Red Bee (comics)
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| Red Bee | |
 Jenna Raleigh, art by Daniel Acuña |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | (Rick) Hit Comics #1 (July 1940) (Jenna) Template:Expand-inline |
| Created by | Toni Blum Charles Nicholas |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | (I) Richard Raleigh (II) Jenna Raleigh |
| Team affiliations | (I) All-Star Squadron Freedom Fighters (II) Freedom Fighters |
| Abilities | (I) Carries a special "Stinger" gun; uses trained bees. (II) (Formerly)Wears a mechanized battle suit allowing flight and augmented strength; uses two large robotic bees which fire electricity blasts. (Currently) Human/insect biology allows for enhanced physical abilities, pheremone production, and the ability to "mark" people for later tracking. |
The Red Bee is a fictional superhero from the Golden Age of Comics who first appeared in Hit Comics #1, published in July of 1940 by Quality Comics. The character was later obtained by DC Comics.
[edit] Richard Raleigh
The Red Bee's secret identity is Rick Raleigh, assistant district attorney in Superior City, Ore.[1] His superhero modus operandi is to put on a red and pink costume and, with his trained bees and "stinger gun," fight Nazis and gangsters. His favorite bee was named Michael and lived inside his belt buckle for use in special circumstances; the feature's writer was presumably unaware that male bees do not sting at all.
The character never became very popular, and was largely forgotten until he reappeared in DC Comics' All-Star Squadron, where it was revealed that he had been killed by the Nazi supervillain Baron Blitzkrieg. He also appeared as a ghost in the pages of Starman.
Other post-Crisis appearances include a cameo in Animal Man in which the character resided in a canceled character's "limbo", and in Bizarro Comics, where he and his agent were attempting to improve his marketability. He is mentioned by Plastic Man as having been a friend and drinking buddy in an issue of JLA.
[edit] Jenna Raleigh
In the pages of Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #5, Rick's grandniece, Jenna, has taken up the mantle of the Red Bee. She uses a mechanized battle suit and two robotic bees that can fire electricity.
Over the course of Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters vol. 2, (2007), Jenna had been mutated by an alien insect colony into a human/insect hybrid, with enhanced physical abilities, pheremone production capabilities, and antennae on her head.
However, her mind is later completely circumvented by the mutation. After a trying to colonise the entire earth, she is cured of her affliction when Lanford Terrill uses his new Neon powers to destroy the insect influence. By the series end, Jenna feels guilt over her actions, and she eschews the superhero life to continue her work inb the research field.
