Blue Beetle (comic book)

The first issue of the original Blue Beetle comic was published in Winter 1940 by Fox Feature Syndicate, written by Will Eisner with art by Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski (as Charles Nicholas).^[1] It starred the original Blue Beetle, Dan Garret, who had first appeared in Mystery Men Comics anthology comic book series: a rookie police officer, he wore a special bulletproof costume and took "Vitamin 2X" which endowed him with super-energy, and he was assisted by a neighborhood pharmacist in his fight against crime. The series was the second featured title of an individual superhero character in the American comic book market, after Superman.

Blue Beetle saw a number of anomalies in publication: issues #12 through #30 were published through Holyoke Publishing; no issue #43 was published; publication frequency varied throughout the run; and there were gaps where issues were not published, with large ones occurring in early 1947 and between mid-1948 and early 1950. The series lasted until August 1950 with issue #60, when the company of Fox Feature Syndicate collapsed.^[2][3][4]

After purchasing the printing plates for various Blue Beetle stories from the defunct Fox Features Syndicate,^[5] Charlton Comics briefly launched its own Blue Beetle comic starring the same character, published bi-monthly from February to August 1955. This volume lasted four issues, numbered #18–21 (taking over numbering from Charlton's horror anthology series The Thing!): issues #18–19 consisted of reprinted stories from Fox Features Syndicate, while #20-21 also included original material. After the series was canceled, its issue numbering was taken over by Mr. Muscles.^[4][6]

In 1964, Charlton Comics relaunched Blue Beetle with a new volume, written by Joe Gill with art by Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico. Issue #1 (Jun. 1964) told a new origin story which substantially revised the main character and his superpowers: archaeology professor Dan Garrett (his surname now spelled differently) discovered an ancient mystical Egyptian scarab which gave him multiple superpowers. The series was published bi-monthly.^[7][8]

After five issues, the series underwent a soft relaunch with a new volume whose numbering began at #50 (Jul. 1965), taking over numbering from the anthology Unusual Tales.^[9] In all other aspects, including creative team, the series was unchanged from its previous volume. The series lasted for another five issues; its final issue, #54 (Feb.–Mar. 1966), was written by Roy Thomas. Its numbering was then taken over by the anthology series Ghostly Tales.

Ted Kord, the second Blue Beetle, was introduced via a backup feature in Captain Atom #83–86 (Nov. 1966 – Jun. 1967), in which he was shown to have become the Blue Beetle after Dan Garrett's apparent death. This was another substantial reinvention of the Blue Beetle as a superhero, as Ted Kord had no superpowers and fought crime using advanced technology he had invented. A new volume of the Blue Beetle comic starring Ted Kord began in June 1967, published bi-monthly. The backup features and ongoing series were plotted and illustrated by Steve Ditko; dialogue was credited to D.C. Glanzman.^[10] The superhero character The Question debuted as the star of a backup feature in Blue Beetle, also written and drawn by Ditko. Charlton Comics discontinued their entire "Action Heroes" line of comic books in 1968: thus the series was canceled after issue #5, a team-up story featuring the Blue Beetle and the Question, was published after some delay in November 1968.^{[11][12][13][14][15][16][17]} The story planned for a sixth issue was eventually printed, without coloring, in the fan publication Charlton Portfolio #1 in 1974.

Although the Blue Beetle volumes beginning in 1955, 1964, 1965 and 1967 are retroactively referred to as volumes 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively, their indicia identifies them differently. The former three are identified respectively as Volumes 1, 2 and 3, while the latter is also identified as Volume 1.