Blue Beetle 3

Here's the book you really ought to be reading. Jaime Reyes is a teenager, and the third in a line of heroes to take the name Blue Beetle, from the blue scarab found years ago by the original, Dan Garrett. The scarab has fused with Jaime's spine and sprouts really cool armor, offering advice and weapons as needed.

But I could go on about his origin for hours, and really, you can find all that on Wikipedia. The hero's secret origin tale is a staple of comics, and so it'll always be there, but this series offers something else.



The extra good stuff in this series that makes the usual all the sweeter. Consider the unfamiliar setting of El Paso and Jaime's cast of supporting characters, his good friends and his family, all of whom know he's the Beetle, all of them trying to support him as he makes the hero's journey through the DC Universe.

And it's funny, too. (I love when they make Batman funny.)


I think what touches me the most is that, aside from Martha and Jon Kent, we have rarely seen supportive parents of teen superheroes in comic books. Here, Jaime's mom and dad have accepted the Blue Beetle as part of Jaime's life, and they're doing their best to cope with that, and fold it into their otherwise normal lives. The results are both funny and touching.

In the meantime, we're getting a great run of stories as we watch this new hero find his confidence and explore his very-bizarre world, all without forsaking the fun of being kids and palling around with good friends.

Too often we see the miserable, lonely "I have a secret" cliche in superheroes, especially the teen-angsty ones. Jaime Reyes is a breath of fresh air.

Go out and buy this comic! Add it to your pull lists, request the trades at your local Borders or Barnes and Noble!! Here is a great title which needs a nice long run.

Snapshots

The image above is Showcase #97, a pre-Crisis title that showed Power Girl emerging as a solo hero in her own right.

Spent today in the basement, moving forward on the organization process of the collection. I seem to have passed the halfway mark, as there are more comics properly long-boxed than not at this point. Still the Batman and Superman titles alone will probably take up four more boxes just by their lonesome.

Having spent the day in the company of assorted musty and moldy old boxes (who nonetheless have done a good job of protecting the collection through a variety of varying-quality storage situations), I have a bit of a headache and I'm not really feeling up to a full review of any random issues...I thought I would share some scenes of the work in progress, and some of my discoveries.

And then there's this finale image from Legends #6. This was the first crossover event post-Crisis, and I remember it was a bit of a relief to see all the major players on the same page together again! It was the start of Bad Costume Time for Black Canary (pictured here between Wonder Woman, Batman and Captain Marvel...and due to some poor perspective, appearing to be about ten years old...).

Now this I was particularly happy to find: The Question #1, and Blue Beetle #5. Both of these guys were new to me as the dust settled from the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and while I waited for the start of things like George Perez' Wonder Woman or John Byrne's Superman...these titles began first, and introduced me to heroes of the former Charlton comics, who'd recently been "folded" into the DC Universe.

Blue Beetle quickly took the comedy route in the pages of Justice League, but The Question, man, Vic Sage or Charlie, he was the real deal. I wish that I could take the time to re-read all those stories now that I've got them all in one place, and in the right order...but other things beckon just now, and so I'll have to wait.

I just this weekend read 52 Volume 3, the trade of last year's brilliant weekly series. What a great story (or collection of them, really...) they tell. I found this shortly after reading Vic's death scene in those pages. So sad to see him go, but--unlike so many vocal internet fans (is there another kind?)--I'm really kind of grooving on the idea of Renee Montoya taking up the dermaskin mask and seeking some answers.

As for Blue Beetle, well, Ted Kord was also sadly lost to us recently in the lead-up to Infinite Crisis...and his loss was a big one, too. However, I also highly approve of Jamie Reyes adventures as the all-new and different Blue Beetle; the latest trade of that title is actually sitting high on my reading pile at the moment and I look forward to diving in.