Quality Comics – Page 8 – Comics Archeology

Hit Comics #1 (1940)
by Toni Blum & Charles Nicholas
cover by Lou Fine

There are several Quality Comics characters that are both important for the Golden Age and that were later adapted to the DC Universe enough to still be remembered fondly.
Red Bee… is not one of them.

The story is credited to “B. H. Apiary”, a blatant pseudonym.
The writer is actually Toni Blum, one of the VERY few women working in comics in the Golden Age. She was in fact the only woman working for Quality Comics at the time; the daughter of comic book artist Alex Bloom (best remembered for working on “Classics Illustrated”). Reportedly she briefly dated Will Eisner, and she eventually married fellow artist Bill Bossert.
The artwork is credited to “Charles Nicholas”… see the Blue Beetle review for that headache.

We begin in Superior City, where people are protesting against their ineffectual government with predictable results.

The district attorney is reluctant to do anything because the city is plagued by racketeers (just in case you were worried we were running out of racketeering stories), while the DA’s assistant is eager to get things done.

However the racketeers get news about this, and they plan to ambush the DA.

They run into the Red Bee himself.

So let me get this straight: it takes one bee and a single punch to one person to stop this attempt on the DA’s life?
I didn’t cut anything: THOSE ARE THE NEXT PANELS.

Then the Red Bee shows up at the racketeer’s base. Presumably he followed them, but it’s not clearly stated.
That is one huge office, by the way!

This is where we learn the Red Bee’s gimmick: he has trained bees in his belt.
Yes.
That’s it.

Laugh all you want, but bees are no joke. Even Batman is worried about them!

Normally I would say that as a Golden Age character, Red Bee was contractually obligated to be good at punching people. But when his other claim to fame is owning bees… that’s really all he has!

I’m no lawyer, but I have my doubts this is legal.

Little known fact: Batman learned the “vanish when the other person look away” from the Red Bee. True story.*
^{*not a true story}

Also: howe the heck does this make the news!? Red Bee delivered the evidence directly to the District Attorney; the only people who could leak this to the press are Red Bee himself, the DA or the racketeers. Why would ANY of them do it!?

I appreciate that the racketeers IMMEDIATELY suspect that Red Bee is the District Attorney.

So they kidnap the DA and THROW HIM OFF A CLIFF.

But don’t worry: the Red Bee SOMEHOW finds him just in time to save him.
If he was following the kidnappers, why not stop them BEFORE they threw the DA off the cliff!?!?

Especially when he has no trouble whatsoever catching up to the kidnappers and knock them out!

The Red Bee has the racketeers SO scared that they decide to leave on a plane.

Okay the story is crap, but honestly? The action scenes aren’t that bad!

Even if it’s already censored, it’s WEIRD to see a character swear in a 40s comic book.

Red Bee is presumably a regular human without powers, but I’m not buying it.

Okay I take back my praise of the action: this is the most blatant case of “tell, don’t show” I’ve seen in quite a while.

So the District Attorney manages to put the racketeers’ boss on trial, which is interrupted by a bee.

Guys, I think a bee just won a case in court.

And that’s how we end: with the District Attorney trying to take the credit, only to be stung by a bee.

Historical significance: B/

Silver Age-ness: bzzzz/

Does it stand the test of time? 833/

How close is this to the modern character? What modern character?
Red Bee appeared in 24 issues of Hit Comics. He continues to use his bees…

…including his favorite, Michael…

…but also a spring-loaded box that can catapult him to the top of a skyscraper. Sorry for the atrocious quality of the scan, but this was too absurd to skip.

According to dc.fandom.com, in his 24 appearances he gets knocked out “a minimum of 14 times”!!! Don’t expect me to do a full retrospective on this just to check that number.

His last Golden Age story is from 1942, and this version of the character is in the public domain.

DC Comics acquired the rights of the character in 1956, along with the other Quality heroes. But they wouldn’t do anything with him until he showed up in 1984’s All-Star Squadron #33, because Roy Thomas never met a Golden Age character he wouldn’t try to write at least once.

He dies rather brutally just two issues later.

He does appear in flashbacks here and there. But the reason why I even know the guy exists is that he shows up in “comic book limbo” in 1990’s Animal Man #25, in the legendary Grant Morrison run.
(the reason he’s speaking like that is that he’s in a frozen wasteland)

I think he’s probably still there. But hey, in the same issue Mister Freeze was in Comic Book Limbo and he managed to return, so perhaps there’s a chance for Red Bee.

However, DC Comics has never met a Golden Age character they wouldn’t try turning into a legacy character, so there IS a modern version of the Red Bee… who shows up in 2007’s “Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters”. She’s the great-niece of the original.

This one has a power armor and robotic bees, so she’s QUITE an improvement over the original!!!
And yet, as of 2024 she has only 16 appearances… against her predecessor’s 24.

What else was on Hit Comics #1?
Yet another version of Hercules (this one lasting 22 issues).

Bizarrely enough, Dollman is a comic book character in-universe here!

There are also Agent X-5 (16 issues), “super-sleuths” Jack & Jill (22 issues), detective story “Strange Twins” (24 issues), and the navy-themed comedy “Bob and Swab” (lasting a ridiculous 65 issues).

Then there’s the train-themed Casey Jones, which lasts only 3 issues.
I absolutely have to mention the hilarious comment that dc.fandom.com includes on this series:
“It’s normal, somehow, in the Quality Universe, for a single steam locomotive, and crew, to run from Los Angeles to Chicago with no crew changes.”