One of the most recent super hero films centres around Jaime Reyes aka The Blue Beetle. To be frank, I haven’t watched the film and I don’t really plan on it. It’s very likely they did what Hollywood always does and changed a bunch of aspects of the character to make him fit better into a generic Hollywood hero story. What I am going to look at is the Blue Beetle Comics. To be specific, the original run of Jaime Reyes as the Blue Beetle from May of ’06 to February of ’09.
Story:
We open with our hero crashing into the desert where he’s promptly attacked by Guy Gardner. You may know him as nobody’s favourite Green Lantern. We get a flashback explaining how Jaime disappeared and what happened to him during Infinite Crisis. Gardner eventually backs off when he finds out that Jaime is just a kid and our hero makes his way home only to discover that he’s been missing for a full year. He tells his parents and sister the entire truth of where he’s been and what’s happened to him. Now, he has to take up the heroic mantle passed on by the late Ted Kord and discover the truth behind the scarab that’s made a home in his spine.
As a whole, this series holds up extraordinarily well. The respect they pay to Kord’s legacy is admirable. The whole story line with the Reach is brilliantly handled. The uneasy stalemate betwixt Jaime and La Dama is really compelling. The series also manages some really funny moments like Jaime not noticing Supergirl’s giant S because his mum taught him not to stare or his ultimate power fantasy or his mum giving a verbal lashing to Guy Gardner after seeing the giant green fist behind his back. Yet it blends those moments of humour with some very touching, heart-warming moments like Jaime flying with his grandma or his little sister getting over her fear and trying to comfort him when he shows vulnerability. This series of comics manages that delicate balance of tension, seriousness, comedy and genuine moments that only the best comic writers have hit perfectly. Giffen, Rogers and Sturges stand alongside Claremont, Simone, Wolfman & Perez in that regard.
Characters:
One of the rather unique things about this series is that Jaime is completely open and honest with his family as well as his close friends. Which results in him having an incredible supporting cast. His major antagonists are also pretty unique. La Dama is highly sympathetic when you see how much she loves her niece and her attempts at being a better person for her. The Reach may have the most friendly yet insidious invasion plan of all time.
Art:
The artwork in this is really good. There are a lot of different artists who work on the series with the longest running being Rafael Albuquerque but all of them do a really good job. The action panels generally flow well and the character art looks great.
Final Thoughts:
This is among the best comic runs I’ve ever read. It stands alongside Chris Claremont’s work with various mutants, Simone’s works with Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey & Secret Six or Wolfman & Perez’s take on the Teen Titans. While there are some issues that are slightly less amazing than others, I’m giving the thirty six issue run as a whole a 10/10.
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