Costumers With A Cause

With cosplay as popular as it as, and Halloween fast approaching, I thought it was a good time to catch-up with one of our favorite Blue Beetles...the always cool, Rusty Winns! 

As you'll see below, there's more to Rusty than just Blue Beetle and cosplay at conventions...to a lot of kids, he's a real, honest to goodness hero!

(with George Perez, a combined effort of Heroes Alliance and Costumers With A Cause)

(Superman - Harrison Wayne, Nightcrawler - Rusty Winns, Spider-Man - TJ McDonald)

Kord Industries - When we spoke last year you mentioned your charity work with "Costumers With A Cause". Can you tell us how you got started with that? How long have you been doing it? Rusty Winns - Great question. The charity events are my favorite part of costuming. I was introduced to Costumers With A Cause by two of my best friends. Meg Murrderher and Jay Tallsquall. The first charity event I attended was an event called 1225. It was amazing. It was an opportunity for terminal children to meet Santa and their favorite Superhero. I was addicted from that day on.  

 

(Spider-Man - Rusty Winns, Breast Cancer Awareness/Pink Ribbon Events)

KI - Do the kids recognize the Ted Kord Blue Beetle, or do they expect the more recent Jaime Reyes incarnation? RW - I wish I could say they recognized Ted. Unless they have a Dad or Mom that is a Comic nerd, I just look like a Blue guy in spandex. Being that I am a Ted fan first and foremost I have not made a Jaime costume. I have a Spider-man costume that I tend to wear for Charity events. The kids always recognize and love to see the web-head.

 

(Spider-Man - Rusty Winns, at Nathaniel's Hope, an Orlando charity for special needs children)

KI - Which characters do or have you appeared as? RW - I tend to appear mostly as Spider-man. I have also used Green Lantern, NightCrawler and I even did Batman once. It did not turn out great as I tend to smile and have fun in costume. I was the smileiest Batman in history!

 

(Green Lantern - Rusty Winns at Seminole Cancer Walk, Aquaman - Rick Stanford, Thor - Ryan Frye, Superman - Jay Tallsquall, smiley Batman - Rusty Winns, Green Lantern - Robert Tissot at Charity Games)

KI - Any moments or experiences with this work that really stand out? RW - Each and every time I get a chance to brighten the spirit of a child, who is battling a rough situation, it lifts my heart. To see their faces when a beloved character from the comics or movies visits them is unexplainable. It is better than gold. I am so excited that you and your readers are interested in hearing more than just about a guy that dresses in a costume for ComicCons. The real joy is in charity and I encourage anyone that is interested in participating in a charity group to get in contact with Costumers with a Cause or the new group I am working with in North Carolina -Heroes Initiative. If you are a Star wars costumer, then I highly recommend the Rebel alliance or 501st

(Lightning Lad - Rusty Winns, Cosmic Boy - Jay Tallsquall, Superboy - Nick McFly)

Thanks Rusty!

So, what do you think Beetlemaniacs? Seems pretty heroic to me! At this point, I've only dressed up for Halloween (and once as Disney's Mad Hatter for a kids party)...but this has got me thinking, about cosplay...and about charity! 

Super-Team Family Sunday #11

Welcome to another Super-Team Family Sunday!

Of this teaming of Spidey and Ted Kord, Ross said..."I teamed Spider-Man with the Dan Garrett Blue Beetle before, but this is the pairing that I would really like to see. I still miss Ted Kord in the DCU, and I don't see any reason that he and Jaime Reyes can't operate at the same time. Of course, even Peter Parker has been killed off and replaced these days (in two separate universes, no less!), so Ted Kord is in good company. The clear difference is that we all know that Parker will be back one way or another by the time his next film is out, but Kord's fate seems a lot more permanent. Hopefully, he will have a chance to return sometime down the line."

Super-Team Family Sunday #7

Welcome to another Super-Team Family Sunday! Swinging into action this week...classic Spider-Man and Blue Beetle (that's Dan Garret, single "T"...the cop...yellow gloves give it away!)

 

"Never Fear, the Blue Beetle is here!!!"

 

Today, in honor of the upcoming April Fool’s Day, we take a short weird trip down Memory Lane, or Sidetrack Street as some may know it. Yes, today we talk briefly about the PBS show “The Electric Company” and it’s role in Blue Beetle’s history. “The Electric Company” was a PBS kid’s show that ran from 1971-1977, and then thru the mid-80’s in reruns, similar in some ways to “Sesame Street” but aimed at slightly older kids. And what it lacked in memorable puppets, it made up for in talent. Among the regulars were Mel Brooks (“Blazing Saddles”, “Young Frankenstein“), Rita Moreno (“Westside Story”, “Oz”), Morgan Freeman (“Shawshank Redemption”, “Se7en”), Bill Cosby (“FatAlbert”, Jell-O pudding), Spider-Man and the Blue Beetle. Wait, what? Yes, you read correctly, two comic book heroes appeared on the show... sort of. Now, that’s an oddity worth taking a quick look at.

The Blue Beetle (played by series regular Jim Boyd) was…well, he was a goof! In a costume that featured a mask, antennae, a t-shirt with his name printed on it, and sock garters. You read that right, sock garters! He tended to make matters worse instead of better, even when he had the best intentions.He also crossed paths with Spider-Man from time to time. The show’s Spider-Man (played by Danny Seagren) never spoke, instead he communicated with word balloons that appeared on screen so the audience could read them...after all this was an educational PBS show. Let me clarify, though, this was a version of a Beetle, not “the” Beetle. There doesn’t seem to be any evidence aside from his name, and blue costume, that this Beetle has anything to do with our hero…thank Kaji Dha!

 

 

Just to prove this isn't an April Fool's prank, here's a clip for the curious… click me

Just think, with a little effort (and a better costume) this could have been a first! A live-action intercompany Marvel/Charlton* crossover…but it wasn’t. Still, like I said it was an oddity worth taking a quick look at.

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See you next week!

 

*I say Charlton because DC hadn't yet begun publishing their version of BB at this point