“Yesterday’s” Comic> Blue Beetle #1 (Charlton: Ted Kord)

Resuming the tradition of a Blue Beetle not having his own comic to himself.

Blue Beetle #1

Charlton Comics Group (June, 1967)

The Blue Beetle: “Bugs The Squids”

WRITER: D.C. Glanzman

ARTIST: Steve Ditko

LETTERER: A Machine (In the 1960s? Someone worked that machine. AI lettering isn’t even in use now.)

The Question:

No title, but also no credits. The same A. Machine seems to be used for the lettering and Ditko is known to have worked on this story, so I’m guessing it’s the same credits even if I’m really guessing on the writer.

[Read along with me here]

Blue Beetle happens to stop and foil a robbery by the Squid Gang, who use suction cups on their suits to climb into buildings and later a yacht. Said yacht is holding a charity party, but it’s all a trick by Todd Van III to hide the fact that he’s no longer rich. He’s even ready to betray his gang when Blue Beetle figures out his scam and takes him out.

What they got right: Ted seems a lot more competent at fighting since the Captain Atom back-up stories. He only loses because the villains have a trick gas gun, shows some really good fighting moves, and is quite clever himself. And the next issue teaser says we’re finally going to learn what happened to the Charlton version of Dan Garrett. The Squid Gang has a good gimmick for Silver Age action and I hope they made the move to DC so we could see more of them.

What they got wrong: The Bug’s limbs don’t look right to me, as if they were actually biological instead of mechanical in how they’re drawn. Tracy goes from being Ted’s suspicious secretary to his love interest between the back-ups and the first issue with no explanation, unless she’s lying to get close enough to learn about Ted’s secret. Frankly, I’d like to see this subplot end already.

Hey, there’s an letters to the editor page using a few responses from the Captain Atom appearances, and at the end it talks about Gary Friedrich leaving Charlton to go to Marvel, and they actually wish him good luck even though their sad to lose a good writer. You won’t see that these days. Marvel didn’t wish Jack Kirby luck when he went to DC.

Now for the Question’s back-up story. After introducing the cast, a respectable businessman is involved in a shooting of a cop as they raid an illegal gambling operation. The man’s partner, a well-known criminal, is the only one identified, and the Question goes searching for him. Learning he has a partner, the Question contacts the police and as reporter Vic Sage covers the bust, learning one of his bosses was the businessman. The station’s owner believes in the truth and allows Vic to run the footage.

This is a good introduction to our hero. Rather than busting the baddies he actually sends the police to him. The Question has always been a bit different compared to the other heroes, though back then he lived by Steve Ditko’s worldview while most of you probably know him as the conspiracy theorist in Justice League Unlimited or the current comic version, where Vic has been replaced by the angry lesbian version of Renee Montoya. We get introduced to his cast, how Vic tends to rub people the wrong way with his commentaries, but has the support of his team if not everyone upstairs save the station owner, who is the only one in the hierarchy who at least leaves him there because he’s honest and not afraid to stand up for his beliefs.

What I think overall: Ted gets a better showing here than he did as Captain Atom‘s back-up feature, and the Question’s debut is also well done. I’m looking forward to the next issue, where we hopefully will finally learn what happened to Dan Garrett, if only to put that arc behind us.