Dueling Ditkos: Bug Bout 3 - Eccentric Egocentrics

This go around, the bug boys (Thomas Troy, the Fly, and Ted Kord, the Blue Beetle) take on a couple of strange characters while facing their own legal morass. Several parallels immediately become evident in Ditko's use of story telling device: the individuals against society's prejudice, the female protagonist giving the main character an "atta-boy", the grumpy old curmudgeon that befriends the young hero, and of course the eccentric egocentrics...Uncle Jarvis in the Beetle's story and Ivey in the Fly's tale. Let's dissect these mini-masterpieces, shall we?

Our heroes are conforted by the damsel that captured their heart. One stays to comfort, one leaves to do the same. Guess attorney's are made of stronger stuff than scientists.

As the story develops, we learn that Ted had history with bad old uncle Jarvis which caused his problems. And problems are something Thomas wades through without sweating.

Ted is inspired by cranky old Jarvis to spark his own creative ingenity, creating the Bug. Thomas acquaints himself will cranky old Bill who himself is involved with a creative fanatic and his demented domicile.

Beetle battled boatloads of bots bravely. Fly can't seem to handle one wacky looking fiend with foul facial hair. At least we're getting to the bottom of things now that our heroes are at their bases.

An armada of angry androids? No worries if you are our boy in Blue. Superpowered insect taken out by one freaky dude? Obviously brain wins out against brawn when Fly's freak beats Beetle's battling brainless bots.

While Beetle knows how to sweep women off their feet into ecstacy, Fly knows how to sweep cross dressing dames off their feet into anxiety. The latter can do it while upside down...take that Ted.

Dueling Ditko Rating:

1.) Story Drama: Dikto weaves amidst each tale a thread of oppression from Troy's former associate Pete and Kord's favorite primary police police, Lt. Fisher. The former was framed for jury tampering, the latter suspected as to the death of the previous Blue Beetle's civilian alias Dan Garrett. The main portion of the tales involves Ted's eccentric scientific uncle Jarvis and his agenda to create destructive droids to gain unlimited power and of eccentric wealthy recluse Denny Jones and a "crooked house" that was willed to him by an Ivey, a disgruntled man who designed the house to torment his former associates who had betrayed him. Definitely Ditko's latter days, when he chronicled the Fly's adventures, proved how truly eccentric the comic creator himself was. As to story drama, the linear approach of the Beetle's tale, involving the death of his friend and inspiration, definitely has more pull than a tale of characters like Ivey and Denny who we aren't as invested in.

2.) Imaginative Use of Abilities: Hands down the Fly wins with his use of his wings to cause a tempest in a tea pot and expose Ivey as a disguised femme fatale. Those are some powerful wind gusts that dude cooks up.

3.) Adversary: While the imaginative use of Ivey with shoes worn as gloves and guns sticking out of loafers is inventive, the actual Crooked House has a novelty and charm which seems to catch the Fly initially unaware. Whereas the secret Pago Island base and faceless androids of Uncle Jarvis..yawn.

4.) Intangibles that Worked: Again the Crooked House takes this category for setting. However, for a tale of tragedy such as the end of a classic hero like the Blue Beetle...that is truly timeless. And the added flair of having Ted's girl friday Tracey there by his side, while Fly's ex Kim ended up drifting off into character limbo (she did attempt to provide him morale support at the beginning of the story however) helps the Beetle to win this.

So this time it ends in a draw, 2-2 for the bug boys same as in Round 2. Fly is barely ahead...can Blue Beetle battle back? Can Fly pad is slim lead? Find out next time.

Sideline Sundays: Infatuated with Insects

Among the most prolific of those populating the sidelines of heroic adventures are the fair maiden, the love interest that can never aspire to more because the hero's cause is greater than his feelings for her. Two such lassess are the focus today, Tracey and Allison Corelli.

Allison was the daughter of retired Judge Corelli, a personal mentor of attorney Thomas Troy (aka the Fly or Fly-Man, as he was known at this point in his career). Over the course of time, his visits included passing moments with love lorn Allison, always seeking an audience with him.

So as is often the case, she felt maybe a different hair colour might attract her potential suitor. And it seems on this particular occasion, when Troy learns that the world hates his insect identity (through the secret machinations of an imprisoned enemy), he almost gives pause to consider taking Allison's hand in marriage. Ah but how would she view the Fly? Would she also feel the same as the rest of the world or would she accept him as either man?

Alas, she too fell prey to the attitude directed at our hero, and she didn't just stop hurling hurtful words but a flying stone to break his bones (not a chance of happening).

In her last appearence, a mysterious villain known only as the Blockbuster became affair of the Fly's attachment to the judge and his daughter, and attempted attacking them both. By this time she had dyed her roots back and had long since made ammends with the Fly. After a timely save, he flew off and never more graced the presences of his erst-while romance. He would leap into the arms of Kimberly Brand, aka  Fly-Girl .

When we're introduced to Ted Kords future love interest, Tracet is already employed as his long-suffering faithful lab assistant. After a thug breaks into the lab and knocks out the Beetle, Tracey takes matters in her own hands. While she's ineffective and used as a projectile for the Masked Marauder you remember him, don't you, she still shows her compassion for her saviour. However she also begins suspecting in that there is more than it seems where this bug and her boss are concerned.

During this period of time, a pesky officer named Fisher is sniffing around some the disappearence of archeologist Dan Garrett (the previous Blue Beetle) and this caused Tracey's to express concern in her affection for Ted. This causes him torment...does he reveal his secret life and his connection to the man he's suspected of having killed? Or handle this alone?

Ted makes the right call, revealed to Tracey both his love for her and his means of carrying on the legacy left behind by the Blue Beetle. This causes her to draw closer to him and become his most valuable ally (even more so than Bug, whom we last week considered in further detail)!

Years later, a Blue Beetle returned. Turned out to be one of Kord's wacky Uncle Jarvis' crazed bots. Before realizing this, Ted was about to retire as the Beetle until  talked down off the ledge by Tracey.

Unlike most non-superheroic girlfriends of a costumed crusader, Tracey actually hated his though of quitting as seen in this sequence. Would Allison have likewise come to a similar conclusion without the mental haze inflicted on her by an arch-foe of the Fly's? Would she have supported her love's dual nature? Since she was never given the chance we'll never know as she's in comic book limbo now. However, Tracey endured an won out this contest of femme favourites in our heart.

Dueling Ditko: Bug Bout 1 - Heroes in Crisis

Steve Ditko is a legend for his distinctive artwork, for his creative spark, and for his objectivist plots and scripting. While famous for some other man-bug, for our purposes here we'll be focusing on his treatment of two lesser known insect heroes cut from the same mold...Fly and Blue Beetle.

 

 The Fly is attempting to pursue leads to his latest client's ambiguous state of affairs...with little success. Meanwhile, a mysterious adversary operates behind the scenes to abduct the man caught in the middle, Mark. The Fly's alter ego Thomas Troy.has little success himself, and is knocked out...while attempting to bribe a member of the jury for his upcoming case? How can he be in two places at once?

 

Over at Charlton, the Masked Marauder is breaking into the laboratory of Blue Beetle's secret alias, Ted Cord, and finds Cord's courageous assistant Tracey who saves her employer when he's knocked out. Still, the Marauder escapes and resumes his identity as Count Von Stueben.

 

Troy wakes up to a sobering reality, as he's brought in to meet District Attorney Richard Busee, who is investigating a charge of jury tampering! Suddenly Troy's law practice is in jeopardy, and only the Fly can help him out of this sticky situation. After he resolves his mysterious case! 

  

Things aren't looking much better for Cord, who finds his lovely assistant awaiting the police...only they aren't there to investigate the Marauder. Rather, Homicide detective Sgt. O'Hara (hmm, wonder if he has a cousin over in the Gotham force?) is investigating Cords involvement in the death of...Dan Garrett...secretly the original Blue Beetle who disappeared not to long ago! Yet despite the pressure from the good Sgt. and the persistent worrying of Tracey pulling Cord's heart string, he still feels the need to don his costume to save a plane and later to pursue Count Von Stueben!

 

The Fly discovers that his client Mr. Xbaum is in coherts with a long-armed hitman named Zall, and nearly bites the dust until our hero graps his handy buzz gun. However, it doesn't seem to resolve his long term difficulties as to exactly WHO impersonated him. Hence Troy is disbarred and can no longer pursue his legal profession until he clears his name. Suddenly, his vigilante persona is the only side of Troy approved by local law enforcement. How will he proceed from this point forward?

Ater making short work on the Count and his goons...thanks to the timely intervention of Beetle's remote control Bug vehicle, not to mention using his own specialized gun...Beetle finds that Sgt O'Hara hasn't abandoned his quest for justice. Looking on from a secret vantage point, he observes Tracey's pain at hearing that Ted might be complicit in a murder!

Dueling Ditko Rating:

1.) Story Drama: For both tales, the true drama isn't revolving around the story's primary antagonists nor the main storylines, but rather the trauma faced by our heroes' civilian aliases. Coupled with the mystery as to how Troy was framed and what involvement, if any, Cord had in the death of his predecessor. These compelling plot lines end this stage in a draw.

2.) Imaginative Use of Abilities:We've already considered the unique weapons of our heroic pair. Both have the hovering in mid-air and flying fisticuffs action going for them. The tipping point is in the inventive prowess of the Beetle, and his flying Bug at times had a mind of it own?

3.) Adversary: Masked Marauder aka The Count is...a bwahahahaha bad guy mastermind. Zall has the eye beams from the Ditko-ish helmet and the extendo-arms. Zall gives the Fly this category on a silver platter simply with style in his presentation with very little substance.

4.) Intangibles that Worked: While both heroes faced insurrmountable odds against law enforcement authorities, we have two different approaches here. In Beetle's case, only Sgt. O'Hara, is fellow investigators, and of course dear Tracey suspect something bad of him. For Fly, he has the entire world against him as the district attorney exerts his full wraith against Troy...disbarring him from his profession and leaving him alone. Which is worse...having no one on your side or having a loved one like Tracey next to you feeling tortured, sensing that you are keeping secrets from her? Troy previous to this story arc lost his own girl-Friday, Kimberly Brand aka Fly Girl, although she to was pained at the injustice brandied against him. We give Troy props for not knowing what his happening and still keeping a brave face, while Cord knew what happened and is trying to avoid the consequences of any past actions.

So Fly wins this 2-1-1 in this Bug Bout between the Fly (from Fly #5) and the Blue Beetle (from Captain Atom #s 84-86). Next week we'll dissect the next chapter in this tortured odessey of our bug buddies.