Blue Beetle #1 variant cover, via DC Comics.
Blue Beetle #1 — Josh Trujillo, Writer; Adrian Gutierrez, Artist; Wil Quintana, Colorist
Ray — 8.5/10
Ray: It was a while since Jaime Reyes had a solo series when Josh Trujillo got to do the previous mini, spinning out of a near-win in the DC Round Robin tournament. It not only reintroduced us to a now adult Jaime, but gave him a new setting — Palmera City — and added several major new elements to the mythos. Those included the Horizon, a peaceful group of aliens rebelling against the Reach, and a duo of new Beetles, Dynastes and Nitida. Working for the Horizon, they initially viewed Jaime as an agent of the Reach and tried to kill him, but are now working with him and learning about their own scarabs — with a lot of difficulty. Jaime’s growing pains as a leader are evident as he tries to prevent massive property damage and winds up leaning more heavily on Ted Kord, who is now back in action as the Blue Beetle old-school version and loving every minute of it.
Scarab lore. Via DC Comics.
Jaime’s family, besides his aunts, are missing from this issue but I was glad to see that Dynastes and Nitida are now joined by Paco and Brenda, who have transferred to the city and joined the cast full-time. That gives this book a fully fleshed-out supporting cast — one of the best things about the original John Rogers run. But we all know that when you have three armored characters of different colors, there’s probably another around the corner — and the odds are they won’t be as friendly. The arrival of the Red Beetle, whoever they may be, comes with a level of threat and violence that eclipses anything else we’ve seen in the book so far and puts a beloved character in serious danger. It’s a tense way to kick off the run, but we’ve seen this character endangered before. Either way, while the original mini wasn’t perfect, it was a great addition to the character’s mythos and this looks to build on that.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
