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The Blue Beetle is a fictional superhero published by DC Comics. The first Blue Beetle was created by Fox Features Syndicate; the rights to the name and character were sold to Charlton Comics, who were in turn bought by DC Comics, who introduced their own Blue Beetle. DC's Blue Beetle is arguably the more popular and well-remembered of the characters to bear the name.
Dan Garret
The original Golden Age Blue Beetle was Dan Garret, son of a police officer who was killed by a criminal. The Fox Features version of the character first appeared in Mystery Men Comics #1 (1939), and began appearing in his own series shortly thereafter. In Fox's continuity, he invented a bulletproof costume and gained superhuman strength from a mysterious vitamin. This version of this Beetle, like many other low-powered vigilante-type superheroes, bore many similarities to Batman, and had his own short-lived comic strip and radio serial. When superheroes fell out of vogue in the late 1940s and 1950s, Fox downplayed the Beetle's superheroic aspects (his superhuman abilities were removed) and eventually relegated him to a host for true crime stories before he was finally put to rest.
Charlton Comics obtained the rights to the Blue Beetle, and published Blue Beetle #1 in 1964, during the genesis of the Silver Age of comics. Charlton's Blue Beetle retained the original's name, but none of his powers or origin. This Beetle was an archaeologist who obtained a number of superhuman powers (including enhanced strength, flight and the ability to generate lightning) from a mystical scarab he fought in Egypt. This Beetle faded into obscurity after only a few issues.
Ted Kord
Charlton's next Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, was created by Steve Ditko in 1966, and first appeared as a back-up feature in Captain Atom #83. This Beetle was a genius-level inventor and a gifted athlete, sharing much more in common with Fox's original Beetle than Charlton's earlier reimagining of the character. This Blue Beetle's signature equipment is his large bug shaped aircraft which he enters and exits typically with a cable that is suspended from the cockpit. He also generally eschewed personal weaponry outside a pistol that makes a blinding flash of light and later, a strong airblast to gain the advantage when he closes for hand to hand combat.
Ditko is best known as the co-creator (with Stan Lee) and original artist of The Amazing Spider-Man at Marvel Comics. While Blue Beetle and Spider-Man have some similar characteristics, such as being wise-cracking, acrobatic, arthropod-themed urban heroes, they evolved into very different characters. Both characters are accomplished inventors (Ted Kord is considered one of the premier minds of the DC Universe), great athletes and skilled acrobats. Both characters also have strong (if sometimes ill-timed) senses of humor that they use to mask their insecurities--more in the case of the Beetle, who has no powers of his own and has to deal with occasional weight gain. On the other hand, the Beetle has none of the angst associated with brooding vigilantes like Batman. Unlike Spider-Man, Blue Beetle is a team player and a loyal friend; Beetle is the only hero who put up with the narcissistic pretty-boy superhero Booster Gold when the two were paired in the Justice League.
DC acquired all the Charlton heroes in the mid-'80s, and used the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event to integrate them all into the DC Universe. During this period Blue Beetle had his own series, written by Len Wein. Also published during this time was Secret Origins #2 (cover illustrated by Gil Kane), which explained the origins and careers of the Ted Kord and Dan Garrett Blue Beetles in the post-Crisis continuity. It was explained that Kord had been a student of the archeologist version of Garrett, and Garrett's last act as the Blue Beetle had been to stop Kord's villainous uncle. This inspired Kord to continue Garrett's work.
Ted Kord is sometimes shown as an industrialist, the owner of Kord Industries; more often he is short on money, leading to his entering "get-rich-quick" schemes with Booster Gold.
A brief appearance in JLA: Year One showed the young Ted working in Kord Industries R&D, where he designed the JLA HQ security system. Upon meeting the heroes he thought "Screw the family business. I want to be one of those guys", possibly explaning the company's fluctuating status since he took over. In recent comics, it has been implied that Kord Industries has become a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises, headed by Bruce Wayne aka Batman.
BB is probably best known as the wisecracking member of Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis's comic five-year run on various Justice League of America titles (notably Justice League International), where he was partnered most memorably with fellow third-string DC hero Booster Gold. After Giffen and DeMatteis left, Justice League America continued to run until #113. Dan Jurgens tied the "Death of Superman" storyline into JLA, in which Doomsday left Blue Beetle in a coma during his murderous rampage.
After the JLI glory days, Blue Beetle entered a period of relative obscurity. A miniseries titled The L.A.W. (Living Assault Weapons) reunited Blue Beetle and the other heroes acquired from Charlton, but the series was universally panned. Beetle appeared for a time in Birds of Prey, since he was a favorite of Birds of Prey writer Chuck Dixon. In particular, Birds of Prey #25 is a homage to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen, which features the Nite Owl (a character that was heavily based on Blue Beetle) and the Silk Spectre (a character who similar to Birds of Prey cast member Black Canary).
Since Beetle has had health problems (including a career-long problem with weight fluctuation and, more recently, heart disease), Dixon's plan was for Tim Drake, the current Robin and a fan of the Beetle, to hang up that mantle for a while and replace Ted Kord as the Blue Beetle--a plan that failed to materialize when Dixon left DC for CrossGen Comics.
In July 2003, Giffen, DeMatteis, and original JLI artist Kevin Maguire reunited for a six-issue miniseries called Formerly Known As The Justice League, where many of the original JLI characters teamed back up and started a new superhero team out of a storefront office. Beetle, who has grown in maturity, was an important member of this new team, the "Super Buddies" (see Super Friends). A sequel series, I Still Can't Believe It's Not The Justice League, was initially slated to run as a second miniseries but will instead run in JLA: Classified #4-7.
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