Blue Beetle #1

The Blue Beetle certainly has a strong cult following in the DC Universe, whether it's the deceased Ted Kord or newcomer Jaime Reyes. Honestly, I don't have much exposure to the Blue Beetle, my only real experience with the character was when I read "Infinite Crisis," which featured the origins of the Jaime Reyes version of the character. Obviously one can tell that I wasn't struck much by the character as it didn't lead up to me reading the solo series that Jaime Reyes eventually landed (it went only 36 issues though).

Therefore, reading this issue would become an exercise in possibly joining the cult. Blue Beetle seems like an interesting character after all, and it's definitely a nice change of pace reading about a Latino teenager as a superhero than a middle-aged Caucasian. Sadly though, this comic left me underwhelmed as to the Blue Beetle/Jaime Reyes storyline, and rather uninterested in joining its cult following.

The story opens with a prologue (which confuses me, because it seems to indicate that Jaime Reyes is the first Blue Beetle, so Ted Kord never existed?). The only purpose it does seem to serve is to tell the reader that Jaime Reyes isn't the only Blue Beetle out there, and that the Blue Beetles and the Green Lanterns might not get along so well. But even that isn't perfectly clear as this Green Lantern appears to be somewhat of a renegade.
Tony Bedard does a solid job of making Jaime Reyes truly Latino, instead of simply making him a white kid in darker skin, which would have been the lazy way out (hint: many writers take the easy way out). We get introduced to a very Latino neighborhood and culture, one that's realistic, but not too stereotypical. (sidenote: I just found out that Tony Bedard is part Puerto-Rican, that certainly helped him out with this).


I guess what really gets me is that this is an origin story, but why redo it, doesn't DC already have an origin story for Blue Beetle? This isn't even close to what happens to Infinite Crisis. It really weirds me out that some characters are seemingly rebooted such as Blue Beetle, but then characters in Batman and Green Lantern universes are barely altered.The former universe of Jaime Reyes is gone, which from what I hear from Blue Beetle fans isn't a good thing, as he had one of the best worlds around him in the DC.

The art's pretty good, nothing super-special, but it doesn't get in the way of the story, though pencillist Ig Guara's lines are much better on Blue Beetle action sequences then Jaime Reyes civilian ones. The characters are very lively, and all the anatomies are a little different (but correct), he clearly understands the constant artist folly that all humans are built the same. Sadly not ever art team will knock it out of the park each week, but as long as the art doesn't get weaker, it shouldn't be an issue.

What bothered me was the "villain of the weak" gang at the end of the book. There's nothing pulling us in to the second action sequence, I don't know who these villains are, why I should fear them, and why they are working for the man on the phone (really nothing is told of him other than he has smuggler associates).

What I enjoyed: There's lots of little things to enjoy; Jaime Reyes wearing a Rise Against t-shirt, the fact that there seem to be many, many Blue Beetles (Blue Beetle vs. Green Lantern war anybody?), and Jaime Reyes is an extremely likeable protagonist.The story itself is just alright, but it certainly has room to grow.

What I didn't: Again, the art was so-so, and the complete reboot of the entire Jaime Reyes storyline kind of disappointed me. I was kind of hoping this would be a new start for Jaime without losing his last series which was so beloved by his cult following. The insular story I didn't find too interesting either.

Conclusion: Not great, but I'm not giving up on it quite yet. After listening to a podcast interview with writer Tony Bedard, he seems to have a pretty awesome plan for where Blue Beetle is going, so I'm probably in for issue #2 unless I hear it's terrible. 7.9/10 (C+).