New 52 Blue Beetle Concepts by Me

This is a really quick, few days worth, sketchy picture of my concept for the New 52 Ted Kord Blue Beetle character.

I came up with the concept that he is like the Tony Stark of the New 52 universe. His company Kord Omniversal works for the Government and supplies them with weapons, gadgets, armor, vehicles, etc. he is still the young and goofy guy he was, but in the New 52 some changes had to be made. Batman no longer just wears spandex. Everyone in the New 52 wears armor it seems like, and that got me thinking. If he worked for the Government perhaps he supplied Amanda Waller with the armor that Steve Trevor wears. So I went from their making his suit a modified version of that armor. Then it got me thinking that if he is so smart and was meant to be the new Blue Beetle but couldn't because he lost the scarab maybe he would fool his enemies by playing into their doubts about vigilantes and super beings and aliens and magic. So this is what I came up with. I have plans for more sketches to fully elaborate my concept soon.

Curious though, are the glowing yellow hydrophilics too distracting from the costume?

In the new comic the main character is Ted of coarse, but now he also has a supporting cast, his father, his friend Booster Gold, his love interest Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, sometimes Bruce Wayne/Batman, his evil Uncle, etc. He also has a rogues gallery building up. His Uncle Jarvis, the Madmen gang, etc. The comic would focus on Ted as Blue Beetle but also on Ted as Ted without the costume.



Anyways, here is my story idea for the comic:

Ted Kord was always a brilliant young man. So brilliant he excelled at math, science, history, etc. But had no real direction in his life. When his mother passed away Ted was devastated, as was his father. Ted had to take over Kord Omniversal, his father's company, before it went under or before his Uncle took it. Ted Kord became the youngest CEO at the age of 25. He graduated college at the age of 18. He is considered one of the top 10 smartest men in America. Ranking up there with Earth 2's Terry Sloan and Earth 1 (?)'s Mister Terrific. He is like a young Tony Stark. If Peter Parker had Tony Stark's money, status, and inventing skills and the mind of Reed Richards. Ted is insanely brilliant. He knew Bruce Wayne was Batman but never told anyone. He is sometimes 5 steps ahead of everyone, not always though. His company manufactures weapons and gear for the Government. Ted invented the armor used by Steve Trevor during the Trinity War. His mission is to create the highest tech in non-lethal weaponry. Ted even invests his own money to make this happen, knowing that may investors would shy away from uncertain goals and inventions that may never pan out. Ted likes to be part of as much of everything in his company as much as he can; from R and D, to building, to testing, etc. He is constantly tinkering with a new invention. He has also been in mixed martial arts since he was 12, having been bullied constantly by his classmates. And he keeps up the training today.

Ted Kord is a young, fun loving guy, with a love for cracking jokes. Some might say he is geeky and quirky. One of his best friends is Dan Garret, an archaeologist who is somewhat popular in the science world. Their paths crossed in college, Dan was Ted's teacher, and they have been friends since. One of his business associates and fellow scientists is Ted's Uncle Jarvis Kord. People have warned Ted about his Uncle's shady persona. Meanwhile Ted's father still struggled with the deep depression and loss of his wife. Ted moved in with his father to keep him company, while still maintaining his other house as a lab.

The real story begins. Dan Garret called Ted to tell him about a miraculous find, a Beetle Scarab. Ted set up a meeting as soon as he could. When Dan arrived he revealed that the Scarab actually gave him “super abilities.” It creates a semi suit of armor, he was stronger, the Scarab projected Beetle wings from Dan's back and created a shield around him when he needed protection, like when Dan fell from the sky while trying to figure out the wings. But of coarse he contacted Ted to study it, what if he was contaminated with alien germs or was poisoning Dan's body with radioactive waste. The first time he used it was an accident, this time he had to show Ted. Ted told him something like this is a life time opportunity he couldn't pass up, but not at Kord Industries. At his own personal lab. Little did Ted know that his Uncle was listening in. Jarvis contacted a thug he had used before for breaking and entering and stealing an invention before, but now the guy was a member of the Madmen, a gang of criminals who wore cheap painted Halloween masks and white suits splattered with paint. Their job was to steal the Scarab. At Ted's lab Dan it was revealed that there was no visible negative side effects from the use of the Scarab. Dan told Ted that he wanted to use it to become a force for good, a superhero. They were attacked and while trying to protect Ted from the complete destruction of his lab Dan was killed by the Madmen. Before his death Dan made Ted promise to use the Scarab for the good he was going to do. Ted promised but could never recover the Scarab, the Madmen didn't have it either. But Ted made his friend a promise. Ted used his mind and invention skills and created a suit of armor, weapons, and a vehicle, and became the Blue Beetle. Knowing that he was just a man in a suit he also put glowing hydrophilics on the suit to create the illusion that there was more to him than meets the eye. And they give reference to actual Egyptian mythology and Khepri, the scarab headed Egyptian god of rebirth and the sunrise. He also placed several replicas of the Scarab on the armor, on his belt, his back, and his arms, to make it seem like he was using them as a source of his power. He also created rumors that the Blue Beetle was magic, a demon, an alien, a super power man, and more.

Ted always has several weapons and gear for any situation, a breathing suit/mask for swimming under water. A suit for the cold, etc. He doesn't just wear one Beetle suit or use one gun. Just like with his company Ted uses non-lethal force and weapons to stop his enemies.

One day he was approached by the superhero Booster Gold, his suit and robot SKEETS needed some fixing and he was the man Booster wanted for the job because of his renowned engineering and technological skills. They became fast friends, like Troy and Abed on Community. Occasionally Ted would hack into SKEETS' frequency to get some help or to hear a friendly voice while fighting bad guys.

Kord Omniversal also has gotten him in touch with Bruce Wayne and Wayne Industries. And his vigilante life has gotten him in touch with Batman, they both figured out one another's secret. Ted also met Barbara Gordon, AKA Batgirl, and fell instantly in love. So she is his love interest in the comic, at least in the beginning anyway. They even go on superhero dates as Batgirl and Blue Beetle.

Ted's Uncle always was pushing for the company to move away from non-lethal, saying they could make more profit that way. He would usually get some support there. Ted's Uncle would also occasionally and secretly try to take over the company or sell Ted Technology to the rival companies like STAR Labs, Luthor Corp, or Wayne Tech, but his criminal activities were discovered when he tried to murder Ted's father. (It was also at this time that his Uncle finally found out that Ted was Blue Beetle.)







These are color tests for Ted's New 52 Costume concept I created. I was inspired by the Young Justice cartoon show, I thought Ted should have several different variations on his Blue Beetle suit, including a stealth suit and a snow suit. The Snow suit here is just a color test, the actual snow suit I imagine would have more to it. A face mask or oxygen tanks or maybe some warm fluffy parts. I also played with the hieroglyphics of the suit too (even though I spelled it wrong in the picture. ) I tried what they might look like glowing yellow, blue, and what if they didn't glow at all. I heard that some felt they were distracting from the overall design. Tell me what you think please.





While I am working on something else, for my concept, I did this head study and thought I would post it. Its Ted (from my Frobes cover) inside the Blue Beetle helmet. I needed to see how he would look from the front and pin that down. Its rough but good enough for me to use.





So this is my concept for What my New 52 Ted Kord looks like under his New 52 Blue Beetle armor.

I wanted to give him a more distinctive look than just a guy with brownish reddish hair. And I always thought that Ted is DC's Peter Parker but without the powers. I also thought it would be cool if he sort of looked like Matt Fraction. So I drew this Forbes cover. Its issue 52, bwa ha ha. And Ted refused to dress up for the photoshoot. He is wearing his Booster Gold fan club **** and jean, he didn't even let them do his hair. I also did a gray scale version that I will also post later, to see which one looks better. The issue also says it covers Ted's new direction he is taking his father's company, and the War between Luthor Corp and Wayne Enterprises as well as an interview with Karen Starr and an in depth article about missing CEO Michael Holt. I wanted him to have a look for when he isn't Blue Beetle because in my concept for the New 52's Blue Beetle, Ted is out of his costume as himself more than he use to be in the old DC days. The comic would not only focus on his superhero life but also his life as Ted Kord and his company and love life, etc.





Here is my Blue Beetle Design for the New 52, again, this time drawn in a pose to demonstrate that its not a stiff suit of armor but more flexible allowing for Ted to move like the Blue Beetle is was meant to be. Again, as I stated in previous posts about the New 52 Blue Beetle, Ted is like the DC's Tony Stark (Not Iron Man) in that he is a rich successful weapons manufacturer and inventor, but his designs are all non-lethal. Something he incorporates into his superhero life. These are the masked gang he tangles with a lot, the Madmen. They wear colorful costumes and cheap painted Halloween masks to commit their crimes and conceal their identities. they are like the Jokerz from Batman Beyond, I can see Ted joking lots of jokes about them looking like Parrots and rainbows and asking why they chose to stand out rather than blend into the shadows, stuff like that. They are just regular men, but then again so is Ted. No powers, his suit only protects him like Batman in the movies. Not invulnerable and doesn't increase his strength or speed. In my idea for the origin the Madmen are hired by Jarvis Kord to steal the Scarab from Dan Garret, Ted's former teacher and friend, but inadvertently destroy Ted's home and kill Dan instead. In that story I see them being sort of the criminals in Robocop working for the CEO behind it all. But they are more about chaos in the long run and the roster of members can rotate and change all the time, leaving their motives changing too. I went with the glowing blue hieroglyphics for Ted rather than the yellow because I heard they were distracting from the overall design. But the light blue, I was told by many also, works. Again, the hieroglyphics are meant to imply that he has some sort of mystical connection to the Egyptian God Khepri, the Scarab Headed god. And I looked them up and are, I think, actual sayings they would inscribe. I read they would remove the heart and replace it with a scarab with the hieroglyphics reading things like I will dwell in this land and protect it, and you cannot judge me, and you did not die this day. Stuff like that. I also have these ideas that Ted, not too many times, could make jokes like (Booster Gold- his the helmet bullet proof too? Ted- Of coarse, I don't want to get shot in the head now do I? or Ted- I need this like I need a hole in my head.) I still plan to draw more about my idea, like what Ted looks like under the mask, him holding an example of his artillery since he uses a variety of non-lethal weapons and not just one gun anymore, him with Barbara/Batgirl and him with Booster Gold. But I may not get to them any time soon. I also have these vague ideas about his flying Bug and his Bug car and cycle.





One of the ways I think they can make the New 52 Blue Beetle successful would be to build up his rogues gallery. At the moment, in my concept, he has his Uncle Jarvis and a group of thugs called Madmen. So I needed to find more. When I would research Ted in google an image of him fighting these orange guys would pop up. They were a group called the Squid Gang, thieves who were able to climb up walls using suction cups on their hands and feet.

In my New 52 Blue Beetle/Ted Kord concept they are now the Squids, a group of Industrial Saboteurs. Sort of like the Ghost from Iron Man's rogues gallery except a lot more human and military like. They break into companies and labs like Luthor's Cadmus Labs, or Wayne Tech, or Kord Omniversal. They steal the tech, plans, data, blue prints, prototypes, whatever they are hired to steal, and they destroy anything left of that tech so that the company doesn't have it. They get paid but also secretly keep a copy for themselves and use that tech to help them steal.

As you might have guessed that is what gets them in the line of sight of Ted. Ted is so committed to his weapons being non-lethal he can't let them fall into the wrong hands and be made lethal. The Squid's gloves and boots use stolen anti-gravity/magnetic type tech allowing them to cling to any surface.



The drawing I did is a basic concept using the New 52/Earth 2 Batman sketch by Jim Lee (not by me) but I traced over it and redrew it into a Squid and then colored it. What do you think of the colors and design now compared to their older (hardly used) version? Should the darker brown be made the same color as the lighter orange so the costume is all the same color? What about the concept of them being Industrial Saboteurs?





"Uncle" Mitch Wacky/LORD HAVOK

http://ift.tt/1koYFv8

http://ift.tt/1koYFvg



OK, after I did all this work and all this art I discovered that there actually was an alias for Lord Havok, but here is my idea anyway.

Mitch Wacky is the CEO of Wacky Tech, he is like DC Comics' Steve Jobs. He creates the future. He is a genius inventor and loved by the public. They call him Uncle Mitch. But in reality he is a power hungry man with a fear of death. His entire life's work has actually been to stop death, to transfer his mind into the computer and live forever as a machine. All his inventions and success stem from this fear and goal. As he got older he realized that he was short on time. So he began illegal experiments and even tried experimenting on homeless and the dead or comatose. He created a body for his consciousness to transfer into but so far it is only used as armor (like the Iron Monger) Mitch sits inside and controls the suite with his mind and levers. Ted Kord met Wacky in the CEO world, while Wacky builds for the public Kord's contracts are mostly for the Government. His life as Ted and Blue Beetle come together when Ted investigates the homeless abductions and the missing college students. Mitch's Lord Havok armor is large and bulky but fast and strong.

While looking I discovered that most of Ted's known rogues are sort of connected to the CEO world, or have armor, or ties to technology. So I thought maybe that could be his area of vigilante stuff. Sort of like Iron Man, Ted's foes are usually connected to the CEO world, or tech world, or armored.

I also figured his quest for immortality would be a good motivation for "Uncle" Mitch. And could lead to many stories, for example maybe he kidnaps Cyborg to figure out how to turn himself into that. Maybe Ted and Cyborg end up teaming up. Also, as Lord Havok, Mitch could end up trying to lead a bloody rebellion of mechanical beings versus the human world.

Also, I went to great lengths to try and make Lord Havok similar to his Pre-New 52 cybernetic self. If you google him you could compare and contrast.



This was my attempt to give Ted Kord a Lex Luthor type arch foe. Mitch could be like Lex, smart, never able to pin stuff on him, and I tried giving him a distinctive look. Also in the picture of Blue Beetle V. Lord Havok Ted is using experimental EMP "brass" knuckles. I figured Ted could be sort of like the old Spider-Man comics where he invents weapons if the situation called for that.



Also, full disclosure, I used the panel of Flash v. Darkseid from the New 52 Justice League comic.



A concept, not a drawing because I would just make him look like this:

(also unsure of idea, what do you think?)



Maxwell Lord is an industrialist who has always been shady, but during the Apocalypse Invasion that that Justice League stopped he was abducted. On the verge of being turned into a Parademon he was saved. But not before they experimented on him giving his limited psychic powers. Lord could now control minds. Secretly using this he became even richer. This is where he met his good friend Ted Kord and through Ted Booster Gold. Because of these two men Lord decided to stop using his powers for personal gain and dedicate his life to making things better. But old habits die hard. And Lord went back to what was easier and ultimately this brought him into conflict with Ted and Booster. Like on Smallville the former friends are now bitter enemies. Ted and Booster can't prove any of his illegal activities, Lord is too smart, but they can try to stop his future ones.

Like Sinestro, or Lex on Smallville, his rivalry with Ted and Booster hurts Lord because they were his best friends. Which is why he has promised himself to never use his powers against them. At the same time Ted doesn't trust Lord wont, so he is busy trying to figure out how to cancel Lord's powers, maybe for good.

Lord's motivations are simple. Get the things he wants with as little effort as he can, so he will have more time to enjoy life.