Four Square Construction

2 February 2023

correspondent Tygesmia Lutuk reports that he recently picked up The Blue Beetle #3 (Charlton Pubs, 1967, featuring the Blue Beetle and the Question) and opines that the “art might be a little pared down from Steve Ditko’s Marvel works, but there’s a lot to love about this issue.”

Indeed there is! Graphically, it’s hard to beat Ditko’s miscellaneous Atlas shorts, or the mind-popping cosmology of Dr Strange, or Peter Parker’s dizzying spider-antics, but as a storyteller, Steve was at his peak with the Blue Beetle and the Question. The Question may have been a little harsh and didactic for some, but I thought he’d hit a proper balance there. Mr A, on the other hand, went way too far into (benign and wholesome) advocacy at the expense of the stories.

Lutuk responds: “I agree regarding The Question as compared to Mr. A. Blue Beetle, in my opinion, was certainly one of his many peaks! The compositions here just draw my eye into the action like few other artists can do!