When comic companies purchase characters from previous owners and integrate them with their universe, it can be a bit jarring for the reader and might take awhile before the new acquisitions really seem to fit in to their new environment. That was not the case with Blue Beetle. After his introduction to the DCU in Crisis on Infinite Earths with the rest of the Charlton comic characters, Ted Kord seemed to be right at home to me. I liked his inclusion with the JLA and of course his friendship with Booster Gold worked so well it was like it was destined to be. I really wish he had made a return in the New 52, even if only as a mentor type to the New Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes. Reyes just had his second Blue Beetle series cancelled - perhaps it would have fared better if it had featured Ted Kord as well?
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It sure might have helped, especially as far as generating some degree of goodwill with the old(er)fans that have been driven away by the reboot.
I think Ted and the other Charlton Comic characters, as well as the Quality Comic ones, seemed to have an easier and more believable integration with the DCU, as opposed to the Wildstorm characters. And besides some of the WS characters being riffs off their already established DC counterparts, the Charlton and Quality characters just looked a more natural fit. Oh and the writing helped tremendously as well.
Stupid reboot:(
Oh and nice cover. who drew Cap in this one?
Frank Miller from the cover of Captain America Annual #5.
I liked Blue Beetle, but I was a bigger fan of The Question. Aside from those two, the other Charlton acquisitions didn't leave much of an impression (who were the others????)
The other Charlton characters were Peacemaker, Captain Atom, Peter Cannon (Thunderbolt), Nightshade, Sarge Steel and a bunch of others. E-Man wasn't part of it because somebody (I think Nicola Cuti?) cherry-picked him, Mike Mauser, Nova Kane and their cast members in a separate deal before the DC acquisition. I don't what the status is of Judo Master or the various horror hosts from the seventies. I thought I saw Judo Master in one of those "Cast-of-a-thousand" two page spreads during the last seven years of perpetual Crisis reboots.
I fell in love with the Ted Kord Blue Beetle right before they killed him off. Same with the Question. Those were brutal times to try getting back into DC Comics.
--J/Metro
As much as I love Ted Kord, I'd really rather he had stayed dead after the 52 series, and only come back in flashbacks, time-travel stories, and maybe alternate worlds. But then again I'm a legacy-minded fan and writer; let the mantle of a hero's title pass from each generation to the next, and tell new stories under a new name.
Captain America is a slightly different story. There were a few "substitute" caps, but the Super-Soldier formula can keep him young for a very long time (I think just such a thing was determined in Marvel 1612). With his roots in the 1940s, Steve Rogers can be a continual grounding force in the Marvel Universe, reminding both the audience and other characters about where we come from and what all this stands for.
As for the cover itself: This is a very nice job. I'd bet on Steve being the one to return -- though the cover says nothing about either of them dying! (I'd bet that Ted becomes trapped at the bottom, lends Steve some gadget to save the day, and then is freed after the villain is dealt with.)
That's close to what I had in mind, Bob... Beetles Bug is hovering just out of sight in my mind's eye.
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