Broken Frontier

As the Blackest Night spreads across the DC Universe, Broken Frontier unearths the histories of several of the players in the event.

SPOILER WARNING: Read no further if you’ve not had the chance to dig into your most recent Blackest Night titles…

Ted Kord was the second man to bear the name “Blue Beetle,” making his first appearances in a series of back-up features in Charlton Comics’ Captain Atom #83-86 (November 1966-June 1967).  Created by Steve Ditko, Ted came on the heels of Charlton’s re-imagining of the old Fox Comics character, Dan Garrett (from 1964).  A non-powered superhero, Ted remained without an origin until the second issue of his own series.  In Blue Beetle #2 (August 1967), Ted was linked to the Golden Age Blue Beetle, explaining that he had been a student of Dan Garrett’s.  Investigating Ted’s uncle, Garrett uncovered that Jarvis Kord created an army of androids to take over the planet.  Despite his efforts, Garrett was unable to stop Jarvis, and with his dying breath passed the legacy of the Blue Beetle on to Ted.  Although Ted was unable to tap into the mystical power of Dan’s Blue Beetle scarab, he was able to defeat his uncle and begin carving out his own heroic legacy.

After his first year in existence, it looked as if Ted Kord would be little more than a historical footnote.  Charlton’s Blue Beetle series wrapped after only 5 issues (Blue Beetle #5, November 1968), with Ted popping up in books such Charlton Bullseye #1 (June 1981) and AC Comics’ Americomics (issue #3 and Special #1, both August 1983).  Although AC Comics’ intended to build a team book around the Charlton heroes (including Captain Atom, the Question and Nightshade, as well as Blue Beetle), their plans were scuttled when DC Comics purchased the rights to the characters.

Although they did not play a large role in the event, the Charlton “Action Heroes” made their DC Comics debut in the pages of Crisis on Infinite Earths (April 1985-March 1986), with the Blue Beetle serving as the representative from the newly designated “Earth-4.”  Following a soft revision of his and Dan Garrett’s chronologies in the pages of Secret Origins #2 (May 1986), Ted was launched into a new ongoing series (Blue Beetle #1, June 1986).  Not long after touching on a dangling subplot (in Blue Beetle #14-15, July-August 1987) involving the last of Jarvis Kord’s androids first hinted at 20 years earlier Charlton’s Blue Beetle #2 (August 1967), Dan Garrett made a brief return (Blue Beetle #18, November 1987), reanimated by the scarab to kill Ted Kord. 

Although Blue Beetle was ultimately cancelled following issue #24 (May 1988), Ted had found a second home, as a cast member of Justice League (beginning in Legends #6, April 1987).  In the tongue-in-cheek pages of Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire’s Justice League (May 1987, later as Justice League International with #7, November 1987), Ted took on a lighthearted tone.  Often paired with Booster Gold, the duo known as “The Blue and Gold” became known for their “get rich quick schemes” as much as their superheroics.  Over the course of the next five years, Blue Beetle and Booster Gold remained mainstays of the Justice League titles, arguably creating the most beloved run for the third-tier heroic duo.  With the conclusion of the “Breakdowns” arc (Justice League America #60, March 1992), the swansong for the Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire era, the book made a transition to a more traditional superheroic title, although Blue Beetle remained a cast member. 

Following Justice League America #69 (December 1992, a crossover with the “Death of Superman” arc), Blue Beetle was left in a coma thanks to the killer known as Doomsday.  When he returned to active duty, Ted was reunited with two of his former comrades – Captain Atom and Booster Gold – as part of the Justice League spin-off title, Extreme Justice.  Conceived as a darker, more-proactive version of the Justice League, Extreme Justice had a short run (January 1995 - July 1996), before folding after issue #18.  Ted floated around several company-wide crossovers for a few years, prior to a short run as part of L.A.W. (Living Assault Weapons – a team, and 1999’s 6-issue series that reunited several of the old Charlton Action Heroes). 

After a brief retirement, Ted resurfaced in Birds of Prey (beginning with issue #19, July 2000), first as a romantic interest for Barbara Gordon, and later as an ally to the team.  In 2003/2004, Ted was part of the 6-issue mini-series Formerly Known as the Justice League.  Guided by the re-united creative team of Giffen, DeMatteis and Maguire, the book returned Blue Beetle (along with Booster Gold and a mix of familiar and newer faces) to the lighthearted era.  This group, now known as “The Super Buddies,” made an encore appearance in the “I Can’t Believe It’s Not the Justice League” arc in JLA: Classified (#4-9, April-September 2005), although other events occurring in the DC Universe somewhat soured fans' taste for the title.

Blue Beetle took a staring role in the much-hyped, extremely secret Countdown to Infinite Crisis (the one-shot special was originally solicited just as “Countdown,” so as to keep the sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths secret until days before the book as released).  The book (April 2005) detailed Ted Kord’s efforts to uncover a mysterious conspiracy group that seemed to have links to every hero in the DC Universe.  Ultimately Ted discovered the mastermind behind the scheme – one Maxwell Lord, the founder of the Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire era Justice League.  Revealing that the comedic buffoonery of that League was part of a scheme to keep the Justice League ineffectual, Lord went on to explain that he knew the dual identity of every superhero and planned to put control of the Earth back in the hands of ordinary humans.  Lord gave Kord the opportunity to join him in his campaign, but Kord rejected him.  Bound and held, Kord could only defiantly meet his captor’s gaze as he was fatally shot in the head.

Ted made a brief return in the pages of Booster Gold #6-10 (March-August 2008), when Booster Gold, a time-displaced Dan Garrett, Jaime Reyes (Ted’s successor as Blue Beetle) and the mysterious Black Beetle traveled back in time and prevented Maxwell Lord from murdering Ted.  As a result, history was altered, creating a dystopian world where Booster and Beetle allied with their former Justice League allies to overthrow Lord’s rule.  When the Black Beetle was revealed to be part of a nefarious group of time-travelers, Ted came to the realization that there is only one way to prevent their victory.  Stealing a time machine, Ted returned to the past, to ensure he died at the hands of Maxwell Lord. 

Following Ted’s heroic sacrifice, a mysterious shadowy figure was seen at the site of one of Ted’s old buildings, using the hero’s distinctive “Bwa-ha-ha” laugh.

Despite this tease at a happy ending for Ted, a Black Lantern Blue Beetle has risen, with Booster Gold set firmly in his sights…