Blitz and the Dynamite Formula
BLUE BEETLE #4
OCTOBER 1940
BY “CHARLES NICHOLAS”, PIERCE RICE AND LOUIS CAZANEUVE
Dan Garret must protect journalist Joan Mason, as she has information about an attempt to steal an invention.
Joan Mason is the new romantic interest for Blue Beetle. She is a reporter in a newspaper and she knows Dan Garret, but doesn’t suspect he is the Blue Beetle.
Yes, she is pretty much Lois Lane.
And that’s not all! We follow Dan for most of this story, instead of Blue Beetle. During this time, it was common to see Clark Kent discover all the plot devices of the Superman stories, and transforming into Superman when action was required. That is pretty much the same formula here.
Unlike Superman but, not that different than Hourman, Blue Beetle enhances himself by drinking a special “vitamin”. This explains why he is so strong.
And of course, his armor is not just bullet-proof... it bounces the bullets as well... like a regular Man of Steel.
It feels like Blue Beetle is having trouble finding himself. I am not that surprise considering that Fox Feature Syndicate was created to copy Superman. But this is too much. At some point the character has to settle down with whatever works best. Adding a romantic interest that is pretty much Lois Lane is just too much.
I give this story a score of 7