Dan Garrett (GA BLUE BEELTLE)

[johncostantine78]

Hi, guys. With the new mesh made by the almighty Tommyboy, someone can me suggest an appropriate

[daglob]

The blue Beetle changed constantly. I have electronic copies of some of the stories, and he started off as a Green Hornet rip off, but by the second appearence, he was a Batman rip off, and somewhere along the line he fould a secret formula that would make him a Superman rip off. While the Super version could fly, it kind of looks like he wasn't bullet proof, and was still using the chain mail armor for that.

[tommyboy]

As Daglob rightly says, you have several choices. Researching the costume I found this:

"At his inception, the Blue Beetle was secretly police patrolman Dan Garrett, who fought the forces of evil with nothing more than his fists, his wits and a chainmail costume which, the stories would remind, made the Beetle "almost invulnerable."

By 1940, not only was the Blue Beetle given his own book, he was suddenly given superpowers as well. As super-powered characters like Superman, the Human Torch and Captain Marvel suddenly gained massive popularity, the folks at Fox Feature no doubt decided to juice up the Blue Beetle to keep him in line with the competition. Accordingly, the Beetle suddenly met up with a genius scientist named Dr. Franz, who helpfully supplied Dan Garrett with the mysterious Vitamin 2X, which granted him super-strength and invulnerability (which, coming on top of the chainmail, seems a little like overkill, but whatever). Dr. Franz didn't last all that long, but the Beetle's superpowers stayed."

So one common factor is the 'nigh invulnerable' chain mail costume.
And punching people, either normal strength, or super strength, or both, I guess.
I've seen him use a gun on covers, and it looks like a pretty standard pistol, not a fancy ray/gas/stun gun
Other than that, I know nothing...

[Jakew]

I have a hazy memory of an issue which had Blue Beetle I fighting Ted Kord and tearing his way through the Bug, and being impervious to Kord's physical and BB gun attacks. He also had flight and could shoot force bolts from his hands.

Strength level: Dan normally had the strength of an athletic male of his height and build. Calling on the Scarab's powers boosted it to superhuman levels.

Powers:

Blue Beetle Scarab: Dan could call on the Scarab to gain the costume and powers of the Blue Beetle. The main powers he used were:
Superhuman Strength
Unassisted Flight: Dan could fly without the use of wings.
Energy Blasts: This manifested as lightning bolts Dan shot from his hands.
Costume Manifestation: Dan's costume was blue chainmail with red highlights. The costume's appearance altered somewhat over time, although how and why are unknown. While the costume could hold up to a certain degree of physical damage, it was vulnerable to energy damage - a fact which resulted in Dan's first death.

Transportation: None known.
Weapons: None known.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

It should be pointed out that their were two completely different version of the characters that used the same names.  Tommyboy was talking about the first, Jakew about the second that Charleston comics came up with and DC adopted.

[tommyboy]

It should be pointed out that their were two completely different version of the characters that used the same names.  Tommyboy was talking about the first, Jakew about the second that Charleston comics came up with and DC adopted.

Yep.
Fox originally published Blue Beetle and Dan Garrett was a two fisted policeman who later gained the super strength I mentioned, in the 1940s.He had yellow gloves and a scarab on his forehead and belt buckle (it is this version I just released a mesh of).
Charleston bought the character and in the sixties rebooted The Blue beetle and now Garrett was an archaeologist given the powers by a scarab he found, with the flight, electric rays etc. This is the version with the red gloves and red headfin. It lasted less than 2 years.
Then Steve Ditko re-re-booted the Blue Beetle as the Ted Kord Version, a new costume, no super powers.
So The Old BB both was, and was not, the same character at Fox and Charleston. Sort of. I blame Superboy Prime for punching reality too hard...

[johncostantine78]

In fact, I remember the blue beetle with the mistic powers granted him by the egptyan scarab (if I remember well, in this story there was implied the wizard Shazam and Doc Fate). But, if you think that my knownledge of DC heroes is based upon "The History" by Wolfman and Perez, you can understand my confusion. In Italy, if Marvel comics are published since the 1970 (if you exclude some years of limbo), without stop and with riedition of loss stories ("Amazing spider-man" and the others Spider man's title was re-printed so many times that I have loss the count), DC don't have the same luck. The new publishing house of Dc title, Planeta De Agostini, reboot from Infinite Crisis, when the last great saga pubblished by the previous house was "The kingdom"...

[daglob]

Found one of my Charlton Blue Beetles (cr. 1964) today, and yestrerday downloaded some Charlton BB comics that were a continuation of the Fox character. The electronic comics were originally printed in the 1950s. No mention is made of the vitamin, but he seems pretty super. He doesn't carry the gun in these stories, but, then again, I have a copy of a Blue Beetle comic from the mid 40s that shows him piloting a plane. It's probably like the conclusion I reached reading some Showcase Presents stories with Superman: his powers varied as to the needs of the story.

Yeah! the Superman I grew up with could move planets!

The archeologist Dan Garrett (no known relation ot the policeman Dan Garett) is the one that died fighting the robots, although i think I remember a story (maybe more than one) where he didn't die. Maybe those stories have been crisised or zero-houred out of continuity.
Odd, though, that the 1964 version had the quote that BB could leap so far and fast that it was almost like he could fly. I seem to remember that it had been stated that he could fly under his own power in previous issues. This story was by some kid named Roy Thomas.

[johncostantine78]

And, if I remember well, Dan was dismembered by The Brain in JLA: year one