In DC Comics' 2011 "New 52" reboot, Jaime Reyes was the primary Blue Beetle character, only occasionally referring to past versions.
[1] A rookie police officer, he wore a special bulletproof costume and took "Vitamin 2X" which endowed him with super-energy, and he was assisted by a neighborhood pharmacist in his fight against crime.
[2] Reprinted stories from the original Blue Beetle series were initially published in Charlton's anthology comic Space Adventures #13-14 (Oct. 1954, Jan. 1955).
[3] One more original story starring the Golden Age incarnation of the character was published as a backup feature in Nature Boy #3 (Mar.
In 1964, Charlton Comics began publishing a new series of Blue Beetle[4] which substantially revamped the hero, reinventing him as a university professor and altering the spelling of his name to Dan Garrett.
1964) was a new origin story that depicted Dan Garrett coming into possession of a mystical Egyptian scarab that granted him superpowers and beginning his career as the Blue Beetle.
This Beetle received his own series in 1967, also by Ditko, which ran for five issues until the entire Charlton "Action Heroes" line of comic books ceased publication in 1968.
It revealed that the original 1940s Dan was reincarnated as the Silver Age version (minus his memories of his earlier existence) by some unspecified "gods", presumably the ones responsible for his mystic scarab.
The gods subsequently resurrected Dan again and sent him off to save Ted Kord's life (leaving him a note saying simply, "Try not to get killed this time").
A new Blue Beetle series starring Ted Kord began publication in 1986, integrating the hero into the DC Comics shared universe.
Depicted with a more comedic tone than in the Blue Beetle solo comic, Ted Kord became best friends with team-mate Booster Gold.
Following the event miniseries Zero Hour, both Blue Beetle and Booster Gold left the series and began starring in the new team title Extreme Justice, which ran for issues #0-18 (Jan. 1995-Jul.
In 2006, DC introduced a new Blue Beetle, teenager Jaime Reyes, whose powers are derived from the scarab, now revealed as a piece of advanced alien technology.
A new ongoing Blue Beetle series began publication in March 2006, initially written by Keith Giffen and John Rogers,[9] with artist Cully Hamner.
[14] Editor Dan DiDio put the cancellation down to poor sales and said that Blue Beetle was "a book that we started with very high expectations, but it lost its audience along the way".
[16] Following the cancellation of Jaime Reyes' solo series, the character was brought back to star in a backup feature in Booster Gold, once again written by Sturges.
2013); Jaime Reyes's story was then continued in the new title Threshold, written by Keith Giffen, which ultimately ran for eight issues (Mar.-Oct. 2013).
The 2016 publishing initiative DC Rebirth restored the history of Dan Garrett and Ted Kord as previous Blue Beetles.
The 2022-23 limited series Blue Beetle: Graduation Day, written by Josh Trujillo and illustrated by Adrián Gutiérrez, featured Jaime Reyes as the main character.
The original Golden Age Blue Beetle is Dan Garret,[20] son of a police officer killed by a criminal.
This Fox Feature Syndicate version of the character debuted in Mystery Men Comics #1 (August 1939), and began appearing in his own 60-issue series shortly thereafter.
This Beetle was archaeologist Dan Garrett, who obtained a number of superhuman powers (including super strength and vision, flight, and the ability to generate energy blasts) from a mystical scarab he found during a dig in Egypt, where it had been used to imprison an evil mummified Pharaoh.
This version, by writer Joe Gill and artist Tony Tallarico, was played at least initially for camp, with stories like "The Giant Mummy Who was Not Dead".
Subsequent appearances by Dan Garrett (in flashback stories) include guest spots or cameos in Infinity, Inc., Captain Atom, JLA: Year One, and Legends of the DC Universe.
The character briefly returned in DC Comics' first run of Blue Beetle,[25] resurrected by his mystical scarab to battle against his successor.
In issue #0 of the Project Superpowers miniseries, the Fox Feature Syndicate version of the Blue Beetle appeared in flashbacks (as by now the character/spelling "Dan Garret" was in the public domain).
Blue Beetle discovered a renewed Checkmate organization led by Maxwell Lord, with a database containing information on every metahuman on Earth.
Following DC's "Flashpoint" storyline Blue Beetle was one of 52 monthly titles launched in September 2011, again starring Jaime Reyes.
The Blue Beetle scarab, previously shown as an artifact of magic, is later retconned as a tool of war of the Reach, an ancient race of cosmic marauders.
After being defeated by the Guardians of the Universe thousands of years ago and forced into a truce, the Reach poses as benevolent aliens lending their advanced technology to budding civilizations.