Blue Beetle (comic book)

Blue Beetle (comic book)
Blue Beetle #4 (October 1940). Cover artist unknown, possibly Edd Ashe.
Publication information
Publisher	Fox Feature Syndicate Charlton Comics DC Comics
Schedule	Vol. 1: Bi-monthly #1–13, #41–44 Monthly #14–36, #45–60 Quarterly #37–40 Vols. 2, 5–9: Monthly Vol. 3: Monthly #1–4 Bi-monthly #5 Vol. 4: Monthly #1–53 Bi-monthly #54
Format	All Standard U.S., 4 color. When published, ongoing.
Genre	Superhero
Publication date	Vol. 1: December 1939 – August 1950 Vol. 2: February – August 1955 Vol. 3: June 1964 – March/April 1965 Vol. 4: July 1965 – February/March 1966 Vol. 5: June 1967 – November 1968 Vol. 6: June 1986 – May 1988 Vol. 7: May 2006 – February 2009 Vol. 8: September 2011 – January 2013 Vol. 9: September 2016 – February 2018 Vol. 10: September 2023 -
Number of issues	Vol. 1: 59 (numbered 1–42; 44–60) Vol. 2: 4 (numbered 18–21) Vol. 3: 5 Vol. 4: 5 (numbered 50–54) Vol. 5: 5 Vol. 6: 24 Vol. 7: 36 Vol. 8: 17 (numbered 1–12; 0; 13–16) Vol. 9: 19 (Includes a DC Rebirth one-shot)
Main character(s)	Vols. 1–2: Dan Garret Vols. 3–4: Dan Garrett Vols. 5–6: Ted Kord Vols. 7–10: Jaime Reyes

Blue Beetle is a long running comic book series that was first published by Fox Feature Syndicate before being a Charlton Comics title and currently a DC Comics title. The series starred certain characters with the same name.

Fox Feature Syndicate and Holyoke Publishing

The original Blue Beetle comic first appeared in Winter 1940 by Fox Feature Syndicate and Holyoke Publishing. It starred the original Blue Beetle named Dan Garret who first appeared in Mystery Men Comics anthology comic book series. He was depicted as a police officer who secretly dons a superhero costume to thwart crime. The series was the second featured title of a superhero in American comic book magazines after Superman having his own series. The volume series lasted until August 1950 with issue #60 when the company of Fox Feature Syndicate collapsed.

The character was revised and reprinted briefly by Charlton Comics with issues #18-#20.

Charlton Comics

In 1964, Charlton modernized the Blue Beetle title. Garret got a new spelling for his last name, "Garrett", and a new profession: instead of being a policeman, he was an archeologist who discovered an ancient mystical scarab which gave him multiple superpowers. The series lasted five issues through March–April 1965. The Dan Garrett version would briefly be revised again in July 1965 throughout February–March 1966, lasting another five issues.

After the popularity of Charlton's new Blue Beetle named Ted Kord that was introduced in the back up feature of Captain Atom solo series in issue #83. Ted had his own series by Charlton which also lasted five issues between June 1967 and November 1968.

DC Comics

DC Comics acquired Charlton in the mid-1980s. They then revised Ted Kord with collaboration from Len Wein and Paris Cullins that lasted until issue #24 in May 1988.

After the death of Ted Kord, a new Blue Beetle was introduced named Jaime Reyes in Infinite Crisis #3. His own solo series began in issue #1 and ended in issue #36 in February 2009.

After The New 52 was launched, a new series starring Jaime Reyes was introduced. It launched in November 2011 and ended in March 2013.

DC Comics once again relaunched its titles with DC Rebirth and featured Reyes in his new series that lasted in April 2018.

A new ongoing series was launched in September 2023 as a part of the Dawn of DC initiative.

Collected editions

Vol. #	Title	Collected material	Pages	Year	ISBN
1	Shellshocked	Blue Beetle vol. 7, #1–6	144	2006	978-1-4012-0965-0
2	Road Trip	Blue Beetle vol. 7, #7–12		2007	978-1-4012-1361-9
3	Reach for the Stars	Blue Beetle vol. 7, #13–19	168	2008	978-1-4012-1642-9
4	End Game	Blue Beetle vol. 7, #20–26	176	2008	978-1-4012-1952-9
5	Boundaries	Blue Beetle vol. 7, #29–34	144	2009	978-1-4012-2162-1
6	Black and Blue	Blue Beetle vol. 7, #27–28, #35–36 Booster Gold vol. 2, #21–25, #28–29	168	2010	978-1-4012-2897-2
The New 52
1	Metamorphosis	Blue Beetle vol. 8, #1–6	144	November 20, 2012	978-1401237134
2	Blue Diamond	Blue Beetle vol. 8, #0, 7–16 Green Lantern: New Guardians #9	240	April 30, 2013	978-1401238506
DC Rebirth
1	The More Things Change	Blue Beetle: Rebirth #1 Blue Beetle vol. 9 #1–5	144	May 16, 2017	978-1401268688
2	Hard Choices	Blue Beetle vol. 10 #6–12	168	January 2, 2018	978-1401275075
3	Road to Nowhere	Blue Beetle vol. 9 #13–18	144	July 17, 2018	978-1401280833