The New Blue Beetle

I was sifting through the new titles that DC is going to be releasing, and I saw the new Blue Beetle title by Keith Giffen. I have several thoughts on this new title. First, I wasn’t a big fan of Ted Kord’s death. Honestly, I thought he went out like a bitch. It struck me that his death was rather pointless and was just an excuse to kill off a C-list hero, replace him with a minority character using the old hero’s namesake. Similar to Firestorm.

I am definitely one of those people who strongly dislike killing an established hero just so the comic company can take that established name and hand it over to a minority character. If a comic company wants more minority heroes, then I think they should take the time and effort and create new heroes who happen to be minorities. I think it usually creates a much more interesting character than cheaply killing off an established white hero and replacing him with a minority hero using the same moniker as the dead hero.

Second, rarely are C-list heroes “re-invented” into anything cool. Usually, the remake is cheesy and doesn’t stand the test of time. Think when Fate replaced Dr. Fate. Horrible. Or when Azrael replaced Batman. Generally, “modern” remakes of a classic hero absolutely suck. I think that this new Blue Beetle is doomed to fail. I don’t see it being a big hit.

Third, if DC is trying to establish Blue Beetle as a serious hero that commands his own title, then I’m not too sure that Keith Giffen is the right guy for the job. He is the writer who made Ted Kord a total joke. I can’t believe that he is going to make this new Blue Beetle anything more than what he did with Ted Kord.

I really think DC should have just decided to make a brand new character and have him Hispanic rather than trash Ted Kord and give his moniker to a Hispanic character just to have more minority heroes. The motivation to create a new superhero should be based on the desire to create an interesting character with a good story to tell. It seems that the death of Ted Kord and the creation of a new Blue Beetle were done just to try and get another minority hero into the mix.