BLUE BEETLE, THE 67
During his visit to Raina’s family, he paints a mural in her bedroom of the couple sitting
in a tree, and they discuss its Edenic symbolism. A portrait of Jesus Christ hangs in
Raina’s room, among posters for the Ramones and Nirvana, and Craig looks to Jesus
for approval as he contends with the temptations of the fl esh. While he and Raina never
consummate their relationship, the confl ict between the idea of lust and nudity as sin-
ful and the idea of love as beautiful calls his belief system into question and embodies
for Craig the hypocrisy of his parents’ and his church’s teachings. Now that his life has
become more complex, his religion can no longer answer his questions satisfactorily.
Th ompson enriches Craig and Raina’s story with subplots and subtexts. For
example, one fl ashback depicts Craig and his brother’s molestation by a male babysit-
ter. Raina’s role in her family is particularly complex: her parents are separated, and she
mediates between them. Her older sister wants to escape from any responsibility, even
though she’s married and has a baby. Raina cares deeply for her two adopted siblings,
both of whom have special needs. In short, she keeps her own family from crumbling
apart. While the book is epic in size, its scope is focused, its depth substantial and
rewarding.
Anthony D. Baker
BLUE BEETLE, THE. First appearing in 1939 in Fox Publications’ (later Fox Feature
Syndicate) comic book series Mystery Men #1, the Blue Beetle has a long and convo-
luted history as a costumed crime-fi ghter. Created by Charles Wojtkowski (known in
the comics business as Charles Nicholas), the character has had varied degrees of suc-
cess as a commodity as well. Th e hero, with a phantom-inspired blue costume of often
chunky-looking chain mail, appeared in the entire 37-seven issue run of Mystery Men
(1939–42) and had a successful solo title that ran through issue #60 (though there
was no #43) from 1939 to 1950. Joe Brancatelli has referred to this series as “one of the
most intriguing strips of all time” (120). Th e Blue Beetle also regularly appeared in Fox’s
Th e Big Th ree. He was popular enough to have a radio program in the 1940s and had a
short-lived newspaper strip drawn by eventual legend Jack Kirby.
Th e Blue Beetle on the radio was voiced by Frank Lovejoy for its fi rst 13 installments.
Th e actor for the remaining 35 installments was never credited. Th e episodes usually
ran around 13 minutes long and were mostly self-contained rather than on-going or
serialized like other popular radio programs of the day. Th ese early Blue Beetle comic
and radio stories revolved around policeman Dan Garret, who somehow received super
powers from a vitamin known as “2X.” However, the origins of the Blue Beetle, his alter-
ego Garret, his powers and his costume were portrayed with great inconsistency, when
attempts were made to explain them at all. For a brief time, the hero worked alongside
Sparky, a kid sidekick. Charlton Comics eventually gained the rights to the character
and launched a new eponymous series in 1954, but it was canceled in 1955. Another at-
tempt to revive the character was made in 1964, but that series is perhaps most notable
for helping Roy Th omas get his start in comics. Brancatelli refers to the series as “among
the worst comics ever produced” otherwise (120). Th e Blue Beetle of this failed series
