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Happy Birthday, Blue Beetle: Today Is The 75th Anniversary Of His First Appearance In Mystery Men Comics #1

Published Sun, 15 Jun 2014 09:00:45 -0500

Last updated Sun, 15 Jun 2014 09:23:53 -0500

75 years ago today, on June 15, 1939 according to the Library of Congress Copyright Office's date of publication records, Mystery Men Comics #1 hit the newsstands. It's the first appearance of the original Blue Beetle, drawn by Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski, perhaps from a script by Will Eisner, and published by Fox Features Syndicate. The character was likely created by Wojtkoski.

The character evolved quickly in the early months of Mystery Men Comics. He was originally named Dan Garret, just a man in a mask, suit and hat, with a Blue Beetle symbol on his shirt — and was not even the cover-feature for awhile there (that's actually the Green Mask on that #1 cover). He had his first full-on Blue Beetle costume by issue #2, which would continue to evolve over the next few issues. He got his first cover on Mystery Men Comics #7, and had his own series a few weeks after that.

Blue Beetle eventually ended up at comic publisher Charlton, who revamped him for the Silver Age. Charlton then introduced the Ted Kord version of the character in a Captain Atom #83 back-up story by Gary Friedrich and Steve Ditko in 1966. DC Comics acquired the character along with the Charlton line in 1983.