The Blue Beetle version 4

It is no secret I am a fan of the Blue Beetle. The character of Ted Kord became my all time favorite comic book hero when I was a kid and I got my hands on an old Charlton Comic featuring the character. Then when I was a few years older he made another appearance in Crisis on Infinite Earths, then Legends and even his own short lived series. I never missed an issue and followed the character through many different appearances all the way to his death a few years ago.
While Ted was my favorite I also have a fondness for Dan Garrett and eventually got my hands on the old Blue Beetle radio shows. While that was not the interpretation I was use to, by this time I had learned about the various incarnations of the character, I still thoroughly enjoyed every minute and still do today.
Fast forward to the new kid Jaime Reyes. While I actually do like the character and the book, which is now canceled, it never felt like the Blue Beetle to me. First the scarab that Jaime possesses is technological and not magical, which bugs me. Now I know six of one, half a dozen of the other, but the scarab has been magical up until the new series started, at which time it was retconned. Plus he's just too powerful. Sure Dan had powers too, but Jaime is in an all new class. Poor Ted didn't have powers and IMO is still the best BB of all.
Now that I got my little whining session out of the way it is time to move on.
It was hinted at by Dan Didio that Ted Kord would be one of the Black Lanterns, the zombie lanterns, that appear in Blackest Night. In case you don't know that is the next big Green Lantern event set for next year, that started during the whole Sinestro Corps event and has been building ever since.
Anyway now that we pretty much know that Ted is not coming back in the near future, at least not a live Ted and Jaime's book has been cancelled, I think it is time for a new Blue Beetle. You might be saying WTF about now, I mean Jaime is still a new character and we can't have 2 Blue Beetles running around, but hear me out.
First the scarab that Jaime found is technological and thus is not the real scarab(for the purposes of my argument), which must still be lost somewhere. So, at least in my mind, he is not really Blue Beetle. That means someone else could find the magical scarab and take up the mantle. My vote is for Dannielle Garrett, grandaughter of Dan Garrett.
Now even if you discount my scarab "theory" and say Jaime's has the real one, Dannielle could still be the new BB because she has access to Ted's stuff. She did use the bug in at least one issue of Jaime's book. So she could take up the mantle started by her grand dad and become the new, female Blue Beetle carrying on the tradition of both Dan and Ted. You may ask why would they do this and what about Jaime. Well he could become simply The Scarab and as for why... just because I think it would work. No other reason, Blue Beetle is a legacy character and I think that it should be passed to the next family memeber, Dani.
DC has done a fairly good job of taking formerly male characters, turning them female and making them interesting and new again. Take Manhunter and The Question as the two best examples. Plus DC is on this strong female character kick and a female BB would work for that. She knows the people Ted knows, so she can get all the training she needs. She has access to all of this stuff. She is Dan Garrett's grandkid. Plus she's pretty smart. So she is a perfect fit for the character.
So that is what I think about the direction that the Blue Beetle should go. Unless of course Ted comes back, but even as a huge fan I'm not jumping up and down for that to happen. As much as I like the character, he's had his day, short though it was in the DCU and I am all for letting the next generation step up and take the spotlight.
Now if only Batman would stay dead.....