Blue Beetle

Cover Description: Blood Scarab walks away from Blue Beetle's bloody mask. (No Booster Gold.)

Brief Synopsis: The Horizon beetles are attacked by the mysterious and powerful Blood Scarab

Booster Gold's role in this story:
Supporting (Booster Gold plays a lesser role)

Costume Worn: MARK I.v2 power-suit

This story has been reprinted in:
Blue Beetle Volume 1: Scarab War (2024)

Page 1, panel 2
After being severely beaten by an ambush attack in his own lab by the mysterious Blood Scarab, comatose Ted Kord is visited in the hospital by his former Justice League International teammates Booster Gold, Fire, Ice, and Guy Gardner, who is projecting an energy construct of himself from somewhere off planet. That takes willpower, effort... and friendship! This is hardly the first time Kord has been beaten into a coma: he nearly died at the hands of Doomsday in Justice League America #69.

Page 1, panel 4
While Booster is concerned about the physical health of his best friend, he's also worried about the emotional health of Kord's successor, Jaime Reyes, which is only natural, since it was Booster himself who provoked Jaime to become the third Blue Beetle in Infinite Crisis #4.

Page 3, panel 4
While consoling Jaime, Ice says that the former Justice Leaguers will be taking Ted "to a safe location Booster has someplace -- some time where he can heal." Does Ice (and the rest of the JLI) know that Booster is a secret behind-the-scenes Time Master, or do they still think he is just another run-of-the-mill time traveler? In any event, this explains the JLI's absence from the rest of this issue.