League of Extraordinary Oddballs: THE RED BEE

When it comes to vigilante justice, why should millionaire playboys, off-duty cops and crackpot scientists have all the fun?  In HIT Comics #1, beekeeper Richard Raleigh gets into the act with an M.O. that combines his skills as a brawler and an apiarist, but not before crafting a costume that will strike fear into the hearts of evil-doers (or at least those insecure about their sexual preferences): a tight-fitting blouse with see-through sleeves and a pair of boldly striped yoga pants!

As The Red Bee, Raleigh exhibits no real superpowers beyond super-fashion sense, though he’s naturally imbued with the usual ability to outfight any 10 opponents, successfully leap from car to car at 90 miles per hour, catch flagpoles and telephone wires when falling from buildings, survive weekly blows to the head from pistol butts, etc.  

His real secret weapon is a highly-trained pet bee, which unlike normal bees can sting repeatedly without dying.  Of course a super-bee needs a super-name, so this one’s called…Michael.  Micheal lives in a compartment of The Red Bee’s belt buckle and is released as needed.

It would almost have been better if they’d left Richard at home and focused all the stories on Micheal, letting us read his thoughts as he dispatched bad guys.  As it is, he does all the hard work in the partnership.

Just think of all the millions Bruce Wayne has wasted on cars, planes, submarines, helicopters, smoke pellets, batarangs, etc when he could’ve racked up just as many successes with a weapon that cost practically nothing.  Who knew hardened criminals were such pushovers?

Later, The Red Bee transitions to solid color pants, maybe because the other superheros kept ragging on him about the stripes or more likely because the artists were just lazy.  He also develops a device called the “alto-gainer” which allows him to leap very high and helps him climb buildings.  Because beekeepers are always inventing stuff like that.  

Despite playing sidekick to an insect, Richard Raleigh clings to a supreme confidence in his own abilities, which is kind of adorable.  

On balance, the greatest legacy of The Red Bee is probably the phenomenal covers drawn by Quality’s best artist, the late great Lou Fine.

When publisher Quality Comics folded at the end of the war, DC Comics inherited their line of characters, including the Red Bee.  In the early 80s, it was revealed that the hero had met his end at the hands (swatter?) of the Nazis.  There’s been no word on what happened to Michael, but I like to think he’s enjoying retirement in Florida as the world’s only 85 year old bee, and maybe occasionally lecturing at law enforcement conferences about his most celebrated cases.