Tuff, Cool, Fab, Gear! Tuesday!

When the Golden Age Blue Beetle revival in 1964 was euthanized, it was replaced with the Ted Kord version, which was the earliest time in comic book history that the rebooted character was actually an improvement on the original. And it's not just me:


Which is also a record that our parents used ridiculous, mis-spelled slang just like kids today do, so I'll try to keep that in mind the next time some stupid young 'un says, "It literally killed me. You feel me?"

While the Golden Age Blue Beetle seemed like a knock-off of Superman, the Silver Age version was kind of a cross between the gadgetry of Batman and the swashbuckling lightheartedness of Daredevil. He was also drawn by Steve Ditko, who had just come off of drawing the early Spider-Man issues, and you can tell:



Because with Steve Ditko, you always get a bunch of henchmen getting the snot beaten out of them by the title character. There are pages just like that one in almost every Ditko-drawn issue of Spider-Man. Why? Because we like seeing a bunch of henchmen getting the snot beaten out of them. We still like it in our comics today, and most video games rely heavily on that formula.

Equally awesome was the character of The Question, who was also drawn by Steve Ditko. How do we know? Thusly:


These pages actually appeared in the same issue, yet two different stories, of Blue Beetle #1. Never let it be said that Ditko tried to slip one past you. You were going to read a few pages involving groups of henchmen getting pummeled, and you were going to sit there and like it. If not, they might have brought back the Golden Age Blue Beetle, and believe me, you didn't want that!

And, because they were too awesome to be contained, both characters have been unceremoniously killed in the last few years. But both the CMNS Character Hall of Fame and the Costume Hall of Fame welcome ye, Ted Kord Blue Beetle and Vic Sage Question.

See you tomorrow!