Review: Blue Beetle #1 (2016)
After reviewing so many Marvel books (including Star Wars) I've decided to change things up a bit by reviewing a book about one of my favorite characters from DC comics, The Blue Beetle.
For those of you who don't know the character and would like an in-depth look at the history of Blue Beetle, check out Linkara's Blue-Skying retrospective. It's a great way to get all the knowledge you need, plus it's really entertaining. But to get caught up on the current version, you can just watch Part 1 and Part 2 of his look at the New 52 version of Jaime Reyes.
After so long of people complaining about the tone of their comics being too cynical, DC decided to bring back the hope and fun in comics with their big event, Rebirth. Basically, it was a huge retcon to the new universe that let them bring back all the things long-time readers loved without actually rebooting again. Heck, they actually replaced the New 52 Superman with his pre-reboot counterpart and his series has been pretty successful since then.
As for Blue Beetle, we get an interesting new idea: teaming up Jaime Reyes with the second Blue Beetle, Ted Kord. How did this happen? I honestly don't know. But this is a promising premise and it's especially reassuring that the new series is written by Keith Giffen, one of the writers behind Jaime's original solo series. But can this series really make up for DC's past mistakes?
To find out, let's take a look at Blue Beetle #1
Before we begin, there is a prequel comic to this series and I've been trying to review it, but I just couldn't come up with enough jokes for that issue. Plus not much happened in it aside from a reveal that was already shown in the Rebirth event. But I stated in my last review that I'd be doing Blue Beetle and I meant it.
For the past few years, we've been told that the mysterious scarab that gives Blue Beetle his powers was actually an alien weapon. It was designed to turn its host into an infiltrator to help a race known as the Reach to take over our world. (Of Course!) But we were hit with a bit of a whammy in the prequel issue.
Spoiler for prequel comic:
After the Blue Beetles stopped two villains who were holding people hostage, Ted Kord was visited by Doctor Fate, one of the most powerful sorcerers in the DC Universe. Fate revealed the surprising truth about this version of the scarab.
If you watched the retrospective above, you'll know that the original Beetle, Dan Garrett believed the scarab to be magic after he discovered it in Egyptian ruins. Then we learned that it was alien in Jaime's original series. Now they're saying it's magic again? Make up your minds, DC.
What's especially confusing is that we've seen the Reach, the aliens who made the scarab, in this continuity. While Rebirth managed to change a whole lot about the current continuity, the change is from there being ten years being restored to the timeline. However, we do know that Jaime's scarab was the first one. So maybe the Reach found it and based their own scarabs off of it. That'd be my best guess. But still, it's a magical artifact that creates high tech weapons, machines, and has built-in scanners?
"Of course! Don't you know anything about magic?"
Anyway, onto the cover.
This is a fairly decent cover. We got Jaime suited up and leaping into action. His pose kind of reminds me of Spider-man. Victor Fox would be glad to know DC is keeping up the tradition of Blue Beetle ripping off other characters. Other characters in the background include Ted Kord, Brenda, and even Doctor Fate. The figures at the bottom are a gang of metahumans known as the Posse from Jaime's original series. We'll get more into them with the review.
SPOILERS BELOW: Scroll to the bottom of the review to see my final thoughts.
The comic opens up with Jaime describing something he saw to his friend, Brenda. One of the things I'm glad was brought back for this series is that Jaime trusts his family and best friends with his secret identity. It's one of the things that originally made him such an interesting hero, but the New 52 comics took that away, along with everything else that made him unique.
JAIME: So, Brenda, do you want to hear this or not?
BRENDA: I'm all ears.
JAIME: With that nose? I don't think so.
Just the thing to say to one of your closest friends. Jaime goes on about how he saw a scene in what was probably Ancient Egypt, where huge magic battle happened. He's seen it before and Doctor Fate is always in it. I sense a magic vision.
BRENDA: Doctor Fate? Still trying to kill you?
JAIME: I'm not sure.
BRENDA: What do you mean you're not sure?
He means the dream keeps buffering when he gets to that part.
JAIME: I mean I'm not sure it's me.
Doctor Fate vs another Blue Beetle? Maybe it's Dan Garrett. I wonder what his costume looked like in this continuity?
Yikes. I doubt this is any of the Beetles we've known. For one thing it's a giant beetle monster! I will say though that this is an interesting direction to take when they're taking the scarab back to its magic roots. I'm surprised DC never tried finding a connection between it and Doctor Fate before. Both have connections to Ancient Egypt. It's a great way to integrate the original Beetle mythology with the DC universe.
Jaime describes the monster as Blue Beetle, but it's not himself. No kidding. The vision ends with Doctor Fate defeating the giant beetle right before looking up at something as a bright light keeps us from seeing what happened next. After that, we now see the present as both Jaime and Brenda are on their way into school.
BRENDA: Sorry to break this to you, Jaime, but you're the only Blue Beetle I know of.
Um... what about Ted Kord? He's in the book too, and in the prequel book, he said that he and Jaime together are the Blue Beetle.
Brenda asks if Jaime's even met Doctor Fate before as the Beetle, but he denies it. So, she brushes off the experience as a dream. However, Jaime's not convinced. Brenda does some more insulting when their other friend, Paco, shows up.
Anyway, it turns out that today is career day and guess who's the first speaker.
Ted Kord gives a speech to the students in the auditorium, much to Jaime's irritation. Basically, he says how many innovations started out as simple daydreams. It actually feels a lot like something that could be said at any school or university when there's a guest speaker.
TED: How many times have you been told to stop daydreaming?
Constantly.
TED: ... most ideas, most of the truly great ideas, are born out of daydreaming.
You can come up with the next smartphone by fantasizing about the cute girl you're pining for.
The speech ends with Ted asking if there are any questions, but he's met with silence. It's here that we meet a character not usually associated with the Blue Beetle.
The woman on the right is Teri Magnus. She is a character from the Justice League 3000 comics. I haven't read that series, but I looked up some info on her character on Comic Vine. In the New 52, she was from the future and helped her brother create the new Justice League before she was turned into a speedster with a sample of Barry Allen's DNA. What's she doing in this comic? Aside from the fact that Keith Giffen created her, I have no idea. But it appears she's now Ted Kord's snarky assistant.
The next page is a quick look of Jaime and his friends leaving school as Paco and Brenda snipe each other over their potential future careers. However there's another thing to note to those with a keen eye. In the last panel, the image has some brunette we don't know in the foreground while Jaime and his friends are walking away. After looking going back through the comic, I found that this girl actually pops up multiple times while Jaime is in school. She's always just out of the main focus, looking at Jaime, and looking like she's trying to get his attention.
I smell love interest.
As he leaves with his friends, Jaime spots Ted talking with someone. By the way, Ted's car is one of the coolest vehicles I've ever seen. It's like those futuristic concept cars that don't exist yet. While it's not subtle, it is awesome.
However, the awe of Ted's car is knocked aside as Paco points out the guy Ted is talking to is from the Posse. The Posse are a gang of metahumans from Jaime's original series that were left out in the New 52. Again, it's great to see these elements coming back in Rebirth.
Jaime wants to know what's going on and tries to get a better look with Paco and Brenda behind him. However, they're interrupted when Teri, who had just been standing with Ted, suddenly appears near them, leaning against a tree. Guess she still has her super speed in this comic. Before Jaime can finish asking how the heck she got there so fast, she asks Jaime if he can spare a moment with her boss. So, Jaime gets in the car with his Beetle mentor.
Along the way, the characters discuss how they're still trying to get a handle on the scarab. But it doesn't last long before they arrive at a warehouse, where the two beetles board Ted's mobile headquarters, The Bug. As they take off, Ted explains who he was talking to earlier.
TED: Got a tip from the posse. Figured it's worth Checking out.
JAIME: A tip?...
Yeah, but they were cheap. It was only a nickel.
JAIME:... The Posse's a street gang.
TED: A meta-human street gang.
JAIME: The difference being?
I think he just told you the difference, Jaime. But Ted explains more about how becoming a meta-human can make the choice between good and bad pretty important. The Posse aren't necessarily bad-guys, at least not yet.
JAIME: Right. They might be a Justice League or an Injustice League. Stay tuned.
TED: Sounds about right.
One thing that's great about having Ted be Jaime's mentor is the dialogue between them. While there's great interactions between all the characters, seeing these two Beetles interact and throw wisecracks at each other is a lot of fun to see.
Anyway, Ted fills Jaime in about how a lot of kids at Jaime's school have gone missing and they need to investigate. Jaime armors up and flies out of the bug. Unfortunately, I have to point out one problem I have with this comic series: Jaime's Blue Beetle costume.
Jaime's new look in this series, at first, looks more like a villain than a hero. However, this can be easily changed if they make a few adjustments: adding more blue to his arms, getting rid of some spikes, and fixing his eyes. I think the idea of him having those slit pupils work better when they're not so small. But other than that, it still looks all right. I do like some things, like the black claws on his boots.
Blue Beetle flies over a neighborhood and quickly spots trouble. A Posse gofer's front door has been busted... out. As in someone was really trying to get away. Being the hero, Jaime flies down to investigate. Ted tries to advise Blue Beetle as he searches, kind of like how the scarab used to advise him in his original series. Yeah, it seems the voice in Jaime's head isn't present for this continuity, since we've got Ted Kord filling that role. However, Jaime gets suspicious when Ted mentions the idea that there might be some bodies lying around. But they're interrupted by this guy.
Blue Beetle tries to calmly ask what's going on, but our big friend here immediately starts throwing accusations.
The big guy immediately starts attacking Blue Beetle, knocking him around and even punching through shadows, portal style.
BLUE BEETLE: I can't believe I'm still letting you walk me into situations like this.
TED: Huh... me neither.
Yeah, he usually has to bribe someone to do this kind of stuff.
Ted also gives a bit of info explaining that this big guy uses the same kind of powers as Nightshade, a heroine from his Beetle days. This pretty much confirms that Ted Kord did dress up as the Blue Beetle before Jaime came around. I'm guessing this was a part of the ten years that were restored in Rebirth. But I have to wonder, what made him stop?
We also see Jaime's powers in action. While my crack about the scarab's switch to being magic does still stand as he does make laser cannons in this series, it's good to note how Blue Beetle is able to make an energy shield over his arm without morphing some kind of machine into existence. So they are indeed tweaking how his powers work with this change. It's a nice touch.
While Blue keeps fighting his mysterious opponent, Ted lets Jaime know about how Dr. Fate stopped by and told him about his grudge with the scarab. This proves to be a bad time, since it distracts Blue long enough for his opponent to drag him into some kind of dark portal.
The scarab makes it so Blue Beetle can breathe, which I honestly didn't know he needed help with until that point. Unfortunately, he's then grabbed by the now giant hand of his attacker, who gives us his name in a rather foreshadowing way.
???: Tell him! Tell him Blot is coming for him!
Him who exactly? Sounds like we got a big bad coming up. Apparently, whoever this guy is, he took Blot's family and Blot thinks Blue Beetle works for him. But just when it looks like Blue Beetle is done for, he unleashes a blast of power and fights his way out of the dark world. We see him bursting out of Blot's portal with a sword and shield, looking awesome as Ted Kord expresses his relief.
Blue Beetle hauls Blot out of the portal, who apparently transforms back into a normal looking kid. Jaime recognizes him as Roger, one of the kids Ted brought up earlier. But before Blue Beetle can get any answers from the kid, he's interrupted by... Groot?
No, it's actually the Posse. Apparently in this version of the DCU, they look a lot less human than they did in Jaime's original series. It's here that the comic ends, telling us that in the next issue, "Now you see her, now you don't!"
END SPOILERS
This first issue of Blue Beetle is a pretty intriguing read. It manages to fix a lot of the problems that the New 52 Blue Beetle comics suffered from by bringing back things people liked about Jaime's original series while also adding in new elements. Which is basically what Rebirth is all about. Not only that, the tone is immensely better.
Seriously, in The New 52, the scarab forced Jaime to keep his identity secret by making him vomit every time he tried to tell someone. Jaime was forced to run away from home after he hit Brenda, the girl who had an abusive father! Seeing the book return to form is such a huge relief. But they're still putting a new spin on things by having the scarab be magic again.
It also looks like they're giving us some interesting questions to ask: what's the real story behind the scarab, why did Ted Kord stop being Blue Beetle, what's happening to the disappearing people, and more. Overall, this is a pretty good book that will leave you wanting to know what happens next. Since I've already read ahead in the series, I can honestly say that it only gets better from here.
So, when you get the chance, get your copy of this book.
For those of you who don't know the character and would like an in-depth look at the history of Blue Beetle, check out Linkara's Blue-Skying retrospective. It's a great way to get all the knowledge you need, plus it's really entertaining. But to get caught up on the current version, you can just watch Part 1 and Part 2 of his look at the New 52 version of Jaime Reyes.
After so long of people complaining about the tone of their comics being too cynical, DC decided to bring back the hope and fun in comics with their big event, Rebirth. Basically, it was a huge retcon to the new universe that let them bring back all the things long-time readers loved without actually rebooting again. Heck, they actually replaced the New 52 Superman with his pre-reboot counterpart and his series has been pretty successful since then.
As for Blue Beetle, we get an interesting new idea: teaming up Jaime Reyes with the second Blue Beetle, Ted Kord. How did this happen? I honestly don't know. But this is a promising premise and it's especially reassuring that the new series is written by Keith Giffen, one of the writers behind Jaime's original solo series. But can this series really make up for DC's past mistakes?
To find out, let's take a look at Blue Beetle #1
Before we begin, there is a prequel comic to this series and I've been trying to review it, but I just couldn't come up with enough jokes for that issue. Plus not much happened in it aside from a reveal that was already shown in the Rebirth event. But I stated in my last review that I'd be doing Blue Beetle and I meant it.
For the past few years, we've been told that the mysterious scarab that gives Blue Beetle his powers was actually an alien weapon. It was designed to turn its host into an infiltrator to help a race known as the Reach to take over our world. (Of Course!) But we were hit with a bit of a whammy in the prequel issue.
Spoiler for prequel comic:
After the Blue Beetles stopped two villains who were holding people hostage, Ted Kord was visited by Doctor Fate, one of the most powerful sorcerers in the DC Universe. Fate revealed the surprising truth about this version of the scarab.
If you watched the retrospective above, you'll know that the original Beetle, Dan Garrett believed the scarab to be magic after he discovered it in Egyptian ruins. Then we learned that it was alien in Jaime's original series. Now they're saying it's magic again? Make up your minds, DC.
What's especially confusing is that we've seen the Reach, the aliens who made the scarab, in this continuity. While Rebirth managed to change a whole lot about the current continuity, the change is from there being ten years being restored to the timeline. However, we do know that Jaime's scarab was the first one. So maybe the Reach found it and based their own scarabs off of it. That'd be my best guess. But still, it's a magical artifact that creates high tech weapons, machines, and has built-in scanners?
"Of course! Don't you know anything about magic?"
Anyway, onto the cover.
This is a fairly decent cover. We got Jaime suited up and leaping into action. His pose kind of reminds me of Spider-man. Victor Fox would be glad to know DC is keeping up the tradition of Blue Beetle ripping off other characters. Other characters in the background include Ted Kord, Brenda, and even Doctor Fate. The figures at the bottom are a gang of metahumans known as the Posse from Jaime's original series. We'll get more into them with the review.
SPOILERS BELOW: Scroll to the bottom of the review to see my final thoughts.
The comic opens up with Jaime describing something he saw to his friend, Brenda. One of the things I'm glad was brought back for this series is that Jaime trusts his family and best friends with his secret identity. It's one of the things that originally made him such an interesting hero, but the New 52 comics took that away, along with everything else that made him unique.
JAIME: So, Brenda, do you want to hear this or not?
BRENDA: I'm all ears.
JAIME: With that nose? I don't think so.
Just the thing to say to one of your closest friends. Jaime goes on about how he saw a scene in what was probably Ancient Egypt, where huge magic battle happened. He's seen it before and Doctor Fate is always in it. I sense a magic vision.
BRENDA: Doctor Fate? Still trying to kill you?
JAIME: I'm not sure.
BRENDA: What do you mean you're not sure?
He means the dream keeps buffering when he gets to that part.
JAIME: I mean I'm not sure it's me.
Doctor Fate vs another Blue Beetle? Maybe it's Dan Garrett. I wonder what his costume looked like in this continuity?
 |
| OH GOSH! IT'S GONNA EAT ME! |
Yikes. I doubt this is any of the Beetles we've known. For one thing it's a giant beetle monster! I will say though that this is an interesting direction to take when they're taking the scarab back to its magic roots. I'm surprised DC never tried finding a connection between it and Doctor Fate before. Both have connections to Ancient Egypt. It's a great way to integrate the original Beetle mythology with the DC universe.
Jaime describes the monster as Blue Beetle, but it's not himself. No kidding. The vision ends with Doctor Fate defeating the giant beetle right before looking up at something as a bright light keeps us from seeing what happened next. After that, we now see the present as both Jaime and Brenda are on their way into school.
BRENDA: Sorry to break this to you, Jaime, but you're the only Blue Beetle I know of.
Um... what about Ted Kord? He's in the book too, and in the prequel book, he said that he and Jaime together are the Blue Beetle.
Brenda asks if Jaime's even met Doctor Fate before as the Beetle, but he denies it. So, she brushes off the experience as a dream. However, Jaime's not convinced. Brenda does some more insulting when their other friend, Paco, shows up.
 |
| Yeesh. Not the best picture moment for Brenda. |
Anyway, it turns out that today is career day and guess who's the first speaker.
Ted Kord gives a speech to the students in the auditorium, much to Jaime's irritation. Basically, he says how many innovations started out as simple daydreams. It actually feels a lot like something that could be said at any school or university when there's a guest speaker.
TED: How many times have you been told to stop daydreaming?
Constantly.
TED: ... most ideas, most of the truly great ideas, are born out of daydreaming.
You can come up with the next smartphone by fantasizing about the cute girl you're pining for.
The speech ends with Ted asking if there are any questions, but he's met with silence. It's here that we meet a character not usually associated with the Blue Beetle.
The woman on the right is Teri Magnus. She is a character from the Justice League 3000 comics. I haven't read that series, but I looked up some info on her character on Comic Vine. In the New 52, she was from the future and helped her brother create the new Justice League before she was turned into a speedster with a sample of Barry Allen's DNA. What's she doing in this comic? Aside from the fact that Keith Giffen created her, I have no idea. But it appears she's now Ted Kord's snarky assistant.
The next page is a quick look of Jaime and his friends leaving school as Paco and Brenda snipe each other over their potential future careers. However there's another thing to note to those with a keen eye. In the last panel, the image has some brunette we don't know in the foreground while Jaime and his friends are walking away. After looking going back through the comic, I found that this girl actually pops up multiple times while Jaime is in school. She's always just out of the main focus, looking at Jaime, and looking like she's trying to get his attention.
I smell love interest.
As he leaves with his friends, Jaime spots Ted talking with someone. By the way, Ted's car is one of the coolest vehicles I've ever seen. It's like those futuristic concept cars that don't exist yet. While it's not subtle, it is awesome.
However, the awe of Ted's car is knocked aside as Paco points out the guy Ted is talking to is from the Posse. The Posse are a gang of metahumans from Jaime's original series that were left out in the New 52. Again, it's great to see these elements coming back in Rebirth.
Jaime wants to know what's going on and tries to get a better look with Paco and Brenda behind him. However, they're interrupted when Teri, who had just been standing with Ted, suddenly appears near them, leaning against a tree. Guess she still has her super speed in this comic. Before Jaime can finish asking how the heck she got there so fast, she asks Jaime if he can spare a moment with her boss. So, Jaime gets in the car with his Beetle mentor.
Along the way, the characters discuss how they're still trying to get a handle on the scarab. But it doesn't last long before they arrive at a warehouse, where the two beetles board Ted's mobile headquarters, The Bug. As they take off, Ted explains who he was talking to earlier.
TED: Got a tip from the posse. Figured it's worth Checking out.
JAIME: A tip?...
Yeah, but they were cheap. It was only a nickel.
JAIME:... The Posse's a street gang.
TED: A meta-human street gang.
JAIME: The difference being?
I think he just told you the difference, Jaime. But Ted explains more about how becoming a meta-human can make the choice between good and bad pretty important. The Posse aren't necessarily bad-guys, at least not yet.
JAIME: Right. They might be a Justice League or an Injustice League. Stay tuned.
TED: Sounds about right.
One thing that's great about having Ted be Jaime's mentor is the dialogue between them. While there's great interactions between all the characters, seeing these two Beetles interact and throw wisecracks at each other is a lot of fun to see.
Anyway, Ted fills Jaime in about how a lot of kids at Jaime's school have gone missing and they need to investigate. Jaime armors up and flies out of the bug. Unfortunately, I have to point out one problem I have with this comic series: Jaime's Blue Beetle costume.
Jaime's new look in this series, at first, looks more like a villain than a hero. However, this can be easily changed if they make a few adjustments: adding more blue to his arms, getting rid of some spikes, and fixing his eyes. I think the idea of him having those slit pupils work better when they're not so small. But other than that, it still looks all right. I do like some things, like the black claws on his boots.
Blue Beetle flies over a neighborhood and quickly spots trouble. A Posse gofer's front door has been busted... out. As in someone was really trying to get away. Being the hero, Jaime flies down to investigate. Ted tries to advise Blue Beetle as he searches, kind of like how the scarab used to advise him in his original series. Yeah, it seems the voice in Jaime's head isn't present for this continuity, since we've got Ted Kord filling that role. However, Jaime gets suspicious when Ted mentions the idea that there might be some bodies lying around. But they're interrupted by this guy.
 |
| Oh man! He looks hungry! |
Blue Beetle tries to calmly ask what's going on, but our big friend here immediately starts throwing accusations.
 |
| Dude, say it. Don't spray it. |
The big guy immediately starts attacking Blue Beetle, knocking him around and even punching through shadows, portal style.
BLUE BEETLE: I can't believe I'm still letting you walk me into situations like this.
TED: Huh... me neither.
Yeah, he usually has to bribe someone to do this kind of stuff.
Ted also gives a bit of info explaining that this big guy uses the same kind of powers as Nightshade, a heroine from his Beetle days. This pretty much confirms that Ted Kord did dress up as the Blue Beetle before Jaime came around. I'm guessing this was a part of the ten years that were restored in Rebirth. But I have to wonder, what made him stop?
We also see Jaime's powers in action. While my crack about the scarab's switch to being magic does still stand as he does make laser cannons in this series, it's good to note how Blue Beetle is able to make an energy shield over his arm without morphing some kind of machine into existence. So they are indeed tweaking how his powers work with this change. It's a nice touch.
While Blue keeps fighting his mysterious opponent, Ted lets Jaime know about how Dr. Fate stopped by and told him about his grudge with the scarab. This proves to be a bad time, since it distracts Blue long enough for his opponent to drag him into some kind of dark portal.
 |
| Oh no, he pulled Jaime into the Realm of Darkness! Hey, see if you can find Aqua while you're in there. |
???: Tell him! Tell him Blot is coming for him!
Him who exactly? Sounds like we got a big bad coming up. Apparently, whoever this guy is, he took Blot's family and Blot thinks Blue Beetle works for him. But just when it looks like Blue Beetle is done for, he unleashes a blast of power and fights his way out of the dark world. We see him bursting out of Blot's portal with a sword and shield, looking awesome as Ted Kord expresses his relief.
Blue Beetle hauls Blot out of the portal, who apparently transforms back into a normal looking kid. Jaime recognizes him as Roger, one of the kids Ted brought up earlier. But before Blue Beetle can get any answers from the kid, he's interrupted by... Groot?
 |
| Not sure how I feel about this new lineup for the Guardians of the Galaxy. |
END SPOILERS
This first issue of Blue Beetle is a pretty intriguing read. It manages to fix a lot of the problems that the New 52 Blue Beetle comics suffered from by bringing back things people liked about Jaime's original series while also adding in new elements. Which is basically what Rebirth is all about. Not only that, the tone is immensely better.
Seriously, in The New 52, the scarab forced Jaime to keep his identity secret by making him vomit every time he tried to tell someone. Jaime was forced to run away from home after he hit Brenda, the girl who had an abusive father! Seeing the book return to form is such a huge relief. But they're still putting a new spin on things by having the scarab be magic again.
It also looks like they're giving us some interesting questions to ask: what's the real story behind the scarab, why did Ted Kord stop being Blue Beetle, what's happening to the disappearing people, and more. Overall, this is a pretty good book that will leave you wanting to know what happens next. Since I've already read ahead in the series, I can honestly say that it only gets better from here.
So, when you get the chance, get your copy of this book.
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