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The Blue Beetle breaks bad in DC's Tales From The Dark Multiverse: Infinite Crisis #1
DC Comics' shadowy reimaginings of some of its most iconic storylines in the recent Tales From The Dark Multiverse line turns its gaze to the tragic death of Blue Beetle during the Infinite Crisis event with a twisted take on the machinations that transform the state of the entire DCU.
Written by James Tynion IV (Batman Eternal, Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen) and injected with superb art by Aaron Lopresti (Wonder Woman/Conan) and Matt Ryan (Damage), Tales From The Dark Multiverse: Infinite Crisis #1 slams into our realm on Nov. 27 with its rearrangement of familiar timelines — and SYFY WIRE has an exclusive preview of all the alternate history action.
In DC's original 2005-2006 mega-event Infinite Crisis, we witnessed the destruction of the Trinity, the ascension of Alexander Luthor and Superboy-Prime, and the glorious rebirth of the Multiverse.
During Infinite Crisis' lead-up events, starting with 2005's Countdown to Infinite Crisis one-shot, fans saw the execution-style murder of Ted Kord/The Blue Beetle by the hand of Max Lord, with Blue Beetle taking secrets to his grave that could have quite possibly saved the world.
But this tragic retelling has a Dark Multiverse do-over dimension and here things happened very differently. Not only does Blue Beetle survive the bullet from Maxwell Lord's revolver - he truly flourishes! After killing Lord himself, Ted Kord sets off a dangerous chain of events that irreversibly changes the lives of the Justice League and his best buddy, Booster Gold. In attempting to avert a catastrophe, Blue Beetle becomes its instrument of crisis, mutating the deranged iterations of the Dark Multiverse forever.
"Blue Beetle is a character who is very intelligent and morally sound, but he knows how limited he is as a superhero compared to his contemporaries and especially when facing super powered threats," artist Aaron Lopresti tells SYFY WIRE. "I think his drive to be significant in the battle for justice and yet being so limited in his scope of influence is what makes him the perfect catalyst for this story. He is the perfect character to justify his actions in order to bring about what he sees as the ultimate good."
The dark tone and tragic nature of the story helped Lopresti define how to approach the book artistically.
"James [Tynion] gave me a multitude of scenes that were set up in a way that allowed me to try some visual storytelling techniques that reinforced his underlying theme," he explains. "I really enjoyed working on the book. The script was all there but it wasn’t restrictive in any way and allowed me some freedom to do my own thing. I was a big fan of Marvel’s What If series in the '70s, so getting a chance to take something as iconic as Infinite Crisis and turn it on its ear was too good to pass up."
Now immerse yourself in the madness of our exclusive peek at DC's Tales From The Dark Multiverse: Infinite Crisis #1 in the gallery below, then chime in with your comments on whether or not you dig this Blue Beetle outcome better.
