Blue Beetle

Entry updated 24 November 2025. Tagged: Character, Comics, Publication.

US Comic (1940-1950). Fox Publications, Inc. 40 issues (numbered #1-#11, #31-#42, #44-#60; see below regarding #12-#30). Artists include Alvin Hollingsworth, Jack Kamen, EC Stoner and Al Zere. Scriptwriters include Will Eisner, Alvin Hollingsworth, E C Stoner and Al Zere. Initially 68 pages with 9 long strips, it had reduced to 36 pages and 3 long strips by the end of its run; there would also be a short text story, plus short strips and non-fiction pieces as filler.

When his policeman father is murdered by criminals, Dan Garrett – scholarship boy and top athlete – vows vengeance and after graduation joins the police force. He is also the Superhero Blue Beetle, provided by a Scientist with "special armor" that makes him "almost invulnerable" and vitamin 2X which gives him "super-energy" (see Superpowers). Some policemen consider him a criminal. In appearance he looks not unlike The Phantom, but clad in blue rather than purple; this is perhaps acknowledged in #4 when someone remarks "Go away! You're a phantom." and he replies "I'm not a phantom thank you. I'm just the Blue Beetle." Typically, issues contain 2-6 Blue Beetle long strips, plus a few others (some genre, some not). For instance, #1 has six featuring Blue Beetle (and a text story), with the rest of the issue made up of three Yarko the Great reprints (see Wonderworld Comics), whilst #60 has two Blue Beetle strips and another featuring newspaper reporter Joan Mason. Atypically, #2-#3 have two very long Blue Beetle strips.

Though he usually fights humdrum criminals, genre elements sometimes appear. Aside from occasional McGuffins, such as Inventions that must be kept out of the hands of criminals and spies, there is a Mad Scientist kidnapping young women, intending to make a composite "perfect women" from their parts (#3); a device which creates lightning (see Weather Control) (#5); exploding flowers (#7); a Drug that turns blood to fire (#9); the Supervillain The Octopus in his diving bell with octopus tentacles (#11). #33 sees the scientist who invented vitamin 2X perfecting cell division (and being murdered), with the Blue Beetle accidentally duplicating himself; his duplicate refers to him as "mother" (and is eventually murdered); a villain also duplicates himself, but his copy is shocked that he plans to sell the formula to the Japanese (it is not clear whether this is moral outrage or because the gang he is part of are German spies during World War Two). In the same issue the undersea city of Aquatis (see Atlantis) rises back to the surface, with the inhabitants demanding 100,000 New Yorkers as slave labour to help rebuild it – otherwise they will use their water magnet to flood New York. The serial "Blue Beetle and the Threat From Saturn" begins in #34, where two evil Saturnian Aliens – Saturnia and Gloat – are locked in a meteor and exiled into space by their people; unfortunately it crashes on Earth, which they decide to take over (see Imperialism). At one point Gloat possesses (see Identity Transfer) our hero and causes trouble; subsequent adventures are unremarkable until Gloat builds a "sun-suction magnet" (#41). The serial ends, unconcluded, with that issue.

#37 has a journey to "the core of the Earth" (see Hollow Earth), where Dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures still exist, including a feathered pterodactyl resembling a giant parrot. The kids who accompany the Beetle meet their English-speaking cave-people ancestors (at this point the comic included stories featuring readers). An Under the Sea civilisation appears in #38; a growth pill (see Great and Small) in #39; #42 has smugglers using a "Rocketship" (though wings give it the appearance of a jet plane) possibly made by Japan in World War Two. A Lost Race turns up in #45, whilst in #46 the Blue Beetle is transported to the Roman Empire in 56 CE by non-scientific means (a "sun-flame column"). #47's "Mechanical Monster of Death" is a Robot built by a scientist planning to rule the USA; he is poisoned by his wife, who has the same ambition – only to find the robot does too. In #51 a scientist invents a formula to turn living tissue into gold (see Transmutation): criminals force people to drink it then melt them down. #55 has criminals hiring a scientist to build machinery to extract the energy from the A-Bomb, to create "atom juice", though the process's side effects cause atmospheric disturbances. Towards the end of the comic's run scantily clad young women became very common – most notably in #56 when the Sphinx – dressed as though she is en route to a fetish club – goes round stabbing them. However, in the last few issues both Sex and genre elements virtually disappear, a gun that sprays plastic webbing in #57 being the last genre prop.

Some early issues were padded out with non-Blue Beetle reprints, but from #6 superheroes from other comics appear with new stories, such as Dynamite Thor (see Weird Comics), who is "immune to the effects of explosives" (presumably the result of his "neutron shield") and "can propel himself thru the air with dynamite" (at one point in #6 he is pushed into a vat of acid, but survives: "I counteracted the acid with a little dynamite."). Other superheroes include Dynamo (see Science Comics), The Gladiator (see Fantastic Comics), The Puppeteer (first seen in All Your Comics, a 1944 one-off; see also Rocket Kelly). None of them appear for more than a few issues. The same is true of strips seemingly original to The Blue Beetle, such as Sub Saunders, who has a submarine; in #6 he fights Lugo, aquatic "harpie of terror", who kidnaps a swimmer ("At last! A bride for Lugo."). #9 has The Gorilla, to create which a scientist transplants his assistant's brain into a gorilla, and The Blackbird, who builds an advanced plane and dresses like a superhero. Of greater interest is Bronze Man, created by African-American artist Alvin Hollingsworth. War ace Randy Robinson's face was disfigured beyond recognition during the war; in the strip we never have a clear view of civilian Randy's face, but when Bronze Man (who can fly and is very strong) appears we are told he wears a bronze face mask, though his features seem normal. Hollingsworth intended Randy to be African-American, but he ended up white (see Race in SF). He appears in #42 and #44.

The publishers Holyoke acquired the rights to Blue Beetle in 1942, publishing 19 issues (#12-#30, with #20-#22 retitled The New Blue Beetle Comic), before Fox won the rights back in a lawsuit and resumed publication. During the Holyoke run Blue Beetle briefly acquired a sidekick – introduced in #14 as Sparky, called Spunky from #18, but after #19 barely appearing. Villains include The Eye (who turns people into psychopaths); a Vampire; Kreal. "master of the machine age" (who turns out to be a fake); an evil scientist who invents a means of Time Travel and a well-meaning scientist who believes a truth gas will end all wars, and tests it on a city – chaos follows.

Of the other strips, V-Man appeared in a few issues; he appears to have no superpowers. There are also some one-offs: Black Fury (see Fantastic Comics); Rod Ripley, Wizard of Science, whose story involves him meeting the goddess Isis (see Ancient Egypt); Tamaa, Jungle Prince, a Tarzan rip-off; and Deep-Sea Dawson, a sea diver who finds a Lost World in a deep sea cavern. The other strips were non-genre (often World War Two centred) or Fantasy. In one of the latter stories in #24, a Swami builds a working Time Machine which is Technology rather than Magic, though when he asks Ali Baba (of Forty Thieves fame) to test it he warns him to be back by midnight, otherwise it will turn into a pumpkin.

Neither iteration of Blue Beetle was particularly memorable, though both have their moments (but not too many); the artwork is sometimes poor. Charlton Comics later revived Blue Beetle and the comic: in 1955 (4 issues, numbered #18-#21, mainly consisting of reprints) and – with a new origin story – in 1964-1965 (10 issues, #1-#5, #50-54). The character was then revamped by Steve Ditko: see Captain Atom for details. [SP]

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