Blue Beetle #2

Tony Bedard said in an interview panel (NYCC I believe) that the biggest complaint from issue #1 was too much Spanish/Spanglish. Honestly, I thought it the appropriate amount for a character of latino heritage, and was glad that they didn't speak as if they were from the midwest, which many comics seem to do. It gave it a more authentic touch.

Issue #2 pushed it too far though, and I felt that it got in the way of dialogue. Luckily, every other piece of the issue picks up the slack, albeit if the issue feels a bit brief. This issue feels a lot like postlogue to a longer story, tying up a few loose ends without any major plot advancement. Essentially Jaime saves his friend, drops him off at the party his other friend hosted, and now faces a witch-hunt, as everyone perceives him as a villain.

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.