“Yesterday’s” Comic> Blue Beetle #4

A superhero comic with masks. Not sure that’s a selling point.

Blue Beetle #4

Charlton Comics (December, 1967)

PLOT/ARTIST: Steve Ditko

Blue Beetle: “The Men Of The Mask”

WRITER: D.C. Glanzman

LETTERER: Herb Field

The Question: “Kill Vic Sage”

WRITER: Warren Savin

LETTERER: Bob Agnew

[Read along with me here]

Sure that Dan would go on the mission to investigate a cult on the mountain of Mider, Ted heads there as well, leaving devices to allow Tracey to fool Lt. Fisher into believing he’s still at the lab. As the Blue Beetle, Ted is captured by the cult, but the leader is actually a thief who took over the cult to steal their treasure. Dan and his party have also come for the treasure, only he’s not the real Dan Garrett, but a jealous rival who also wanted to steal the treasure. Between the cult, the exploding mountain, the gas powered killer statue, and some explosives tossed by not-Dan and his men, only Ted makes it out alive, and everyone believes the real Dan Garrett died that day instead. Ted knows the truth, and he still doesn’t know the final fate of his predecessor.

What they got right: I can buy the explanation for the fake Dan. There’s a lot of good action in this story, and hopefully this will get past this subplot of Fisher hounding Ted.

What they got wrong: I actually don’t have any major complaints with this story.

In this issue’s adventure with The Question, someone is trying to kill Vic, but it’s the Question who walks into their trap. Even a bomb attempt is foiled by Vic. So they kidnap his secretary, Nora, to lead him to another trap. However, it’s Nora who saves Vic, and the Question catches up with the lead assassin and his client, a man with an old grudge against Vic for exposing his robbing the newspaper they both worked at. In the end both bad guys end up being washed away in the sewers.

What they got right: Going outside of his current stream of antagonists kept me guessing. The Question shows some good fighting skills, and they even thought about the stuff in his wallet, though I question how it works, with a chemical on his ID that changes his name on there as well when exposes to the same gas that alters his mask and clothes.

What they got wrong: The growing number of people in the studio who hate Vic, including the owner’s son, is just getting annoying. Vic not saving the villains and leaving them for the police to arrest is a personal dislike, but narratively works.

What I think overall: These are some good stories, but it may be time to give The Question his own comic and let us get a full explanation about why he decided to be The Question and spend more time with the scientist who created his stuff. Of personal interest: we have a hero going to a scientist for his gear but it’s not the Blue Beetle or Dan Garrett, and that’s how the original Blue Beetle in the original Fox run got his start. I don’t know if its coincidence, but it’s an interesting one if it is.