Exactly as the title says. No bullshit, no twists. You just get to talk about your favorite superhero and why you love them.

Ted Kord, the second Blue Beetle, is my favorite superhero of all time. Not my favorite member of the Justice League International or my favorite Blue Beetle, my favorite superhero of all time. I got a lot of love for the whole Blue Beetle identity, but Ted stands out, because he feels... unique in his own way. I'd say he's probably one of the most human, probably a result of being by Steve Ditko, one of the men that made Spider-Man. Even back during the Charlton days, he was constantly trying to strive and be better than what he was, to live up to the legacy of Dan Garrett, the first Blue Beetle. He wasn't like either his predecessor or his successor, he didn't have the Scarab. All he had was himself and his brain... and a multi-million dollar company.

He was also ripping off Spider-Man a lot of the time, Len Wein, one of the guys who made Swamp Thing, specifically asked to do his ongoing at DC following Crisis on Infinite Earths so he could make 'the Spider-Man book that Marvel wasn't doing.' So, you know, the Parker Industries era but good. He literally has a scene in one of the first few issues is basically an homage to 'If This Be My Destiny,' you know, where Pete lifts all that machinery with his insane willpower.

Anyways, Justice League International, best Justice League run ever, don't @ me, really solidified his humanity by making him... well, a bit of a jackass. He fell asleep at monitor duty, made stupid jokes at bad times, got into get rich quick schemes with his new bestie, despite being rich himself, but whatever. Speaking of that bestie, Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis decided that Ted would make for an ideal running mate to Booster Gold, a character that was recently introduced at the time by Dan Jurgens, a superhero for the 80's. Happy to help people, but also looking to make a buck while doing so. Calling him one of the most important relationships in Ted's life is an understatement, the fact that they're canon in Teen Titans Go is genuinely hilarious to me. And I may loathe Injustice for... multiple reasons, but I will treasure this image forever. Anyways, Ted may have been a jackass, but he was always still a hero. Hell, he was one of the first people to take on Doomsday during the Death of Superman, right alongside the rest of the Justice League. After that iteration of the League split up, he joined an absolutely awful 90's-tastic book called Extreme Justice, which was also one of the first to try and make Captain Atom Monarch again, evidence for my theory that the DC had massive plans that hinged on Captain Atom becoming Monarch.

Ted also had some fun stuff with a book of other ex-Charlton characters, L.A.W., as well as being a supporting character in Birds of Prey. Chuck Dixon, the man so sex-negative that he keeps writing gay characters by accident, had this neat idea floating around of making Tim Drake, the third Robin, a new Blue Beetle, but that never stuck. But now we get into Ted's grand finale.

Countdown to Infinite Crisis is a frustratingly phenomenal book. It's the story of the loser, Ted Kord going on his own investigations into a massive conspiracy, being treated like a joke by the rest of the superhero community, and his life falling apart as he does so. Ultimate he finds out the truth, that Maxwell Lord, a member of the JLI's supporting cast, was running an operation due to paranoia that superhumans will betray humanity, not an insane assumption, given Identity Crisis was merely a few years beforehand. Ted dies in a way his creator, Steve Ditko, would have been proud of, telling Max to rot in hell before taking a bullet to the brain.

The thing is, the entire book has the energy of that one scene of Power Girl in that one issue of JSA saying that the reason she has a boobhole is because she's never found something to fill the void or whatever the fuck. Geoff Johns is a great writer, but he'll retcon anything he can for the sake of pathos, and this book is no different. Ted had been getting away from the buffoon and joke he was during the JLI days, not even mentioning that apparently Max was evil the whole time despite the fact that J'onn had read his thoughts during the JLI era, and confirmed that he had noble intentions the whole time. It's such a good book, but it's so fucking frustrating.

I don't want to end this on a sour note though, so I just want to celebrate Ted. Ultimately, Ted's just human. He's a normal guy who stood alongside aliens, nuclear men, and the Batman, and didn't feel out of place among them. Even when he was having a laugh with Booster Gold, all the way.

Only one last thing to say, really.

BWAHAHAHAHA!