Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, DC Comics, Movies, Warner Bros | Tagged: blue beetle, IMAX, jaime reyes

Comic Creators Who Got Credit, and Who Didn't, in Blue Beetle Movie

The Special Thanks section at the very end of Blue Beetle is a bit of a mess, with three major inconsistencies. Hopefully they will fix it.

Just got back from seeing Blue Beetle at the BFI IMAX in London Waterloo, with my youngest. When you want to go big, you go big. I managed to get a shot of the comic book creator credits in the "Special Thanks! just before the post-credit scene (and yes, there is one, and it is fun, if not essential. The mid-credits scene is much more important.) And yes, it's a fun film, stolen mostly by Adriana Barraza as Jaime Reyes, the new Blue Beetle's grandmother. I want another origin movie just for her. There's plenty for the Ditko/Giffen Blue Beetle fans. And by giving the whole thing a class warfare undercurrent, rather than the usual superhero middle-class angst, makes for a far more exciting movie. But you don't come to be for superhero movie critique, you want to know about the creator credits or special thanks in the movie, calling out the original creators of the characters filling the screen. There are no comic book creator names at the top of the film, just the usual "based on characters created by DC". The Special Thanks section at the very end is a bit of a mess, with three major inconsistencies, where one part of a creative team is mentioned, and the other is not…

• Keith Giffen, co-creator of the Jaime Reyes in Blue Beetle #1 in 2006.
• Cully Hamner, co-creator of the Jaime Reyes in Blue Beetle #1 in 2006.
• John Rogers, co-creator of the Jaime Reyes in Blue Beetle #1 in 2006.
• Paris Cullins, co-creator of Kord Industries, Carapax and Thomas Kord in Blue Beetle #1 in 1986.
• Dan DiDio, publisher of DC Comics when Jaime Reyes was introduced and essential for the character revamp in 2006.
• Steve Ditko, creator of the Ted Kord Blue Beetle, in Captain Atom #83 in 1966, though scripter Gary Friedrich is not credited.
• Will Eisner, is believed to be the scripter of the first Blue Beetle story as Dan Garret in Mystery Men #1 in 1939. However, artist and usually-credited co-creator of the original Blue Beetle, Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski is not named.
• Joe Gill, writer of Blue Beetle in 1964, as Dan Garrett, an archaeologist gaining superhuman powers from a mystical scarab. Artist Tony Tallarico was not credited.
• Jack Kirby, creator of O.M.A.C. the one-man army corps in OMAC #1 in 1974.
• Mike Norton, co-creator of Elena Leal, Jaime's grandmother, along with writer Jai Nitz, who is not credited, Blue Beetle #26, 2008.
• Len Wein, co-creator of Kord Industries, Carapax and Thomas Kord in Blue Beetle #1 in 1986.

Also not credited are Geoff Johns, Phil Jimenez and George Perez, of Infinite Crisis in which Jaime Reyes first appeared. The lack of mention of Wojtkoski may be the most controversial one. Will Eisner ran the studio with Jerry Iger (whose grand-nephew now runs Disney), that created the comic books and had stated that Charles Nicholas was just the name used by a number of artists on Blue Beetle. Charles Wotjkowski, the principal candidate, and identified artist, would later legally change his last name to Nicholas. Chuck Cuidera, the co-creator of Blackhawk, also claimed co-creatorship, and other candidates include Al Carreno. Maybe the new movie may bring a new focus to those clouded days of 1939?

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