“Yesterday’s” Comic> Blue Beetle #56

“Trust us, there is a superhero story in this superhero comic.”

Blue Beetle #56

Fox Features Syndicate (May, 1948)

There’s only a handful of issues left in this run, so I’m going to go ahead and finish it. So far I’ve been disappointed. I thought Fox retaking the comic would put things back on course but I forgot how little they cared back then (or now). Comics were just a way for them to make a little extra money when the presses weren’t running their magazines between issues. The closest they came to caring about comics was seeing how they could screw over a magazine rival. Still, it’s a shame they didn’t get the good writers back.

Not that the superhero crash would have been relieved back then, but seeing how little of an appearance of the title character makes me wonder how they even got to this issue once they clearly didn’t want to do a superhero comic anymore. It’s the same issue with the tail end of the Holyoke run, an attempt to push the title character out of his own comic. I miss the original Fox run, with set powers, Dr. Franz, and much better stories than I’ve seen since the Holyoke run to this second Fox run.

[Read along with me here]

“The Sinister Sphinx”

In order to prove to future kidnap victims to pay their ransoms, a woman called the Sphinx kills a few women (including a stripper…you know, for kids) to show she’s serious. Yes, that’s her motive. Joan comes up with a plan to fake a robbery in her name using a facsimile of the Sphinx statue calling card she leaves behind, setting up a plan to capture her. Why they kept it a secret from the other cops I couldn’t tell you. I also couldn’t tell you why Joan gets a flat in just the right spot to snag her, or why Dan can’t stay in cop clothes to arrest her at the first attempt. I think what killed superhero comics is the same issue we’re having with the movies and comics right now…not knowing how to tell a good superhero story. Also, if you read along, is the Sphinx just wearing lingerie and an eyemask?

“An Invitation To Danger”

We’re going to need some aspirin after this one. Not because it’s that bad, because it’s just sort of there. I mean how our heroes keep getting conked on the head. Dan gets it in both identities, drawing everyone else into this when one of the Blue Beetle’s lady crooks (not a good issue for women overall) mistakes Dan for Joan’s editor, because of course when a rival crook is trying to steal your jade horsey the first place you go is a newspaper. Joan and Mike (of course Mike) also get their lumps. What we don’t get is a story worth getting conked for.

William Underhill: “Tri-State Terror”

I still do not understand why Dan starts narrating, switches to Blue Beetle, and then continues narrating the true crime stories. It’s a really dumb framing device. Just leave him in a narrating identity and get on with it. So we have another kill-happy criminal. His story was only going to end with the cops shooting him. I never know how much exaggerating they do in these true crime stories. It’s not like Underhill or the other crooks featured were going to talk. Especially Underhill. He dead.

overall

I’m seeing why this comic died, genre death or not. It’s the same as what happens these days. It’s not superhero fatigue that killed this series, it was bad storytelling.