Super-Team Family Sunday #12

Welcome to another Super-Team Family Sunday!

There've been more Iron Man suits than I can count, and even an Iron-Spider...so why not and Iron-Beetle? I think the colors work great with Jaime's costume...another awesome mash-up from Ross Pearsall! Take a minute to check out  his blog, Super Team Family: The Lost Issues for tons more amazing comic mash-ups!

Vintage Blue Beetle Advertising #6

Blue Beetle on "Arrow"?

News broke last week that the folks behind the scenes of the CW series "Arrow" were casting some new characters. Although one description sounded very familiar, I hesitated...then I saw it pop up on another site, then another. There's still no actor cast in the role yet, but could this mean after two seasons of name drop teases we'll finally see Ted Kord and/or the Blue Beetle on "Arrow"?

The description in question was as follows...

‘DANIEL’ | Though Daniel could be a fake name to throw off spoilerholics, this 20something gent — a major recurring character for Season 3 — is a handsome, enigmatic and highly intelligent entrepreneur developing groundbreaking technology. (Picture a business magnate in Ryan Gosling’s body.) Though exuding charm and confidence in public, he privately harbors a tragic past that will drive him to become a tech-powered superhero. Watch for this formidable fella to be a love interest for Felicity and a rival of Oliver’s – both personally and professionally.

Now...that sure sounds like Ted Kord to me! And, we all know that two previous Blue Beetles were named "Daniel". Dan Garret the golden age police officer turned crime fighter, and Dan Garrett the silver age archaeologist turned super hero. As TVLine (the source of the description) pointed out...that name could be a fake, a red herring to throw everyone off. I wonder if maybe by choosing the name of a past identity its a little wink, wink, nudge, nudge to those of us "in the know". 

In any case aside from Alex "Bill S. Preston Esq." Winter's test footage of Jaime Reyes' transformation in 2010, and Ted Kord and Jaime appearing on "Smallville" in 2011 there has been far too little of our favorite blue bug in live action...and I for one am I excited to see where this goes!

Text Tuesday: "The Blue Beetle's Quiet Night"

From Fox's "Blue Beetle" #3, here's "The Blue Beetle's Quiet Night"

Showcase '94 #3

Last month, inspired by our friends at the Fire and Water Podcast's coverage of Aquaman and Firestorm back-up stories, we looked at part 1 of a 3 part story from "Showcase '94". (If you missed part 1 click here) Today we take a look at "Caged City, Chapter Two: A Bug In The System" written by Brian Augustyn, with pencils by Patrick Rolo and inks by Dick Giordano. 

Last issue left Ted, who'd traveled to the city of Freemont investigating the use of one of his patents, surrounded by cops in his hotel room. When this issue opens he's been hauled downtown and put in front of the man in charge, a guy named Kurtz. Kurtz makes it clear he doesn't want heroes in his town.

Kurtz ominously tells his men to "Take the insect away!" and put him in a cell. As they lead him down into their prison though Ted sees an opportunity. The BUG isn't the only piece of Kord technology in this town. The cops are carrying versions of his old BB gun. He makes his move, snatches a gun from one of the cops, blasts them with the strobe then knocks them down with the compressed air blast! Before he gets too far though reinforcements arrive...and they're carrying someone else's tech...light sabers! Well...actually, electrified billy clubs! 

Another wave of cops is closing in, but never count Blue Beetle out! Ted gets his hands on one of the clubs and shorts out the lights. See? Ted's a smart guy. 

Kurtz declares Blue Beetle a criminal and orders his men to recapture him immediately! He's not letting anyone interfere with his plans. Ted meanwhile uses the darkness and chaos to slip into the ventilation system looking for a way out. He finds it too when he reaches a hanger full of BUGs! Once he's in the pilots seat, he figures he'll get out, notify the real cops and help take down Kurtz and his psychos. It doesn't look good though when Kurtz's men follow in the remaining BUGs, and launch a missile aimed to blow Ted out of the sky!

This was another fast paced thrill ride, with a cliffhanger worthy of the old movie serials! Will Ted survive? Will the psychotic Kurtz be removed from power? Join us next month for the thrilling conclusion!

Super Powers Blue Beetle!

Check out this brilliant Super Powers homage, by Phil Postma, featuring our favorite bug, Blue Beetle battling Chronos!

Thanks to Shag over at FirestormFan for bringing this to my attention! Click here to check out more of Phil's truly awesome Super Powers inspired art!

http://www.ccdblog.com/2013/03/super-powers-by-phil-postma-part-1.html

http://www.ccdblog.com/2013/03/super-powers-by-phil-postma-2.html

Teaser Tuesday #35

Blue Beetle #2 (Fox) Part 1

When I ran the origin story from Fox's "Blue Beetle #1" I pointed out that the cover promised "64 Pages In Full Color", but only contained a 13 page story and was padded with "Mystery Men" reprints and a "Yarko the Great" story...well issue #2 makes up for it with a whopping 8 stories and a short text piece! 

So I've decided to break this up into a few posts over the next couple months. For now, enjoy the first 2 stories from 1940's "Blue Beetle" #2!

(click the pages to enlarge)

Futures End Team-up

Looking for a Teaser Tuesday or What the Kaji Dha Wednesday post? Sorry Beetlemaniacs, I was called away on an urgent mission...a team-up with FirestormFan to bring you some New52 Futures End coverage!

Check it out! http://firestormfan.com/2014/06/11/futures-end-00-03/

That gag never gets old...

...and Ted's reactions are what really makes it work!

The original is from 1987's "Justice League" #5, by the awesome team of Giffen, DeMatteis, and Maguire!

From 1992's "Green Lantern" #25, written by Gerard Jones with art by Tim Hamilton & Gary Yap, guest starring the Justice League...

And this great bit of fan art by Eric Stettmeier...

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! If you know of anymore...PLEASE...send them my way! kordindustries2013@gmail.com

What the Kaji Dha happened to Saturday morning TV? Part 1

What the Kaji Dha happened to Saturday Morning TV? I'm not sure why this popped into my head, but I have a feeling this will be the first of a few Saturday Morning themed "What the..." Wednesday posts.

I've been thinking a lot lately about my childhood. I've watched re-runs of TV shows, hunted down movies I liked and toys I played with on eBay, and generally been overcome with a wave of nostalgia. The thing is...it's not always accurate. Not in the way that you remember it better than it actually was (thought that does happen periodically), but that it's the wrong time frame! I blame, and love, syndication and cable TV for that!

See I love TV in general, I grew up mostly watching shows from the 80's but thanks to TVLand, Nick at Night, Cartoon Network, and the recommendations of my mom and grandparents I grew up very familiar with TV from the 50's, 60's and 70's too. Most of my focus was on cartoons, after all I was a kid.* I poured over a book from the public library that chronicled Saturday morning television. I impressed (I think) my friends with my vast knowledge of studios (Hanna Barbera, Filmation, Ruby-Spears and Warner Bros.) and voice actors (Mel Blanc, Daws Butler, Don Messick, June Foray...). I doodled and sketched and painted cartoon characters on any and every surface I could...heck I even had a sketch I did of the Funky Phantom tattooed on my arm...much later in life, of course.

Like any kid I struggled to get up on time for school Monday through Friday, but Saturday morning I was up at the crack of dawn, with a big bowl of Cap'n Crunch, planted in front of the TV waiting to see what kind of magic was in store. This is where things get fuzzy though...where the wrong time comes in...so forgive me if my decades blur, or as a Doctor Who fan might say...it gets wibbly wobbly timey wimey! I loved shows like "H.R. Pufnstuf", "Electra Woman and Dyna Girl" and other Sid & Marty Krofft classics! The previously mentioned "Funky Phantom" (one of Hanna Barbera's many attempts to build on the success of mystery solving teens like "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?") left its mark in more ways than one! I watched "The Banana Splits Show" and know all the words to the song! (though that could be in part due to the cover version by punk rockers The Dickies, or the Liz Phair version from the 90's CD "Saturday Morning: Cartoon's Greatest Hits"). "Challenge of the Super Friends" was a staple of my viewing menu, as were "Flintstones", "Laff-A-Lympics", "Wacky Races", "Space Ghost", "The Tick" and yes, even "The Smurfs".

As bad as they usually were, I loved shows based on TV and movies too, like "Fonz & The Happy Days Gang", "Gilligan's Planet", "Beetlejuice", "Mr. T & the T-Force" and two shows about Ghostbusters. I liked both of them for different reasons; the "Real Ghostbusters" because of it's ties to the awesome 80's film, and "Filmation's GhostBusters" for its quirkiness. A fun bit of trivia...that Filmation cartoon was actually based on a 1975 live-action series of the same name starring "F-Troop" alumni Forrest Tucker and Larry Storch...and when I found that out I went on the hunt to find some episodes...they fall into the "so bad they're good" category.

One of my favorite things though, were the pre-season specials! Does anyone else remember them? It was usually late August or early September and there'd be a prime time special, hosted by some sitcom star and/or child actor, where they'd announce the "new" Saturday morning line-up...new shows, returning favorites...it was pure visual candy, low on substance, high on sugar! 

What happened to it though? I remember growing up Saturday morning TV filled several hours! I know I'd be up at 7:00-7:30am and would watch straight through till at least 11:00am (that's when the programming shifted toward educational game shows or kids news/entertainment in my area). Now, looking at my local line-up it's mostly weekend versions of weekday news shows. The CW has a couple hours of programming but its mostly imported Japanese animation like "Digimon", "Dragonball", and "Yugi-Oh"...sure there's Cartoon Network and Disney Channel...but it's not the same...is it?

What do you think? Any favorite shows, Saturday morning memories, you want to share? 


*Who am I kidding...I still watch cartoons to this day!