Oh good, this plotline can die now!
Blue Beetle #2
Charlton Comics Group (August, 1967)
Blue Beetle: “The End Is A Beginning” and an untitled The Question story
WRITER: D. Glanzman
ARTIST/PLOT: Steve Ditko
LETTERING: A Machine
In our main adventure, after dodging the detective again, Ted goes out on patrol as Blue Beetle and sees a flashlight on Pago Island. He finds Tracey, trying to prove Ted’s innocence. Realizing he’s actually hurting her by keeping secrets, Ted reveals his identity and tells her what happened. Ted was helping his uncle Jarvis with an experiment, but Jarvis wouldn’t tell him what he was working on. Jarvis seemingly dies in an explosion but Ted finds evidence that he’s still alive and what they were working on, an improvement to an android army. Not knowing where else to go, Ted goes to Dan Garrett (because everybody did in the last series) and they journey to Pago Island. Finding Jarvis building his army, Dan is forced to reveal his own Blue Beetle identity to Ted as he fights the androids, dying during the battle. Separated from Dan by an explosion, Ted decided to fulfill his last wish, by becoming a new Blue Beetle.
Without a scarab, Ted instead built his gadgets and his Bug ship. Now knowing the truth, Tracey decides to do what she can to help Ted in his mission and keep the secret for Dan’s sake. However, androids still active attack the couple and Ted is forced to fight them off, managing to defeat them. But what about the android still coming to “life” in the cave?
What they got right: Seldom do I need a second paragraph for the synopsis of one story, but that tells you how much they packed into this, and all of it fits right into the allowed page count. There are Golden Age comics I can’t say that about. As an origin of the new Blue Beetle, and a heroic sendoff of his predecessor, the story works quite well.
What they got wrong: We didn’t get a final “Kaji Dha!” Does Ted even know about the scarab?
As for the Question this issue: Stealing his mentor’s gas-powered flying cape (it kind of works like a balloon) and killing him to do so, a circus trainee named Max Bine turns to crime as The Banshee. After committing robberies in his town as a test, Banshee goes to Crown City to get into big time crime, but Vic foils his first attempt at a party, though the villain escapes. As both Vic and The Question, our hero tries to stop Banshee and avenge the mentor out of general principle. Eventually, the Question catches up to Banshee and after sabotaging his gear, lets Banshee fly out to sea, believing he was killed when he got out there. Meanwhile, the station owner’s daughter is trying to come between Vic and his girl, Nora.
What they got right: Banshee makes for a good villain. While he does have a gliding cape that he’s training with, the cape he steals is more interesting and plays into his defeat. We also learn a bit more about how the gas works, and I guess there’s a counter gas to restore his clothes and dislodge the mask.
What they got wrong: The love triangle stuff adds nothing to this story.
What I think overall: Two solid stories with both characters. I would like to see the Question get his own comic for when I return to Charlton to check out the full run instead of just the Blue Beetle, and let Ted have the comic all to himself. They were doing that in comics by 1967.
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