girlfriend from the Holyoke run, why not? It’s still odd if I’m not misreading the situation. The pair take up a baseball game when the pitcher is somehow poisoned. Joan and Mike, without Dan OR the Blue Beetle. She was doing a solo girl reporter friend of the superhero before Lois, though Lois still worked at a Daily Planet first, the Daily Star already renamed. (Yes, I checked.) It’s also a good mystery though I don’t buy that Joan figured out how the poisoning happened that easily. Mike’s also lost his accent. Still, good story.

O’Brine Twins

They’re still in Antarctica, where people still live, run across a talking seal, some other dude with an invention…I’ll be honest folks. I couldn’t even get myself to read this one. I’d rather have Spark Stevens back. At least he and Ham were worth making fun of.

The Blue Beetle> no title on this one

No Nazis on this one, just a bunch of crooks stealing gas. There’s also some bit about fake ration tokens but it goes nowhere except to the same gasoline hijackers. I’m not even sure why it’s there. Mike found his accent for this one but it’s a plot with a bunch of fighting and not as much story. A bit of a weak one to end the issue if you ignore the “Jr. Doughboy” page that’s just a promo for collecting scrap paper.

I’m happy to say for the first time in a while that an issue of The Blue Beetle isn’t scrap paper. There’s actually some good stories here, and even the bad one (ignoring the O’Brine Twins and other attempts at humor) is still decent. I hope to read more issues like this in the future.