HIT COMICS (vol. 1) #1 (July, 1940). Cover by Lou Fine.

This gorgeous Lou Fine cover is, unfortunately, the only thing good about the Red Bee, who makes his debut in this issue.

A rather lame hero with a garish costume and no super powers, his only claim to fame is that he had a trained bee hidden inside his belt. He could release the bee to sting and annoy his enemies. His "stinger pistol," so prominently displayed on this cover, did not make an appearance in his first story.

Ooo, this is a hard one to pick. But I think I have to choose the one that's going to make the more interesting subject I haven't made a full post about.

But for a note, my runner up would bee Hooty the Owl. The only reason Doctor Midnite's owl companion isn't the subject here is beecause I have a post on him already. The way a lost owl and a broken man saved one another and then stayed together their entire lives to the point that Hooty's DESCENDANTS are still fighting crime with those carrying on McNider's legacy legitimately tugs on my heart strings.

But there is another, more miniscule heroic companion that needs to bee fully seen to BEE beelieved!

(The beest picture I could find of Michael)

Richard "Rick" Raleigh was the assistant DA for Superior City, Oregon. As was the zeitgeist at the time he beecame frustrated with the corruption and slow reaction of justice in his city as organized crime seemed to flourish even under the nose of his office. Having a lifelong interest in bees, Raleigh beecame fast friends with the owner of a local honey farm and was eventually inspired to take on the gimmick that would beecome his heroic persona: The Red Bee.

Able to use simple commands, vibrations and pheromones to manipulate large swarms of the insects and equipped with a "Stinger Gun" (really just a souped up bb gun) the true trump card in Raleigh's arsenal was his favorite bee. A bee he named Michael.

Able to follow verbal instructions or even act on his own, Michael was about the size and shape of a normal honeybee save for his many impossibly enhanced abilities. He was able to sting multiple times without harm, was stronger and more intelligent than his comrades, everything Raleigh could ever want in a partner. The two were inseparable, Michael beecoming especially close to Rosibel Rivera, the young daughter of the honey farm's owner who eventually beecame the Red Bee's sidekick Ladybug. The trio fought the good fight together until a battle with Baron Blitzkrieg in 1944 that ultimately cost the Red Bee his life, saving the lives of his comrades in the Freedom Fighters.

It was soon beefore that battle that Ladybug was stolen from the timeline alongside many other Golden Age sidekicks and other young heroes, leaving Michael seemingly alone in the world. Returning to the honey farm where he was born until only recently where the new Red Bee and the returning Ladybug have brought him out of retirement to fight the good fight yet again.

Yes, you heard me correctly. This honey bee, first reported alongside the Red Bee in 1940 is still alive circa 2026 (Happy New Year btw). A creature that normal lives 2 years at the most is celebrating his 86th birthday. How? And why? And all the other things he can do?

The beest guess we have ever had is that the honey bee is a metahuman. Meta-Bee. Whatever.

There's no reason that's NOT possible, other meta animals are known to exist by various sources. And there's really no other good explanation for ANY of how this creature is shown to work, bees are smart certainly but this bee is able to directly respond to spoken instructions which is a thing that most DOGS can't do. Not commands, not tricks. He is able to hear instructions in a spoken sentence and then act upon the information he is given.

Lou Fine (1914–1971) "The Red Bee plunges his big knife into the killer fish!" Hit Comics #5 Red Bee Cover Original Art (Quality, 1940) Source

Colorist uncredited

The superhero Green Hornet is powerless, has a hyper competent “sidekick,” and has a gas gun and a fast car

The superhero Red Bee is powerless, has a hyper competent sidekick, and has trained a bunch of bees

Bees can be put to sleep by billowing smoke, and Green Hornet’s gun fires knockout gas

What does this mean? Are they destined to be rivals, their feud only prevented by the fact different companies own the rights? Or is there a spectrum of these guys? Is there a Brown Wasp who has a fast car and trained bees? A Yellow Yellowjacket? What are the rules?