The Blue Beetle

The Superhero The Blue Beetle has had a very long and popular career in comics (first appearance in August of 1939, Mystery Men #1) but enjoyed only a brief stay in radio.

But the shows are short and easy to get. So if you are up for a little "campy" fun (think the Batman TV show) you should check them out.

Certainly The Blue Beetle is a Superhero, but he's no world-beater like Superman.  Like The Green Hornet and The Shadow he uses his super-powers and gadgets to fight crime and solve mysteries.

In the Old Time Radio version, Dan Garrett is a rookie patrolman who, by wearing a costume of bulletproof blue chain mail, transformed himself into the crime fighting bug. In the best traditions of the Golden Age superheroes, Garrett used lots of great gadgets including the "BeetleMobile", the "BeetleBird" airplane, the "BeetleSignal" flashlight and a Batman-style utility belt (the "Beetle-belt", maybe?). In one episode he uses a super-scientific cutting device called the "Magic Ray Machine". He also followed the tradition of leaving a calling card to alert criminals to his presence -- a small beetle-shaped marker.


Frank Lovejoy, better remembered for his movie work and as the voice of Randy Stone in Nightbeat, played the lead for the first 13 episodes. In the rest of the shows the voice was provided by a different, uncredited actor.

The character been popular in comics since he was first introduced and has enjoyed a recent revival in DC Comics', The Blue Beetle, Vol. 7. This time around the Beetle's "special powers" (such as they are) belong to Jamie Reyes, a Hispanic teenager from El Paso, TX. The comic features the art of the amazing Cully Hamner (sample at left). Check it out.

A page of the complete history of the Beetle can be found here:

• The Blue Beetle History and Information

  
  (The page is mostly about his comic appearances - but has some great old pictures and a bit of radio info. Be warned -- the page is HUGE and takes forever to load. It also has a really, REALLY stupid website name. Oh well.)

• The Blue Beetle