It's Teaser Tuesday #4

Aargh, it's me Blue Beetle Booty!

Well Beetlemaniacs I am back from vacation, and settling back into my regular routines. Before I leave MegaCon behind (until next year) I thought I'd share one more post tied to the convention...my booty! My loot! (Pirates reference...I also visited Disney World)

I picked up action figures of both the Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle First Appearance Stealth Variant (that's a mouthful!) and Black Lantern Ted Kord/Blue Beetle. A Blue Beetle t-shirt and a DC Archives: Action Heroes Vol. 2 (collecting some of the Charlton Blue Beetle adventures). Last but not least I got this cool sketch cover from the awesome Steve Conley! "Bloop" is Steve's creation, a little green space monkey...this sketch was my suggestion..."Bloop Beetle"...and it's great! Check out Steve's stuff at bloopstree.com

 

See you next week!

Follow me on Twitter @KordIndustries1

Like me on Facebook at Kord Industries

Email me at kordindustries2013@gmail.com

MegaCon 2013 Day 3

And so, MegaCon weekend is at its end. The public is gone, the dealers are hurrying to pack, making like shepherds trying to get the flock out, and I close out the weekend with cosplay from day 3.

As we walked in I spotted Green Lanter Batman, and from there saw some very cool/unique ballerinas C3-PO, Vader and Leia, Speed Racer, Deadman, Sinestro and John Stewart, Scarlet Spider, Alisha from "Misfits", Mr. Harrow from "Boardwalk Empire", Ragdoll, and a little Blue Beetle...awww!

That's a wrap folks! See you next week!

MegaCon 2013 Day 2

More cosplay from the con today! Day 2 brought me exactly what I was looking for...a Ted Kord Blue Beetle!

I also spotted 2 different Aquamen, a Tempest, the Lone Ranger, Green Arrow and the Creeper, Superman, Jesse Quick and Reverse Flash, Blackest Night Wonder Woman, a New 52 Joker, the Arkham gang, Fire, Star Saphire and Ice, Solomon Grundy, zombie Star Wars characters, and Jack Skellington!

Not bad, and so many more I missed...here's hoping for more fun tomorrow!

MegaCon 2013 Day 1

Day one (friday) of MegaCon 2013 is down...two days to go. I didnt see too much cosplay, and what i did was more anime than comics...but i did get a few pics for the blog. Sadly no Blue Beetles. There's always today and tomorrow...and I will give you two more blog posts of whatever I manage to spot!

Here's the Tick (never seen this done before), Young Justice Aqualad (another first for me), Lady Bane (gender swaps are usually cool), Green Arrow and Speedy, Daenerys from "Game of Thrones", and Daphne, Fred and Velma from "Scooby-Doo"...when i asked about Shag and Scoob, Fred said with a wink, "They're out in the van...eating, uh, Scooby Snacks, if you know what I mean."

What the Kaji Dha Wednesday!

Well, Beetle-maniacs, I'm heading to Mega-Con in Orlando, Florida this weekend. I'm going to do something a little different with the post this weekend...I'll be posting cosplay pics! Hopefully we'll get some good Blue Beetles in the mix...like this gender swapped pair from last year's Baltimore Comic-Con...

“Out From The Ashes”

My 30 day wait was over! I walked into the comic store, headed right to the “New This Week” wall, and there it was... the “Fabulous 1^st Issue” of ”Blue Beetle”! Written by the great Len Wein with art by Paris Cullins (pencils) and Bruce Patterson (inks) the issue hits the ground running and doesn’t stop. While cruising the skies above Chicago in his “BUG” Ted swings, literally, into action to assist the fire department with a townhouse fire. Though we’re not given a clear timeline, it would seem that Ted’s been at this hero stuff for quite a while. One of the firemen comments after seeing the BUG in the sky, “Oh geez, not him…I thought he’d retired!” Retired?! Does he think Dan and Ted are one and the same? Did I miss something? Is this DC’s way of acknowledging Ted’s activity before they picked up the character?* But I digress…oh look, there’s still a building burning down. It’s no accidental fire though, it’s arson, and the culprit is still on the scene. We’re introduced to Firefist, the Incendiary Man!** Ted mistakes Firefist for a fireman in trouble and tries to rescue him, which leads to a short scuffle. But when Ted finds himself distracted by cries for help, Firefist takes his chance to make a quick getaway. After rescuing a real firefighter, Ted heads back to Kord Inc, but not before giving us a quick recap of the origin we read 30 days ago in “Secret Origins”. We get quick intros for some supporting characters, receptionist Angie Revere, chemist Jeremiah Duncan, and Ted’s scientist girlfriend employee Melody Case, and then Ted heads off to a meeting at STAR Labs. Before he arrives though we get a peek at Pago Island, where a mysterious man named Conrad Carapax is determined to find whatever was on this “cursed island that was worth Dan Garrett’s life…” Wanna bet that becomes an important plot point down the road? Back at STAR Labs Ted catches up with fellow scientist and former college roommate Murray Takamoto, who’s hoping to get some assistance from Kord Inc with metal alloys. Too bad there’s a shifty looking janitor lurking in the background. Wanna bet that becomes an important plot point down the road too? Mid-meeting Ted gets “paged” (who remembers beepers?) and has to leave. The “page” is actually an alert that another fire has been reported, at a firehouse, and it’s time for Blue Beetle vs. Firefist: round two! Only this time, the Beetle finds himself trapped, pinned by the collapsing building with fire, and Firefist, getting closer! Talk about a cliffhanger ending!

Will Ted survive or will Firefist continue torching the city, one building at a time? Check back in 30 days when I cover issue #2! But don’t forget…I’ll be back next week with another blog. See you then!

Follow me on Twitter @KordIndustries1

Like me on Facebook at Kord Industries

Email me at kordindustries2013@gmail.com

*Ted Kord first appeared as the Blue Beetle in Charlton Comics “Captain Atom #83” in 1966, and had his own Charlton Comics title in 1967. He later appeared in AC Comics “Americomics” in 1983, before being acquired with the other Charlton heroes and incorporated into DC Comics continuity during “Crisis On Infinite Earths”

**Well, honestly, he just introduces himself as Firefist. Ted adds the “Incendiary Man” tag later when talking to the fire fighters on the scene.

It's Teaser Tuesday #3

“Dan Garrett: Archeologist or Dan Garret: Rookie Cop?”

So, before we get into Ted Kord's adventures I'd like to acknowledge the man who came before him…Dan Garrett, or more specifically Dan Garret (single “t”). As I mentioned before, my first encounter with Dan (or Ted for that matter) came in DC’s “Secret Origins”, and Dan was portrayed as a bit of an Indiana Jones style bad-ass. Imagine my surprise when, years later, I find out in his original appearance he had a very different career, though still managed to be pretty bad-ass. Dan was a cop!

“Mystery Men Comics”, published by Fox Feature Syndicate in 1939 introduced the world to Dan Garret…a rookie cop out to avenge his father’s murder! And the differences didn’t stop there! In his first few appearances he didn’t even wear blue spandex…nope, he wore a suit! A suit with a fedora and mask, and he left behind a calling card of a blue scarab. I know what you’re thinking…”Hey, that’s very similar to another color coded hero, the Green Hornet.” And you would be correct. The reason? Publisher and owner of Fox Feature Syndicate, Victor Fox himself. According to the book “The Blue Beetle Companion” by Christopher Irving, several artists and writers that worked for Fox have gone on the record saying the publisher was not shy about borrowing good ideas. He even found himself in court when he tried to make a buck with Wonder Man, a clone of Superman.

For your viewing pleasure here’s the first 4 page adventure of Dan Garret…The Blue Beetle, by Charles Nicholas*!

 

In no time though, Dan upgraded his costume. Thanks to his friend and pharmacist Dr. Franz, he slipped into something that offered a bit more protection, light-weight chain mail! The good doctor also prescribed the mysterious vitamin 2X that boosted Dan’s strength and stamina. By day Garret walked the beat with his partner, Officer Mike Mannigan, and by night he was the scourge of the underworld, the Blue Beetle. It’s this version of Dan Garret/Blue Beetle that appeared on the radio in 1940…but that’s a story for another post!

See you next week!

*”Charles Nicholas” is actually a pseudonym used by 3 creators while working on “Blue Beetle” at Fox Features Syndicate…Chuck Cuidera, Charles Wojtkoski, and Jack Kirby!