OK, someone who's been reading Blue Beetle longer than I can probably help, at least with the first part of today's post. In this week's issue Will Pfeifer, seemed to be hinting at an age divide when it comes to the citizens of El Paso's feeling about the Blue Beetle. After Jaime halts the second appearance of the demons, as he flies away he notes 'Citizens of El Paso grateful - Well, the younger ones anyway.' Later, during the final monster attack, someone in the school says they don't remember all these monsters showing up before the Blue Beetle did, which may or may not be true. I don't know how much focus El Paso got in the past in the DCU.
Here's my question: Had either of these been going on in the series prior to this, the older people in town not being as high on the Blue Beetle, or people doing the "Is the vigilante's presence bringing these threats here?" bit? I haven't really noticed it, but the issues I've read didn't involve Jaime interacting much with the wider populace. It was mostly confined to people who knew who he was and already liked him, or people he'd helped before and so they know his intentions. If it hasn't been happening previously, do you think it was just something Pfeifer felt like putting in the story (a bit of the Spider-Man style for the character people sometimes compare to old-style Spidey, though more Lee/Romita Spidey, than Lee/Ditko Spidey, right?)? Or is he helping to set things up for Sturges? I know Sturges is planning to have B.B. get involved in the immigration issue early in his run, so might his stance on that put him at odds with the "establishment" in town, who we learn were already less than certain about this super-person?
Something, only somewhat related, largely in the context of the older generation being wary of B.B., perhaps because of how superheroes did things 'Back in the day': What did the Justice Society do during World War 2? Were they actively involved overseas, or did they stay in America and fight crime here? Saboteurs, spies, as well as everyday crooks? If they stayed here, how did they swing that, and avoid getting drafted? Other than the original Red Tornado, I can't see any of them not getting drafted based on physical status, so were they already too old? Were they too prominent? Alan Scott was an engineer, or major industrialist right, so perhaps it was decided he was more important staying here? Or did they get some sort of dispensation as "Mystery Men"? And if that's the case, did that require them to reveal their identities? it wouldn't have right, since that was why they shut down in the '50s, they wouldn't unmask for their version of the McCarthy hearings? I'm not really up on my DC history, such as it is, what with the crises shifting things around all the time.
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Unless it's been changed by a Prime punch or something like that, the JSA couldn't go to Europe in WWII because Hitler had the Spear of Destiny which set up some sort of mystical barrier that they couldn't get through.
This generational reaction to Blue Beetle seems to be a recent addition to the Blue Beetle mythos, and not something that Giffen or Rogers really went into. I assume this is something that Pfeiffer is going to be using in his future stories. Not necessarily a bad development, but something a little different. I guess I can understand the the younger people think that Blue Beetle is cool, while the older ones are a little more concerned about property damage.
Yeah, that looks like it was Pfeifer's addition to the story. I recently re-read the trades and don't remember that being in there.
As for the WWII thing, Hitler had the Spear of Destiny, which was explained in The Golden Age as being a superhuman that could control other super-heroes, so FDR forbade them from going into combat. If your haven't read that series, I highly recommend it. It gives a lot of the DCU history of the post-WWII years.
fritz: OK, that makes sense. Thank you.
sallyp: Yeah, I didn't think the generational divide had been showing up earlier, so it's good to get some confirmation on that.
jason: The Golden Age, is that the one where Hitler's brain gets put into the body of the most powerful superhero, and then he runs for President? Or was it the Ultra Humanite's brain? I vaguely remember Wizard talking about that once, though they pretty much focused on the massive fight scene between Alan Scott and the other really powerful guy.
Yup, that's it. Thank you, Wizard, for ruining the ending of a truly fantastic comic. Regardless of spoilization, it's still excellent.
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