For the last couple of months, I’ve been getting confused and irate readers correcting me whenever Dan Jurgens or I cite the “mystery of the Black Beetle,” pointing out that Hector, a member of Jaime Reyes’ popular supporting cast in the Blue Beetle monthly comic, was in fact implied to be the Black Beetle and that there IS no mystery.
While Booster Gold writer (and the character’s co-creator) Dan Jurgens has never denied that Hector is the Black Beetle, he has made several statements intimating that when the villain’s identity is revealed, it will be someone that Booster (and his fans) will recognized and be shocked by. Frankly, Hector doesn’t seem to fit that bill to me.
Still, nobody had ever really talked to Matt Sturges about what it is he intended for Hector, and for the Black Beetle character, when he wrote that loaded sequence last year at the end of Blue Beetle. But now that Blue Beetle has returned as a second feature behind Booster Gold, and both titles are featuring Black Beetle as the villain in current or upcoming stories, I thought it was time to catch up with Sturges (and Dan Jurgens) about the past and future (no pun intended) of the character.
Blog@Newsarama: OK – So I can see this being a bone of contention with our new friends in the back half of the book, and I’m just going to get it out there right away: The Black Beetle. At what point was his identity decided? Is it something you, Jeff and Geoff always knew or is it something that came in later?
Dan Jurgens: My general impression is that Geoff and Jeff did not have a definite plan in mind for the Black Beetle. Whatever it is, we started making some plans that work in with what we want to accomplish on the book.
BLOG@: More to the point, I guess – are you familiar with the plot developments in Blue Beetle that led many of that book’s fans to assume that they know who Black Beetle is?
DJ: I am now. We’ve made it quite clear that the Black Beetle is playing a game of misdirection, however.
BLOG@: Matt, They’ve solicited the Black Beetle as an upcoming villain in the Blue Beetle stories; is that going to be a single-issue or multipart thing?
Matt Sturges: Black Beetle and his shadowy master are going to cause both Booster and Blue Beetle a lot of hurt in the near future. Blue Beetle’s first encounter with the Black Beetle will take two issues to tell. It makes writing the scripts a pain, because I usually just type BB when I mean Blue Beetle, but obviously I can’t do that when the other one is around. God, he’s a pain.
BLOG@: Are you watching/reading Booster Gold to see where the unfolding “mystery of the Black Beetle” goes in that title?
MS: I get to read the scripts beforehand so I know what they’ve got planned. It’s extremely handy having the same editor, the estimable Mike Siglain, making sure that everything lines up properly. If we both came up with entirely different resolutions for the Black Beetle mystery, that would be pretty awkward.
BLOG@: A lot of readers think it’s pretty clear what your plans were for the character based on Hector’s actions in the final issue of the Blue Beetle monthly comic…meanwhile, in Booster Gold, the character has always been shrouded in mystery. How straight are you going to play him?
MS: The ending of the Blue Beetle monthly plays directly into the ongoing story of the Black Beetle, let’s put it that way. The way Blue Beetle #36 ended with regards to Hector was intended to cause speculation, which it has, which is good. And we’ll get some more information about Hector very soon.
As far as how I play the Black Beetle, I’m following how he’s been portrayed in Booster Gold, in terms of how he talks, how he behaves, that sort of thing. The character’s evolved a bit since his first appearance, so I’m rolling with that.
BLOG@: I’ll admit to having been an intermittent reader of the old Blue Beetle series, especially its second half. Had this character ever appeared as a Blue Beetle villain before, or had Jaime only dealt with him in Booster Gold?
MS: No, he’s an entirely new character the Geoff Johns created for Booster Gold, so he has no legacy. He’s very much about the future, and what’s GOING to happen. That’s something I really like about him. So much of the Blue Beetle ethos is anchored in the past, it’s nice to see a new piece of it evolving from the other direction.
July 18th, 2009 at 9:42 am
Nice to see communication behind the scenes to avoid any potential mishaps.
July 18th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Looks cool. I still miss Ted though.
July 18th, 2009 at 11:10 am
One of DC’s best books, and the most fun by far. I was sure Hector was the Black Beetle, but it looks like maybe he’s just part of the bigger picture. Can’t wait to see what happens.
July 18th, 2009 at 11:57 am
one things that has always confused me is that Black Beetle doesnts really look like Hector.
July 18th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Well he’s a time traveler, so it is entirely possible that he grows up to become Black Beetle later or something.
July 18th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Thanks for clearing this up Russ.
July 18th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Don’t worry, Wendall. Blackest Night should give you more Ted haha
July 18th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
I think when it is all said and done….Black Beetle is either Rip Hunter or Ted Kord
July 18th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
The Black Beetle is a character I created when I was six years old, but when I later realized there was a character named the “Blue Beetle” I renamed him Bedbug to avoid copyright infringement.
You can read all about Bedbug here: http://www.mightybedbug.com
July 18th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Wasn’t it heavily hinted that it was somehow Ted Kord at the end of Geoff’s run?
July 18th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Black Beetle = Bruce Wayne
July 18th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
It’s a future Booster Gold.
So long as it’s not Paco though I’ll be happy no matter who it is. I heart Paco.
July 19th, 2009 at 12:53 am
komixfrk75: Rip Hunter tried to kill himself?
But according to Rip himself whoever tapped into the Vanishing Point was very smart. Ted Kord makes sense, I could see him being connected somehow.
July 19th, 2009 at 2:54 am
I think on the ted Kord front I see him more likely to be Black Beetle’s boss instead of the beetle himself. However I’d actually be unhappy if it was Ted, beetle’s or his bosses actions dont seem like something he would do.
July 19th, 2009 at 6:40 am
It’s looking like Ted Kord.
July 19th, 2009 at 9:22 am
Just as a side note, For one issue of the Ambush Bug Run, Ambush Bug called himself “Black Beetle”
Its all a ploy to distract us from getting Ambush Bug #6 , which the editors of DC are afraid to put out ….
July 19th, 2009 at 11:24 am
There seems to be a discrepancy as to whether or not Ted Kord is dead. In Booster Gold he might not be. In Blackest Night, He has a grave clearly shown, and in the DCU at large his death is part of known history. But with the story in Booster Gold, Ted could have gone back in time and made it look like he died so everything proceeded as before. Hard to know.
I cannot imagine Ted running around killing heroes.
July 19th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Ted’s apparent death at the end of “Blue and Gold” and its ramifications are something that Dan and I talked about being a long-term story beat in the last Gold Exchange interview (http://blog.newsarama.com/2009/07/11/gold-exchange-qa-booster-gold-22/). He and Geoff had a plan in place that, as far as I know and Dan has said, is still in place. But with something like “Blackest Night,” you can’t NOT have him as a Black Lantern if ultimately your “twist” in Booster’s story is that he’s alive. It’s easier to make something up later to account for Black Lantern Blue Beetle than to shoot your whole wad that way.
July 19th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Anyone want to summarize the last issue or two of Blue Beetle for those of us who dropped the title towards the end?
July 20th, 2009 at 12:22 am
See maybe i,m off here..I Know next to nothing about blue beetle…but i read a issue of booster…and…i could be wrong…but the mysterious boss…was using kryptonian robots,sooo i dunno…superboy prime perhaps?
July 20th, 2009 at 7:36 am
Anything’s possible, Danny, although I’d venture that someone like Zod or The Eradicator is more likely as his clothing seemed pretty formal, his profile not at all Superman-like and his hair was slicked back.
Squashua: Jaime is fighting evil robots from a variety of different sources, with no clear indication who is controlling them, while Paco and Brenda fight because he’s in love with her and she doesn’t know how to react. Go out and buy the two issues because that capsule-summary doesn’t do it justice and the title is worth supporting.
July 20th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Black Beetle = Ted Kord of Earth-3
July 20th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Hey Matt, just use KB for Black Beetle. As I’m sure you know, in coloring B stands for blue and K stands for black.
September 9th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Holy Crap it’s RIP!
February 10th, 2011 at 1:34 am
Got it … Black Beetle is Max Lord
March 16th, 2011 at 1:10 am
However I’d actually be unhappy if it was Ted, beetle’s or his bosses actions dont seem like something he would do.
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James