“But I thought we weren’t supposed to run away from home, Mr. Beetle?” “You should when it chases you, kids.”
The Blue Beetle #36
Fox Features Publications (November, 1944)
So it’s been a mixed bag since Fox got the rights to Dan back thus far. That’s at least better than what Holyoke had going on. I’m trying to figure out how to pad this out for the homepage and so far I’m not sure what else to talk about. Still ignoring the one-page comics and the O’Brine Twins. Also this is one of those comics where Comic Book Plus has two copies up. As I write this I don’t know which is the better scan so here’s the first and second scans. Read along and let’s get going.
The Blue Beetle And The Runaway House
Our first story is the next kid contest winner…which opens with our comic giving the kids address out! I guess doxxing wasn’t an an issue in the 1940s. Not that it matters now, since that area is covered by a prep academy and some kind of business. Guess their house ran off as well. It’s not a good sign when you pick up kids for an adventure, because we’re still not even trying with the explanation, and keep yawning. So what amazing adventure are Nell and Bruce Barth going to tell their schoolmates about? Sitting in on a lecture. I mean, it’s about a house that makes the TARDIS look normal with portals going all over time and space inside, but it’s still a lecture. Beetle gets an invitation for himself, Joan, and the kids to see the house. Turns out trying to leave triggers the portals. Beetle saves the kids from Eskimos who want to cook them because…beats me, but even they know the signal of the Blue Beetle. So do the African jungle warriors who try to cook Joan and the Professor. Yeah, even I’m calling insensitivity on this one, along with the repetitiveness. At least the cannibals make the little white kids their new chiefs after the kids beat…them…up…what is this story?
On their next stop Blue Beetle just punches a dude without showing the readers why he believes a woman is in danger…or whether this was a play or a movie being filmed. That was rather pointless before the cliche really took off. Then the house finally gets them home before exploding. I don’t know what to say about this one. Hopefully the kids were satisfied with “Otis’s” story. (That’s the only credit.) Let’s move on.
“The Threat From Saturn” part 3: The Blue Beetle At Bay
So how do we solve the cliffhanger from last issue, as a truck heads towards Dan, Mike, a woman, and her baby? Dan…I don’t…Dan has time to “accidentally” knock Mike out, and with the woman too afraid to notice and the baby being a baby, change into his Blue Beetle costume because apparently the superstrength is no longer due to a vitamin formula in his bloodstream but his chainmail armor, stop the truck. Or here’s a thought…YOU HAD TIME TO WALK OUT OF THE WAY! They wouldn’t even need to jump in the time it takes to change clothes and knock your friend out cold. Would it be lame? Yes. It was when Jeff King did it in King Of The Rocketmen…but it would have made more sense!
Gloat’s new plan is to take over the Blue Beetle and use his superpowers he didn’t have until the relaunch (like changing size and flying when the plot allows for it) to cause mischief in the hopes the Blue Beetle will be blamed so he’ll be arrested and out of their way. His own friends, who KNOW these people can take over bodies, can’t figure out why Beetle’s gone evil. Really. Dan’s conscience at least keeps Gloat from killing people, but leaving Mike hanging from a skyscraper spire he’s totally cool with. Are we sure Dan considers Mike a friend? Finally managing to get Gloat out of him to save lives, the gangsters take advantage of a stampede Gloat causes and the Beetle manages to stop both situations, one of the gangsters leading him to the villains. Points for trying in how they alter the balloons so we’re seeing them sideways as a way to show they’re talking through the video feed but it does look like they’re in the picture instead of the audio. Our villains drop Blue Beetle and the gangster into a pit…possibly the one this story crawled out of. How is this worse than the house?
Joan Mason: Reporter
Joan has decided to take a vacation without Dan OR Mike. Of course, you don’t take a vacation in a crimefighting series without finding some crime that needs fighting. Not that I wouldn’t mind seeing Joan lying around in a bikini for a few pages…right, the story. She comes upon a creamery being robbed and her attempts to leave it for the local paper so she can have a vacation doesn’t work out when the boss wants to ditch the witness. This is actually a good story, which given what we’ve had thus far this issue is a nice change of place. And I’m not ruining it with the O’Brine Twins so let’s get to our final story.
The Talking Jewel
Did Otis (again, that’s the only credit…just “Otis”) change his mind halfway through the story? The jewel doesn’t say anything nor is that the trick used. Dan and Mike come upon a speeding driver heading into the river, leading Mike and the Blue Beetle to investigate a murder that’s rather suspicious as to who the killer is. I won’t spoil anything because I linked to a free and legal scan of the comic earlier and it’s actually a well thought out story. Mike also gets a decent version of his accent and forms a truce with the Blue Beetle to solve the story AND outside of tossing a huge steamboat the ridiculous levels of Dan’s powers in this run aren’t present.
So at least the issue ends on two good stories. I just with the others had been better. Also, the only hint of the war is another “collect scrap paper” PSA with the usual black racial stereotype, but at least our hero fights something other than the war this issue.
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