Blue Beetle Companion
In one form or another, the Blue Beetle has been around virtually since the birth of the comic book, making up in longevity what he has lacked in prominence. Debuting in 1939 as a Green Hornet rip-off (he even had a short-lived radio show, like his model) published by various second-string companies, his first run lasted just beyond a decade. In the mid-1950s, Charlton Comics—the equivalent of movies' Poverty Row studios—briefly revived him; a decade later, artist Steve Ditko, fresh off his Spider Man stint, revamped him. When Charlton dropped its superheroes, the character moved to DC, where he found his natural métier as a comic-relief second-stringer. Recently that embodiment of him was killed off and replaced by a Hispanic teenager, apparently to diversify DC's stable of superheroes. This account of the Beetle's various incarnations is so detailed as to suggest that Irving has paid inordinate attention to an obscurity. Yet its exploration of the character's checkered history, and particularly of the operations of his shadier publishers, is a fascinating cruise in the comics industry's backwaters. Flagg, GordonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved